#cadybear's reviews

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Murder at Homecoming

Welcome to the thirty-seventh official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Murder at Homecoming, which I have ranked on the "Platinum Tier" at 9 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was during September-December 2022.

This is definitely one of the better, if not the best release, of 2022, and it’s easily among my personal faves. 

A MC who is proactive and gets shit done, multiple LIs, highly compelling story. How can I not love that? All three of the LIs are amazing characters– and Tyler especially is just precious. I think he’s the first love interest I have ever adored nearly as much as I’ve adored Aiden. I miss when we had male LIs that are just so babygirl. 

The incorporation of mature topics and queer themes was especially excellent. MTFL, take notes! Because THIS is how you write a teen story that talks about queer sexuality and mature behaviors. Besides maybe BiBound I mean BloodBound, this is probably the first book in Choices where each LI has some degree of confirmed sexuality outside of their LI option status for the MC. 

One thing that’s especially notable is how Tyler will talk about how he used to think he was straight if you romance him as a male or enby MC. I normally don’t mind much when LIs in GOC stories are made with the “playersexual” style of writing, but these sort of little changes are a good show of effort and give Tyler more character.

But of course, it’s not without a handful of problems. 

Like COP (1), the story is incredibly linear and none of the clues or choices really affect your story. Sure, they give you a bit of extra background, but that’s about it. 

The only choices that really have any impact are the stuff related to the queer discussions, Tyler’s romance route, and how the options for how your MC can talk about their queer experience can change based on your MC’s gender and romance choices. Which is still highly praiseworthy, don’t get me wrong, but I’d have loved to see some variation in the other elements of the book too.

And as much as I did enjoy this MC and do consider them one of the more refreshing ones, they were also a bit too rigid and pre-set for me at times. I get that some MCs will need to have pre-set details about them, and to some degree that does apply to this MC, but it was a bit much at times. Like, there was especially no need to give them a default first AND last name. I do like the aspect of MC preferring to go by their middle name, but we still could have been allowed to change their first and last names too, to be honest. 

I found it really hard to feel for the loss of Perdita for this reason; the traumatic event backstory didn’t feel as well established, compared to that of ILITW and ACOR MCs. Though to be fair, I do remember there being a handful of premium scenes to see a memory with Perdita, and I do remember skipping all but two of them. 

But even then, I never felt she had quite as much importance as the writers clearly wanted her to have? Outside of being a motivator for MC to solve Gabbie’s case and allowing MC to connect with Donovan better. Maybe my opinion on this might change after I give it a replay, though. 

That being said, I’m actually fine with the story not telling us what really happened to Perdita, as much as I’d have loved a continuation for this book. MC not knowing what happened to Perdita is what motivated them to solve Gabbie’s case, and in that regard, the two cases kind of juxtapose one another. Whereas MC is able to get closure for Gabbie’s case, they don’t do that for Perdita’s case.

That makes the ending a little more nuanced in my opinion. Sometimes, we don’t always get closure for these kinds of things. While I’m still mixed on how well the story integrated Perdita, this message was handled decently and didn’t feel like it was in bad spirit. 

So if there were a continuation for this story, I wouldn’t mind it being centered around MC finding Perdita, motivated to work on that case more actively after their success with Gabbie’s case. But rather than having them solve the case, it can mostly center around them struggling between whether they should keep up that search, or leave it as a cold case and move on. 

Overall, definitely a higher-tier and very respectable story that definitely deserves a replay. 

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Surrender

Ohhh yeah, bitches. It's time for a JUICY review. My first review of a PooPoo Tier book. Just a heads up, this one is gonna get VERY salty.

Welcome to the thirty-fourth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Surrender, which I have ranked on the "PooPoo Tier" at 1 star out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was around February-June 2022 (for the first book) and October 2023 (for the second book).

Holy crap, this series is awful. Like, actually the worst of the whole app, in my opinion. 

It shot itself in the foot from the very start– you can’t have MC be trying to escape a toxic marriage, but have her new endgame love interest be just as bad if not worse than the ex spouse. Reagan literally talks to her as if she’s already their sub from day fucking one. And even worse, MC wants to be Reagan’s sub barely even a few chapters later, so it can almost be read as if Reagan coerced her into BDSM. 

And there was literally no reason to default MC to being a sub here. Okay, I guess it technically does set up the plot for Book 2 where Reagan is refusing to give up control, but saying it doesn’t make sense for the MC to not wanna dom at first is kinda bullshit. The writers say in their blog post about Surrender 1 that “It wouldn’t make sense for her to dom right away”, yet they’re okay with making her sub right away? Other than Reagan basically coercing her into the sub role, there’s nothing given about MC’s character that suggests she couldn’t have had interest in the dom role (or both, as a switch role) at first. 

Truth be told, I’d have much preferred if they let MC have options to try either of the roles and let the player build up her role as sub, dom, switch, sub-leaning, dom-leaning, etc. Especially since MC is supposed to be A) new to BDSM and B) freshly divorced after seeing her toxic spouse cheat on her. So let her take the time to explore and try out what she likes. That would be far more believable for the story and a far more immersive experience for the players. I get that said options wouldn’t have allowed for the arc of Reagan learning to give up some control, but surely they still could have done something creative for a more choice-based system. 

Book 2 does have us start to try a more dominant role, but it’s honestly meaningless. Because all that book does is, it doubles down on how toxic of a partner Reagan is. 

Yes, I know they do give some context for Reagan having control issues with their parents’ own abusive relationship, but as someone who has been in a fairly similar situation, it’s handled horribly. Their behaviors feel like they’re treated more as just an inconvenience or a minor hiccup, rather than genuinely toxic and abusive behaviors. 

Like, here’s all the shit Reagan does in Book 2. They go behind MC’s back to pull strings for her to get that job but then deliberately convinces her that she got it all on her own, constantly acts incredibly infantilizing to her, tries to enforce BDSM-style rules outside of the bedroom to the point where they straight up forbid her from doing a part of her own job, and– probably the worst of them all– literally tells MC “when a woman agrees to be my sub, she agrees to obey”. Honest to God, just that line right there was enough to put this series on my permanent Choices shitlist. 

And funnily enough, the series just almost got a chance to avoid it! After that awful line, MC finally gets some self-respect and dumps Reagan over their controlling behavior, and for a few chapters she has a big girls’ getaway trip with Malorie and (optionally) Reese (funnily enough the next book to be released after Surrender 2 is Getaway Girls). And let me tell you they’re the best chapters of this series and I enjoyed it to the max. It was the only part of the book I was willing to spend diamonds on. 

Now, had MC left Reagan for good– or at least had a proper talk with Reagan– then I might move this series up a view tiers. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there. 

Reagan refuses to take accountability for MC leaving them, and then proceeds to make Anderson track MC down on her trip when they learn she might be taking a job in Seattle. Holy fuck PB, Reagan is literally just Pat Ransic 2.0. In fact, I think they’re much worse actually. 

And what makes it all tragic is that the ending, in theory, could have worked. Reagan does apologize, they do talk things out, Reagan does become more willing to give up control, and we are allowed to choose if we want to be dom, sub, or switch. 

It seems all well and good, except for one little problem: it doesn’t feel earned in the slightest, especially not when the two become engaged at the end of the book (the one time MC is the one who proposes to LI, and it’s in the shittiest Choices book that ever smelled like shit), barely even a chapter after their conversation. Which, by the way, only happened because Reagan tracked MC down on her getaway trip to Vegas. It’s rushed as all hell, and that’s putting it lightly. 

Not only that, but even though Reagan’s behaviors are addressed (or rather, lampshaded), it’s only part of the problem. Grant and Ray’s relationship, the relationship that the writers try to parallel with Reagan and MC’s relationship and that Reagan used to justify going back to MC, was a seemingly healthy relationship where they had struggles making things work, but they weren’t toxic. 

Reagan and MC’s relationship is straight up toxic from the start– again, they acted incredibly predatory towards MC on the very day they met, and their relationship has been filled with nothing but toxicity. And MC fails to realize this, even when calling out Reagan– which is why I don’t think the story really treats the full situation with enough seriousness. The story doesn’t just shoot itself in the foot– it shoots itself in both of its legs AND its free arm, so many times that it’s too late to even amputate them because it’s already died from bleeding out so goddamn much (I know that sounds pretty extreme, but you get the idea). 

Also, to add acid to all of the many wounds, this series was the perfect opportunity to let us have a pegging scene. But outside of one scene in Book 2 where you can mention MC wanting to use a strap-on, we don’t seem to get that. Oh, but they’re perfectly fine with writing Reagan blowing on MC’s cooch despite that that’s a huge risk for an air embolism which is potentially lethal. (Granted someone did say MC can use anal beads on Reagan in the finale scene if you choose MC to be a dom; but I played that scene, after having chosen MC to be dom, and uh… there was no option). 

You know what though, this series isn’t good enough to have pegging anyways. The only pegging Reagan deserves is a pegging in the face with a fucking hammer. 

Fuck this series. What a waste of potential.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Baby Bump

Welcome to the twenty-first official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Baby Bump, which I have ranked on the "Gold Tier" at 8 stars out of a possible 10.

WHY DO PEOPLE HATE THIS SERIES!? WHY!? It’s FINE! 

Okay, I can maybe see why people may not like it because, let’s be real, accidental pregnancy is a very overdone trope. And apparently there were a lot of parts that were originally problematic when the story was released and had to be re-written, but I wasn’t around for that and I know next to nothing about the original lines, so I can’t say much about them. But even now, how does it get ranked as being among the worst so often? Even if you think it’s bad, it’s really not that bad. 

Like… I found it decent? I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as a lot of people have said it is. And I’m saying this as a GNC cis woman who experiences major genital dysphoria and absolutely REVILES the idea of becoming pregnant. Like, I would rather die than ever experience being pregnant. And yet I still quite enjoyed this story. 

I guess it kind of helps that the book is very clearly a pregnancy book from the beginning, so I kind of went in knowing what to expect and thus not self-inserting as the MC at all. Unlike something like TRH, which is a continuation that suddenly introduces a “MC gets pregnant” plot to a non-pregnancy series… but that’s a subject for a different day. 

I’ll be honest though, this story has a pretty awful start. In the flashback in B1 Ch1 where MC meets Mr. Covington, they try waaaayyyyy too hard to make the player swoon at the idea of having his babies. Like, did the guy they wanted to be MC’s baby daddy HAVE to be a celebrity company salesman, who is also the keynote speaker at MC’s graduation? 

And don’t even get me started on the Clint fangirls, who feel like they were written by someone who’s only ever been surrounded by the “Facebook Mom” stereotype and has never met (and probably never will meet) a real horny woman in their entire life. 

Literally, the scene is just all like “OMG LOOK!!! BIG FAMOUS CELEBRITY SALESMAN!!! OMG HE HAS *GASP* ABS!!! OH WOW, A MALE LI IN CHOICES WITH ABS AND BIG MUSCLES! THAT’S SO UNIQUE AND SPECIAL AND TOTALLY NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE!!! OMG ALL THE OTHER WOMEN ARE CHANTING OVER HIS ABS AND WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES TOO!!! DON’T *YOU* WANT TO HAVE HIS BABIES TOO!?!?!?! AREN’T YOU SOOOOOO LUCKY THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BE HAVING HIS BABIES?!?!?!?!?!?!?”. Like, how much intelligence do you think your wlm audience has PB? Really trying to pander to the “Facebook Karen Mom” stereotype here, huh? 

With that in mind, I guess I can understand why people may have gotten a bad impression of the book at first, because the story for how MC got pregnant in the first place (and her conflict with Cassandra in Book 1) feels straight out of one of those weird Instagram and Facebook ads. 

But besides that, it was an okay series! I found it mostly cute and wholesome. Literally everything else was fine! There were even a few moments in Book 2 that made me cry, like when MC can record a sweet message for the babies with a plush bunny she can get from the Baby Baskets. 

Besides maybe Book 1 Dr. Mariana Castillo who is just way too unserious (at least she gets better in Book 2), I honestly really liked the main cast. Even though MC is technically an outsider to the town, she still gets to be very driven and gets shit done rather than being the typical doe-eyed newbie who needs to be shown the ropes. Clint is a sweetheart and does get to be more than just “har dee har muscular celebrity salesman who knocks you up aren’t you soooo lucky” that they wanted him to be in the first chapter. Mayor Dixon is a nice mix of goofy and tsundere, and the female version Myra contributed to my bi awakening. Luisa is just a queen all around. MC’s sister… initially she could sometimes be a bit of a stereotypical “OMG girly girl talk best friend to talk exclusively about LI and diamond outfits” but she does become more than that too, and I really like her subplot with Bao. Speaking of, Bao is just the most absolute precious ever (and shame on PB for making him the sister’s LI and not one for MC /jk). 

The antagonist characters were… kind of a mixed bag, I will admit. They were memorable, but also kind of stupid. Like I said before, Cassandra’s storyline in Book 1 just felt petty and cheap, plus I’m tired of straw loser villain female antagonists who exist solely to compete with the MC over the LI. It never got too overbearing, but it was still stupid. Book 2 Cassandra is great though. 

Then there’s Craig, who wants to destroy everything MC and friends accomplish and take over Gracetown because… potatoes. I guess he’s alright as he is actually a threat in Book 2, but the townspeople can be pretty damn meek to him which is a little weird. But he was still a strong antagonist in that book. Book 1 Craig feels a lot more like he just exists to be an annoyance for the sake of being an annoyance, though. 

Jebediah is a lot more compelling as an antagonist character, and I did expect the Covington family conflict to be incredibly boring but it turned out otherwise. He’s a jerk at first, but it’s nice to see how he does genuinely try to change throughout the storyline of Book 2. 

Also, props to this for being one of only three Choices series ever (the others being OG HSS and ILITW) where the collectible system has some items that aren’t diamond-walled. The baby blanket collectibles are really cute, and it’s really refreshing to have a collectible system that isn’t “the first one is free and then the rest you have to pay for”. Like HSS, there are even some pieces that are determinant on your success in certain events. Why can’t more series do their collectibles like this??? (Oh right, because it requires actual effort). 

Would I say it’s a good or accurate portrayal of pregnancy? IDK, I’m not an expert. But it’s fine if you just want a lighthearted pregnancy story to chill out to. 

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Untameable

Welcome to the thirty-fifth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Untameable, which I have ranked on the "PooPoo Tier" at 1 star out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was around March-September 2022.

Holy fuck this one is so bad. It’s so bland it’s so bland it’s so bland. 

I think this is the first story in Choices to actively anger me. Well, actually, that would actually be OG HSS 2 because of the basketball game drama, but at least that had an excuse for happening and it didn’t taint the whole book. 

Admittedly, this is a weird one to put in the Poopoo Tier along with shit like Surrender and FCL. When you get down to it, it isn’t really offensive or problematic like those two are. There isn’t any glorified toxicity or half-baked resolutions of toxic behaviors or anything like that. But it still had me shouting and ranting at my phone screen with little to no redeeming qualities… so I put it on the tier. 

To start, the story isn’t even that charged with smut outside of those CGs, despite it being a “sexy” book. I mean, at least excessive smut would have made it interestingly bad or fun bad. But no, it’s just boring and frustrating bad. 

Kit is easily the blandest LI I’ve ever seen. Like, textbook definition of a soulless customizable LI. The story tries to push them as a “player” but all we ever see of that is two scenes where people flock over to Kit and swoon over them. But Kit was completely unresponsive to it, so how am I supposed to buy them as a player and not just a local ranch heartthrob? 

The conflict as a whole is super artificial and contrived. I’ll give the affair stories this– as contrived and melodramatic as they are, their “forbidden” attractions actually felt forbidden, by virtue of the LI (or MC in TDA’s case) already being in a relationship with someone else. 

With Untameable, they try to push Kit and MC as a forbidden romance, but literally nothing about it is forbidden besides the fact that Austin will throw a baby Caillou temper tantrum once he catches Kit and MC. Like, he straight up claims their relationship affects the ranch but HOW DOES IT DO THAT. HOW. WHAT MENTAL GYMNASTICS DID YOU DO TO GET TO THAT. IN WHAT WORLD DOES THAT MAKE ANY LOGICAL SENSE. 

It’s not even one of those “it’s more interesting and refreshing as non-wlm” routes like something like SW, TCH (1), ID (1), DLS, and (presumably) Alpha are, despite the “older brother wants to protect younger sibling MC from player friend LI” trope that was meant more for wlm routes. Because, again, it’s trying to force high stakes and forbidden romance where there is none. 

I have no idea why this absolute doodoofart of a book got a sequel. But hey, at least it’s gonna be about a different cast of characters, with Mandy as a LI. Honestly, Mandy was probably the only major recurring character in this book that didn’t bore or annoy me despite leaning very dangerously into the “best friend who talks exclusively about diamond outfits and how you totally deserve to bone the LI” trope.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- It Lives Beneath

Welcome to the fourteenth official Cadybear's Reviews post! Today I'll be talking about It Lives Beneath, which I have ranked on the "Diamond Tier" at 10 stars out of a possible 10.

Like with its predecessor, there’s not much to say on it that hasn’t already been said by everyone else. It’s amazing all the way through. 

Funny how we get ILITW right after OG HSS, and then ILB right after HSS:CA. Love to see the first two MC-switch stories be released next to each other, just as their predecessors were. 

Unlike HSS:CA though, this one was strongly written and actually relevant to its previous iterations. Not to mention, it actually had a meaningful reason to have only minimal usage of its previous installment’s characters when switching MCs– being that it takes place in a completely different locational setting from Westchester and Westchester High. There’s even one recurring returning character that’s actually heavily relevant to the story, and even outside of the returning character, the smaller cameos of the past characters are actually kind of meaningful to the story. 

Bringing back Tom to be a love interest for the new MC was especially a smart move, as it helps solidify the connection between the two books and we get to expand on his character a bit more. Not to mention he’s an amazing love interest too. Like, that part in their lake day premium scene where MC can win a giant stuffed teddy in the carnival game and Tom gets upset when he didn’t win one because he wanted to put a giant teddy in his passenger seat so he could go into the carpool lane??? And then you can have MC give him the teddy???? Yeah, I’m obsessed. 

But even outside of the characters and cast utilization, Beneath as a whole holds up really well to Woods. The nerve scores come back of course, because it wouldn’t be It Lives without nerve scores. And not only that, but they vastly improved it from ILITW’s nerve score system too. 

In Woods, the only real consequences of low nerve are the fates of the characters in one chapter. There are a couple of nerve checks midway through the book, where the characters will talk about how they’re currently feeling. But you don’t see any real consequences and hardcore effects until Chapter 15. 

Beneath, on the other hand, had a nerve score system that was much more complex and fleshed out. Not only does it account for a group nerve score, which affects if anyone even dies at all, but there’s also a variety of potential consequences spread out through the chapters rather than all the fates concentrated into one chapter. Stuff like whether or not Parker will shoot Kelley and then leave the group, whether or not Danni would sell out to Astrid’s temptations, whether or not Tom would save MC from getting their finger bitten off, whether or not Imogen could stop her mom from taking her Power, all take place at certain moments throughout the later chapters and really emphasize the sense of danger our characters are in. 

And they remember these other outcomes too later on. Whether or not Imogen will be able to keep her power, affects whether she’ll be able to recruit zombified Diavolos or whether MC will remember the incantation to take someone’s Power (they’ll have a bit of trouble with it if Imogen’s able to keep her powers, because she cut off her mom in the middle of the incantation!). 

It’s this level of attention to detail that, while it’s easy to say OG HSS > HSS:CA, I’m having a harder time deciding which of the two It Lives books is better. I personally preferred Woods because I found the MC more flexible, their necessary background better established, and the characters much more compelling. But in terms of how fleshed out the lore and nerve score system is, it pales in comparison to Beneath, without a doubt. I plan to go a lot more in-depth about this in a separate “ILITW vs ILB” post. 

Overall, ILB does a great job with its story and with continuing the franchise. While I love that we got fans to make the third part of the anthology (and said third part does a lot of things that not even PB’s best works could even think of doing), PB should still be ashamed of themselves for canceling the sequel to this.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- The Billionaire's Baby

As of the day I’m posting this, this is the last series on the list of Choices stories that I’ve actually fully completed. So what does this mean for Cadybear’s Choices Reviews?

First of all, I can now upload a review (or re-review, for already-reviewed series) of a series sooner after actually completing it. While taking some time to complete a review does let me think about it more, I would prefer my reviews to be more fresh. And like I said, all reviews are subject to more updated re-reviews if necessary.

Second, there are still quite a handful of series on my tierlist where they consist of multiple books, but I haven’t played all of them– TRR, BOLAS, COP, ID, etc. Some of which are still waiting for more books. While I’d generally prefer to review by series rather than by book, I do still have these books ranked on my tierlist with all the rest, and sharing a review for them will at least provide insight to my thoughts on the books and why I gave them the ranking that I did.

So I may or may not plan to write up reviews for those kinds of books. But if I do, I’ll probably title them differently from the usual “Cadybear’s Reviews” or “Cadybear’s Brief Thoughts”. I’ll probably make them as less formally set up reviews, like a more casual text posts. We’ll see. 

Third of all, as much as I love to share my thoughts on certain books, I also love to hear what other people think. So I may plan a little something bonus for the books where I’ve provided very extensive thoughts on them… stay tuned. 

Welcome to the forty-first official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about The Billionaire's Baby, which I have ranked on the "PooPoo Tier" at 1 star out of a possible 10.

Bruhhhh. This is literally just a TNA clone but with a surrogate instead of a nanny. This is literally the pregnancy plot that PB clearly wanted to have with TNA. Yeah, I stand by my statement that if TNA wasn’t GOC LI, they’d have had Sam accidentally knock up MC at the company gala in Book 1 (hence the Jenny and Aditya subplot in Book 3, to make up for being unable to do that with MC and her LI). And I’m gonna hazard a guess that if TBB wasn’t GOC LI, they’d have had Cole accidentally knock up MC in a one-night stand in the first chapter. Granted they already did the whole “MC gets accidentally knocked up by billionaire LI” thing with BaBu Book 1 Chapter 1, but clearly that wasn’t good enough for PB since there wasn’t an affair involved, just Cassandra acting like she was supposed to be Clint’s future wife. 

Okay, maybe what I’m saying might be a bit far-fetched. But I really do mean what I said about this being “TNA: Pregnancy Edition”. 

Right from her very first appearance, they make LI’s current partner Daphne very irritable and callous and disagreeable, obviously so she can be a straw loser villain and make the MC seem like the “better woman” for the LI. Y’know, just like Sofia and Addison in TNA. 

And of course, said LI’s current partner turns out to have been cheating on the LI all this time. Y’know, just like what happened with Sofia in TNA. 

They even have Joss, a LI-gender-determinant character that MC can be flirty with a little to make the actual LI jealous. Y’know, just like Robin and Jordan in TNA. 

Demi is the MC’s best friend who solely exists to churn out “le girly girl talk” exclusively about how MC totally deserves to be with the LI and to give MC the premium outfits that will totally turn on the LI. Y’know, just like Jenny in TNA. 

Honestly, the only thing that’s surprised me about this book is that Joss wasn’t the one Daphne was cheating on our LI with. Which just makes it worse because now there’s just no point to Joss’s character other than to be Windows Vista Robin. Like, at least actual Robin had some actual character and point to existing in the story.

This book is just so unserious. A lot of Choices smut books try to force “true romantic feelings of love” onto couples that are clearly purely lust-based, TNA included. But this one is the motherfucking GOD of that. It puts TNA to shame in that regard. 

Though, I’m gonna be honest, I think TNA as a whole was leagues better than TBB. 

For one thing, TNA is at least honest about being an affair story. But I guess “The Surrogate Affair” doesn’t sound as marketable, huh? Sure, let’s instead just bait people into thinking the affair story is something actually compelling like FCL did. 

For second, TNA at least had memorable characters like the Twins and Carter, and most of the other supporting characters did at least feel like actual characters. Characters like Robin, Sofia, Addison, Carter, Aditya, Paolo, even smaller ones like Sam’s parents, do genuinely stick with me. Characters like Carmen, Harrison, Joss, Collie’s parents, that one guy that Demi was crushing on… yeah you’ll probably forget they even exist barely an hour after you finish the story. 

Thirdly, I can at least somewhat buy Sam admiring MC for how good she is with the twins. And their attraction to each other was more tolerable too because, as awful as MC was for pursuing Sam, I never got the feeling that she felt entitled to them. Whereas IDK what else Collie sees in MC other than “hee hoo sexy woman”, and it’s worsened by how much MC acts entitled to them, how much she goes on and on about how she should be with them instead of Daphne. 

And last, the first TNA book at least plays up the affair aspect by having Sam and MC anticipate the trouble they’ll be in at the end. Books 2 and 3 were unnecessary garbage for sure, but at least during the first book, they had some sense of humility and self-awareness. TBB not only has none of that, but it thinks it has the fucking balls to throw in this end message about “remember to follow your heart”. If that isn’t just outright stating you want people to take your affair story seriously as being about true love rather than the lust-based affair it actually is, then IDK what is. 

Like… overall, TNA may be pretty derivative and melodramatic too, but it’s at least fun and engaging to some degree? It has its own “so bad it’s good” charm to it. Like the writers actually cared about giving us a somewhat enjoyable affair story, even if it wasn’t very high-quality. 

TBB is just… empty. The only thing it does better than TNA is that it ended after one book.

 Now, this story gets a lot of understandable and deserved hate, but despite that I myself am ranking this on PooPoo Tier, I’m not even sure I can hate it because it’s just… so derivative in every way. Cheating, pregnancy, and billionaire romance is a combination that has probably been done countless times by literally every other VN app like Chapters and Episode that tries to pander to the “Facebook Moms” stereotype. I don’t even play those apps, I never have, but I’m pretty sure they’ve done this whole “OhEhmGee you’re pregnant with the baby of a sexy powerful billionaire isn’t that sooo hotttt???” thing already like a million times now. If MTFL is the equivalent to a dog eating another dog’s shit and then shitting it back out again, TBB is the equivalent to a dog eating its OWN shit, probably mixed with some other dogs’ shit too, and then shitting it all out into a great big steaming mess much worse than its predecessors.  

And one of the worst things about it all is… how tragic this whole story’s existence is. The moment I heard this was about MC being a surrogate for a billionaire couple and you “uncover their scandals”, there was a small period of time when I was hopeful that this story wouldn’t be as cliched and formulaic as the title made it seem. (Of course, that short period of time ended when I learned that the LI was gonna be one of the members of the billionaire couple). Like, this could have been a story where MC doesn’t romance Collie (or even better, has both Daphne and Collie as LI options) and is a surrogate for them, but it turns into a sort of mystery story where you uncover a history of dirty scandalous secrets behind the couple, and your MC starts to feel conflicted about giving them this child and leaving said child in the hands of this couple while knowing all the shit they’ve done. 

But no, we had to go with an affair story and the only “scandal” is that the billionaire couple doesn’t love each other. Oh wow, so spicy amirite? (Haha no)

So, why do I have this one in the “PooPoo Tier”? Seeing as I reserve that tier for books that actively anger me. TBB was originally ranked in the Stone Tier because of how little substance it had and how little emotion it evoked from me. 

But as soulless and substanceless as it was, I eventually figured that it really did deserve to be in the worst list. Because it just does… everything wrong, from the very beginning. It baits us into thinking it’s a good story, only to give us a cheap affair story. It’s a rehash of previous, more mediocre Choices stories. It forces us to take it more seriously than it actually deserves. All of the characters are lackluster and empty. 

Seriously, name me one thing that this story does right. I originally had this book on Stone Tier with books like Ms. Match, Slow Burn, Roommates With Benefits, and the whole TNA trilogy, but at least those books had some redeeming qualities. Heck, even all of the other books on PooPoo tier have some redeeming qualities. Surrender at least explored BDSM acts a bit and tried to normalize kink. FCL at least had some good energy with the road trip setting and all the different places the group explored. Untameable at least didn’t have toxic behaviors glorified as acceptable, heroic, or passable. Granted I still consider those books worse for how badly they fucked things up when they easily couldn’t have– they anger me because there are multiple points where they could have taken their story in a better direction but didn’t, and instead chose to make their story worse. 

But TBB was pretty much doomed from the moment it confirmed we’d be romancing one of the members of the billionaire couple we’re a surrogate for. There’s no point of this story where it could have been even somewhat decent if they changed it, unless they just threw the whole thing out and started over from scratch. 

And that’s why I think I can safely say, it’s among the worst.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- First Comes Love

Welcome to the fortieth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about First Comes Love, which I have ranked on the "PooPoo Tier" at 1 star out of a possible 10.

The MC is a fucking incel. Or a femcel. That’s what FCL stands for, it’s an abbreviation for femcel because the MC is a FemCeL. It also works as an abbreviation for fucking incel. Because the MC is a Fucking inCeL. 

Seriously though. This book is so fucking tragic. I thought it was gonna be a cutesy friendly romance buddy road-trip story with a marriage pact plot worked into it somehow. 

Instead, it’s 20 straight chapters of women being pit against each other over a love interest. Kinda like one of those affair stories, except it’s even worse here than in something like TDA, TNA, or TBB because it never even tried to have the excuse of the love interest (or MC in TDA’s case) being arranged into a loveless marriage with a total jerk spouse. 

Instead, the love interest is dating this new girl Rebecca who… doesn’t like the outdoors as much as Blake does? Oh no! The horror, the horror!

This was especially funny to read right after I finished Surrender 2 (which was first released not too far before FCL was first released!!). That book openly preached in the Grant and Ray subplot that if our partner doesn’t like an activity that we do like, you can find other people to do that activity with, and you and your partner can still find other stuff that you do enjoy together. 

As much as Surrender is the worst piece of shit that ever shat out shit on this app, it had a fair point! Not all partners in relationships are going to like all the same things. Yet here in FCL, when we see Rebecca not liking outdoorsy activities as much as Blake does, the book tries to push it as “proof” that they’re incompatible for each other. 

It tries to push Rebecca as this horrible person who doesn’t work with Blake, and make us sympathize with FemCeL MC’s resentment for her, except why should I believe that she doesn’t work with Blake? Sure, she’s only known Blake for a month and they don’t quite see eye-to-eye on personal tastes, but so fucking what? Their relationship is still in the baby steps. The two have plenty of room to take the time to get to know each other better and see if they’re compatible or not. If they’re not compatible, that’s something they should be able to figure out by themselves; MC is in no right or place to decide that they don’t work, let alone try to break them up. For fuck’s sake, Emma Hawkins from HSS literally said “Nice girls finish last” when she was upset about Caleb being with Zoe, and even then, even when she had that mindset, she understood this shit better than the FemCeL MC ever could!!! 

The real kicker of all this is the fact that Rebecca isn’t toxic or horrible in the slightest. Again, the reasons they try to push that Rebecca and Blake don’t work basically just boil down to “she doesn’t like the same things Blake likes”. But not only is that a weak reason for MC to deem them incompatible, but as a whole, Rebecca is characterized as someone who is very kind and well-meaning. 

I’ll give some credit to the affair stories (again, unfortunately), at least they give us actual reasons to root against the relationships between the LIs and their current partners. Sure, their worse traits are exaggerated as all hell for the sole purpose of making the MC seem like “the better woman” for the LI, but the point is that at least we have some actual reason for why Sam shouldn’t be with Sofia, or why Sam shouldn’t be with Addison, or why Cole/Callie shouldn’t be with Daphne. 

With Rebecca however, they put in as little effort into it as possible to make her horrible in any way. She doesn’t like all the things Blake likes– so what, there’s still more for them to explore and share in their relationship, couples don’t have to like all of the same things. She’s kind of squeamish about heights and bats– so what, those are completely normal phobias and she’s not acting entitled or overbearing about it. She pettily tries to keep Blake away from MC– yeah, well, you know fucking what? She’s actually right to do that, MC’s being a complete ass to her. 

And yes, I know we have options for MC to be nice to Rebecca, but unfortunately they’re not meaningful in the slightest. Because even when I consistently have MC be nice to Rebecca, the book still tries to push MC into being resentful towards her. Those “nice options” ultimately just reroute us into more of a “pretends to be your friend” character. In fact, the book pretty much drops the nice options and hard-routes MC into scheming against Rebecca after only five chapters. So it’s nothing more than a cosmetic illusion-of-choice. 

Even worse is that MC is a complete fucking hypocrite too. She can accuse Rebecca of being a “control tyrant”, a “boyfriend/girlfriend stealer”, whatever the fuck, even though that’s exactly how MC is behaving to Rebecca and Blake! Honestly, I consider her the worst written Choices MC of all time. At least Witness MC was only acting irrational because that’s kind of how people may act after being through a highly traumatic event like witnessing a murder? This FemCeL MC has no excuse for ANY of her behaviors. And no, “Because Rebecca killed my Grandma!” isn’t a valid excuse.  

Though, if there’s anything that does make Rebecca and Blake a terrible match, it’s Blake’s complete lack of spine. They’re Caillou’s parents levels of passive towards MC’s obvious scheming. Like, even that complete stranger Sky figured out that MC had her eyes on Blake; there’s no way they themselves didn’t figure it out too unless they were on shrooms the whole trip. 

Speaking of, MC has some serious fucking balls go and blame Blake for “leading her on when they don’t know what they want”. Don’t get me wrong, Blake was incredibly shitty to Rebecca, but you’re seriously gonna act like Blake was shitty to MC too? The whole reason they’re even in this indecisive passive mess in the first place is because MC kept actively trying to screw over their relationship with Rebecca. You started this, MC. You brought this upon yourself. Stop playing the victim here. 

And MC and Blake aren’t the only awful characters in this story either. Lino’s entire character consists of actively and gleefully encouraging MC to break apart Blake and Rebecca’s relationship. Highlight of this book is when I got to smack Lino with a kayak paddle. “Accidentally”, of course. 😀Eve is slightly better as she does challenge MC and Lino’s scheming, but then halfway through the story, she does a COMPLETE 180 and starts encouraging MC to get with Blake. 

And these characters are supposed to be in their late 20s/early 30s too. Pfft. More like, r/13or30, because they’re supposed to be 30 year olds but they act like 13 year olds. I bet even Felicia and Lino’s unborn child was acting more mature than these characters. Then again, considering who his father is, I wouldn’t be so sure that he’s in good hands. 

Of course, all this would be more tolerable if MC actually faced consequences for her behaviors. But she doesn’t. She gets told off by Eve and Rebecca, sure, and we do even get a premium scene where we’re allowed to hear Rebecca lay down some criticisms onto MC. But in the end, MC pretty much gets by with a slap on the wrist for it and proceeds to inevitably end up with Blake in the end. Sooooo yeah, the few callouts MC does get are really only on the level of lampshading, rather than MC facing actual consequences. Just because you simply pointed out the problems doesn’t make them go away, PB!

I’ve got nothing wrong with MCs that can take on a more villainous or morally grey role, or at least don’t have to be nice and friendly all the time– like QB MC, ACOR MC, possibly TH:M MC, and even OG HSS MC to an extent. Heck, even TNA 1 at least tried to make the affair situation seem more morally grey sometimes. 

The thing is, you have to show a little self-awareness. And no, I don’t mean by having someone outright say “these behaviors are bad” and call it a day. I mean actually frame them as villainous or morally grey. 

Let’s look at OG HSS for example, it’s a smaller scale example but you’ll still get the idea. In Book 3, you can decide at multiple points whether you want to be more welcoming or more cold towards the incoming Hearst kids. Being more cold towards the Hearst kids wouldn’t exactly be out-of-pocket given the established school rivalry, and the past conflicts with other Hearst kids in the previous books. 

And if you choose mostly unwelcoming and cold options, it can lose you the spot in your activity that you’re trying out for, even if your MC is successful at tryouts. The reasoning your team captain gives for this is that they don’t want to start drama by picking someone who treats the guests unkindly. 

This works because MC would have believable reasons for these less favorable behaviors, AND they face actual consequences for said behaviors for a realistic and believable reason. 

But in FCL, they’re clearly trying to make us sympathize with MC’s awful behaviors and portray her feelings for Blake as if it’s “true love”. MC is very much meant to be seen as the hero; she still gets together with Blake in the end, and the most condemnation that she ever faces is Rebecca and Eve calling her out once or twice before eventually encouraging her to get with Blake. 

Like, there’s even this scene where you can let Rebecca lay down rightful criticisms onto MC, which is perhaps the other highlight of the story. But it eventually just morphs into Rebecca giving MC a pass because “This isn’t some silly college crush, you really love him don’t you?”. Just… no. Just no. MC, if you truly loved Blake, you’d have respected their damn relationship. 

This is the type of shit why I can’t take it seriously when shills try to defend pointless genderlocking because “this is one of the few games with female leads targeted to women, so let us have this”. Yeah that’s not a valid argument at all when the people making said game have an obviously very low opinion of said target audience of women. Oh yes, I feel soooo empowered as a woman with these stories about being pit against other women into petty catfights over a love interest. Granted, of course, I think all players deserve better than this kind of story regardless of gender, but you get what I mean. 

I’ll give this book some credit though. This is probably the first book where I felt actively good about turning down all the premium stuff. Even in trashy books like Surrender and TNA and RWB, I do often find myself being very tempted out of curiosity to try some of those dirty thirties. But in FCL, I had no problem rejecting all the scenes with Blake, as cute as the East Asian male sprite was. 

This one definitely goes on my permanent Choices shitlist. I personally consider it the second worst story on the app.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Wake the Dead

Welcome to the thirty-third official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Wake the Dead, which I have ranked on the "Bronze Tier" at 5 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was around December 2021-May 2022.

So this one is, uh, very complicated…

I really should like this one more, and I want to like it! It has actual impactful choices with the Hard Choice system and the structure building! This is the type of shit that should put a story in my Diamond Tier! 

Unfortunately, while it did have choices that affect the storyline, the story as a whole was pretty lacking in enjoyability. 

After the first three chapters, following the death of MC’s sister, the story just kind of… fell off. It just dragged on when they weren’t fighting zombies. I know action/thriller/horror stories shouldn’t be nothing but intense gory fight scenes or whatever, but I literally could not have been more bored when they were recruiting new colony members. They didn’t do a lot to make it interesting other than seeing all the different kinds of colonies and new breeds of zombies. 

And why the hell is this book so safe with the main cast?? Like, there is literally no sense of danger, no potential consequences for any of them. I mean at the very most, Eli can get shot and Shannon can get PTSD, but that’s about it. There aren’t any consequences to any of the other characters for having low stats, and the plot armor for these characters is insanely high. 

I know not every horror story has to have all the characters die or get harmed in order to have impact, but it just doesn’t have that same feeling of dread and danger like something like the It Lives series had. A few side characters like Cassidy and Mack will die, but they never gave us a lot of (if any) reason to care about them like ILS did with its non-LI characters like Lily, Dan, Noah, ILB MC’s grandpa, etc. 

And don’t even get me started on the ending. There were zero stakes in that final fight! And the memorial scene was just awful. Why is MC’s sister the only one that gets honored? Then again, everyone else that died were all such forgettable non-characters that they make HSS:CA’s side characters seem relevant and fleshed out. No wonder the book didn’t remember to include them in the memorial.

And the real kicker? Like I said, this is the kind of book I should be putting on Diamond Tier. Like, with books like FCL, Surrender, TBB… we do anticipate better from them, we do mourn the wasted potential of them, but we at least kind of expect them to end up being trashy, or unremarkable at the very least. 

WTD, on the other hand, is something I think we all expected to be amazing. And credit where credit is due, it does have a lot of aspects that make it respectable, not to mention a breath of fresh air as we were entering into an era of mostly single-LI choiceless stories. The hard choice system, 5 non-customizable LIs, exploring the action/zombie horror genre. But I just feel like it could have done more. 

Maybe one day, I’ll give this book a second chance.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- The Phantom Agent

Welcome to the thirty-eighth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about The Phantom Agent, which I have ranked on the "Gold Tier" at 8 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this was during October-December 2022 (and completed in October 2023).

I really enjoyed this one, partly because I’m a sucker for secret agent/spy/James Bond type stories, and partly because there were a lot of refreshing elements of this. 

First, I love having a MC that is experienced at their profession rather than the usual newbie. I know PB probably makes the MCs newbies to make them more self-insertable, it is possible to have a self-insertable MC that is also experienced. 

Like, we’re playing a secret agent book. We already expect, going in, that MC is gonna be a secret agent, one way or another. Sometimes a newbie MC can make the introduction to the environment and the characters feel more natural, but it can also work to make them more experienced/familiar if you leave the backstory up to interpretation. Anyways. 

Second, this is probably the only GOC-LI story in the whole app where the wlm route is infinitely more interesting than the mlw version. I’ve seen some people suspect that this one was written with a mlw route in mind, rather than how most books tend to be written with wlm in mind. And I do think that’s possibly true, considering stuff like fem!body MC being complimented for their “broad shoulders” when they wear the premium doctor disguise, or m!Agent Grey’s swim trunks being described as “a swimsuit that hugs his hips” (extra pain on that last one btw, when are we gonna get male/masc!body swimsuits that actually hug their hips instead of the shopping bag ass swim trunks). 

But whatever the case, it still made for a damn good and refreshing wlm playthrough. MC can be flirty, but in a very suave way, rather than sultry and enticing manner that PB often gives to flirtatious MC behaviors. Instead, it’s characters like Nurse Lou and Alexis Reid who are flirty in an enticing manner. We’ve got Nurse Lou, who gets reeeaaallll hot and bothered for MC after learning they’re the one who saved the hospital. We’ve got Alexis Reid, who acts very seductive and almost femme-fatale-ish to MC. 

It’s such a great change in pace for MC’s dynamics with hookups and LIs. Even little moments with other GOC characters like MC checking out Agent Grey’s ass and hips in a vent, or Rowan hooking their leg around MC’s hip when they’re fighting, are just refreshing as all fuck. 

I didn’t care much for Agent Grey though. I mean, they were alright as a character and they do fit the role of the obligatory prissy/sultry female character that partners with James Bond, but at least those ones had some character. Grey was much more stale and didn’t really have a lot of personality outside of basically being a tsundere, so that made it weird when they tried to push them as a big romantic love interest. 

Rowan wasn’t bad either, but they weren’t exactly much better in terms of how much character they had and I found it harder to get a feel for their history with the MC. Similarly with Perdita, I never felt like they had as much importance as the writers wanted them to have. And they don’t really explain how Rowan’s death was faked or why they sided with the Architect. 

Also, I loved the music. Especially the opening theme, which is very clearly inspired by “No Time To Die”. The neurons that were activated in my brain when I watched that movie and we got to the parts of that song that sounded just like the tune from TPA. Like, the first few instrumental bits in the middle of the song are almost the exact same as the last part of the Choices soundtrack. Definitely adds to the whole “James Bond” feel of the story. If anything confirms that this story is PB’s take on a James Bond film, this is it.

Overall, I think it’s a fun story. Not one of the best-made stories, it’s still pretty uni-directional, but it’s still a breath of fresh air in its respective Choices era, and probably enjoyable if you like to chill out to spy stories.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Ride or Die

Welcome to the seventeenth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about Ride or Die, which I have ranked on the "Wood Tier" at 3 stars out of a possible 10.

(Peter Griffin voice) Before we all die, there’s one secret I have to share with you. I did not care for Ride or Die. 

Yeah… I do not get this one. I do not get why so many people say this story made them cry or that it was so emotional and tragic. I do not get why (at least in more recent years) this has been paraded as one of Choices’ bests along with the likes of TCATF, ES, and ILS. Like, even if you really really love this book, I don’t think it comes anywhere close to being among the bests. It’s been a while since I last played, but even when right after I did play it, I could not buy into the “tragic and bittersweet” themes that people praise this book for. 

Now don’t get me wrong, as a story in itself, it isn’t terrible. It’s a pretty simple story about a MC who wants a taste of adrenaline and independence before going off to college. And in some aspects it does manage to somewhat subvert the “Ohhhhh, the innocent studious good girl falls in love with the immoral criminal bad boy and he turns her bad, but oh no her dad wouldn’t approve of his innocent little daddy’s girl running off with a bad boy, and she’s gonna be all like ‘But Daddy I love him!!1!!1!!11!’ when he finds out and scolds her about it” kind of story that it comes off as at first (though I still found it very pointlessly genderlocked, both MC and Logan should have been GOC). Granted I’d still like to see the dynamic changed up for a bit, with MC as the immoral tough baddie and LI as the innocent one who breaks out of that image as they fall for the MC.

I did like the parts (though I think there were only like 2 or 3 of them) where you could choose between focusing on your studies or spending time with the Crew, and you could pay diamonds to combine the events. And if I’m not mistaken, it does affect whether or not your MC becomes valedictorian at the end. But that’s about the only thing that affects your story route I think. 

And credit where credit is due, it is unique in that MC and LI don’t get together and have a happily ever after in the end (not that it would have been earned if they did anyways lol). It’s not a fantastic ending, but it is solid and at least a different change of pace. Why couldn’t the “MC and LI don’t get together in the end and live happily ever after” have happened in books like TNA, Surrender, FCL, and TBB?

So in concept, I do think this kind of story could have worked. Unfortunately, there are so many things that bring it down for me. 

To start off, MC’s relationship with the Mercy Park Crew felt incredibly shallow to me. It technically makes sense, since they’re all meant to go their separate ways, but it also kind of makes it hard to feel any sadness for when we actually get to that point. So any “tragic” themes just felt… very lukewarm to me. The only part that actually felt emotional to me was when Teppei Kaneko sacrificed himself, because… you know. My dude got himself blown the fuck up in a car crash on purpose to save the others.

Most melodramatic and forced of all was Logan. I seriously do not follow Logan’s supposed “special reason” for taking interest in MC. Even after seeing other people explain it, I still don’t get it. I don’t understand why it’s so god damned special, nor why Logan himself is so god damned special and why he of all the LIs was the main LI. He just seemed like a standard bad boy where I know fuck all about his character other than that he and Colt kind of had some beef with each other. 

On that note, Colt was the only LI I felt had any real emotional stakes and character and thus the only one I felt I had any reason to give a damn about in this story (also, he’s apparently a good passenger princess and says “you’ll always be my best driver” or something like that). And Mona… well, she had slightly more character than Logan at least, but she still felt like an obligatory token female LI (especially considering the book’s subtitle, seriously it’s really not helping the story at all). 

All of this would probably put it on my Bronze Tier. But there’s just one more thing that brings it down. The story pacing. 

The plot has some of the worst pacing I have ever seen. Like, MC’s dad should pull it over and charge it with a DUI. There were way too many things going on all at once, and I could not follow any of it. So if there somehow was any actual emotional substance or narrative depth to this story, I completely missed it. 

That all being said, this book being mid isn’t completely the story’s fault. This was originally slated to have a sequel, and the plan the writers had revealed on Storyloom actually sounds pretty awesome and much better than what we got in the first book. Basically, it takes place 5 years later where MC has just finished college, and she’s apparently contacted because of her connections with the MPC and has to bring everyone together again for a new adventure, ending with MC and LI driving off into the sunset. 

Originally, I figured the ending was conclusive as it was and there wasn’t really much that could be done with a sequel, even in a meeting-again-older-and-wiser side story set in the future. But now knowing the scrapped plan? We did kinda miss out. I mean, the ending it does have still works, but the story they planned for the sequel would have greatly improved the series. Though the thing where “MC and LI ride off together into the sunset” should at least have an option for MC to not get with her LI of choice by saying “I’ve long since moved on”. 

To me, this is just a simple story about a MC who wants a taste of adrenaline and independence just before the end of her high school years. Nothing all that emotionally complex or narratively deep. Yeah, I know I give high praise to stories like OG HSS and TH:M that aren’t exactly complex or deep either, but they at least have highly varying story routes, compelling characters, and good pacing to show for it. 

I don’t hate this one, but man is it overhyped as hell. Even if I did like this one (and who knows, I just might end up liking it after I give it a replay), I don’t think it’s nearly as good as people have made it out to be. I just don’t see it. 

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- The Nanny Affair

Welcome to the twenty-sixth official Cadybear's Reviews! Today I'll be talking about The Nanny Affair, which I have ranked on the "Stone Tier" at 4 stars out of a possible 10.

I have a very love-hate relationship with this trilogy. 

Why “love”? Well, I do kind of have a soft nostalgic spot for it, as Book 1 was the first Choices book I ever completed. And I was very intrigued by the story. Even though it was a cliched mess, it was kind of a fun cliched mess? It was fun to make fun of, that’s for sure. Like in the LEGO Batman movie when Batman watches tacky melodramatic romance movies to laugh at them. It’s like that for me. 

For the most part, I do think Book 1 is pretty average. Don’t get me wrong though, it did also have a lot of outrageous moments. Through most of the book, Sofia is pushed as an obvious straw loser villain, presented as the type of mother figure that the kids don’t like while MC is the one that they do like. She does eventually start to get along with the kids better, but it’s still so obvious what they were going for. They clearly wanted us to see Sofia as the enemy.

Like, it’s fine if she wants the kids to eat healthier, but of course the story has to have her throw out the “unhealthy” breakfast MC made for them into the trash. Y’know, to show how “meanie stinky pooface evil” she is and how “nice and kind and loving” the MC is in comparison. 

Sam is also probably one of the most heavily male-coded LIs I’ve ever seen. Mainly in that the whole motive for marrying Sofia off to Sam is so blatantly meant for male Sam. Paolo straight up says women are “unstable” in the workplace and that having Sofia become a wife and mother would “diffuse her ticking biological clock bomb”. 

It makes no sense with female Sam, no matter how much mental gymnastics you try to do. You believe women don’t belong in the workplace and “need to fulfill their roles as wives and mothers”, so in order to obtain that with your own daughter, you marry her off to… a literal female CEO? What?

Also, Sam saying that the kids have been “without a mother figure” after Addi seemingly died. Was it too hard to just say “without a second parent figure”???

But yeah. For the most part, Book 1 is functional. I still hate how contrived the whole arranged marriage aspect is (it’s very weird to imagine arranged marriages taking place in modern-day America), but other than that, it is pretty solid and coherent. It’s ultimately exactly what it was on the cover. And the ending with Sam and MC anticipating the upcoming news drama storm of their affair was fitting and even has a touch of self-awareness, and could work as a book AND series finale. 

But instead… we had to get two more books, because dollar-store YA smut sells. 

And Books 2 and 3 just drag everything on unnecessarily. Book 1 did kind of force me to take Sam and MC's feelings a bit seriously, but there was still enough of a lighthearted tone and a little bit of self-awareness at the end, that you could take it as a trashy soap opera story. And as poorly executed as it was, it being an affair did add some spice to it. Again, it was exactly what it was on the cover.

But the following books don't work at all. Sam fires MC from her nanny position in the very first chapter of Book 2 and they're pretty much an official relationship now, so right off the bat, it’s not a nanny affair anymore. It has them go on to eventually get married, and it tries so goddamn hard to push them as a loving couple when their relationship is completely empty and purely lust-based. 

Not to mention, Sam and MC are some of the biggest hypocrites in the world, condemning Sofia for her affair and disowning Robin for "betraying Sam" by having an affair with Sofia, even though Sam and MC did the exact same shit: having an affair, in an arranged marriage that was loveless on both parties’ halves.

And the following scandals in these next books are so contrived. Jordan is pushed as this super important character in Chapter 1 of Book 2, but just when it seems like we're able to have something kinda scandalous with them, MC immediately wants to go back with Sam, because potatoes, and Jordan turns out to be nothing more than a plot device working for Robin, because potatoes.

Book 3 is the worst of all because of how it treated Addison- given she was presumed dead for 5 years, had amnesia within that time, only just now remembered everything and has found her family again only to find her beloved spouse engaged to another woman, she should be the type of character we want to sympathize with. 

But even though the book does give us options to be nicer to her, it's so painfully obvious they want us to root against her with how over-the-top petty and scheming she is towards MC. 

Addison being a little overly pushy about wanting to reconnect with her family and holding some resentment towards MC is fine, but PB just went over-the-top in making her a jerk by having her deliberately sabotaging MC, accusing her of deliberately trying to steal her family, and more. Like Sofia, she's nothing more than a straw loser villain, made exaggeratedly bad for the sole purpose of making MC seem like the "better woman" for Sam. Even though we all know they're gonna end up together whichever way. Except it’s done even worse here than it was with Sofia. 

That being said though, I do think Sofia got some good character development in the second book, allowing her to move on from the affair stuff. And I think Book 3 is also notable for being the first book in Choices history to allow a female MC to penetrate a male LI’s bootyhole. Granted it was like one brief line of dialogue, but we’re getting there. And of course I did enjoy the twins and Carter; we can all agree they’re the best characters in the series. 

So overall… I have mixed feelings on this series. Hence why I’ve ranked each of the three books separately. Book 1 was a mixed bag but competent and enjoyable enough. Book 2 was just empty and meandering. And Book 3 was just petty and annoying. 

So I’d deem the series as a whole as a serviceable but empty and formulaic trilogy.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- #LoveHacks

Welcome to the seventh official Cadybear's Reviews post! Today I'll be talking about #LoveHacks, which I have ranked on the "Gold Tier" at 8 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this series was back in February 2022.

I quite enjoyed this one and found it hilarious. 

It seems to get low opinions from other members of the fandom and while it certainly isn’t one of PB’s best works, I think it’s far from being in any of the bad tiers. I will say though, Book 1 felt like one hell of a fever dream. It wasn’t bad or anything, it just felt a little bizarre. The pacing of the plot was just fucking everywhere, and MC befriending Mark’s friends felt very rushed. 

I do like that they had a lot of free outfits, especially since I generally found them more appealing than most of the diamond outfits. But I hated that characters (in Book 1 anyways) would throw a hissy-fit when you chose free outfit options. Characters really wanna complain about my new formal fit looking too “plain” when not only do they wear the same shit every day, their own formal fit is the exact same style as my formal wear? Fuck off. 

Also, everyone seemed way too hard on Cole for some reason? I think they’re maybe going for a “Shut up, Meg” kind of gag with him or whatever you call that trope…? But… it could get a bit overbearing at times. That trope works best if the character actually deserves it, but some of the stuff Cole got shit for just felt way too innocuous to me? Especially in the earlier chapters, it didn’t really sit right with me. 

I definitely think the series picked up around Book 2. There’s much less shaming of free outfit choices, and the plotlines felt significantly more grounded and focused while still maintaining a sense of wild humor. “Unleash the panther” will always be iconic to me. 

As a side note, I would consider this one semi-pointlessly genderlocked. Or semi-pointfully genderlocked. Whatever, same thing. On one hand, a fair amount of the story is driven by Martin and TJ being misogynistic to MC, which eventually prompts her to leave ClickIt to start her own blog page with Leah. On the other hand, I feel like a sort of a workplace sexism story could maybe be adapted for a male MC too. 

Whereas a female MC deals with being looked down upon because the guys think she’s trying to “redecorate” or “feminize” things at ClickIt, a male MC might be looked down upon for refusing to indulge in their sort of “alpha male” mindsets. Considering it’s unfortunately pretty common for these kinds of people to deem other guys as “low testosterone beta male soyboys” if they stray even the slightest from being stereotypically masculine. I’m just spitballing here, but I do think it's worth exploring how these guys might have treated a male MC. 

Overall, it’s good as a “lighthearted chill fun” Choices series with a compelling enough storyline.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Endless Summer

Welcome to the sixth official Cadybear's Reviews post! Today I'll be talking about Endless Summer, which I have ranked on the "Diamond Tier" at 10 stars out of a possible 10. My last and only playthrough of this series was back in July-August 2021.

Compelling story, choices that matter (I think), memorable fun characters… what’s not to love? 

What especially stands out to me is the juxtaposition of what seems like a fun summer vacation trip turning into the motherfucking apocalypse. And it is unapologetically brutal about it, and in a damn good way too. And the three different endings are great in that they each have their own unique benefits and consequences (except Rourke’s ending, which has only consequences and only tricks you into thinking it’s all benefits). 

The characters were all memorable, being one of those few series where the larger cast works in the story’s favor. Craig and Zahra are probably my favorites and definitely a beloved couple for me– most memorable for me was the scene in Book 3 when Craig saw Zahra’s decoy skeleton, streak of maroon hair and all, and screamed and broke down. Like, that actually shook me to my core. And how we saw Craig’s vulnerable side in that scene and how he cares so much about Zahra??? I love them so much, your honor! 

I played this one without spending any diamonds, and contrary to popular belief, I did find the story easy to follow. You definitely miss out on a lot of lore, but you can still understand what is happening. I did, however, dislike that dating your love interest is basically paywalled– but in fairness, it does feel a little more authentic to have it be determinant on your relationship score with them. 

I think the only thing I have any real problem with is that… I don’t remember the relationship scores having a lot of effects on the story, other than a series of events in the last chapter of Book 1… but it has been a while since I last played this, so yeah. Also, Raj should have been a LI. 

And side note, forgive me if I’m soapboxing for a bit, but let us not forget that this is the first official GOC MC book (MW and TCATF, though they have both a f!MC and a m!MC, are technically more dual-MC stories) and I think it’s worth bringing up any time someone tries to defend pointless genderlocking. GOC isn’t a new thing for Choices– or even for PB in general, as HSS Prime and HWU both had GOC MCs. While early Choices did have a handful of genderlocked books too, it has also regularly had GOC stories. And it’s the only of these kinds of apps that regularly has had and still has GOC stories, whereas the rest are 99% genderlocked (and wlm-locked) stories. Bottom line, people aren’t demanding more GOC out of nowhere or out of some “misogynistic male entitlement”. 

Overall, a brilliant series.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Choices Reviews: The Masterlist + Ranking of Choices stories (Note: List is subject to frequent updates)

(Keep in mind, I'm initially posting this as purely the tierlist without links. As I start posting my reviews, I'll begin to fill it out with the links to the reviews.)

I've been compiling a Google Doc of reviews for all the Choices stories I've played and I figured, it's about time I started sharing them. So here's where I'm going to be collecting them all.

This collection of links to my reviews will be organized in a tierlist-style format. This tierlist is subject to changes.

Notes:

All reviews are subject to updated versions, ie. re-reviews, and its place in the tierlist may change as well. If I have to make a re-review for a story, it will get its own brand-new post. However, all reviews of a story will be included in the list.

Stories that are part of an anthology or are spinoffs will get separate posts. For example, ILB gets its own separate post from ILITW, HSS:CA gets its own separate review from OG HSS, Unbridled gets its own separate review from Untameable, Rivals with Benefits gets its own separate review from Roommates with Benefits. But I will still compare them to their respective predecessors in their reviews.

Stories that change their titles midway through the series but retain the storyline of the same MC will not be getting separate reviews for each title change. TRR and TRH will be reviewed together, all of TFS will be reviewed together. But this is subject to exceptions (eg. I might end up separating TRR and TRH reviews from each other)

Purple titles are stories I have played, and am able to create a substantial review for (generally due to having last played them recently).

Pink titles are stories I'm in the middle of playing or replaying. Keep in mind that some of these playthroughs may be on hiatus.

Uncolored titles are stories that I have played, but the review for it may not be very substantial or informed, as I played them a couple of years before I started collecting all my reviews together. I'm still making some form of review for it anyways because I would like to provide some context to the ranking I gave it. That, and, if I do get to playing it and re-reviewing it, I can have two reviews side-by-side to see how my opinions may or may not have changed.

Titles with a 🍇 next to them are reviews that are very long and detailed and "juicy". Like, the ones that are lengthier and/or more highly opinionated than others.

Diamond Tier: Choices’ Bests, 10 stars, YAAAAASSSS!

The books and series that clearly had the most effort and heart put into them. They’re not all perfect obviously, but they do feel like actual choice-making interactive stories, and they’re easily the most enjoyable of the bunch. These are the stories that other Choices stories should take notes from. 

*Blades of Light and Shadow- Book 1 (have yet to start Book 2, and Book 3 is on its way)

Endless Summer

High School Story (OG Trilogy) 🍇

It Lives in the Woods

It Lives Beneath

The Heist: Monaco

Platinum Tier: Exceptional Quality, 9 stars, YES! 

They probably didn’t have quite as much meaningful player interaction put into them and/or weren’t quite as enjoyable as any of the Diamond Tier books. But they’re still really high quality and very respectable, and even possible contenders for being moved up to Diamond Tier after I give them a replay.

A Courtesan of Rome

BloodBound

Mother of the Year

Murder at Homecoming 🍇

Perfect Match

The Crown and the Flame

*The Royal Romance- Book 1 (have yet to play the rest)

Gold Tier: Memorably Fun, 8 stars, WOOO! 

They’re maybe not really the best quality stories, but they were fun to play and had elements that kind of gave them their own unique charm. Maybe it’s just an absolute wild ride of a story, or maybe it’s a guilty pleasure story. They’re memorable, maybe even iconic, and certainly worth replaying.

Across the Void

America's Most Eligible

Baby Bump 🍇

Bachelorette Party

*Dirty Little Secrets (currently playing but it's on a good track so far)

Hero

LoveHacks

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

The Phantom Agent

Silver Tier: Enjoyable. 7 stars, Yay! 

The “vanilla is still a flavor” of the app. The stories that were mostly simple and straight-forward and didn’t greatly wow me or stick with me, but were still at least fun to play and could be worth a replay. Pretty good as “cozy” stories. 

*Crimes of Passion- Book 1 (have yet to play Book 2, and Book 3 is on its way)

The Freshman Series- Special Date Side Stories (have yet to play the actual main series and the holiday side stories)

Home for the Holidays

*High School Story: Class Act (if you pretend it’s not a HSS spinoff; see Bronze Tier for full review)

*Immortal Desires- Book 1 (Book 2 is on its way)

*Open Heart- Book 1 (have yet to play the rest)

Shipwrecked

The Cursed Heart- Book 1 (have yet to start Book 2)

The Freshman Series- Special Date Side Stories (have yet to play the actual main series and the holiday side stories)

The Princess Swap

With Every Heartbeat

Copper Tier: Decent, Average. 6 stars. Eh.

The “just okay” stories. Far from terrible, but not much about them that really stood out to me. Not much interest in replaying them, unless maybe I need something completely mindless to play or want to give them a second chance. 

Distant Shores

Nightbound

Bronze Tier: Unsure, Mixed Feelings, It’s Complicated. 5 stars. Ehhhhh. 

The stories that are mixed bags. They aren’t really terrible, as there are some things they did right, but there’s also… so much that they did wrong. A lot of these could probably use a replay for the sake of giving it a second chance and forming a more solid opinion on it. 

High School Story: Class Act 🍇

Laws of Attraction

Rules of Engagement 🍇

**The Nanny Affair- Book 1 (see Stone Tier for full series review)

Wake the Dead

Wolf Bride

Stone Tier: Truly Mid, Lacking in Substance. 4 stars, Meh. 

I don’t really dislike them, but there’s next to nothing they give to us. They’re just so empty and flavorless. There’s “vanilla is still a flavor”, and then there’s having no flavor at all, and these books just have little to no flavor.

Ms. Match

Roommates with Benefits

Slow Burn

**The Nanny Affair- Book 2 (and the sum whole of the trilogy tbh 🍇

Wood Tier: Boring. 3 stars. Bleh. 

The absolute snorefests of the app. Not only did they give nothing, but they were terrible at holding my interest and attention. They’re so poorly paced that even if they did have something of value, I completely missed it because I was either completely zoning out and/or I felt actual mental distress trying to follow the story. At least with the Stone Tier books, I could actually pay attention to the story without feeling like my brains were going to have a nuclear meltdown.

A Very Scandalous Proposal

Ride or Die 🍇

**Sunkissed (played 5 chapters before quitting cause it was so boring)

  

Rotting Flesh Tier: Annoying. 2 stars. Uuuuggghhhh. 

The stories that are legitimately painful to play through. Just downright frustrating and groan-worthy. They aren’t quite the worst, but they only do very little right. And it’s even more tragic because these premises maybe could have been done right. There are ideas for decent stories here, but they’re completely neglected.

My Two First Loves 🍇

**The Nanny Affair- Book 3 (see Stone Tier for full series review)

Witness

 

PooPoo Tier: Literally the Worst. 1 star. AAAARRRRRGGGHHH. 

The absolute dogshit stories. The biggest doodoofarts of the entire app. The complete bottom of the barrel. The stories that had me actually verbally raging and close to throwing my phone into the nearest wall. Everything about each of these is doomed from the beginning. Anything that could have been done right or even decently is done terribly. Rotting Flesh tier is merely the equivalent to prune juice; this tier however is the equivalent to bleach. 

Surrender 🍇

Untameable 🍇

First Comes Love 🍇

The Billionaire's Baby 🍇

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- Rules of Engagement

Welcome to the first official Cadybear's Reviews post! We'll be starting with Rules of Engagement, which I have ranked on the "Bronze Tier" at 5 stars out of a possible 10.

Frankly, ROE was a mixed bag for me.

To start off, I know everyone and their Nana has complained about it before, but I found it incredibly pointless that our MC could only have male love interest options. There was literally nothing about her storyline that would make zero sense with a female LI. “But Audrey and Mira–” yes but they’re love interests for established side characters that you play as, rather than love interests for the character that is meant to be “your character”. Luckily this is the only time PB has ever done a male-LIs-for-MC-only story, but still. 

Not that having a female love interest option would have changed how bland MC’s romance is. Even though the love interests we do get were nice characters, the romances between them and the MC are incredibly empty. I guess that’s to be expected when your nana basically forces you to marry by the end of the summer in order for you to get your inheritance, but yeah. 

Most of the other romances aren’t much better. Audrey is incredibly unfair to Bookish Twin in the first two books, crying about how she “doesn’t care about her” just because she chose to focus on pursuing her career instead of Nana’s stupid list (can we please retire this trope already holy fuck). Though their moments in Book 3 and onwards were thankfully more pleasant.

Brother and Elena’s romance was weird with some ups and downs, but it became a hot mess in the Jeff Willoughby arc. I don’t even know what was going on in there. And it was even worse in Newlyweds; while Elena has every right to be upset about Brother not telling her about his ex-wife from over a year ago, she acts ridiculously petty and immature towards him over it and that made the story very unpleasant. 

About the only romances that weren’t clusterfucks were Party Twin’s romances (and even then, her sole female love interest option is very sidelined) and Cousin’s romance with Chaz. I mean, they were just as shallow as the MC’s romance, but they at least felt less rushed? Considering they didn’t get married, after all.

And what I think bugs me most of all, something that I think does not get criticized nearly enough as it should: The fact that this entire story revolves around Nana having fucking quid pro quos on the shares of the inheritance money. Like… why is she putting weird conditional challenges on inheritance? Who the fuck does that?

"Oh my dear daughter MC has to find love and get married by the end of the summer in order to get her inheritance owo!" Bitch what if she ends up being aro or demi??? Or is just not ready to marry yet- especially since she spent the first two books, y’know, escaping an unfaithful and manipulative partner???? She's the last person who would be ready to marry right away. 

"My son please marry your girlfriend of two years" but then the next thing you know they break up because they realized they’re a lesbian and a gay man. What are you gonna do then, Nana? Huh?? Huh??? Does Brother not get his inheritance if he’s gay??? 

"Party Twin must hold a job for the summer" oh yeah because that's just sooooo easy isn't it? I mean it’s not like unemployment is a major issue in today’s society or anything.

"Bookish Twin has to do this list of trying new things" and why, why, why, why, WHY is getting a tattoo on this list? As someone who is kinda very squeamish about tattoo pen needles, I would tell Nana to fuck right off, and then get a temporary tattoo instead because fuck you. And if Dinesh bitches about it being a temporary tattoo and not a real one, I WILL drop kick his ass.

And this isn’t even getting into all the other fucking challenges that Nana adds onto the first ones. Like, Nana, I get you're trying to teach the kids about family and loyalty and adventure, but putting tasks onto your grandkids’ inheritance is just such a dick move. 

Fuck the Nana honestly, she’s the real villain of this story. Yeah she’s even worse than the fucking Aunt. YEAH I SAID IT. In fact how don’t I know the Aunt wouldn’t even be horrible in the first place had she not been raised by a mother who thinks it’s okay to put these kinds of quid pro quos on inheritance. Turned her into a greedy, competitive, abusive bitch raising her under that mindset. Fuck you, Nana. (Okay, okay, I’m getting a bit extreme here). 

Anyways. Instead, I think we should have gotten a story about the siblings and cousin wanting to get this inheritance, but having difficulty meeting the stupid quid pro quos, and then eventually admitting to themselves that the stupid quid pro quos are indeed stupid, and then finding ways to cheat the quid pro quos, and doing so successfully. 

For example:

MC tries to fall in love with someone, but realizes she’s rushing too quickly after getting cheated on, then agrees to have a fake marriage with the person (who is knowing of the fake marriage), only to divorce them right after they get the money. And then we get to decide if she wants to start building an actual romance with them or not. 

Brother and Elena realize they’re a lesbian and a gay man and don’t want to marry, so they have a mutually-agreed-upon lavender wedding and then divorce the moment the Brother gets his inheritance. 

I’m not sure about the rest of them, Bookish Twin could probably be the one who is most furious with Nana since she’s forced to get a tattoo, and so she gets a temporary tattoo because fuck the Nana. Party Twin, on the other hand, could be the one who minds it the least as she does seem to have motivation to hold a job for the summer, but she starts to come around when she realizes how difficult that is. IDK how she’s supposed to cheat hers tho.

But for all its problems and all the criticism it gets… I didn’t hate it. Even with the whole premise of the plot being fundamentally fucked up right from the start. It was only Choices’s 4th series, so it’s clear they were still working out a lot of things. And as shitty as Nana was for putting quid pro quos on the inheritance,I did also enjoy some of the family ties themes, as well as the Cousin’s redemption arc. It was pretty lightheated for the most part and it felt much easier to take it as a silly soap opera style story (compared to something like TNA or TBB) because it didn’t feel like it was forcing me to take it seriously.

Overall, the series as a whole to me was just lighthearted dumb fun with a little touch of emotional family themes. It has… a lot of glaring problems and it could have been much better, but ultimately, it’s not something to be taken too seriously.

[cadybear420]

Cadybear's Reviews- The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

Welcome to the second official Cadybear's Reviews post! Today I'll be talking about The Haunting of Braidwood Manor, which I have ranked on the "Gold Tier" at 8 stars out of a possible 10.

I’ve played this about 4 times. Mainly because I needed the diamonds and this one is 6 chapters, so it’s easy mining. Nevertheless, I quite enjoyed this one. 

The story was pretty linear, but it was interesting and compelling with memorable characters, and it works fairly well as creepy paranormal horror. And a few points do even make me want to cry. However, I do have two nitpicks. Like, how did MC make the connection between her brother’s death and Braidwood Manor? Unless I missed something even after playing the story 4 times, it felt very out-of-nowhere and unexplained. And how come Eleanor is the only one that can be brought back to life but not the rest of the Waverly siblings? That’s not fair at all. But for the most part, those are pretty minor issues. 

It’s also kinda neat that we have a story where the main LI is female while the male LI is sidelined. Actually, I wouldn’t even say Victor is sidelined– he’s straight up a total non-character. I mean, I’m not a fan of sidelining LIs at all, but considering how so many books have treated female LIs now, this one is at least a rare change of pace. And I say this as someone who is very wlm. And I say “wlm” and not “straight” because quite simply, I don’t think I’m really straight. And Eleanor Waverly is one of many female Choices characters who I can thank for helping me realize that. Seriously, it’s super adorable how she’s supposed to be this cold stoic ghost, but then gets really blushy and flustered when you flirt with her. 

Though, as much as I appreciate the sapphic ghost romance taking the full spotlight… this book is rather pointlessly genderlocked. And probably the first ever Choices book that I would deem as such*. I mean, all you’d really need to change is the dialogue in that one set of choice options when Clarissa asks for help writing her letter. 

In the canon version, Clarissa assumes you know how to write letters to guys, and you get an option to say you’re actually into girls, and then she says how she’s cool with it and she considers sapphism very sophisticated if you choose said option. For a playthrough where you’ve chosen a male MC, she could maybe assume that you’d know what guys like to hear from girls, you could get an option to say you’re actually into guys, and she’d say it’s very sophisticated if you choose said option. Easy as that.

And as far as I’m concerned, Eleanor is only canon sapphic and not lesbian (but do correct me if I’m wrong). THOBM, I am sad that you are the start of the pointless genderlocking trend /jk

*Technically ROE is the first Choices book I could consider pointlessly genderlocked, but I’m a little more uncertain on that because there’s a handful of scenes that would need tricky coding changes such as the bachelorette party/girls night scenes. Or even before that is TFS, but I’m also a bit dubious about calling it pointlessly genderlocked because Kaitlyn is a lesbian and has a whole arc revolving around her coming out about it to her parents– but people have said that aside from Kaitlyn, the story and MC are very gender neutral, so do with that what you will. There’s also LH, but I’ll say my thoughts on its genderlocking in its own review.

So it didn’t have anything that really wowed me, but it’s still a great story that holds a very special place in my heart.