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Friday, 6 April 2018

ReadItDaddy's Bonus Chapter Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th April 2018 - "My Lady's Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel" by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris (Quirk Books)

Posted by ReadItDaddy at April 06, 2018 Labels: , , , , , ,
Oh my goodness, our bonus Chapter Book of the Week this week really is a fantastic idea you'd SWEAR someone must've thought of already...but this one's really not for kids so we're shoehorning it in as a bonus review
With our expert google-fu skills we can honestly tell you we came up empty when searching for other examples of interactive fiction for other genres other than fantasy and science fiction. WHICH IS A MASSIVE SHAME because "My Lady's Choosing" by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris is such a stupendously fantastic idea.

As a diehard nerdy teen I couldn't get enough of the "Fighting Fantasy" books like "Warlock of Firetop Mountain" and "Deathtrap Dungeon". Those 'choose your own adventure' books were nearly always tucked into a back pocket, shared around at school and ended up very dog-eared and well loved.

In this case, "My Lady's Choosing" uses a very similar book mechanic to guide you through a heady exciting whirlwind of a novel that will have your bodice veritably heaving with the sheer scale of it all. You don't need any dice or a notepad, but with the branching narrative it's really up to you which direction your life takes within the novel.

So rather than playing a brainless barbarian or rugged space commander, this time you play the penniless but plucky heroine of a 19th century bodice-ripper, and can choose your own path to romance.

As the central character in this fantastic slice of 19th-century fiction, you enter the fray as the courtship season has begun, and your future is at hand.

Would-be suitors are a very mixed bunch but will you flip forward fetchingly to find love with the bantering baronet, Sir Benedict Granville? 

Or turn the page to true love with the hardworking, handsome, horse-loving highlander, Captain Angus McTaggart?

Or perhaps you will chase through the chapters a good man gone mad, bad, and scandalous to know, in the arousing form of Lord Garraway Craven?

Or read recklessly on to take to the continent as the traveling companion of the spirited and adventuresome Lady Evangeline?

Your fate is your own as the book expertly dips into just about every Austen / Bronte trope you could hope for with a superb dose of comedy and light-heartedness. As we said at the top of the review it's a bit of a saucepot too so expect mills-and-boon levels of naughtiness at times. Not that this detracts from the thrust (!) of the narrative at all. C'mon we're all grown ups here, right? 

We really enjoyed this one to bits (and by 'we' I mean me and everyone I've shown this one to, I couldn't let C anywhere near it alas).

It's not often you get to gad about in Victorian high society in a taffeta ball gown is it? I must admit that I took the most reckless paths at first, but just like any good Fighting Fantasy books, this isn't always the best path to fortune, glory and a husband who isn't a complete and utter cad.

It's utterly brilliant stuff this, secretly I'm hoping that Kitty and Larissa are working on more (but in the meantime you can always go and back their kickstarter for "Taylor Swift: Girl Detective" if you want a change of gear). 

"My Lady's Choosing" by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris is out now, published by Quirk Books (kindly supplied for review).