Book Review: Choose Your Shot by Christine d’Abo

Title: Choose Your Shot
Series: Long Shots, Book 5
Author: Christine d’Abo
Genre: Erotica
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: review copy provided by publisher
Published: August 13, 2013 by Carina Press

Come explore the newer, naughtier Maverick's, where you are in control of the story.

It's been a year since the decadent BDSM club was gutted in a fire. Tegan has scored an invitation to the grand reopening, where she can finally indulge the needs she's ignored for too long. On her wicked wish list: a thorough spanking, adventurous playmates and complete erotic satisfaction.

As a switch, Tegan can find pleasure as either a sub or a Domme. The question is, what—and who—is she in the mood for tonight?

Master Grant: dominant and drop-dead gorgeous, he hasn't forgotten their last encounter. He'll make sure Tegan gets what she craves—if she submits to him alone.

Eli: the sexy switch has always wanted more from Tegan. But taking their relationship to the next level could mean risking their friendship.

Adam: the last man Tegan expects to encounter at the club, but one she'd love to see more of—if he behaves…

Choose which ending you want for Tegan, or explore all of the sensual possibilities.

Why I Read this Book: When I got Choose Your Shot, I was glomming up interactive romance novels whenever I could find them. There’s not a wide selection of them out there but I keep my eyes peeled.

What I Liked: There were a lot of choices in Choose Your Shot which is good because it allows the reader to get the most out of an interactive novel. If you go back to the beginning and start your reading experience over with different selections, you’ll get a good mix of reading material – from the somewhat tame to the somewhat wild.

Good formatting is crucial for an interactive ebook. The “Go Back” links were handy, in case I went too far ahead with my page turning or if I decide to make another choice. I also appreciated the blank pages in between sections so that I wouldn’t inadvertently see something that has yet to come or something outside of the choices I made.

What I Didn’t Like: Choose Your Shot was heavy on the BDSM, which turned out to be too much for me. There was a St. Andrews Cross (which I had to look up on the internet), an erotic electrostimulation machine, a bondage bed, a wax play room, a f*cking machine, a sex swing, etc. all in this book. This is not a romance, but more of a rendezvous; there is no happily ever after.

At one point in my reading experience, I didn’t like either option that was presented for Tegan. The choice was between leaving the club with one guy or leaving the club with another guy, and quite frankly both guys were acting like needy jerks. I wish there had been an option for Tegan to leave the club solo. I didn’t really like any of the male leads in this book.

There were some continuity issues. During one reading experience, one choice took me back to the same scene that played out only one moment before. Here’s how it went: I had Tegan check out the private rooms upstairs. Then check out the orgy room. Then check out the f*cking-machine room. Then I had her go back to the orgy room. Now here’s the problem about returning to the orgy room: you read the exact same scene, word for word. So either the orgy room should not have been an option (again)or I should have been directed to another (different) orgy room scene. So I had to go back and select another option, which makes me wonder how many more times I would run into this kind of snag.

And lastly, I felt like Tegan’s narrative was a bit biased. As a reader, I knew which choice Tegan wanted to make and that felt like I was being guided into making certain choices. And when I selected an option that went against Tegan’s desires, it felt like her character wasn’t into it 100%. I would have preferred the narrative to be more neutral.

Memorable Moment:

“I think I’ll just look around for now and see what I can find.”

“That’s what they all say. The next thing you know, they’re playing naked hide-and-seek. Have fun.”

Overall Impression: With Choose Your Shot, I discovered my tolerance level for BDSM interactive erotica novels. (Notice that I didn’t say ‘erotic romance’, because Choose Your Shot is not a romance novel.) If you are a fan of heavy BDSM, Choose Your Shot is just the book for you. For me, it was too much BDSM for my liking and I found the continuity issues to be distracting. I will continue to keep an eye out for interactive romance however I will most likely shy away from the BDSM themed ones.

Brianna’s Rating:

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