Who hasn’t wanted the opportunity for a do over. The chance to go back to the beginning of a day, a week, a year and start again. But since time travel only affords such luxuries in fantasy fiction, the best we can hope for in our earthly lives is a second chance. An opportunity to learn from past failures and strive to make better choices in the future.
As his junior year of high school begins, that’s where the male main character in the “Choices Matter” young adult series finds himself. Preston would love a do over. The handsome, charming, popular, ladies-man would give just about anything for a complete erasure of the bad decisions from his past. But no amount of wishing for that coveted do over will make it happen.
So, he seizes the opportunity for a fresh start—a second chance. He’s determined to do better and be better. He’s serious about charting a new course, so he makes the effort to remove himself from tempting situations. Which means a dating hiatus and, he’d better be a no show at the weekly “Friday nights” bash.
Second-chance opportunities are often an undeserved blessing. We’re thankful for and excited about the opportunity. Our minds race with plans and ideas and the best of intentions. But old habits die hard. Making positive, lasting change is challenging. And then the consequences from the choices that made us long for a do over come calling with a vengeance. Because that’s what consequences do. Hot on their trail, the dreaded “Ds”—disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment—invade our hearts and minds. Often that trio is followed by some form of the rascally “Rs”—rationalization, retreat, regression.
Preston discovers he can’t successfully chart this new course on his own. Despite his best-of-intentions efforts, he’s not strong enough. And now, someone he really, really cares about stands to get really, really hurt if he can’t make this second-chance opportunity turn out better. So, he confides in a trusted friend who suggests the need for accountability. Someone who will hold his feet to the fire—so to speak—and tell it like it is. Who won’t allow even a hint of the three “Rs”.
Accountability is a good thing. No, actually, it’s a great thing.
It’s easy and oh-so-common to think we have to go it alone. Buck up and just do it ourselves. But we don’t. Knowing that someone has high expectations of us is a powerful motivator. Knowing that this person will check up, speak up, and also, hold us up in prayer can be not only an incredible incentive but also a comforting, soothing presence.
So, what will Preston choose? To continue mucking his way through this second chance, or will he give himself the best shot at success with an accountability commitment that’s all about truth-and-transparency? You’ll have to read the binge-worthy, three-book Choices Matter series that includes before I knew you, because I know you, and between you and me to find out.
Junior year finds seventeen-year-old Preston—the hot, popular, very experienced ladies’ man—charting a new course as far from the bad choices of his past as he can get. When he falls for Maggie—the innocent, beautiful-inside-and-out, new-girl-in-town—will she trust him with her “white wedding dress” future? Will his past stay in the past? Join them and a cast of their friends and family for an unforgettable journey through their junior and senior years in high school. Their candid journey is realistic and relevant—and they’re so anxious to share their story!
Because her home office is too quiet and lacks a continual supply of Diet Coke, Beth Steury can often be found tucked in a booth at McDonald’s with her laptop. Sometimes she’s writing local interest articles or penning young adult fiction or whipping her adoption, search, and reunion journey into memoir form. Often, she’s immersed in unraveling mysteries using genetic genealogy.
She’s thrilled to announce that the “Choices Matter” three-book, YA fiction series is complete! Immerse yourself in Preston and Maggie’s junior-and-senior-year high school journey. It’s candid, realistic, relevant, and totally binge-worthy.
She’s a “cheerleader” for saving sex for marriage and for “renewed waiting” because it’s never too late to make wiser choices. Her “Waiting Matters … Because YOU Matter” blog helps people of all ages navigate the choppy waters of saving sex for marriage. These no-topics-off-limits discussions have been packaged into mini-books in the “Waiting Matters” series.
Follow the incredible search for her biological family in the blog series “A Doorstep Baby’s Search for Answers.” DNA has opened the doors to long-held adoption secrets. Walk with her through the most intriguing years of her life. The good, the great, the sorrowful, the stranger-than-fiction true story, the looking ahead to a new reality. Get a ring-side seat.
As a genetic genealogy enthusiast and “search angel,” she assists adoptees and others with genetic mysteries in finding answers to decades-old questions. She writes and speaks about her experiences as a “foundling” and the journey to connect with her biological family. She also serves on the executive board of the National Association of Adoptees and Parents.
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