Review: London Prep 7: The Choice by Jillian Dodd

*We received this book in exchange for an honest review.*

Mallory James has finally made a choice. Taking place immediately after the events of London Prep 6: The Country House, Mallory and Harry are still at a party right after Harry asked Mallory an important question.

Upset by his question, Mallory runs away in tears and starts to panic. It’s finally time for Mallory to set some boundaries with her heart. She knows that she wants to be with Noah, not Harry. But her fear of hurting Harry is getting in the way of her relationship.

Mallory is ready though and she finally makes it clear who her heart belongs to right before the group heads back to London. Too bad so much is going on this week. Harry is headed to Shanghai without her, Noah wants to define the relationship, Mohammed asked Naomi on a date and finally, Mallory’s parents are moving to London. Everything in Mallory’s life is in transition.

Can Mallory get through an emotionally taxing week or is everything going to blow up in her face?

We’re seven books into the London Prep series and we’re still loyal readers. At this point in the series, we feel like we’re part of Mallory’s story and have become emotionally invested. Let’s start out by saying The Choice is an emotional rollercoaster for Mallory.

The best part of the story was seeing the chemistry between Mallory and Noah. Mallory has let her guard down and expressed to him how she feels. We’ve loved Noah from the start of the series and he’s really the perfect book boyfriend. One of our favorites scenes was their first official date, which happened to be a long time coming.

Another aspect we liked was that Mallory and Harry had some distance, which hopefully gave him the push to move on from her. He needed to spend the week away from London so that Mallory could let herself fall for Noah fully.

As for Mohammad, he’s still the comic relief this series needs. And wow can this guy shop. Mohammad definitely appreciates the finer things in life, including designer clothing and spa days. We enjoyed all of his scenes, especially the shopping day he experiences with Mallory and her mom. We also ship him with Naomi!

Now, we finally get to see more of Mallory’s parents and we’re not impressed. We liked Mallory’s dad more at the beginning of the series and Mallory would call him with life advice. But once we saw him, he’s emotionally distant and doesn’t seem to spend enough time with his daughter. He also acted immature at the end of the book, but we’re going to get to that soon.

With Mallory’s mom, she’s one of those women who is obsessed with status and appearances, but never worked a day in her life. While sometimes she makes an effort to know Mallory, she feels so out of touch. Everything in her life feels easy and she gets everything handed her, but she is so critical of everyone else. Status matters way too much to the James family. That’s why the Williams family was a breath of fresh air for Mallory.

Now, about that ending. We we’re completely shocked about what happened. Mallory invites Noah to brunch with her parents and to say it didn’t go well is an understatement. It confused us too because Noah is usually the practical level-headed one and he let his heart do the talking. I think Noah should have held back, especially for his first real encounter with Mallory’s parents.

However, Mallory’s dad was the real immature one. 1. You don’t badger a high schooler about having their entire future planned out. Teenagers are finding themselves and they do change their minds. 2. He shouldn’t have freaked out about Noah’s feelings for Mallory. From an adult stand point, yeah he knows it might not work out forever, but again, he’s an adult. He should just be supportive of his daughter and they can talk about the future later. So Noah made mistakes and should have kept his mouth shut. Mallory’s dad should’ve recognized that it’s young love and just nodded his head, instead of causing a scene.

And then, Dodd ended the book, leaving us with another cliffhanger. So now Mallory and Noah have a new obstacle in their relationship.

London Prep 7: The Choice was much more about character development than plot. We’re transitioning to Mallory’s real life in London now. And everything went insane in the very last scene. We’re going to have to wait and see what happens next in London Prep 8: The Club, which won’t be released until November 2023. Seriously?!

Overall, London Prep is a series we can’t stop recommending. It’s full of romance, drama, intrigue and friendship.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐