Publisher: Hegge Press
Release date: April 15, 2018
Genre: Romance/science fiction
Pages: 342
“As a future leader of the female-led regime her grandmother fought hard to establish, Alice Kearns is no stranger to pressure. Being the best in a society where women are expected to be high achieving is the only option her powerful mother has ever accepted for her. But fortunately, as of her eighteenth birthday, Ali now has a place to blow off steam: she’s finally allowed into the Choice Clubs.
Filled with an enticing mix of music, drinks and gorgeous guys, the Choice Clubs were founded to ensure that smart girls wouldn’t get distracted in their real lives by anything as trivial as a shallow crush or a handsome face. Choice guys are fun, flirty, and the perfect eye candy, but Ali would never dream of actually falling for one – until she meets Tag.
Tag MacPhail is Top Choice. With his mischievous grin and chiseled abs, he is exactly the kind of boy that Ali’s mother believes needs to be kept contained. But after he kisses Ali at the Choice Club, she suddenly sees him everywhere – and she’s surprised to learn that there’s more to him than his perfect looks. Tag is sweeter, smarter, and funnier than Ali ever expected. And, she soon discovers, he’s also dangerous… because Tag leads a double life: when he’s not working at the Club, he’s part of a rebel group trying to overturn the girl-power society that the women in Ali’s family have worked so hard to put in place.
Getting closer to Tag upends everything Ali thought she knew. But will she betray everything she was raised to protect for a guy she’s not even sure she can trust?”
MY REVIEW:
As I say on my review policy page, I’m not usually one for science fiction. However, when I read the description of Top Choice—in which a society exists where men and women’s power roles, as we know them, have been switched—the curious feminist in me couldn’t resist. And that curious feminist was not disappointed.
The pacing was extremely well done. In so many romance novels, I feel like the instant electricity between the two main characters is so exaggerated that it’s almost laughable. However, Sophie McAloon manages to create a story in which the hero and heroine are given the chance to truly get to know each other and form a connection—both emotionally and physically. The pace is believable but not so slow that McAloon risked losing my interest. Ali’s mother also forbids them from being together, which of course adds a good bit of fun!
However, as Ali and Tag grow closer, Ali struggles with knowing whether Tag truly has feelings for her or whether he is simply manipulating her with ulterior motives in mind. In other romance novels I’ve read, the author will switch between the hero’s and the heroine’s respective points of view, but not here. McAloon’s choice to tell the story only from Ali’s point of view allows us to wonder about Tag’s motives right along with her, which had me constantly guessing what was going to happen next.
As a woman and a staunch feminist, I’m used to identifying with the underdog. However, I had an odd feeling throughout the novel of being torn. On one hand, I wanted the Violent Sentinels’ (the rebel group mentioned in the Amazon summary) cause to triumph and for men to gain the right to vote and be educated. That’s democracy. That’s human rights. However, on the other hand, I didn’t want the Sentinels to win. I didn’t want the women in this society to be forced to cede any power to the men. Part of this is my own pettiness. Like, haha! Now maybe you’ll realize how it feels to have your rights stripped and then dictated to you by people who have no idea what it’s like to live inside of your oppressed body. Another part of it is knowing that men had their chance with the world, for thousands of years, and they ruined it. Now it’s our turn to see if we can do better. Like I said, the entire novel is told from Ali’s point of view—descended from a long line of powerful females who have been instrumental in the seizing of power from men—so what I know of the society is biased. She tells us how Rape Culture and incidents of domestic violence have all but disappeared, how the number of murders has decreased phenomenally. It seems better. But still, in the back of my head is the voice: but it’s not equal. Like I said, I was torn throughout the novel regarding which side I would be on, were I a member of this particular society. Not only was that fascinating to think about, but it also added layer after layer to McAloon’s work.
One memorable passage along these lines:
“You know what they’re doing is wrong.”
“Yeah,” I pause. “But so is what you guys are doing. It’s not about equality anymore. It’s about power now. For both sides.”
He drops his head back and exhales, then lets his swollen lids fall closed. His breathing slows and it makes me wonder how long it’s been since he slept. Then he speaks again.
“It is about power. About taking it back – making them pay for all their messed-up rules, and their power-trips, and all the barriers they put up to keep us down.”
I wish that we had learned more about the actual women-led society in which they were living. We are given snippets here and there. Men cannot vote. Men are largely uneducated. Forced sterility for criminal men is apparently a thing. But I wish we knew more than just those small bits. I wanted details! This is a good thing, because it means that I found the setting so interesting that I was craving more!
McAloon briefly describes the dystopian aspects of the novel here: “The rows of apartment complexes and townhomes here are all covered in ad Flashes. Commercials and giant images play across the entire surface of each street-facing wall. It’s only in the richer neighborhoods that homes are completely Flash-free. Anywhere else, people willingly offer up their exterior wall-space for extra income. It takes a lot of money to go non-digital, from smaller items like books, games, and vintage appliances, to the bigger possessions – like wall space.”
Ali’s mother also acts as a symbol of their dystopia. Her constant, eerie repetition of the phrase, “We’re doing the right thing,” is to her city and her people, what George Orwell’s unforgettable mantra of “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength,” is to the poor inhabitants of his novel 1984.
One problem I had was that bisexuality isn’t really treated as being a real thing. So as to avoid spoilers, I won’t name names, but… At one point, a high-profile man is seen coming out of a VIP room with a Choice guy. Ali (having thought the Choice guy was straight up until this point) immediately changes her mind and assumes that he must be gay. The option of bisexuality is not even entertained as a possibility. For such a liberal society, their ideas regarding the spectrum of sexual identity is still clearly lacking.
Still, my complaints are few. Overall, Top Choice kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through, wanting to find out what would happen next. Not only that—it also had my mind constantly wrestling with ambiguous ethical dilemmas, as well as questioning any feelings it brought up that weren’t 100% politically correct. I would definitely recommend Top Choice by Sophie McAloon. It appeals to a wide range of readers, from romance lovers to science fiction junkies.
P.S. I received a free copy of this book from Hidden Gems in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are 100% my own. Amazon affiliate links are contained within this post.
My rating: A solid 4 out of 5 tiaras!
About the author:
Sophie McAloon was born and raised in small rural towns across the East Coast of Canada, and now lives in historic Saint John, NB (quite possibly the friendliest, most awesome city in Canada) with her husband, three amazing kids, and Waldo the dog. She has explored Antarctica and Africa and a bunch of places in between, moved more times than she can count on both hands, and worked at a handful of jobs – many of which she hated, but none of which she regrets. She has always loved to write, and she is grateful that she gets to fill so much of her free time now playing on paper (okay – so it’s a laptop, but paper sounds so much more poetic). She is an introvert by nature, so what better way to experience the thrill of being the boldest guest at the party or the toughest leader during a wild revolt – without even having to raise her voice! Visit her website, and follow her on Goodreads, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram!
Have you had a chance to read Top Choice? Let me know what you think in the comments!
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Elizabeth May 