Inverarys Alexis Hollingsworth Publishes First Novel: The Life We Choose

Jeff Green | Apr 19, 2023

Alexis Hollingsworth keeps pretty busy. Still in her mid-twenties, she is on maternity leave from her job as a medical assistant. In addition to looking after her youngest daughter, she is also busy with two older girls. On top of that, she recently moved from Harrowsmith to a home on Washburn Road near Inverary.

Nonetheless, last fall the voice of “my high school teacher telling me that the only way to be a writer was to write kept popping up in the back of my head, said Alexis Hollingsworth in a telephone interview early this week.

So, at the beginning of this past winter, she began work on the novel that would become the “Life We Choose” which has just come out on Kindle Direct.

The story line came from different experiences of friends and relatives as well as personal experience.

“The book is a romance that takes the classic "Boy meets girl" and adds an empowering twist for women who find themselves feeling stuck in toxic situations,” she said.

The lead character in the novel, Clara is a young woman who has a child with her high school sweetheart. They part because he is not ready for the reality of parenthood, and Clara then marries another man. This second relationship is a toxic one.

The book follows her story as she navigates her second relationship and learns how to develop a working co-parenting relationship with her child’s father.

Clara is left with some big decisions to make, and the book explores how she makes those decisions.

“I believe in the importance of spreading the word to women in our community to not only follow your biggest dreams as one day they may become your biggest and best successes, but also to never fear starting over,” she said.

Once she started writing, late into the evenings after putting her children to bed with help form her husband, Alexis found that between her familiarity with the subject matter and her connection to the characters that she had created, “the writing went very well” and quickly.

The book came together quickly, and she had some offers from publishing companies for it, but decided that by using Kindle Direct she would have more control over the editing and marketing process.

It is available from Amazon in paperback or hardcover form or for download through Goodreads. Make sure to mention Alexis Hollingsworth if searching Amazon as there is another book with the same title on Amazon.