The day of THE CHOOSING ceremony arrives... and Carrington
Hale isn't chosen, despite years of practice and plenty
of promise. Instead of becoming a wife, Carrington is
relegated to being a "Lint", an Authority worker of the
lowest level. Carrington is devastated, as she questions
her entire identity and purpose. However, Carrington is
given an unprecedented second chance at avoiding life as
a Lint. Meanwhile, one man, considered a traitor by the
Authority, offers a different kind of hope but to accept
it means betraying the Authority and risking death. Will
Carrington recognize where the real hope lies or will she
accept what she's always been taught to believe?
Rachelle Dekker's debut novel and first in a series kicks
off with a bang! We are thrown headlong into Carrington's
distress and inner turmoil as she wonders what went
wrong. Normally, I'm not a fan of too much character
angst but Rachelle Dekker handles it so well that it
feels natural and purposeful. Carrington's process of
self-discovery is both heart-wrenching and uplifting, and
I'm thrilled we will get to spend more time with her as
she becomes more comfortable in her own skin.
THE CHOOSING is an insightful and eloquent tale that will
resonate with female readers in particular. In fact, THE
CHOOSING is the sort of book I wish every young woman
would read. Women are so often relegated to the roles
dictated to them without understanding who they are or
that each one is beautifully made. Rachelle Dekker
addresses this topic through a dystopian setting as we
see a young woman struggling to accept that she is
nothing when inside her heart cries out for more.
Rachelle Dekker's debut novel is a winner! THE CHOOSING
is an inspiring tale that reaches deep into the hearts of
men and women, showing both the love and the darkness
that can lurk within. I read THE CHOOSING in one sitting
as I just couldn't put it down and I'm already anxiously
awaiting the second book. I can't wait to see Warren
start to grow up and watch Remko as he continues to
recognize that his stutter doesn't define him. THE
CHOOSING is highly recommended!
Like all citizens since the Ruining, Carrington Hale
knows
the importance of this day. But she never expected the
moment she’d spent a lifetime preparing for—her Choosing
ceremony—to end in disaster. Ripped from her family,
she’ll
spend her days serving as a Lint, the lowest level of
society. She knows it’s her duty to follow the true way
of
the Authority.
But as Carrington begins this
nightmare, rumors of rebellion rattle her beliefs. Though
the whispers contradict everything she’s been told, they
resonate deep within.
Then Carrington is offered
an
unprecedented chance at the life she’s always dreamed of,
yet she can’t shake the feeling that it may be an
illusion.
With a killer targeting Lints and corruption threatening
the
highest levels of the Authority, Carrington must uncover
the
truth before it destroys her.
Excerpt
Carrington felt as though she’d collided with a moving
train.
The room around her echoed with sweet laugh-ter and
flirtation. Handsome men softly led blush-ing young
ladies around the dance floor while oth-er girls looked
on from corners, smiling with gleeful exuberance, all of
them too consumed with their personal victories to notice
the dread filling Car-rington’s face.
She should run. Maybe she could get away be-fore they
came for her. But how many girls had successfully escaped
from the Authority? None.
Her hands trembled at her sides as bits of reality began
to crash against the inside of her skull.
How could things have gone so wrong? This was not
supposed to happen to her.
Panic pricked at her legs, and that voice of self-
preservation shouted at her to stop standing there like a
corpse and move.
Carrington turned toward the massive Capitol Building
doors and saw the horde of City-Watch guards enter.
Silently they spread out across the room and headed for
Carrington and the other girls who stood in fearful
recognition.
The guards’ black uniforms fit their forms tightly enough
to punctuate how impossible it would be to overpower
them. Their faces were fixed in stern focus on the task
of collecting the Unchosen and escorting them to the
Exiting Room.
Fear filled Carrington’s chest like a balloon. Sweat bled
through the skin on her forehead. The room felt as if it
were being pumped full of hot air that wilted her lungs.
This wasn’t right; this wasn’t the plan. She should be
looking on others with pity, not feeling it for herself.
All the hours spent; all the learning and dreaming and
wishing. Her entire childhood had been consumed by one
singular thought, preparing for a single moment. This
wasn’t right.
Before Carrington could form another thought, a CityWatch
guard was standing inches from her. He stretched out his
arm in the direction he wanted her to move. Still
dumbstruck by her situation, she hesitated. His brow
folded, his soulless eyes nar-rowed to slits, and the
corner of his mouth began to twitch. He thought she was
being defiant.
Carrington swallowed her panic and found her feet. Her
legs felt like gelatin and the ground swayed beneath her.
It was impossible to ignore the slight glances from girls
she knew, girls she had grown up with, girls from her
practicing clas-ses, girls now standing beside the men
who had chosen them.
The Exiting Room was through a large set of mahogany
double doors along the far east side of the Grand Capitol
Ballroom. There were at least thirty other girls moving
throughout the room, each one with a CityWatch escort.
Carrington kept her eyes on the marble floor, studying
the shimmer of her red ball gown reflect-ing in the
polished shine. How many hours had she spent dreaming
about wearing this dress? This gown had represented a
perfect moment. Now it would remind her of how worthless
she really was.
As she passed through the doorway into the Ex-iting Room,
a shudder crawled down Carrington’s back. Surely there
had been a mistake. If she could just have a couple more
minutes . . . he would be there; he would choose her. She
turned to rush back into the room that held all her hopes
and dreams and watched as two guards pushed the doors
closed. The sound echoed to the ceiling above her, and
she fought to keep from collapsing.
Carrington heard whimpers from the girls around her as
the reality of where they were spread through the group
like a contagion. The re-alization that everything they
had worked for since the moment they understood their
purpose was gone. They were nothing without that purpose.
As was customary, the families of the girls were brought
in for their good-byes. They had only a few moments
before the CityWatch would round the girls up and
transport them by train across the river to live and
serve as Authority Workers. As “Lints.” They would no
longer be daughters or sisters, no longer attached to the
families that had raised them, no longer a part of the
world they had known. Now they would submit to the
Authority, receive a low-level trade, and remain loyal to
that trade until death. This was the law, given to them
by God, set into motion by the Holy Robert Carson many
years ago during the Time of Ruin.
Carrington closed her eyes and tried to focus on the
pounding of her heart. She had been taught since
childhood that everyone had a place, every-one was called
to serve, and all were summoned by God to obey the laws
of the Veritas. She’d hoped for a different future,
prayed for a different path, but this road was now hers
to walk. She could not change it. She opened her eyes and
hoped that a small sense of comfort would begin to ease
through her clenched muscles, but it didn’t.
A small hand tugged on the side of Carrington’s dress and
she glanced down to see a familiar pair of deep-set blue
eyes. She forced a grin and was greeted with a crooked
smile. Tears welled along her bottom eyelids and she
choked back the swell of emotion.
“Did you get picked?” he asked.
Carrington softly lowered herself to his level so she
could look into her baby brother’s eyes. She gently ran
her fingers through his golden hair and it flowed across
them like silk, thin and soft like her own. He looked
very much like her—round face, tiny nose, unwanted
scattered freckles that still looked adorable at his age—
all but his striking blue eyes. Those he had gotten from
their mother.
No. The word sat in her mouth like a foul taste. Even at
four years old, Warren would understand that this was not
the desired outcome. She leaned forward and placed a kiss
on his forehead. Fighting back another round of tears,
she stood and was confronted by her mother’s glare.
Some mothers were embracing their daughters, spending
their last moments together reassuring them that even
from afar they would always have their mothers’ love.
Carrington knew that she would not be granted this kind
of comfort from the woman before her.
She could see the disapproval twisted in the angry lines
around her mother’s mouth. Cold eyes bored into
Carrington with utter disappointment, casting a chill
through the blood in her veins. She balled her fists
tightly at her sides, her pale skin now ghostly white.
Her mother drew closer, grabbed for Warren, and pulled
him away from his sister. The boy’s small face changed;
he knew something was wrong. He clutched the side of his
mother’s dress with tiny, fearful hands.
“Mother, I—”
“One thing, Carrington; only one thing was re-quired of
you.” Her mother’s voice was harsh and tight. “After
everything I have done for you, how could you fail me so
gravely?”
The strength to hold back her tears was fading as her
mother’s words crashed against her like physical blows.
“How is it possible you were not chosen? Girls half your
worth were chosen while you just stood around and watched
like a fool.”
“Mother, I tried.”
“Well, clearly you didn’t try hard enough or we would not
be standing here!”
“Vena,” a comforting voice interjected.
Carrington’s father appeared like blanketing warmth. He
laid his hand on his wife’s shoulder in a firm but loving
grasp that seemed to defuse her momentarily. Then he
stepped around her toward Carrington.
The urge to throw herself into his arms was overwhelming,
but Carrington knew she would crumple into a ball of
hysterics if she did. His eyes were green like hers. His
face and hands had aged beyond his years from working
long, hard hours in the Cattle Lands, but his smile was
youthful, and the sight of it amplified what she was
losing.
He gently pushed a loose strand of hair from Carrington’s
face and placed a warm kiss on her cheek.
“Remember, we all have our place,” he said qui-etly.
Her mother let out an aggravated huff.
“Vena . . .”
“This is not supposed to be her place, Seth. She was
supposed to be chosen.”
Tears gathered in her mother’s eyes, but Car-rington knew
her mother was crying for herself, for the way people
would look at her now that her only daughter was an
Unchosen. It was a mother’s duty to raise daughters whom
men would be proud to take as wives. And the truth was,
she had failed as much as Carrington.
She wished her mother could cry for her, mourn this day
as it would be the last they had together; yet it was
foolish to think her mother could be any-thing other than
who she was.
“But she wasn’t chosen, Vena,” her father said. “So this
is her place now.”
A loudspeaker creaked to life overhead and the room fell
to a hush.
“Good evening. This is Ian Carson, Authority President. I
want to greet each of you as you make the transition from
being children to assuming your roles as contributing
members of society. Though this day may be clouded with
grief, you must re-member that we all have a place and a
purpose. You are still a significant part of our growing
city. Remember what the book of Veritas says: ‘A man’s
heart plans his way, but God directs his steps.’ On
behalf of the Authority, I wish you well in your new
responsibilities. As God set forth the law, so the law
must be obeyed.”
The room echoed in unison as the girls all re-cited the
phrase as familiar to them as their own names. “As God
set forth the law, so the law must be obeyed.”
“The train has now arrived. The CityWatch will escort you
to the platform. Please conclude your farewells and make
your way to the exit. Authority Workers, may you take
pride in your service,” Ian said before another screech
bounced around the room and then fell silent.
To the right, several guards pulled open another large
set of double doors that let in the chilled night air.
Carrington could see the side of a steel train car, and a
pit formed in her stomach. This was it.
She dropped to her knees and pulled her little brother to
her chest. She wasn’t sure if he com-pletely understood
what was happening or if the entire situation was just
too overwhelming, but tiny tears streaked the sides of
his face.
She squeezed him until she thought he might pop and then
pulled away, took his face in her hands, and pressed the
end of her nose to his. “I love you, Warren. Never forget
that.”
A small whimper left his lips, and tears rushed down
Carrington’s cheeks. Her chest cramped with pain and she
struggled to breathe.
“Assemble,” a guard yelled from across the room.
Carrington stood and stared as the CityWatch guided girls
quickly into a line to head toward the train.
Her father leaned over and hugged her tightly. She could
feel the dampness from his chin on the top of her head.
Once separated from her father, she turned to face her
mother. The woman was rigid and aloof, but she reached
out and wiped the tears from Car-rington’s face. “Be
good,” she said, and her voice quivered with a hint of
emotion.
“It’s time to go,” a guard said.
Carrington hadn’t noticed him approach. She nodded and
moved with the man. A hand reached out and grabbed hers
and she spun back around. Warren held her hand tightly,
his eyes wide with fear.
“Stay,” he said.
“I can’t, Warren. But don’t worry. Everything will be
fine.”
“Now,” the guard said.
Carrington yanked her hand away and watched her brother
erupt into wails of confusion. Raging sadness threatened
her balance, but she managed to remain steady as she
followed the guard away from her family.
“Carrington!” Warren yelled.
She didn’t dare turn around for fear that her legs would
stop working.
“Carrington!”
She could hear her mother and father trying to console
the child as she stepped onto the train platform. Drawing
one last breath of the air that held freedom, Carrington
moved onto the train filled with weeping girls. Even as
the CityWatch guard slammed the door shut she could still
hear the heart-wrenching cries of the little boy she’d
never get to watch grow up.
Thank you so much Debbie for such a kind review! I'm thrilled to be seen here at FreshFiction. You guys are awesome! (Rachelle Dekker 11:02am May 22, 2015)
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