#avsp is..... definitely a book!

[bryceslahela]

now i’ve played most of all the vip books, i. can confidently say that ms match is the best out of all four.

[choices-binglebonkus]

After playing a few chapters from different books in Romance Club, I think I see the problem with Choices that I somehow didn’t see before. I think I knew already, but Romance Club got me to realize it. Full on record-scratch moment.

Choices doesn’t take risks anymore. Like, none whatsoever. They stick to the “safe” and easy stories. Take Endless Summer for instance. That series was a HUGE fucking gamble. It was crazy and wild and everything was completely unexpected. It was rich with lore and at times you had no clue what was even going on. It even had its own special art style made specifically for the series. Yet it ended up being one of the most popular series in Choices.

And yes, I know it’s not getting a sequel, but look at Hero. Just like Endless Summer, it had its own unique art style (yes, ES and Hero have different art styles), and it had frequent and fully-illustrated cutscenes which was pretty revolutionary at the time because there weren’t many of those yet. Hero wasn’t nearly as popular as Endless Summer, but a lot of people wanted it to come back because of how unique and different it felt in comparison to other stories. Hence the outcry when PB announced they were never going to make a sequel.

Nowadays, most of the stories aren’t very adventurous and aren’t very experimental/risky like old stories were. Rising Tides pushed a tired and overdone environmental narrative and was bland and forgettable the minute it ended. The Nanny Affair didn’t bring anything special to the table. Truth be told those are the only two stories I can think of off the top of my head that released within the past year other than Laws of Attraction, and as good as it is, even that isn’t wowing anyone. Everything is just…so forgettable nowadays.

Or even worse, Pixelberry recycles plots. They’ve been doing this for a while. D&D book 2, TRR book 2, and RoE (you guessed it, book 2!) all had a central storyline about the main character (or Liam in TRR’s case) being stuck in a loathsome engagement they must find a way out of. Disclaimer, I haven’t played it yet, but I’ve been told by numerous people that The Unexpected Heiress is basically a recycled version of TRM, TRR, and D&D. And let’s not forget the most recent atrocity…TRF has almost the exact same premise as TC&TF book 3! Powerful society offers royalty/nobility peace, prosperity, and stability in exchange for control and even more power. Play chapter one of both TRF and TC&TF3 one after the other and it is painfully lazy how similar the plot is.

Today, I played a couple chapters of three different Romance Club books. First I played Shadows of Saintfour, which I chose because it gave me some It Lives vibes. And oh wow, it captured my interest faster than any modern Choices book. Within a minute of starting the book, I found myself wondering “what the fuck is going on?!” I was completely hooked and spent all my tea on the next two chapters.

The next book’s chapter I played was Dracula: A Love Story. I…was not interested in this at all just glancing at the cover, but I gave it a try anyway because it had high ratings and was an Editor’s Choice. The only way I can describe it…vampire + time travel + Wizard of Oz vibes + Ottoman Empire alternate universe. The first chapter alone left my head spinning in the best way. And after a description like the one I just gave, how could it not?

Heaven’s Secret was the last book I tried (it’s 5am and I’m tired) and again, I wasn’t interested, but gave it a try anyway because of the high ratings. This one was a little blander than the other two, but it still got its hooks in me. For one thing, the main character starts the story DEAD and has to navigate her new life(?) at an academy where she’s training to become either an angel or a demon. It’s so cliche, but somehow, the first chapter has me watching the timer for my next tea so I can play the next one.

But Choices…let’s see. We have Laws of Attraction on Wednesday which is quite good, but it’s definitely nothing special. Non-VIPs also now have AVSP, which feels a lot like D&D since we’re a lowly commoner navigating life among English nobles. TRF, as I said earlier, is already shaping up to be a less-interesting plot recycle of TC&TF3. And of course, TNA, where our MC’s life now centers around her toxic relationship with her controlling former boss.

Truly, how far has the app fallen?

[choicesfandomappreciation]

💖 Random Acts of Kindness Week: February 13-19

"If you are interested in any or all of these please let me know. If you have any ideas for these events or others, share as well!"

My ideas:

Something similar to SecretSanta/SecretAdmirer like...

Send a Symbol and you get for your Choices pairing a moodboard, character profile, edit, small Canons, etc.

Choices Ask games

Remebering old Choices (2016-2019) Event

Horror Event (Books: BB, NB, WTD, IL, THOBM)

September School Event (TF, QB, HSS, MTFL, WEH,...)

March Magic Month (TE, NB, BOLAS)

Royal n Nobles: Teaparty (TRR, TC&TF, Nightbound, D&D, AVSP, COP)

Hi Nonny!

Thank you for the ask. I'm probably still doing something for Random Acts of Kindness Week. Even though the fandom voted to do the Valentine's Secret Admirer event instead, I feel the kindness event is still important. I just haven't had a chance to post the event information with keeping up with the other events I've hosted this weekend! SO the random acts of kindness is still on. More to come tonight?!! I hope!

I love the rest of your ideas too! I think they're more fitting of my other blog: @choicesmonthlychallenge. This blog is more for appreciating the members of the fandom, rather than the books. Most of your events sound like they're celebrating and creating for the books! So I think that would be the other blog! Even though it says monthly challenge it's really all choices events. Followers decided it wasn't worth changing the name lol

I will definitely add those events as possibilities of the future. IF you or anyone else wants to host one of them, feel free to do so or reach out. I'd be happy to help you (or anyone) organize an event and help promote!

Feel free to DM Me and we can chat and work out ideas and details for anything <3

[yourqueenb]

2, 3, 5, 6, 19 and 22.

Oooohhh thanks for the ask!

2. What book do you think is overrated?

I think quite a few books are overrated tbh. But WEH is probably number 1 on the list with RoD and Ms. Match at very close seconds. Honorable mentions go to BB book 3, NB, VoS, DS, and ES

3. What book do you think is underrated?

A Very Scandalous Proposal and Hot Couture definitely. I know people from England get annoyed by the way PB writes British people lmao, but I still think AVSP was super good. Simon moved his way into my number 1 spot for all time favorite LI 😍 And I just had a lot of fun with HC. I felt very inspired while reading it. And the MC was super likeable

5. Your favorite LI?

Like I said, Simon Montjoy ❤️ I think Black Simon is the most attractive sprite PB has ever drawn 😭 And I love the way his and MC’s relationship developed! If you’re curious, Liam, Damien, Beckett, and Tatum are all tied for second place because I can’t possibly choose between them 💀

6. Your least favorite LI?

I’m tempted to say Bastien because he was really terrible. But by the end of WB, I had already checked out on him. Like it got really easy to ignore him. Plus, it was kind of hard to take him seriously when I named him Bad Dog lol. I’m also tempted to say Ethan, but seeing as I never actually romanced him, I don’t think that would be fair. So this one is going to Sam Dalton. I think I despise him about as much as Ethan anyway lmao

19. What plot would you like to see in a Choices book?

I’m not sure about a specific plot 🤔 but I’d love to have a book where MC is a spy/assassin. I think something to do with Greek mythology would be really fun too, but I’m not sure if PB could handle it. And I’ve said that I want a book with a villain MC before, but I know for a fact PB couldn’t handle that one smh 🤦🏽‍♀️ A girl can dream tho

22. Tell me about a character you’d like to see in a Choices book?

I guess I’ll elaborate on the villain MC thing with this question because I can’t think of anything else rn lol. When I say villain MC, I mean someone whose motives are not noble and could be seen as immoral. People always mention QB MC when stuff like this is brought up, but I really don’t see her as a villain. On a grand scale, she’s pretty tame. Plus, I would want this villain MC to be in a book where we could potentially injure/kill people lol, not one where we can be a little mean to petty college students 💀 I just think playing someone other than the hero could be a lot of fun. But like I said, I don’t think PB could actually write it well. And I really don’t think certain parts of the fandom could handle it either :/

[minnieshark]

My theory on who could be behind the article in avsp (under the cut so no one gets spoiled and also bc it accidentally became an essay)

I think it's Ava/Simon, for multiple reasons. (I use Ava bc I'm too lazy to type more; it encompasses Simon as well)

1. MC pointed out that the article if full of information she had no way of knowing and in some cases even wondered how Hugo would've found out about certain details; Ava is the only one who could have known every detail for everything that was addressed in the article

2. Ava is the only one who knows about the book MC was planning to write. Hugo knew she was spying for information, maybe thought she was planning an article, but I don't think he knew much more. So unless Ava told anyone about the *fake* engagement, she's the only one who knows.

3. During her talk with her editor, MC finds out that it was sent from her official account which means that the culprit either had access to MC's Computer or remote access to the website. Regardless, the culprit would have needed one or more passwords and Ava is in a perfect position to obtain those passwords. MC obviously trusts her and has worked in front of her (i.e. library scene) and Ava could've either seen her type in the password, installed keystroke tracking software etc. (the mansion being hers she has easy access to all rooms, thus MC's computer and she looks young and tech savvy enough).

4. It's unlikely a multiple person job, it would take too much coordination in too little time (as Genevieve pointed out). The article was out incredibly fast and there is no way it could have been written this fast this detailed and well? It's more likely the article was a WIP updated whenever MC found out sth new

5. Ava has a fitting motive. She obviously wants the estaste and if MC betrayed her, she wouldn't be at fault for the failure of the relationship, her grandma wouldn't be able to blame it on her being irresponsible and it's unlikely they'd punish her by not giving her the mansion after this whole fiasco. However, all along the plan was for MC to break it off after her birthday and she still would've had the mansion, which leads me to her other potential motive:

6. Ava needed a way to not get the book published. Either it was her plan from the beginning, or she had the idea while their fake engagement unfolded. The book would've dug up a lot of dirt on the family and would've maybe ruined their public image. That's one thing, the other is that since MC would have published the book, everyone would have known it was her fiancee and with their breakup having been soon after her birthday, suspicion might have arisen.

7. Hugo is obviously still a suspect, considering the way he was behaving he either was in on it or knew something, but I definitely don't think it was his doing (what Genevieve said, plus he doesn't have access to MCs laptop, there's no way he would've been able to write an article this long this fast with this much information, some which is nearly impossible for him to know etc.)

Honestly I have no idea why Ava would do sth like that if she really ends up being the culprit, I don't want her to be it either, I love her too much. I also don't know how they would reconcile MC and Ava with the book being single LI and all. But she's the only one who I imagine could realistically have done this. Nigel could be a potential suspect, but he has nothing to gain from this and afaik he's not into the whole nobles and high society whatever thing.

The diamond scene in Ava's appartment would obviously speak against all this (and her behaviour at the ball and the moments where they looked like they were in love), but we know Ava is a good actress, after all she is selling the whole fake fiancee schmick incredibly well; it could also be regret of course

What might also be noteworthy: in her diamond scene in her appartment, when MC says: "[...] I'm going to find out who's really behind this. [...] [Y]ou can trust me." She asnwers: "...Can you?" with her shocked/surprised sprite. Instead of asking 'Can I?' and referring to MC saying she can trust her, she refers to MC saying she'll find the culprit. Also, by using a shocked sprite it suggests she is worried, or didn't expect this outcome, when it would make more sense for her to be relieved at MC's dedication to solve this, for which they would've/should've used a smiling sprite, maybe with a grey background. (Although this paragraph makes me feel like I'm reaching (a bit))

[thefirstcourtesan]

This LoA hiatus is sending me over the edge with PB. It’s my favorite book they’ve released in a VERY long time.

There is no way they anticipated having one VIP book and one non-VIP book week when they created their content calendar for the year. Imagine if they released AVSP all at once like with previous VIP books? There would be NO new content right now. Which explains why they fought so hard to release it weekly, at a detriment to the story. Something is very, very wrong over there.

I have definitely given them a ton of grace because of the pandemic and I know different studios have different processes but it’s amazing how others have barely skipped a beat and are pumping about multiple books with multiple chapters per book weekly and here we are with Choices.

I mean it is hard to compare other studios to Choices because unlike a lot of the others, Choices uses mostly in house writers and also uses orginal ideas so their production process takes a longer than say Chapters that adapts existing novels However, I definitely think there have been a lot of kinks lately and it is definitely to their detriment. My hope is that the Laws break is short and just has to do with servers/production since they called it a short break and not a hiatus or mid-book break. But yeah, I am also not thrilled and a little concerned about how weak the lineup is.

[utterlyinevitable]

11-20 for choices asks :)

11. do you follow pb on any other social media?

Nope!

12. do you have a choices account on any other social media?

Nope!

13. which non-li side characters would you love to see confirmed as a couple?

I want Kyra and Bryce to run off together. 

14. how often do you open the choices app?

Multiple times a day because I bought VIP this month and wanna make the most of it. 

15. if you could be a writer for any series, which would you want to write for?

uhmmm at this point I’m practically a writer for OH. Otherwise give me another angsty romantic book with mature themes. There isn’t any other mature books besides TNA and nah to that. 

16. is choices the only interactive story game app that you play? if not, which others do you/have you played?

I’ve been flirting with Lovelink and Lure. I played Chapters for a hot minute back in the day. 

17. how did you find out about choices?

A targeted instagram ad back in the day ? 

18. in your opinion, which book has the best ending?

Is it sad that I can’t remember the ending to any book? Maybe the D&D series because my Clara got her HEA with Ernest and Percival. Or ACOR because it was historic and there was literally no way for me to be disappointed with the ending bc I knew what was coming from the start. 

19. which book do you think collectively has the best lis?

OH there’s not a single one of them I do not love. Second is ROD. 

20. if you have vip, which vip book was your favourite? if not, which vip book looks most appealing to you?

oooo ok I’m binging them this week. 

I liked Haute Couture but wasn’t in love with any of the LIs and the special outfit was a total let down. But in the moment I was so engaged as I was playing which didn’t give me diamond remorse. 

I’m afraid of WEH and will probably play that one last because sadness. 

I started TUH and haven’t even gotten through the first chapter. 

I started MsM and just know I’m going to spend all my diamonds on it. I think I’ll put off playing it until I buy VIP again once it’s been fully released. 

Currently playing AVSP and I thought I was going to mine it. I’m happily surprised and will definitely replay to do the diamond scenes I missed out on in the first few chapters.  

[imagineabbyforever]

Really enjoyed WEH and AVSP! Update: finished playing Hot Couture and I need a sequel lol I spent diamonds on every single outfit and completed the moodboard. This book is definitely one of my favorites! Not only is it so glamorous and exciting but it's also really inspiring.

[kcnnarys]

how do you like avsp? i heard many good things and im considering getting vip just to play it 😳

sorry queen im only halfway through the first chapter so i cant pass judgement just yet but i also have heard only really good things about it!! i will definitely check back in once im further into the book with my thoughts

[argylemnwrites]

Do you think you'll get the VIP subscription or will you not purchase it?

Hey anon! Thanks for the ask! Looking at my purchase patterns, VIP is a not a great deal for me at first glance. I have never bought keys, and I buy the 250 diamond pack about once every 2-3 months on average. Even if I were to buy diamonds every other month (which I don't), that's $120 year, whereas to get VIP monthly would be $180.

Now, would I get $60/year of additional value if I subscribed? Possibly. I would like to be able to binge replays, instead of waiting for keys, and with a some more diamonds, I would not have to be so stingy in what I buy in certain books.

There is also the matter of the VIP books. That is arguably where I'd get the most value. At this point, I'm very interested in AVSP and TUH based on premise alone, whereas HC and WEH strike me more as personal diamond mines. My plan at this point is to wait until TUH is fully released, then buy one month of VIP so I can play those books and see how I like VIP. I figure if I wait until the two books I'm most interested in are fully released, it's kind of like paying $7.50 for each of those books, something that I think would be worth it to me.

We'll have to see how strong my willpower is, though. I don't know if I will really be able to bring myself to wait several months (particularly since I start a new job next month and I could very easily budget a few months of VIP from my signing bonus as a little treat to myself). So my current plan is to wait and just buy a month of VIP every time there are two fully released VIP books I strongly want to read, but I could definitely see myself caving and trying out a month of VIP before then.

[thefirstcourtesan]

Is AVSP going to be weekly? Tye wording about the only the first chapter available is making me think 🤔

Yeah, I noticed that and compared it to WEH and the wording is definitely different. I think it could be weekly (or maybe bi-weekly). If they were going to release a VIP book like that, AVSP is the best bet. It is my favorite of the VIP books and the plot is solid, but it’s not a cliffhanger plot like TUH where people are going to be tempted to look up the ending (maybe one thing, but I thought it was pretty obvious) and it is more engaging than HC (at least in my opinion) and I think could keep people engaged for several weeks.

My question is will they pull it for VIPs? Will we still have full access while it is updating weekly, which would tempt people into maybe buying VIP so they can play all at once, or will it be pulled for us too? Because HC and WEH simply moved from the VIP section to the regular books section, but if AVSP is slow release than I am not sure how they will do it.

[thefirstcourtesan]

Same anon: I loved AVSP and actually got VIP so I could play that book and liked RCD the first season but not the other ones. And the reason I really disliked Sunkissed was first of all how the characters looked like they do in all the other books and how spoiled the sister was. She wasnt reasonable and treated her mother horribly. From my side I would be more invested in books if Pixelberry actually created new characters and really focused on doing a good job with characters family members

Yes, RCD’s first book was excellent but the second and third were both awful in different ways. Reused characters don’t bother me, but I can see why it is an issue for some and takes away from the enjoyment of a book. I do however disagree with the sister, because I think she was a perfect representation of a grieving teenager and her relationship with her mother actually really hit home for me, because my mother and I had completely different ways of grieving and we spent a good year after my father’s death at each other’s throats. Grief is ugly and messy and it definitely impacts relationships and that is actually what I liked about Sunkissed, that it was such an accurate portayal of a grieving family. 

[yourqueenb]

Just finished reading WEH and AVSP....

🚨 Spoilers Below 🚨

I’m gonna have to make a separate post for AVSP because I loved it and have so many screenshots and am so sad it’s over now 😭😭

But anyway as for WEH, it was okay. Better than a lot of the recent releases, but that’s not exactly saying much. I may be a bit biased because I’m generally not a fan of YA style romance novels that deal with terminal illness. I just feel like the majority of the time they’re very exploitative and are often used as some sort of emotional porn, allowing people to reduce others’ real life hardships to “oh so beautiful and sad 😢”

HOWEVER, I think that’s a bit beside the point because I’m happy to say I didn’t get that vibe from WEH at all. I think PB did a pretty good job of handling Dakota’s illness and how he and his loved ones coped. But I still don’t think it was god tier like I’ve seen many others saying. There has been so much lacking in the books recently, and this one is no exception.

MC was boring as hell which honestly made the book overall kind of boring for me 😴 She had absolutely zero personality. Probably the blandest MC to date. And tbh the majority of the characters felt very hollow to me. Amy was sweet, compassionate, and incredibly intelligent/organized, but really her only purpose was to plan events for MC and Dakota. Other than that, we barely saw her. Mateo and Lennox became good friends to MC, but that’s all. They were pretty much the generic, quirky and hard shell/soft interior™️ Choices friends we see in every book. I didn’t buy any of the diamond scenes though, so perhaps I missed more of their characterization. But sadly none of what I saw for free gave me any incentive to buy anything extra 🤷🏽‍♀️

Honestly Dakota was the best part of the book. He was just an all around nice character. It was pleasant to see him onscreen and interacting with his friends/MC/everyone. He was a great LI to MC, and it was definitely sad to see him die. However, I still feel like there wasn’t enough connection built for me to feel anything beyond that. And not only a connection between me and the character, but between Dakota and MC as well. The majority of their relationship was just kind of glossed over. They got together very quickly and then were all of a sudden head over heels for each other. Not to say that that doesn’t happen irl, but I would’ve like to see more buildup and what exactly makes their relationship a “romance for the ages.” You can’t just say that, and think it’s enough to make it true.

But yeah like I said, it wasn’t a terrible book by any means, but it wasn’t amazing or even great either. I understand that this book was meant to be about navigating your first real relationship with someone who is going to die, and that they only have so many chapters to flesh that out. But I still would’ve liked to see things outside of that happening, especially on MC’s part. She did nothing besides go to school and be a support system for Dakota. I’ve made this post long enough as it is already though. If anyone has read this far and wants to talk about the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!