Choose Your Shot by Christine d'Abo

 

Grade: B+/B-
Hotness Level: Inferno
Kink Level: High Kink
Genre: Choose Your Own, BDSM
Reviewed by Kate and Anne

This is a joint review by Kate and Anne, who have very fond memories of reading Choose Your Own Adventure Books as a kid and both jumped all over this one without checking to see if the other had requested it from NetGalley.  

 

Kate:

I think it's safe to say that we have all tried a Choose Your Own Adventure book as kids.  One that put you in charge of which direction the story took.  I devoured them as a kid.  I admit to geeking out a bit when I saw a romance/erotic version of this concept from Christine d'Abo.

Unlike the kids' books where the main character was "you," in this book Tegan is the main character and you are making her choices.  Tegan is excited to be attending the re-opening of the fetish club she belongs to.  She has been feeling like it might be time to settle into a more permanent relationship and is eager to look over her potential partners at the club.  Tegan is a switch so one of the choices you get to make is Domme or sub.  However, her (your) first choice is between the dungeon, the private play rooms, or finding one of her prior partners.  In my head, I heard the line from the musical Annie.  "Right through these doors, all of it's yours."

 

I have decided 4+ (the plus is because I went back a few times toward the end and chose a different path) adventures is enough for me.  Three of the read throughs I did just for enjoyment.  The last adventure I decided to see how long I could make the adventure last.  I read it long enough that I eventually started running across the same scenes.  However, I did get a huge sampling of what's in the books.  Orgies and strap-ons and sex swings, oh my.  And that's just naming a few.

 

Looking back though, it seems like most of the choices boiled down to the same 3 options.

 

1. Do you want to leave your current partner and find another kinky thing to experiece with someone new (you slut-how many partners is that for tonight)? or
   
2. Do you want to stay with the current douchebag you're with simply because you're trying on the whole commitment shoe and you think they might be the one (by the way, I'm pretty sure they're not the one)? or
   
3. Is it finally time to leave the club?  After all each decision you've made has resulted in at least one orgasm so after the six choice path you chose, aren't you spent yet?

One last note.  Worry not.  There are no "whoops you made a wrong turn and fell into a tiger pit and died" endings in this book.  Although I enjoyed those endings a lot as kid, nothing can ruin a HFN ending quite like a pit full of tigers.

Choose Your Shot was new and fresh, yet strangely nostalgic.  I would recommend this read for any BDSM sub-genre fan looking for something new to try.

 

Anne:

Back when I was at RT (just thinking of that week makes me smile!) I remember someone from Carina Press mentioning that they would be publishing a Choose Your Own Adventure style romance and I was really excited. I have good memories of reading through CYOA books as a kid. I can report now that reading through an adult CYOA was just as fun!  Like Kate, I'll admit to reading through it several times to try out the different options. There are many partners and setups for Tegan to choose from. The way the book is written, any storyline you choose ends on a hopeful, HFN note - or at least it did for all the ways I read through it! I think it has more of an erotica feel than erotic romance, and I was fine with that. I thought the (many) sex scenes were well written and hot. This makes me want to read more by d'Abo! I wonder if three read throughs is a magical number?  I stopped at three and was really impressed.  Kate went through a fourth time and I think she overdid it a bit maybe?  I mean, really, if you're reading it through to see how long you can make the story you can't complain about how many orgasms you had!  Really, can you ever complain about that??? Reading it in ebook format was really simple because of the hyperlinks in the text. There was no leafing through the book to find your target page number, but then getting distracted by a picture and forgetting which page you were headed for. Not that that ever happened to me as a kid. (All the time.) I get the feeling that this book is set in a world the author has written other books in, but there was no problem reading it. I'd highly recommend anyone interested in trying a unique reading experience. It was fun and a quick read. I'm imagining other settings, too. You could be at a formal event in a museum. On a pirate ship. Or how about a speed dating event, followed by choices for other dates?? Oh! Or how about a choice set than includes choosing a woman? So much potential here! I'm up for another one! How about you?  Did you enjoy Choose Your Own Adventure stories as a kid?  Are you excited to try one as an adult?