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Do-Over #2
Million Little Mistakes
Author Heather McElhatton introduced the “Do-Over Novel” with her wonderfully imaginative bestseller Pretty Little Mistakes. With her follow-up, Million Little Mistakes, she takes readers on a wild and addictive ride that can alternately lead to happiness, riches, love, loss, death, and many more endings...the choice is totally yours!
512 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2010
44 people are currently reading
761 people want to read
About the author
Heather McElhatton
5 books110 followersHeather McElhatton is an independent producer for Minnesota Public Radio and Public Radio International. Her commentaries and stories are heard regularly nationwide on This American Life, Marketplace, Weekend America, Sound Money, and The Savvy Traveler, and she hosts the live radio show called Stage Sessions. She will soon be appearing with Ira Glass on the television version of This American Life. (from the publisher's website)"
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
December 25, 2018
No!
I didn't like the story, It was so simple and not interesting.
I didn't like the story, It was so simple and not interesting.
October 11, 2019
Ew.
Ewww, ew, eww. This has to be one of the most disgusting books I've ever read. I checked all the 1-3 star reviews to see if anyone else addressed the absolute AWFUL racism, ableism, transphobia, etc., but I didn't see anyone do it yet. So I'll do it. For a book written in the last decade, this is so obviously and terribly offensive (and not just to someone like me, who's sensitive to pretty much everything).
Content warnings:
rape
transphobia
ableist r word
racist as HECK
g slur (instead of "Roma")
frames sexism as sexy
fatphobia
Okay, so Million Little Mistakes is a choose-your-own-adventure novel (and actually my first experience with one of these; I never read one as a kid!) where you choose how your story ends. Plus you can reread this book over maybe 40 times at LEAST and have a different story/ending! I took the time to read through every single ending (I figured that was the only way to “read” a book like this all the way through?).
The story is that you, the MC, have just won 22 MILLION dollars from the lottery. Now what? Well, you have what seems like an infinite amount of choices via the end of each of the book’s sections, but not all choices end like you think it would: good choices might not make your story end up happily, and bad choices might not make your story end up badly.
However, where the book largely fails is with its main character and her tone -- and then basically everything else. The MC is like Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place times 100. She’s (it’s largely hinted that you’re a woman reading this, lmao) awful in nearly every way, and makes decisions during reading sections that make absolutely no sense. One in particular is that after you, the reader, decide to open a dude ranch, she’ll turn it into a brothel for even the weirdest fetishes (but not lgbt-friendly, lmao! What is a gay, anyway?). Besides things like that, she’s so judgmental, sulky, and always speaking internally and externally with a snark that makes reading this feel like you need to stop or everything around you will feel tainted by it.
She (or the author … ? Hmm.) is EXTREMELY offensive. If the character is challenged on her isms, then fine, it’s a character flaw. But no, ohhh no, this MC was overflowing with nastiness so often and so much that makes me think this is the author letting loose. The worst example: ableism.
I’m not talking about treating another character like crap on the bottom of her $10k heels, I’m talking about the r*t*rd word sprinkled on the pages like candy dished out on Halloween and like similes about people being compared to disabled people in derogatory ways every other section, etc. Check out some of these quotes:
- “You pick up waitressing right away. By just pretending you’re a kindergarten teacher for a bunch of legless r*t*rded kids who ask stupid questions and can’t get anything for themselves.”
- “First you buy your way out of the Lanie mess, by giving each family member a million dollars. Let them spend it on their potato of a daughter if they want to.” (← to be clear, Lanie is in a coma)
- “Sure, the products you push create a generation of mentally unstable, malnourished freaks, but they don’t really affect society for another two decades and you have lots of fun till then.” (← She worked at a company making products that combined medicine like ritalin and depression medication for children and foods so kids would take their meds)
And we mustn't forget about the blatant and shameless fatphobia, either. Some of it almost made me cry; is there ever a reason to be so rude? Unless the character is literally supposed to be this awful for a specific purpose (i.e. a villain, to be challenged later and given good character growth) -- and yet, still, I wouldn’t want this to be so horribly shameless. I can’t imagine the author thinking this type of tone enjoyable. Again, I’m going to show you a couple examples to prove just how awful it really is:
- “Everything is supersized at the Pancake Ranch, especially the people. The overcrowded dining room is packed with ravenous, walrus-sized customers wedged into red vinyl booths, and their similarity with chunky marine animals does not end in size. They waddle around, knock things over, bleating for syrup, belch out loud, and roll their big bellies heavenward after eating enough not just for a person, but for a whole pod.”
- “Self-important adrenaline junkies who hyper-focus on fine print are no better than bratty, obese children who pitch fits when served the wrong pie.”
Sorry for so many examples, but without them, I don’t think I could do a good enough job of explaining the extent this author goes to. It made this book irredeemable for me. The book even tried to be “woke” or something by including stories here or there with black friends or a whole bunch of friends from around the world who saved a gun store from being robbed by a white man -- but when the rest of the book is racist? That isn’t going to save it ….
There’s a woman who screams “Police!”, and the author spells out the dialogue to match a racist, stereotypical “”Asian”” accent. The MC describes her manager as a “king of the pig-tusked walruses, a greedy little reptile-eyed man”, she says snarkily that in Haitian jails “Medical care is most likely provided by a witch doctor”, and at one point her tour gets robbed -- by all things (but also ..of course) by a band of Roma people pretending to put on a show for them; and they’re called by their racial slur. There’s another robbery/attack in the book, this time by some Somalian boys attacking a cruise ship going around Africa, and they also (of course) have a bunch of automatic weapons. Not to mention, the MC has a bunch of babies from a bunch of different countries, and this is her comment about it: “You don’t care about what scientists say about nature versus nurture or learned behavior versus blood memory -- if you let the Cuban baby and the Haitian baby anywhere near each other … there will be blood.” It’s hilarious (/s) for a white woman to make a comment about this -- and only this -- regarding her babies, many of whom are white, and have a laugh about it.
There’s more, so much more, but mostly I’m listing these here so you can decide whether or not you want to even open this book. It’s FULL of all of what’s listed above. There were also very few stories I found genuinely enjoyable. The MC’s voice and the strange plotlines made it hard for me to like these adventures. If they didn’t go towards strange sex things (like baby fetishes or sex servants and even -- the worst! A man rehabilitation center to torture men into becoming the man you truly want) it went to real estate → and then strange sex fetishes).
Besides all this, the writing was weak with grammar mistakes, and it kind of made it a point to reward you for picking bad choices and laugh at you for attempting to be good. So ...
… Not for me. Definitely going to pass on just about everything Heather McElhatton writes in the future.
Ewww, ew, eww. This has to be one of the most disgusting books I've ever read. I checked all the 1-3 star reviews to see if anyone else addressed the absolute AWFUL racism, ableism, transphobia, etc., but I didn't see anyone do it yet. So I'll do it. For a book written in the last decade, this is so obviously and terribly offensive (and not just to someone like me, who's sensitive to pretty much everything).
Content warnings:
rape
transphobia
ableist r word
racist as HECK
g slur (instead of "Roma")
frames sexism as sexy
fatphobia
Okay, so Million Little Mistakes is a choose-your-own-adventure novel (and actually my first experience with one of these; I never read one as a kid!) where you choose how your story ends. Plus you can reread this book over maybe 40 times at LEAST and have a different story/ending! I took the time to read through every single ending (I figured that was the only way to “read” a book like this all the way through?).
The story is that you, the MC, have just won 22 MILLION dollars from the lottery. Now what? Well, you have what seems like an infinite amount of choices via the end of each of the book’s sections, but not all choices end like you think it would: good choices might not make your story end up happily, and bad choices might not make your story end up badly.
However, where the book largely fails is with its main character and her tone -- and then basically everything else. The MC is like Eleanor Shellstrop from The Good Place times 100. She’s (it’s largely hinted that you’re a woman reading this, lmao) awful in nearly every way, and makes decisions during reading sections that make absolutely no sense. One in particular is that after you, the reader, decide to open a dude ranch, she’ll turn it into a brothel for even the weirdest fetishes (but not lgbt-friendly, lmao! What is a gay, anyway?). Besides things like that, she’s so judgmental, sulky, and always speaking internally and externally with a snark that makes reading this feel like you need to stop or everything around you will feel tainted by it.
She (or the author … ? Hmm.) is EXTREMELY offensive. If the character is challenged on her isms, then fine, it’s a character flaw. But no, ohhh no, this MC was overflowing with nastiness so often and so much that makes me think this is the author letting loose. The worst example: ableism.
I’m not talking about treating another character like crap on the bottom of her $10k heels, I’m talking about the r*t*rd word sprinkled on the pages like candy dished out on Halloween and like similes about people being compared to disabled people in derogatory ways every other section, etc. Check out some of these quotes:
- “You pick up waitressing right away. By just pretending you’re a kindergarten teacher for a bunch of legless r*t*rded kids who ask stupid questions and can’t get anything for themselves.”
- “First you buy your way out of the Lanie mess, by giving each family member a million dollars. Let them spend it on their potato of a daughter if they want to.” (← to be clear, Lanie is in a coma)
- “Sure, the products you push create a generation of mentally unstable, malnourished freaks, but they don’t really affect society for another two decades and you have lots of fun till then.” (← She worked at a company making products that combined medicine like ritalin and depression medication for children and foods so kids would take their meds)
And we mustn't forget about the blatant and shameless fatphobia, either. Some of it almost made me cry; is there ever a reason to be so rude? Unless the character is literally supposed to be this awful for a specific purpose (i.e. a villain, to be challenged later and given good character growth) -- and yet, still, I wouldn’t want this to be so horribly shameless. I can’t imagine the author thinking this type of tone enjoyable. Again, I’m going to show you a couple examples to prove just how awful it really is:
- “Everything is supersized at the Pancake Ranch, especially the people. The overcrowded dining room is packed with ravenous, walrus-sized customers wedged into red vinyl booths, and their similarity with chunky marine animals does not end in size. They waddle around, knock things over, bleating for syrup, belch out loud, and roll their big bellies heavenward after eating enough not just for a person, but for a whole pod.”
- “Self-important adrenaline junkies who hyper-focus on fine print are no better than bratty, obese children who pitch fits when served the wrong pie.”
Sorry for so many examples, but without them, I don’t think I could do a good enough job of explaining the extent this author goes to. It made this book irredeemable for me. The book even tried to be “woke” or something by including stories here or there with black friends or a whole bunch of friends from around the world who saved a gun store from being robbed by a white man -- but when the rest of the book is racist? That isn’t going to save it ….
There’s a woman who screams “Police!”, and the author spells out the dialogue to match a racist, stereotypical “”Asian”” accent. The MC describes her manager as a “king of the pig-tusked walruses, a greedy little reptile-eyed man”, she says snarkily that in Haitian jails “Medical care is most likely provided by a witch doctor”, and at one point her tour gets robbed -- by all things (but also ..of course) by a band of Roma people pretending to put on a show for them; and they’re called by their racial slur. There’s another robbery/attack in the book, this time by some Somalian boys attacking a cruise ship going around Africa, and they also (of course) have a bunch of automatic weapons. Not to mention, the MC has a bunch of babies from a bunch of different countries, and this is her comment about it: “You don’t care about what scientists say about nature versus nurture or learned behavior versus blood memory -- if you let the Cuban baby and the Haitian baby anywhere near each other … there will be blood.” It’s hilarious (/s) for a white woman to make a comment about this -- and only this -- regarding her babies, many of whom are white, and have a laugh about it.
There’s more, so much more, but mostly I’m listing these here so you can decide whether or not you want to even open this book. It’s FULL of all of what’s listed above. There were also very few stories I found genuinely enjoyable. The MC’s voice and the strange plotlines made it hard for me to like these adventures. If they didn’t go towards strange sex things (like baby fetishes or sex servants and even -- the worst! A man rehabilitation center to torture men into becoming the man you truly want) it went to real estate → and then strange sex fetishes).
Besides all this, the writing was weak with grammar mistakes, and it kind of made it a point to reward you for picking bad choices and laugh at you for attempting to be good. So ...
… Not for me. Definitely going to pass on just about everything Heather McElhatton writes in the future.
August 23, 2011
This is a "Choose your own adventure" book for grown-ups. The premise is that you've won 22 million dollars in the lottery and you get to choose what happens as you make decisions about how to spend the money. Awesome concept, right? Unfortunately, the book is not so awesome.
There's kind of a nasty, mean-spirited edge to the main character that that keeps me from truly enjoying it.
Still, it's the perfect mindless type of book to read at the beach or on an airplane. I think I'll continue with the adventures for the rest of the summer and will update my review with an extra star if I start to encounter some more light-hearted stories as I make different choices.
There's kind of a nasty, mean-spirited edge to the main character that that keeps me from truly enjoying it.
Still, it's the perfect mindless type of book to read at the beach or on an airplane. I think I'll continue with the adventures for the rest of the summer and will update my review with an extra star if I start to encounter some more light-hearted stories as I make different choices.
February 24, 2019
A cute little choose your own adventure adult book. Stories are super simple but it’s something fun and different.
Edit: after reading more, the stories were so different and were so ridiculous, but in the so ridiculous way that you want to tell the people around you what happened and you can’t stop laughing at the absurdity.
Edit: after reading more, the stories were so different and were so ridiculous, but in the so ridiculous way that you want to tell the people around you what happened and you can’t stop laughing at the absurdity.
April 12, 2017
Okurken çıldırmaya hazırsanız buyrunuz efem.
March 1, 2011
I like the concept of this book. I even like the premise: you will 22 million in the lottery, now what? The problem is that no matter what path one chooses, something bad is surely to happen. I know there must be choices because what's a choose-your-adventure book without that? The issue I had was that no matter what option I chose, time after time, it all led to bad times and ultimate unhappiness. In fact, I got so tired of nothing ever really going right that I didn't bother to "have" all the adventures that this book offers. After a while, I just figured why bother, nothing good is going to happen or if it does, it won't last. Knowing that at every turn I had nothing positive to look forward to was depressing. Life is depressing enough without a book bringing me down.
At the end of the day, if I had to choose all over again (like is possible in this book), I'd choose to leave this one of the shelf, unopened and un-purchased.
At the end of the day, if I had to choose all over again (like is possible in this book), I'd choose to leave this one of the shelf, unopened and un-purchased.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 18, 2023
I just love these books! I hope she decides to write more. I read it 8 times and here is what happened to me;
#1 I won 22 million in the lottery, quit my job and went on a shopping spree buying a Mercedes and crashing it almost instantly. I dumped my boyfriend and went on a 3 month cruise with my friend around the world. I meet a guy on the ship and we start dating. During the cruise the ship is over taken by pirates so we all huddle in the main dining room where it’s supposed to be safe. I can’t find my boyfriend and I hear that he got away on a lifeboat and didn’t bother to take me with him. The pirates kill the captain and raid the ship robbing everyone. The military show up and the pirates decide to trade all but 10 passengers to the military and say they will release the hostages when they get back to land. I volunteer to be a hostage and stay behind. When one of the pirates who’s watching us falls asleep I steal his gun and shoot him and we get rescued by the military. I find out once we’re rescued that my friend was shot by a stray bullet and died and I fear it was me that shot her. Everyone treats me like a hero but I get really depressed and start searching for meaning in life. I debate giving away my fortune but decide not to and instead decide to climb Mount Everest. I train for months and then have to decide which side of the mountain I want to climb up. I choose the north side but when we get there the authorities show up and say that route is closed. I head to a cafe in town with the group I was supposed to climb with and one of them suggests a bike ride to Nepal that will take 20 days instead of our climb since it’s been canceled. We travel to Nepal on our bikes and end up in Kathmandu. I go out to a local market and am looking around when all of a sudden 2 teen boys approach me. One stabs me in the side and the other then helps him load me into the back of a military vehicle. They drive me over the border and dismember my body and leave it in the bush. I cross over the rainbow bridge and heaven is a beach with pink clear water, a robot servant, and cocktails.
#1 I won 22 million in the lottery, quit my job and went on a shopping spree buying a Mercedes and crashing it almost instantly. I dumped my boyfriend and went on a 3 month cruise with my friend around the world. I meet a guy on the ship and we start dating. During the cruise the ship is over taken by pirates so we all huddle in the main dining room where it’s supposed to be safe. I can’t find my boyfriend and I hear that he got away on a lifeboat and didn’t bother to take me with him. The pirates kill the captain and raid the ship robbing everyone. The military show up and the pirates decide to trade all but 10 passengers to the military and say they will release the hostages when they get back to land. I volunteer to be a hostage and stay behind. When one of the pirates who’s watching us falls asleep I steal his gun and shoot him and we get rescued by the military. I find out once we’re rescued that my friend was shot by a stray bullet and died and I fear it was me that shot her. Everyone treats me like a hero but I get really depressed and start searching for meaning in life. I debate giving away my fortune but decide not to and instead decide to climb Mount Everest. I train for months and then have to decide which side of the mountain I want to climb up. I choose the north side but when we get there the authorities show up and say that route is closed. I head to a cafe in town with the group I was supposed to climb with and one of them suggests a bike ride to Nepal that will take 20 days instead of our climb since it’s been canceled. We travel to Nepal on our bikes and end up in Kathmandu. I go out to a local market and am looking around when all of a sudden 2 teen boys approach me. One stabs me in the side and the other then helps him load me into the back of a military vehicle. They drive me over the border and dismember my body and leave it in the bush. I cross over the rainbow bridge and heaven is a beach with pink clear water, a robot servant, and cocktails.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2019
Choose your own adventure! I read about five or six stories/endings, which ranged from flipping houses to taking on pirates. A pretty fun read. And I love how the first question (obviously) is, you win the lottery, so do you quit or keep your job? Only once did I choose to keep my job, haha.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2021
Fun little choose your own adventure. I read 5 different paths.
August 10, 2020
I really liked this book. I gave the book 5 stars because I also reviewed the book in a different context than the standard novels. Even though the book is pretty thick, the stories are very short and very fast-paced. I honestly liked the different perspectives. Most of the stories were so absurd that I wished that would be adapted to movies haha. I also read the Turkish translation so I also need to add that
March 2, 2019
2019 POP Sugar Challenge - A "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" Book
September 9, 2010
I won this book as a GoodReads First Reads giveaway. I was super excited to get started reading as I have always been a book lover and enjoyed "Choose Your Own Adventure" as a kid. Imagine the possibilities if those books were stretched to the size of the adult world!
The first thing I noticed about the book, the first I have read by Heather McElhatton, is the tone. The author/narrator uses 2nd point of view ("You..."), which is needed for this type of book, but tone is definitely not lost in the writing. The tone and word choice of the book is sarcastic and a little cynical. Something about it reminded me of going to college during the "grunge" craze - I think it was the affected angst. College angst is something I have happily gotten over, so the tone here wasn't my favorite, but I do think it was good that there was a definite point of view. It's just hard to connect this tone - different from my own - with the "you".
Similarly, the choices and consequences in this book are very creative and wide reaching. I read through 5 times making different choices and found myself in a variety of places and situations. Like other reviews have mentioned, the opportunity to make the choice I instinctively would have made was limited beyond the initial choices of "keep my job or quit"? And "keep the boyfriend or leave?". Do I want to become a stripper or work at a gun store? Is there a "none of the above" option? Again, the creativity was definitely there.
Overall, I found the book entertaining and like the format of participating in the novel by choosing the direction it would take. My disappointment was in what I felt was the lack of depth of the writing overall. I expected that the plot in each section would be more developed, but instead I felt like a choice was made and I was rushed through a page or two with the sole goal being to reach the next choice. Once the surprise of where the choice led happened, there wasn't much there.
The first thing I noticed about the book, the first I have read by Heather McElhatton, is the tone. The author/narrator uses 2nd point of view ("You..."), which is needed for this type of book, but tone is definitely not lost in the writing. The tone and word choice of the book is sarcastic and a little cynical. Something about it reminded me of going to college during the "grunge" craze - I think it was the affected angst. College angst is something I have happily gotten over, so the tone here wasn't my favorite, but I do think it was good that there was a definite point of view. It's just hard to connect this tone - different from my own - with the "you".
Similarly, the choices and consequences in this book are very creative and wide reaching. I read through 5 times making different choices and found myself in a variety of places and situations. Like other reviews have mentioned, the opportunity to make the choice I instinctively would have made was limited beyond the initial choices of "keep my job or quit"? And "keep the boyfriend or leave?". Do I want to become a stripper or work at a gun store? Is there a "none of the above" option? Again, the creativity was definitely there.
Overall, I found the book entertaining and like the format of participating in the novel by choosing the direction it would take. My disappointment was in what I felt was the lack of depth of the writing overall. I expected that the plot in each section would be more developed, but instead I felt like a choice was made and I was rushed through a page or two with the sole goal being to reach the next choice. Once the surprise of where the choice led happened, there wasn't much there.
October 1, 2014
A choose-your-own-adventure book for adults! I'm too enthusiastic about the concept to even pretend that this is a guilty pleasure.
Million Little Mistakes will never make it to the literary canon, but to her credit, Heather McElhatton makes no attempt to pretend that her book is anything more than it is and is very tongue-in-cheek with the ridiculous conclusions to many of her "adventures." For example, I got a little too hands-y and ended up blowing up the world. Whoops. I also may have turned into a particularly vindictive mushroom.
Silly, but could be entertaining for when you're on public transportation, at the beach, or in the bubble bath.
Million Little Mistakes will never make it to the literary canon, but to her credit, Heather McElhatton makes no attempt to pretend that her book is anything more than it is and is very tongue-in-cheek with the ridiculous conclusions to many of her "adventures." For example, I got a little too hands-y and ended up blowing up the world. Whoops. I also may have turned into a particularly vindictive mushroom.
Silly, but could be entertaining for when you're on public transportation, at the beach, or in the bubble bath.
June 9, 2017
Very entertaining and it would make a good beach read or book for travel. Well researched and creative.
Some people get a little frustrated with adult choose-your-own-adventure books because they think the decisions they make should have a logic outcome - the book/ storyline should reflect their personal choirs. It doesn't work that way. You pick one of two options and follow that storyline. It's still the book character's life, not yours. Enjoy it for funsies and it's a lot less frustrating. Just like life lol
Some people get a little frustrated with adult choose-your-own-adventure books because they think the decisions they make should have a logic outcome - the book/ storyline should reflect their personal choirs. It doesn't work that way. You pick one of two options and follow that storyline. It's still the book character's life, not yours. Enjoy it for funsies and it's a lot less frustrating. Just like life lol
September 25, 2013
benden adam olmaz yok olmaz...
November 10, 2018
I appreciate this choose-your-own-adventure book much more as a re-read. Maybe it's because I'm almost a decade older than when I originally swept through its pages, and I appreciate the way choices — even the most thoughtful, thought-out ones — have unintended consequences. While we like to pretend we're the sole architects of our lives, taking ownership for all our trials and triumphs, the truth is that life can bend and break us regardless of the fight we put up.
Heather McElhatton has a strong authorial presence even with the necessary use of the second-person narrator. Her tone is cynical, sarcastic, self-aware. It's like chatting with one of your favorite Gen X actors as they crack you up with their tales of woe that, in their retelling, are hilarious.
I applaud her inventiveness in the various plot strands. While she hits the high notes of fast cars, ritzy houses, glitzy vacations, she creates singular opportunities for you to select — if you elect to select them — as a $22-million-dollar lottery winner.
So choices . . . how did mine work out for me? I bought a socialite's life in New Orleans, had sexy good times with a bunch of wastrels, and went on a deadly around-the-world cruise. Sometimes, I ended up broke and happy while, other times, I was rich and angry.
If you like irony (the real definition, not the kind Alanis Morisette sang about), then you'll enjoy this. For what's ostensibly a silly book, McElhatton embeds a deep worldview throughout about opportunism and naivety.
Heather McElhatton has a strong authorial presence even with the necessary use of the second-person narrator. Her tone is cynical, sarcastic, self-aware. It's like chatting with one of your favorite Gen X actors as they crack you up with their tales of woe that, in their retelling, are hilarious.
I applaud her inventiveness in the various plot strands. While she hits the high notes of fast cars, ritzy houses, glitzy vacations, she creates singular opportunities for you to select — if you elect to select them — as a $22-million-dollar lottery winner.
So choices . . . how did mine work out for me? I bought a socialite's life in New Orleans, had sexy good times with a bunch of wastrels, and went on a deadly around-the-world cruise. Sometimes, I ended up broke and happy while, other times, I was rich and angry.
If you like irony (the real definition, not the kind Alanis Morisette sang about), then you'll enjoy this. For what's ostensibly a silly book, McElhatton embeds a deep worldview throughout about opportunism and naivety.
April 5, 2022
As a long time fan in choose your own adventure books since I was a kid, this book was a perfect read since it has 1 beginning and 150 possible endings.
The book starts with directions on how to read which is not reading through book straight through but to instead, read a page then make a choice.
After the directions from the author, the reader is told that they by have just won $22 million dollars by playing the lottery and then you as the reader are presented with the choice of whether to quit or stay at your job. Following this choice, you are presented with other options including whether to stay in your romantic relationship, how to invest your money, and whether to help your family with your new money.
As I made choices throughout the book, I was pleasantly surprised by the results of some of my choices and completely heartbroken by the results of some other choices. By the end of the book I realized that, in the book, (like in life) all choices have consequences.
While some conclusions are fun and uplifting, other conclusions are sad and depressing. Overall, this is an entertaining must read book for fans of the choose your own adventure book genre.
The book starts with directions on how to read which is not reading through book straight through but to instead, read a page then make a choice.
After the directions from the author, the reader is told that they by have just won $22 million dollars by playing the lottery and then you as the reader are presented with the choice of whether to quit or stay at your job. Following this choice, you are presented with other options including whether to stay in your romantic relationship, how to invest your money, and whether to help your family with your new money.
As I made choices throughout the book, I was pleasantly surprised by the results of some of my choices and completely heartbroken by the results of some other choices. By the end of the book I realized that, in the book, (like in life) all choices have consequences.
While some conclusions are fun and uplifting, other conclusions are sad and depressing. Overall, this is an entertaining must read book for fans of the choose your own adventure book genre.
July 1, 2022
DNFed @ maybe 50% (hard to tell when it's out of order.)
This book sounded fun. I got it for free in a donation of books (thank god I didn't support this book buy buying it new.) A choose your own adventure style book but for adults instead of childern's books. It was going fine, the story was fun sometimes - cute moments, sad moments, pure chaos. and then.... the racism,,, and the homophobia,,, and the ableism,,, and the graphic on page rape,,,.
Other reviews on Goodreads have gone into depth about the contents of this book including quotes from the book. I'd suggest going to read those while I set the book on fire or something (joke.)
*this book also showed no reviews when I checked on mobile before I started reading this, if I had seen the reviews I am now able to see on desktop I would have never started this
This book sounded fun. I got it for free in a donation of books (thank god I didn't support this book buy buying it new.) A choose your own adventure style book but for adults instead of childern's books. It was going fine, the story was fun sometimes - cute moments, sad moments, pure chaos. and then.... the racism,,, and the homophobia,,, and the ableism,,, and the graphic on page rape,,,.
Other reviews on Goodreads have gone into depth about the contents of this book including quotes from the book. I'd suggest going to read those while I set the book on fire or something (joke.)
*this book also showed no reviews when I checked on mobile before I started reading this, if I had seen the reviews I am now able to see on desktop I would have never started this
January 7, 2019
So, I enjoyed this book. I'm not saying it'll change your life or that the characters will sear themselves into your soul or anything, but it'll bring you back to those days of Choose Your Own Adventure books you loved as a kid.
It's not the worst book you've ever read, and it's not the best. But it's a fun distraction.
One word about format, though, I read it on kindle, which worked out ok, since I have an Oasis. however, if I had to read it on my old school kindle, I might have had some irritation with having to go back and choose again when it was time (it's a CYA book, of COURSE I'm going to go back and start over at the end of each adventure). So keep that in mind when you start it up.
I spent a weekend choosing different adventures, and it was a delightful distraction.
It's not the worst book you've ever read, and it's not the best. But it's a fun distraction.
One word about format, though, I read it on kindle, which worked out ok, since I have an Oasis. however, if I had to read it on my old school kindle, I might have had some irritation with having to go back and choose again when it was time (it's a CYA book, of COURSE I'm going to go back and start over at the end of each adventure). So keep that in mind when you start it up.
I spent a weekend choosing different adventures, and it was a delightful distraction.
March 13, 2019
I’ve never read a “choose your own adventure” type of book so I was intrigued when I saw this book and decided to give it a shot. I can safely say that these books are just not for me. The scenario I chose led me to the end of my story in just a few pages which I was so confused about? I didn’t know my story had ended and turned the page over and it made no sense. There’s no way you know you’ve reached the end because it doesn’t mention it. I want to say I feel like I wasted my time with this book but then again, at least now I know that these types of books are just not up my alley.
May 21, 2019
This book started out really good. The scenario presented and the challenges really presented things to make you think. Then the book got really weird. Admittedly it may have something to do with the fact that I read this book on Kindle and maybe a book like this isn't well suited for Kindle.
At one point the main character is dead and then, without any more decision points, the story continues. The main character is alive again. If the flow was correct, it was a weird book that could have been prestty good.
If the flow was incorrect, then it was because of Kindle and the book was weird.
At one point the main character is dead and then, without any more decision points, the story continues. The main character is alive again. If the flow was correct, it was a weird book that could have been prestty good.
If the flow was incorrect, then it was because of Kindle and the book was weird.
November 25, 2021
A fun grown-up "choose your own adventure" novel. I loved it. I read a bunch of the stories. After awhile I chose very much against type, because in these books (including the kids ones) I always end up blissed out and dead. It was fun that even if you chose a sensible choice, things would invariable go wrong. So much fun! I highly recommend this book, especially if you have a sense of humor.
November 25, 2018
Why does it has to be so pessimistic??? I tried to read this book in other perspectives, firstly, I read it as myself and later, tried to read it as other people. It was a very creative book, but I didn’t like the content and it’s language.
March 22, 2019
A very fun premise -- you win $22 million in the lottery. Now what? A fun choose-your-own adventure romp with multiple outcomes deciding on what path you choose. I look forward to traveling different paths because my first read didn't end so well for me. 😂
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September 28, 2019I made a terrible decision to marry George Clooney. Which I ended up fleeing from & move to a tiny island near Ireland where I fell in love.
I also opened an RV park in a gated community & ended up at peace...
I also opened an RV park in a gated community & ended up at peace...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2017
very weird story lines
January 13, 2018
So much fun! Can be read again and again!
February 27, 2018
I love the concept of this book the whole choose your destiny concept really spoke to me. But they all seemed so tragic and drama filled
December 11, 2018
The different stories were repetitive and boring, and finishing the different "adventures" became too much of a chore.
March 22, 2019
It’s a choose your own adventure for adults. I tried 3 different scenarios. It was ok but I hoped for more. I guess it’s hard to do that with this type of book.
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