This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Val is a young Mexican-American quantum physicist and single mother struggling with an anxiety disorder and financial challenges. Her world is turned upside down when her ex-husband files for full custody of their three-year-old daughter to take her across the country where he was offered a job. The story unfolds as she decides either to stay put in Boston and meet job related deadlines or go on a holiday and visit her parents in Mexico.
Encouraged by her father, Val flies to Mexico with Maya, her service dog, and Daisy, her daughter, and she discovers a world of magic that will change her outlook on life forever. She also reconnects with her childhood friend, Mercedes, who gives her a glimmer of hope. Things, however, are not what they seem to be. As all areas of her life begin to fall apart, Val must explore the power of her intuition and make different choices to change the course of her and her daughter’s futures.
Enjoy an Excerpt
While growing up, Mom and I had a special tradition: every Friday afternoon, she showed me how to cook and bake her family’s recipes, some of them as old as 400 years. As soon as I could stand, she pulled up a stool for me, and I watched her prepare dishes from her native town in Oaxaca, Mexico, which had been passed down from mother to daughter for many generations.
Although she had to create a new home when she and Dad moved from Oaxaca to a suburb of Boston before I was born, she made sure that I would be well-prepared to pass on our family’s recipes to my children. My memories from elementary school are filled with rolling churros in cinnamon sugar, measuring out ingredients for our family’s secret mole recipe, and taking turns with Mom mixing sweet corn dough for tamales.
When I was in middle school, she stood right next to me as I simmered the sweetened milk for capirotada, the bread pudding my family ate every Easter, and nodded in approval as the deep aroma of cinnamon sticks, brown sugar, and cloves filled the air. The older I became, the more Mom expected from me in the kitchen, but there was one thing that never changed throughout the years: whenever we cooked and baked together, time stood still.
About the Author: 
Although Dora was born in Budapest, Hungary, she lived in Mexico for five years during her early childhood. Her connection to the Mexican language, history, and cooking inspired the cultural setting for her debut novel, “Choice.”
After getting her doctorate from MIT, she published her first book, “The Smart Way to Your Ph.D.” which paved the way for a six-figure consulting business while she was a stay-at-home mom with two daughters. She has given workshops about writing at MIT, Tufts, Boston University, the University of Connecticut, Ohio State University, the Scripps Research Institute, the University of Calgary, and the University of British Columbia.
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Thank you for featuring CHOICE today.
This looks like a fantastic read. Thanks for sharing.
I really like the cover and the excerpt.