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Venice
Something in the window catches your eye. A man dressed in baroque costume wearing a long black cloak has stopped just outside of the glass and is peering in. Though it is not fully dark outside, it is almost so and the man appears eerily mysterious under one of the hanging lamps above the window. The top half of his face is covered in a bejeweled half mask. You don’t want to stare since you aren’t sure if the man is looking at the sandwiches on display, or if he is looking further into the bar, directly at you; it is hard to tell. This is the first costumed person that you have seen since your arrival. You wonder if he is a Venetian. You try to distract yourself for a moment by rustling through your coat pocket for some euros to pay the tab. The barman has been in conversation with other locals and hasn’t looked up in 10 minutes. You feel comfortable leaving the unbroken bill as payment without getting your change, but as you look over your shoulder and out of the window, you see that the man is still outside and most certainly staring directly at you. His lips appear to be turned up faintly, a hint of an uninvited smile and you begin to feel a little chill creep under your coat.
IF you feel ready to leave the bar and walk on to your hotel, turn to page... IF you are undecided about leaving the bacaro just yet and wish to stay a little longer, turn to page... IF you feel inclined to exit by way of a door at the rear of the bar to avoid the calle out front, turn to page...
You’ve just arrived in Venice, Italy. It is the start of the magical Carnival festival and you’ve come prepared with many elaborate disguises. With so many delights available to you, what will you see and do? Sample the cuisine, stroll through the fish market, or take a high-speed boat ride? Attend a set of Vivaldi concertos, float along on a scenic gondola ride or attend a masked ball in a private palazzo? Will you take that tour of a haunted 16th century plague island? Will you run for your life? It is up to you of course…welcome to Venice!
IF you feel ready to leave the bar and walk on to your hotel, turn to page... IF you are undecided about leaving the bacaro just yet and wish to stay a little longer, turn to page... IF you feel inclined to exit by way of a door at the rear of the bar to avoid the calle out front, turn to page...
You’ve just arrived in Venice, Italy. It is the start of the magical Carnival festival and you’ve come prepared with many elaborate disguises. With so many delights available to you, what will you see and do? Sample the cuisine, stroll through the fish market, or take a high-speed boat ride? Attend a set of Vivaldi concertos, float along on a scenic gondola ride or attend a masked ball in a private palazzo? Will you take that tour of a haunted 16th century plague island? Will you run for your life? It is up to you of course…welcome to Venice!
526 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2015
2 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Novak
23 books81 followersMichelle Novak holds an M.A. in Speech & Interpersonal Communication from New York University and is the author of Venice, Veleno, Ancient, and Beauty Sleeping. She is also the writer behind InspiredByVenice.org, an eclectic blog encouraging readers to Stay Inspired! She currently lives in Evanston, IL.
Join Michelle on Instagram @InspiredByVenice
Join Michelle on Instagram @InspiredByVenice
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 4, 2017
I adored this book. When I purchased this book at the Renaissance Faire I was sold on the title, since I have visited Venice, and I was slightly sceptical about a "create your own adventure" tale being that the last one I read was when I was probably 8 and it was a Goosebumps book.
While the writing style took some getting used to, quite literally my own adventure, I was instantly flooded with my own memories of a city I never wanted to leave. The description of St. Mark's square, the water taxis, the food, and the overall romantic charm of Venice had tears welling up in my eyes of the experiences I had whilst there. Even the adventure I chose paralleled the things I did, sans costume, especially listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons performed by a handful of musicians in a private room. Sadly, I did not get a chance to experience Venice during carnevale, but reading this book has made me want to visit Venice again especially during that time of year...and quite possibly get such a satisfactory ending to my trip as in the book.
This is most certainly my singular experience, but I am a romantic that had the opportunity to visit one of the most magical cities on this earth and was able to revisit it again in this book, and for that, I am happy I made this purchase. It certainly was an adventure.
While the writing style took some getting used to, quite literally my own adventure, I was instantly flooded with my own memories of a city I never wanted to leave. The description of St. Mark's square, the water taxis, the food, and the overall romantic charm of Venice had tears welling up in my eyes of the experiences I had whilst there. Even the adventure I chose paralleled the things I did, sans costume, especially listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons performed by a handful of musicians in a private room. Sadly, I did not get a chance to experience Venice during carnevale, but reading this book has made me want to visit Venice again especially during that time of year...and quite possibly get such a satisfactory ending to my trip as in the book.
This is most certainly my singular experience, but I am a romantic that had the opportunity to visit one of the most magical cities on this earth and was able to revisit it again in this book, and for that, I am happy I made this purchase. It certainly was an adventure.
September 24, 2017
A delightful, transportive read. I’ve never before encountered a choose-your-own-adventure travel book, but the concept is an ingenious one, perfect for my quiet Sunday morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the spontaneity of my imagined walk through the city, soaking in the beautiful atmosphere and picking up bits of history all along the way. If you can’t afford a real-life trip to Venice during Carnevale, Novak’s interactive guide provides a pleasant alternative!
July 17, 2019
Only had two adventures in this one so far. Much debate at home on our persnoal choices on where to go, but a fun read!
September 20, 2016
It's been a while since I read a Choose Your Own Adventure book that wasn't connected to a previously existing series, and I'd never read one that didn't tell a specific story before. So I was willing to pick it up and give it a try.
Venice displays all of the classic errors of self-publishing: words spelled correctly that are not the words the author meant, awkwardly-sized margins to ensure no cutting errors but wastes huge amounts of space, orphan lines shunted to the next page because no one knew how to change the text width on a few lines so that those extra few words could be absorbed, etc. It's hard sometimes to decide whether to take pity on the self-published author or to hold it against them. Professional editors do miss these things on occasion as well, but it's usually one or two errors in the entire book. This was significantly more than that.
As a CYOA, it is possible to read this book several times with little overlap. I only read it twice, as the first time I found an ending was rather unexpected. But if I found so many errors worth noting in only two story threads out of many, it's a bit sad.
When it comes to writing quality, I'd say Novak has some skill, but could use more practice. She relies on parenthesis too often to impart additional information that could be worked into the text instead. I know that the point of CYOA is to put readers in the driver's seat, but I prefer for the viewpoint character to still be a character with their own name, personality, and history. Novak's character is a blank slate - quite literally. She has no name. The entire book is wish fulfilment, likely aimed at housewives. This isn't a romance, but I believe it shares some elements in some of the threads.
There were a few points where I thought to myself "and this is where the character gets raped. Or mugged. Or both." Except, of course, she was always perfectly safe, despite being in a foreign city during a period of heightened tourism.
Venice is, in the end, only noteworthy because CYOA books are relatively uncommon today. The threads themselves are well done, but the writing is mediocre and makes me think of Twilight. I feel that people who enjoyed Meyer are likely to enjoy this. I won't touch Twilight with a nine and a half foot pole.
Venice displays all of the classic errors of self-publishing: words spelled correctly that are not the words the author meant, awkwardly-sized margins to ensure no cutting errors but wastes huge amounts of space, orphan lines shunted to the next page because no one knew how to change the text width on a few lines so that those extra few words could be absorbed, etc. It's hard sometimes to decide whether to take pity on the self-published author or to hold it against them. Professional editors do miss these things on occasion as well, but it's usually one or two errors in the entire book. This was significantly more than that.
As a CYOA, it is possible to read this book several times with little overlap. I only read it twice, as the first time I found an ending was rather unexpected. But if I found so many errors worth noting in only two story threads out of many, it's a bit sad.
When it comes to writing quality, I'd say Novak has some skill, but could use more practice. She relies on parenthesis too often to impart additional information that could be worked into the text instead. I know that the point of CYOA is to put readers in the driver's seat, but I prefer for the viewpoint character to still be a character with their own name, personality, and history. Novak's character is a blank slate - quite literally. She has no name. The entire book is wish fulfilment, likely aimed at housewives. This isn't a romance, but I believe it shares some elements in some of the threads.
There were a few points where I thought to myself "and this is where the character gets raped. Or mugged. Or both." Except, of course, she was always perfectly safe, despite being in a foreign city during a period of heightened tourism.
Venice is, in the end, only noteworthy because CYOA books are relatively uncommon today. The threads themselves are well done, but the writing is mediocre and makes me think of Twilight. I feel that people who enjoyed Meyer are likely to enjoy this. I won't touch Twilight with a nine and a half foot pole.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews