The Choice

I purchased this book several months ago, only to leave it on the shelf and unread until recently. What a mistake! I should have read it sooner. Here, Ciletti introduces the settled and married Mina Thomas, a senior nurse in a nursing home. She also introduces Regan Martin, a new nurse who follows Mina like a puppy. Neither woman knows how to handle the romantic feelings that develop between them. Mina's husband doesn't know how to handle things either. All three of these characters do a lot of soul searching and have difficult choices to make. I certainly felt a certain kinship with Mina as she went through this difficult choice between a conventional life with her husband and something new. This is true for anyone leaving a long-term relationship and heading out into the dating scene again. This book is a very well-written and touching story. It's not so much a romance as a story of self-awareness and independence. It's certainly a book I would highly recommend to my friends.

What do you do when you finally figure out that you've been living a lie all of your life? And how do you fix it without hurting the people who have loved you? This is the theme of The Choice, Maria Ciletti's first book. Mina Thomas has a comfortable life. She enjoys being a nurse at a retirement home and taking care of the residents. She and her husband Sean are best friends and have a stable marriage. Mina realizes that there isn't any passion on her part for the relationship, but she loves Sean, he's a good man and they are comfortable together. She doesn't realize she should expect any more until she meets a new nurse at the home. Regan Martin causes feelings in Mina that she never knew existed and she realizes what has been missing from her life, but she also experiences greater turmoil than she has ever felt. Does she continue to live a satisfactory, but passionless life, or does she go after what her emotions tell her she needs? This is the choice that Mina is faced with making. The answer, like real life, is not that simple or obvious. Ciletti has created an intense tale of a woman going through a situation that many people find themselves in. After living their lives in a conventional way and repressing their inner feelings, they reach the point where they can no longer deny their emotions and their homosexuality. Ciletti uses Mina to show how difficult that process can be for everyone involved. This is an excellent first novel. People who don't understand how wrenching this situation can be for a person need to read this book.

The Choice is a wonderfully crafted story about being true to yourself even though your life is going along as it should. The author takes you on her journey of self discovery that threatens to destroy the comfortable life she has created. Ciletti's storytelling enables you to feel the sorrow and anguish Mina goes through in making her "Choice" and her sense of humor shines a ray of hope that Mina will make it despite the upheaval in her life. I highly recommend The Choice as it is an emotional story that transcends boundaries and touches the lives of all who wonder if they made the right choice in their life.