The Chosen One

NA love story with a twist

In theory, everyone rebels against their constraints sometime. It's how they test who they are and who they want to be. In this story, out lesbian Ainsley Carmichael, who has been groomed by her grandmother from the womb to be a future President, finally gets her chance to go against the role she's always accepted because she wants to get a chance to love Maya, a secretive student in her history class.

The story has some refreshing parts, such as Ainsley not deliberating whether she liked girls. It's a fact and her family knows. What Ainsley must not do is engage in scandal, including no social media and no behaviors that could cast aspersions on her future career.

Ainsley herself is pretty fun. She's the dictionary example of adorkable. The story is told from her humorous point of view, and she's clutzy, especially around the object of her affections.

Maya herself is a mystery, and solving that mystery is one of the features of the story. It definitely has a surprising turn. I thought we were going to discover that Maya was somehow an illegal, even though she is a black Puerto Rican. No, the answer is something else entirely, and a nice twist.

When I got to the end of it, honestly I expected more. Where are the sequels? Where is the story with Fiona and Pat? Markinson could continue in this world she created, but I don't know if she has plans to.

As for the narration, Lori Prince is wonderful. This is only my second time to listen to her, but it won't be my last. She is deft at handling a young-sounding protagonist. I wouldn't be surprised if she read YA titles. But she's not limited to that.

My favorite thing in her performance was her voice for the character of Pat, a young doctor originally from South Boston who sounds exactly like a Southie. While I don't find the accent very appealing, Prince performed him as a fully fleshed out character, and not once does she ever break character. He's believable, and that makes this audio and Prince's performance top notch.

So if you want a lesbian romance well-performed, give this a shot.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Great story, awesome performance!

Loved this so much I never paused. A terrific against enormous odds love story very well narrated. The characters were complex with strong personalities shrouded in mystery. I definitely recommend this book, it will not disappoint.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

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this has been a great listen, looking forward to listening to more from this T.B. Markinson ... .. .. .. ..

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Good at first but the last chapters Meh

At first it began interesting then it got good and the last chapters i really hated it, because me main character was very annoying and very melodramatic, i found myself saying " REALLY?", " UGH" , THAT TOO CHEESY"

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Your Future Can Be Different Than Your Family Past

“The Chosen One” was absolutely delightful on so many levels: as a story of young love, as a story of family pressures and expectations, as a fantastic audiobook thanks to the wonderful narration by Lori Prince, and…for me personally….as a totally unexpected yet very enjoyable reminder of my own family history.

I first noticed “The Chosen One” at about the same time as I decided to listen to Erik Schubach’s “Emily Monroe Is Not The Chosen One”, and wondered whether the plots of a contemporary girl being groomed for political office and a normal girl constantly being mistaken for a look-alike superheroine could possible be similar. Believe or not…they are! But…I digress. Perhaps I’ll explore the similarities when I write a review of “Emily Monroe…”.

MC Ainsley is only 18yo, but because of the pressures she’s grown up with, she is much more mature than a typical university freshman. Likewise, MC Maya, also a freshman though she’s 21, has experienced more drama in life than is usual for her age, and is also quite mature. I point this out because while “The Chosen One” is a very delightful story of first love and young lust, the story doesn’t have the typical teenage YA or NA angst. Oh, there are certainly issues and angst for our MCs, but not of the young immature type.

We experience “The Chosen One” through Ainsley’s POV, and little by little we learn of the intriguing and mysterious Maya The Gray along with Ainsley, her hilariously quirky and devoted cousin Fiona, and Fiona’s lovestruck on-again, off-again boyfriend, the heavy drinking doctor Pat.

Ainsley and Maya have mutual insta-attraction and insta-lust for each other, but family differences quickly get in the way of their budding relationship. Ainsley’s ancestor arrived in the United States around 1652. Although he was an indentured servant from Scotland, essentially a slave, the Carmichaels long ago became part of the American establishment….especially the political establishment. Great things are expected of Ainsley, “The Chosen One”. Maya, on the other hand, is of mixed race heritage, and her chocolate skin, and her meager family resources, is met with disdain by Ainsley’s mother and grandmother. Maya tells Ainsley she feels the past of her ancestors’ slavery every day, whereas noone looks at a Carmichael and thinks of one arriving as a slave.

While differences in their race and income, doesn’t bother Ainsley at all, Maya and her mother have a mysterious secret; their past is hidden. Maya’s mystery adds a very nice element to the story. Having been betrayed by a close friend in the past, Ainsley is compelled to dig into Maya’s past, and Ainsley and Maya must explore the role trust plays in love as well as that of lust and like.

Yes, serious issues abound, but the book is so filled with humor during conversations and daily activities, and Lori Prince does such a wonderful job narrating the different characters, that the book is very fast moving and much lighter feeling than you might think from the heavy family issues and the mysterious pasts. I particularly like the imaginary newscaster in Ainsley’s head, often pointing out stupid things she’s said or done!

Speaking of pasts, I really enjoyed many of the comments relating to history, and references to the Carmichaels roles in politics over nearly 365 years of American life. IRL, my earliest immigrant ancestor arrived in the New World in 1630, more than 20 years before that of the fictional George Carmichael, and was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Various ancestors played many roles throughout much of the original Colonies, with the American Revolution, and with the waves of expansion to what is today the American Midwest and the West Coast. As with the Carmichaels, our family has had plenty of interesting characters over the years, but happily the levels of manipulation, adultery, and murder presented in “The Chosen One” greatly exceeds the shenanigans within my own family….well, as far as I’m aware ;)

“The Chosen One” ends, as one would expect for an 18yo and 21yo, with a HFN. Ainsley and Maya have the mutual respect, love and fortitude to one day realize their HEA, but it’s too soon to call that. This book could end here, most of the plot lines were wrapped up, but there could also be a sequel with more issues arising out of Texas, with the new shift in the Carmichael political power structure, and with Fiona and Pat’s love life. If there is, I certainly hope an audiobook version is released quickly!

4.5* for “The Chosen One”, rounded up for the terrific narration, and for making me dig into some family photos and papers I hadn’t looked at for awhile. It’s a fun book with a happy ending and I’ll listen to it again even knowing the answers to the mysteries.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

My rating and my review was not in anyway affected by my having been provided a review copy.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

An awesome story about love and pressure

loved it! It had it all suspense romance mystery and the over arching struggle of not letting the family hierarchy down.

More, more, more!

This is a good start to an interesting story. Moved briskly. Loved the food. Gonna check out the sequels.

Loved it!

Well written story on to book number 2 . And Lori Prince did a great job with the story. I love listening to her narration.

Review: The Chosen One, by TB Markinson

I think what made me enjoy this book the most was that I wasn’t sure it was the book for me at first, but it ended up making me really want to read the second book as soon as I finished this one. I haven’t jumped into that book yet, but I’m sure I’ll do so soon.

This book involves a political family, the Carmichaels. That’s why I didn’t think it would be a perfect fit for me. The politics. I feel that I learned early on that Markinson included just the right amount into her book that it made me as a reader realize the importance to the characters, without it being a political book in itself. It was a romance, a coming-of-age in difference ways for characters, and had a great cast of characters. Plus it made knowing presidential facts sound like fun.

As I mentioned at the beginning, I’m eager to read the second book in this series to see where Ainsley and Maya are after what they (and all the other character) went through near the end of The Chosen One.

Is there a sequel?

If not I think the awesome story beginning and middle and especially character development was a waste. This story and these characters have potential sir a series. At the moment I feel as if I listened to one half of a great story. Pardon the grammar, I never write these and I’m not invested enough to take my time.