Only Ever One Choice Review: Is It Worth Reading?

Verdict: A tender second-chance coming-out romance about a young Muslim woman in South Africa choosing between her family and the girl she never stopped loving, let down by a clunky, exposition-heavy debut opening.

Best for: Readers who want Muslim and South African sapphic rep, love second-chance romances built on real communication, and can handle a bittersweet ending about family loss.

Heat level: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5: some on-page intimacy, described by readers as sweet rather than explicit)

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.8/5: a 4.28 Goodreads average from only 27 ratings, several from advance copies)

Tropes: Second chance, friends to lovers, late coming out, former roommates, religious family, found friends, scars and healing, bittersweet HEA.

Only Ever One Choice is Ilham Asra’s 2025 debut, a second-chance lesbian romance from Ylva Publishing, and it follows Mikaila Mohamed, who has survived a near-death experience and made a list of the girls from her past she needs to talk to, saving her old high school roommate Ashleigh for last.

It sits at 4.28 across just 27 Goodreads ratings and 16 written reviews, five of them from advance copies, so treat the average carefully. Readers are close to unanimous about the representation and the emotional honesty. The writing is where they split, especially the first chapter.

What Is Only Ever One Choice About?

This is a contemporary romance with a coming-out story at its core. It’s set in South Africa among people in their mid-twenties, finishing studies and starting adult life. Mikaila comes from a close-knit, conservative Muslim family, and the book takes seriously what coming out could cost her: her parents, her siblings, her nephews.

Mikaila is an overthinker who circles around things she’s afraid to name. Ashleigh von Bronckhorst is the friend she shared a room and an intense, unspoken bond with years ago, before they broke each other’s hearts and stopped speaking. Readers say both women grow on you, and that the story is less about whether they love each other than about what loving each other will cost.

What Makes This Muslim Sapphic Romance Work

Rare representation: Readers say they’ve rarely or never read a queer Muslim heroine, or a romance set in South Africa. A reader raised in a Muslim household found it moving to see.
Communication: One reviewer praised how much effective communication the couple has, with real hurts worked through rather than dragged out.
Second chance done right: The same reader called it second-chance romance done right, with old wounds that linger believably.
Honesty about family: The book doesn’t pretend everyone will accept her. A 3-star reviewer was especially affected by Mikaila’s grief over possibly losing her nephews.
Consent and boundaries: Mikaila has scarring from a car accident, and readers praise how Ashleigh respects her boundaries during intimacy.

Book Synopsis

After a brush with death, Mikaila Mohamed is done pretending. She’s made a list of the women from her past she needs to have an honest conversation with, the ones she now understands she had feelings for. One by one she’s working through it. The hardest name is at the bottom: Ashleigh, her roommate from high school.

Five years ago, the two of them were inseparable, and then they weren’t. Something broke between them, and neither has spoken since. Now Mikaila finds out they’re living in the same city. She asks Ashleigh to lunch, comes out to her, and waits to see what’s left of the friendship she lost.

What’s left is more than she expected. But Mikaila’s family is close, conservative and devout, and she has never let herself imagine a future where she can have both them and a woman she loves. As she and Ashleigh find their way back to each other, with a group of misfit friends cheering them on, the question gets harder to dodge: if she has to choose, what will she choose?

My Review

The best thing about this book is that it doesn’t flinch. Plenty of coming-out romances promise that love will win everyone over. This one lets Mikaila’s choice hurt, and readers say that’s why it works. The grief is real, and the romance has to be strong enough to stand up to it.

It is. The second strength is the relationship itself. Mikaila and Ashleigh have history and hurt, but they talk to each other, and readers single out how believable the reconnection feels. The boundaries scene, with Ashleigh accepting Mikaila’s discomfort about her scars, is the kind of small moment readers remember.

Where it struggles is the writing, and it’s clearest at the start. The most detailed critical review says the first chapter nearly made them quit: missing-word errors in the advance copy, clunky sentences and a flood of exposition that should have come later. They add that it gets much better and that they read the second half in one sitting. Another reader found Mikaila’s habit of circling around things frustrating until the book finally names them, and noticed a lot of repetition. One 3-star reviewer felt the uncertainty dragged when it could have been resolved in a chapter. A 5-star reader also admits it dragged in places.

The expectation to reset is tone. Ylva markets it as a sweet coming-out romance, and it is sweet, but it isn’t fluffy. If you want a story where everyone accepts everyone, this isn’t it. If you want one that’s honest about what coming out can cost, it’s worth it.

My honest note: A heartfelt debut with rare representation and a brave ending, roughed up by its opening. If you can push past chapter one, the rest is worth your time, and if bittersweet family endings are hard for you, go in prepared.

Element	In Only Ever One Choice
Central relationship	Mikaila Mohamed and Ashleigh von Bronckhorst: former high school roommates, second chance
Core tropes	Second chance, friends to lovers, late coming out, religious family, found friends
Setting	Present-day South Africa, among people in their mid-twenties
Heat level	2/5: some on-page intimacy, sweet rather than explicit
Series	Standalone: an HEA that readers call bittersweet
Content notes	Coming out to a conservative religious family, family estrangement, past car accident and scarring, loss, trauma, survivor’s guilt

How Spicy Is Only Ever One Choice?

Mildly. We couldn’t find it on romance.io, so the 2/5 comes from reader reports. There is at least one on-page intimate scene, and the reviewer who describes it focuses on how carefully it handles consent and boundaries rather than on explicit detail. The publisher calls it a sweet romance, and no reviewer describes it as steamy.

The thing worth knowing is that the emotional weight is heavier than the heat. Coming out to a conservative family, the risk of estrangement, and the aftermath of a serious accident run through the book. Nothing else is flagged. For similar heat, I Can’t Think Straight, which this book references, sits at 2/5.

Who Should Read This Book?

You’ll likely love it if: you want a queer Muslim heroine, you love second-chance romances with real communication, you’re curious about a South African setting, and you can take a bittersweet happy ending.

You may want to skip it if: clunky debut prose bothers you, slow overthinking narrators frustrate you, family rejection is a hard topic for you, or you want pure fluff.

In short: an honest, tender coming-out romance that’s worth getting past chapter one for.

What Readers Are Actually Saying (October 2026)

This is a small book that’s just getting started. Ylva Publishing released it on August 20, 2025, and its early reviews came largely through NetGalley. With only 27 Goodreads ratings, there’s no BookTok or Reddit conversation yet, and StoryGraph doesn’t have enough reviews to show an average. We found no trade reviews. The biggest recent development is audio: Tantor released an audiobook narrated by Anastasia Watley on August 4, 2026, running 9 hours and 31 minutes. On Amazon it holds 4.8 stars across 10 ratings.

Prefer audio? Listen to Only Ever One Choice on Libro.fm, the audiobook shop that supports independent bookstores.

Why readers love it (according to the discourse): The representation first. Reader after reader says it’s their first Muslim sapphic lead or first South African setting. Then the emotional honesty: readers mention big highs and lows and a refusal to make everything okay. Third is the relationship, which readers call realistic and relatable, with communication that actually works.

What readers argue about and complain about: The opening chapter, above everything. The most detailed critical review calls it the worst part of the book and nearly a DNF. Second: the prose, which several readers say reads like a debut, with clunky sentences and repetition. Third: Mikaila’s overthinking, which frustrates some readers before she grows on them. One reader also wanted an epilogue to tie up Ashleigh’s side of the story. The real split is the ending. Most readers find it satisfying and earned, but it’s bittersweet, and readers who wanted a fully happy family resolution won’t get one.

The standalone question worth asking first: It’s a complete standalone with an HEA, so there’s nothing to wait for. It’s the author’s debut, so there’s no backlist yet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Only Ever One Choice have a happy ending?

Yes, with a catch. Readers describe the ending as an HEA for the couple, but it’s bittersweet because of what Mikaila may lose with her family.

Is Only Ever One Choice spicy?

Mildly. It’s a 2/5, with some on-page intimacy that readers describe as sweet and focused on consent.

Where is Only Ever One Choice set?

In South Africa. Mikaila comes from a close-knit, conservative Muslim family there.

Is there an audiobook of Only Ever One Choice?

Yes. Anastasia Watley narrates the Tantor audiobook, released August 4, 2026, which runs 9 hours and 31 minutes.

Is Only Ever One Choice a second-chance romance?

Yes. Mikaila and Ashleigh were close high school roommates who fell out five years before the story begins.

If You Loved Only Ever One Choice, Read These Next

For the film-turned-novel this book nods to, I Can’t Think Straight is another story of love against family expectations. For a YA take on a Muslim girl coming out to a traditional family, try The Love & Lies of Rukhsana Ali. And for a heavier story of forbidden love under religious law, If You Could Be Mine is set in Iran. There’s more on the Muslim sapphic books page and in our Book Reviews.

The Bottom Line

Only Ever One Choice wants to tell a coming-out love story that’s honest about family and faith. The representation, the communication and the bittersweet emotional pull work. The clunky first chapter, the repetitive prose and the slow overthinking don’t. If you want a Muslim sapphic second-chance romance and can push through a rough start, it’s worth it. Check Only Ever One Choice on Amazon →

The Eikna Overall Ranking

On the Eikna scale, Only Ever One Choice ranks as a heartfelt small-press debut with rare representation. It’s emotionally honest, held back by early craft. Read it for Mikaila’s story and the second chance rather than for polished prose.