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2.67 AVERAGE
2.67 AVERAGE
4.5/5 stars
I'm not going to lie- when I got this as an ebook for free on Amazon, I wasn't expecting all that much. I thought the premise sounded fun, and I recalled loving choose-your-own-adventure-type books as a kid, so I thought I'd just give it a go. Little did I know how obsessed with this story I would become and how absolutely in love with the characters I was going to fall.
Let's start there, shall we? Though the book is written in second person, our main character Elle Masters is not just some empty husk of a person for the reader to live vicariously through. She is fleshed out, she is complex, she has a backstory, and she has a definable personality. I absolutely loved Elle's sass, but even more than that I loved how much heart she had. She cares deeply about her family and friends, and she knows what she wants in a romantic relationship. What made Elle even more lovable were the interactions with her best friends Rachel and Valerie (who honestly stole the show- the antics the three of them got into were hilarious, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say that the banter between the three of these women had me crying laughing and was the highlight of my reading experience). Rachel and Valerie are also given distinct personalities and characteristics without them becoming the caricatures of best friends that are seen in a lot of "chick lit" (quotations because I loathe that term). Then we have Nick. Oh, Nick. Reed warns us that every so often we will hate him, and she was not kidding. Some of these endings are so brutal that, if I had a physical copy in lieu of my phone, I probably would have thrown the book across the room. I once went on a reading tangent so long that I thought "Yes, this is it! Nick and I are going to get married and be together forever!" only to find he had been cheating on me/Elle for months and he was leaving to be with her. Way harsh. But the beauty of this book is that sometimes Nick acts like a jerk, but in other timelines he lives up to his name of Mr. Wright. When things are going well, he and Elle have the best witty banter, the cutest moments of romance, and even occasionally a happy ending.
I think one of the things I love most about this sort of interactive, nonlinear story is that my anal side can turn it into a mission to read every single bit of book there is and try to discover every possible ending. I wanted to "win" at reading it, if you will. And in Love Him Not, where there are 60 endings (and only two where Elle ends up with Nick!), that's quite a task. If you're going to be a control freak reader like me I cannot recommend enough that you sign up for the doorflower newsletter to get the "Heart-A-Track" sheet, because I never would have made it through everything without it (it was also invaluable for marking off each ending, including the two "happily-ever-after" ones, and for noting the particularly heartbreaking endings). Really my only complaint about this book- aka the reason I didn't give it a perfect 5 stars- was that I was rooting for Elle and Nick so much that it hurt to only have those two good endings for them. Especially so because I had found them both when I was about halfway through my reading experience, so even though I was happy to have read those two parts, I was dissatisfied knowing I hadn't read the rest of the book yet, and had to keep going through all the painful endings afterwards.
Typically I don't address other readers' critiques in my own reviews, but I do want to mention a few points that I read from other people. I don't think this book is at all anti-feminist or setting a bad example for how to behave in a relationship. While there are only two promoted happy endings, there are many others where things are broken off between our couple with mutual respect and a sense of dignity. There are endings were Nick makes terrible choices and Elle lets him have it for the way he has behaved (these are my personal favorites of the bad endings). The point of much of the book is that Elle knows what she wants out of life (Nick does as well), and that she's not going to settle for less, even if that means losing a man as seemingly perfect as Nick. Likewise, this is not a dating advice book (a point Reed is sure to mention in her intro). Love Him Not is not advocating tricking your boyfriend into an engagement or lying to your significant other (sometimes poor choices lead to serendipitous happiness, other times they backfire entirely). I think the point is that there's no one set path toward love- in a story, or in life. People don't always react the way you would expect, and sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I thought that this book was very realistic in this respect, even if some of the situations Elle gets into are a bit outlandish (but that's part of the fun)!
Overall, I really loved this read. I've been revisiting my favorite quotes a lot (the "pew pew" dialogue between the ladies always gives me a good laugh) and I know I'll definitely go back for a reread at some point. Even more so I can't wait to see what Reed writes next (an alternative history series featuring England's most notorious monarchs?? SIGN ME UP)!
(x)
I'm not going to lie- when I got this as an ebook for free on Amazon, I wasn't expecting all that much. I thought the premise sounded fun, and I recalled loving choose-your-own-adventure-type books as a kid, so I thought I'd just give it a go. Little did I know how obsessed with this story I would become and how absolutely in love with the characters I was going to fall.
Let's start there, shall we? Though the book is written in second person, our main character Elle Masters is not just some empty husk of a person for the reader to live vicariously through. She is fleshed out, she is complex, she has a backstory, and she has a definable personality. I absolutely loved Elle's sass, but even more than that I loved how much heart she had. She cares deeply about her family and friends, and she knows what she wants in a romantic relationship. What made Elle even more lovable were the interactions with her best friends Rachel and Valerie (who honestly stole the show- the antics the three of them got into were hilarious, and I'm not even exaggerating when I say that the banter between the three of these women had me crying laughing and was the highlight of my reading experience). Rachel and Valerie are also given distinct personalities and characteristics without them becoming the caricatures of best friends that are seen in a lot of "chick lit" (quotations because I loathe that term). Then we have Nick. Oh, Nick. Reed warns us that every so often we will hate him, and she was not kidding. Some of these endings are so brutal that, if I had a physical copy in lieu of my phone, I probably would have thrown the book across the room. I once went on a reading tangent so long that I thought "Yes, this is it! Nick and I are going to get married and be together forever!" only to find he had been cheating on me/Elle for months and he was leaving to be with her. Way harsh. But the beauty of this book is that sometimes Nick acts like a jerk, but in other timelines he lives up to his name of Mr. Wright. When things are going well, he and Elle have the best witty banter, the cutest moments of romance, and even occasionally a happy ending.
I think one of the things I love most about this sort of interactive, nonlinear story is that my anal side can turn it into a mission to read every single bit of book there is and try to discover every possible ending. I wanted to "win" at reading it, if you will. And in Love Him Not, where there are 60 endings (and only two where Elle ends up with Nick!), that's quite a task. If you're going to be a control freak reader like me I cannot recommend enough that you sign up for the doorflower newsletter to get the "Heart-A-Track" sheet, because I never would have made it through everything without it (it was also invaluable for marking off each ending, including the two "happily-ever-after" ones, and for noting the particularly heartbreaking endings). Really my only complaint about this book- aka the reason I didn't give it a perfect 5 stars- was that I was rooting for Elle and Nick so much that it hurt to only have those two good endings for them. Especially so because I had found them both when I was about halfway through my reading experience, so even though I was happy to have read those two parts, I was dissatisfied knowing I hadn't read the rest of the book yet, and had to keep going through all the painful endings afterwards.
Typically I don't address other readers' critiques in my own reviews, but I do want to mention a few points that I read from other people. I don't think this book is at all anti-feminist or setting a bad example for how to behave in a relationship. While there are only two promoted happy endings, there are many others where things are broken off between our couple with mutual respect and a sense of dignity. There are endings were Nick makes terrible choices and Elle lets him have it for the way he has behaved (these are my personal favorites of the bad endings). The point of much of the book is that Elle knows what she wants out of life (Nick does as well), and that she's not going to settle for less, even if that means losing a man as seemingly perfect as Nick. Likewise, this is not a dating advice book (a point Reed is sure to mention in her intro). Love Him Not is not advocating tricking your boyfriend into an engagement or lying to your significant other (sometimes poor choices lead to serendipitous happiness, other times they backfire entirely). I think the point is that there's no one set path toward love- in a story, or in life. People don't always react the way you would expect, and sometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I thought that this book was very realistic in this respect, even if some of the situations Elle gets into are a bit outlandish (but that's part of the fun)!
Overall, I really loved this read. I've been revisiting my favorite quotes a lot (the "pew pew" dialogue between the ladies always gives me a good laugh) and I know I'll definitely go back for a reread at some point. Even more so I can't wait to see what Reed writes next (an alternative history series featuring England's most notorious monarchs?? SIGN ME UP)!
(x)
I'm giving this three stars instead of two because I really love the concept of a choose your own adventure story for adults. However, the execution was frustrating. Also, I had a bit of trouble relating to the characters, which made it hard for me to invest. I should have downloaded the map to track what I'd read from the gate, but, since I didn't I eventually lost my motivation to keep trying. I wish there had been more different men that the main character dated, too
I forgot how much fun it is to read a choose-your-own-adventure! I had a blast reading through all the different variations (and the cheat sheet from her website is super helpful in tracking which paths you've taken). It's also so much easier to read a book like this on kindle than it was back in the day when I was reading R L Stine choose-your-own-adventure back in elementary school.
Elle herself is a lot of fun as a character, and I love her friends Val and Rachel. This book is legit laugh-out-loud funny in parts. It was a little harder to lean into the romance because, after you've broken up a few dozen times, it's hard to believe in the happy endings. But it sure was fun hunting for them.
Elle herself is a lot of fun as a character, and I love her friends Val and Rachel. This book is legit laugh-out-loud funny in parts. It was a little harder to lean into the romance because, after you've broken up a few dozen times, it's hard to believe in the happy endings. But it sure was fun hunting for them.
I guess it was ok, but I never really got to know the characters. Or, more importantly, care about them. I read through a dozen endings and finally realized that I wasn't getting to knew the characters any better and didn't actually care if they ever ended up together (none of my dozen endings found them staying together). Maybe I just chose poorly, but I found that each "re-telling" was just more of the same. I will say that the concept is really original and interesting. I just wish I had the patience to read every ending; perhaps that's the key to really enjoying this one.
I loved it! There are 61 endings: 57 unhappy, 2 happy, and 2 amicable splits. Have fun!
I disagree with some of the choices immediately ending the relationship. Like, that shouldn't be an automatic shutdown.
I disagree with some of the choices immediately ending the relationship. Like, that shouldn't be an automatic shutdown.
If you loved Choose Your Adventure books as a kid, then you'll love this Rom-Com for adults! There are so many options and versions of the story, it's fun to follow the rabbit trails and see where you end up. Well-developed characters with great back-stories, as well. I hope this is the beginning of a new trend!
This was fun... but also felt relatively arbitrary. Our main character admits she misses over analyzing new/current relationships and then the reader is forced to do exactly that as we choose our own adventure. I don't personally like doing that so it brings out the anxiety of the readers. It was fun for a few different versions of the story but I got bored and frustrated too soon. I wanted to like it more than I did.