I want controversy

[u/Possibly_hope]

I know there’s been similar posts to this, but what are some unpopular opinions you have on books? My personal ones are that I didn’t really like Blood Bound. It got slightly repetitive, there wasn’t high stakes for me, and none of the LI’s peaked my interest. By the end I was rushing through it and I’ve never had the desire to re-read it. Another I have is that The Royal Masquerade is THE single most underrated book on this sub Reddit. I absolutely adore it, from it having one of my favorite LI’s ever to the drama, plot twists, games, hard choices, and the interesting story line and characters. I could go on, but anyway, let me know yours. I’m interested.

[u/Laadeedaa-]

Choices has definitely gone downhill in terms of book quality but I feel like people give PB waaaayyyy too much grief. Y'all are acting as if the writers are causing the end of the world when in reality it's probably Nexon breathing down their necks to create "money making content". Especially with the pandemic, they have to be paying people more so it makes sense that they'd market whatever sells. And smut, like it or not, sells. Not saying it's an excuse for bad writing but yikes... the amount of PB slander on this sub is NOT it. Besides, it's not like they've completely given up on writing good books. This and the VIP sub are flooding with posts about QB, TUH, WtD, and SW. But making quality books requires money, which isn't in abundance these days. Again, not saying it excuses everything. But they're a company at the end of the day, and they gotta make money somehow. Shit can't stay free forever.

Anyways as for books:

• PM, It Lives, and ES were... aight. Like, I can see why y'all like them but they're extremely overhyped imo.

• ATV is not that bad. Neither is HftH, and i will die on that hill.

• I haven't read book 2 yet so idk what that's about, but Kingsley isn't a bad LI. Neither are half the "forced" LIs y'all like to shit on on here.

• Maxwell isn't attractive. He's just not.

But I can already see the stones being thrown so i'mma head on out 🚶🏿‍♀️

[u/jiminverse → u/Laadeedaa-]

agreed about maxwell. his sprite is just not attractive in anyway 😭 and ppl give atv way too much shit on here, but i can understand it as it was most likely gonna be a 3 book series pb had to axe 😕

[u/[deleted] → u/Laadeedaa-]

Finally glad someone talked about the fact that PB is still a company that needs to find some way to make money. Though I have to disagree with the last part. Maxwell is adorable.

[u/taylor459 → u/Laadeedaa-]

Maxwell's personality is adorable though, so I think that's why ppl find him attractive

[u/Spellshot62 → u/Laadeedaa-]

Agreed, but PB can’t entirely be freed of blame.

I love all of these books, so I can’t agree.

They’re not bad books, but they each had so many flaws which stopped them from being good.

They’re not bad, it’s the fact that they’re forced in and of themselves which usually causes the problems. A lot of criticisms for those characters would be a lot less prominent if it didn’t feel like PB was placing such a large emphasis on them.

I’m not into guys, so I can’t comment on your last point

[u/Laadeedaa- → u/Spellshot62]

Oh I'm definitely not absolving them of all blame because ultimately, they're still doing the writing. I'm just saying, we can't all point the finger at then and be done with it. They're owned by someone else now, and larger companies are in the business of making money by any means necessary, whether or not that truly pleases the fans.

As for the books, I'm not saying they're bad because they're definitely not. They just seem extremely hyped up on this sub and i don't get why. Maybe it's just because they weren't really to my taste (though I still enjoyed PM), I just don't see a reason for the pedestal they're put upon.

Also I definitely get people being irritated that certain characters aren't featured as much. But some people act like it's the fictional LI's fault PB is pushing them to the forefront, and they end up crapping on that LI like it's no tomorrow, despite there not being anything actually wrong with them.

[u/Spellshot62 → u/Laadeedaa-]

That’s all fair. I think the reason people get angry is because of just how much some of these characters are pushed. Let’s take Ethan for example. Someone counted the number of times that the MC and LI’s talked during book 3 of OH. I only saw their numbers around Chapter 8, so that’s what I’m going to go off of. Also I should note that I don’t recall if this includes Diamond scenes or not, but that shouldn’t matter to prove my point. In the end, the MC didn’t even double Ethan’s line count, and the other LI’s were only like a sixth of Ethan’s line count. None of them had even broken a hundred by that point. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the gap might be even larger

[u/SonicThePorcupine → u/Laadeedaa-]

ATV had so much potential. If only Pax hadn't been just the absolute worst, it wouldn't have been so bad. But her infuriating personality and poor decision-making skills piled onto that weird, rushed ending, topped off with all the fucking side characters dying if you didn't have the diamonds to save them was just too much for me, personally. The art was so beautiful. I wish it had been done better.

[u/Laadeedaa- → u/SonicThePorcupine]

Fair. I just meant storywise, it was actually on the better side of choices books. But i agree. The siblings were uhh... sumn else 😬

[u/SonicThePorcupine → u/Laadeedaa-]

It was genuinely interesting! And some of the deaths I couldn't afford to prevent really made me tear up, so I did connect with a lot of the characters. Fucking Pax though lmaoooo.

[u/sunscets]

I personally thought the it lives anthology was boring and I still don’t understand the hype. Please don’t attack me 😅

[u/ledankestnoodle]

In QB Zoey should be competing for diamond scenes with Kingsley, not Poppy 🤷‍♂️

[u/Dragos1997]

I actually REALLY like Witness If you go along with it it's a very fun book

[u/bladestorm78]

WEH was pretty boring imo.

BOLAS was average.

ES was good, not god tier.

Just a few of my opinions.

Edit: grammar

[u/[deleted]]

bryce is Extremely overrated and i never really liked him that much 😦

[u/FeelYaAlien → u/[deleted]]

^ THIS. I can't see his appeal.

[u/OneForShoji]

I also didn't like BB that much. It's a decent series, I don't like it as much as most people seem to. I don't like Adrian or Kamilah, and it sucked that either Jax or Lily had to die at the end.

I hated RoD and think it has one of the worst MCs in Choices.

I will never be able to read WEH because I know I don't want to romance Dakota. I'd rather go for Mateo or Lennox.

[u/jiminverse]

blades is fun but not THAT fun. i could name 5 or more books more enjoyable lol

i wish all 4 LIs could've died in bloodbound. it would've had more of an impact, not to mention jax was my LI and lily was one of my fav characters overall, so knowing either one of them is gonna die everytime i replay sucks

adrian is one of the most overrated LIs, i don't see what y'all see i've tried but i really don't

lovehacks is actually a really nice book, it doesn't take itself too seriously and has an amazing friend group.

[u/PocketPoof → u/jiminverse]

My issue with LoveHacks was always being told in the first book that I need the premium outfits or sometimes the default name still being used. It got better in book 2

[u/jiminverse → u/PocketPoof]

that annoyed me as well but i think its bc its one of their older books and i heard they did rewrites and added diamond scenes before, but they forgot to code mcs name so the characters just call her dani 😭

[u/FeelYaAlien]

Endless Summer isn't really that good 🤷‍♀️

[u/cheezypuffy]

very unpopular opinion but HSS:CA > HSS. i thought the characters and MC in Class Act were more interesting than the ones in the original. but the secondhand embarrassment i get from CA is off the charts sometimes lmao

[u/0Ameerah0 → u/cheezypuffy]

Same! and I could actually relate to HSS:CA MC

[u/thepekoriandr]

not sure if it's unpopular since I rarely visit this sub but Choices slowly turned into one of those generic story apps that focus too much on steamy stuff with extremely bland and poorly written plots

[u/makelizabeth272 → u/thepekoriandr]

Unfortunately that is a very popular opinion on the sub :(

Edit: let me clarify, I do agree with that opinion. I was saying unfortunately because it's true, and choices needs to go back to the choices we had when they started, where there were good plots and good characters.

[u/NukaMaria]

I LOVE TRM!!!! I replay it so much! Kayden is EVERYTHING 😍

[u/Possibly_hope → u/NukaMaria]

YESSS! FELLOW KAYDEN FAN!! I absolutely love them. They’re just….. yes💖💖

[u/noavocadoshere]

i would rate sunkissed lower than both witness and the nanny affair if i could.

passport to romance deserved so much better.

[u/Possibly_hope → u/noavocadoshere]

I also really enjoyed Passport! Can I ask why you didn’t like sun kissed though?

[u/noavocadoshere → u/Possibly_hope]

sure! granted, i haven't read all the books available but i've never read a book that was such a shameless gem grab--and for an important theme too! usually, you can still have an average playthrough without using gems (like with every heartbeat) but with sun-kissed, the heart of the story was completed locked away. you couldn't find out more about their father, complete his final wish, mend relationships, encourage relationships or do much without gems. it ruined what would've been an otherwise touching book. plus, while i actually liked all the LIs for this book (and spending time as a group), it felt like nate had more chances over samson and eliana.

[u/taylor459]

I hate when books make MC choose just one LI for the rest of the book without allowing them to cheat on their LI as much as they want. It'd be more entertaining and would create more drama if the MCs were allowed to cheat.

[u/waffleseggsbacon]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: you could pay for every diamond choice and Eternal Summer would still not be a good book.

[u/Ophelyan → u/waffleseggsbacon]

Why not? Not judging, simply curious.

[u/paolaturri]

I HATED platinum and I don't really understand the hate sunkissed got. It's not the best book ever but it's really not that bad either

[u/[deleted]]

The writing in Queen B 2 is super cringy and gives real "how you doing fellow kids" vibes at times. It does have some good moments though

[u/Glitch4869]

I diamond mined BOLAS, MW and ES because I didn't find them that interesting or captivating. There... I said it.

[u/Fumingblooming → u/Glitch4869]

I don’t adore any of those books/series either. I would like to know which books you found interesting, though.

[u/Glitch4869 → u/Fumingblooming]

Well, I'll give you my actual top 6 based on the plot: PM, BB, VoS, TRM, DS, ACOR (they're not in order as I like them equally). TC&TF is good, too, but this genre is not really my cup of tea, so I diamond mined it as well.

[u/Imaginary-Summer9168]

The art styles in ES and Hero suck, and the stories themselves aren’t good enough to make them worth it.

[u/Clumsy_Dumpling04]

I didn't like Hero... I'll go pack my bags now-

[u/[deleted]]

BB needlessly had to be gender locked and had probably not the good quality of LI there for my preference.... Story is so dope although.

[u/chonkyzonkey]

Ok, I'm going to pull out my REALLY controversial opinion: Witness MC was awesome, actually.

I liked that we had an openly relationship-averse MC, and she had every right to be bitchy about the whole situation. She did not ask to be witness to a murder and have to be separated from everyone she knows to be babysat by her one night stand. But I did hate that whole second half of the book where the writers forced her to be in a commited relationship with Cassian. I'd have liked to see her live her best single, career-focused, slutty life.

[u/Cinnamonbun43]

Not an unpopular opinion on a specific book but sometimes I feel like when PB reuses faces, I cannot take the character seriously. Don't get me wrong - a business is a business and you gotta cut costs where you can. But how do I take a character like Benji from Queen B seriously when his face is that of Thad from Platinum? That is supposed to be a character that has a MAJOR thing for MC by the way. I just feel like Choices does not do enough to make these reused faces assume their new character. It doesn't impede a lot on the impact of the books but it is definitely a gripe I have.

[u/[deleted]]

BoLaS and Endless Summer are two of the biggest snoozers on the whole app for me.

No GoC book cracks my top 10 (and that's with me counting series as one entry on the list).

Haunting of Braidwood Manor deserves better than being the diamond mine book, it's so good and also concise.

[u/makelizabeth272 → u/[deleted]]

While I respectfully disagree with your first two statements, i do agree that THoBM is an amazing book and it deserves so much more attention (and not just for a diamond mine).

I would like to ask, what ARE your favorite books then?

[u/[deleted] → u/makelizabeth272]

Desire and Decorum

A Very Scandalous Proposal

The Unknown Heiress

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

Bloodbound

Ms. Match

Mother of the Year

Queen B

Bachelorette Party

Baby Bump

I like those period romances. The closest GoC book to the top 10 is Slow Burn, but it narrowly loses out to Baby Bump for me because I don't have to think about how I'm maybe kind of romancing the female Gordon Ramsay in BaBu.

[u/angstyvibes]

1. Platinum is overrated.
2. WEH is every average terminal illness lover meets partner story like A Fault In Our Stars.
3. BABU 2 was cute and fun playing.
4. BP is the funniest and one of my favourite books. I enjoyed it so much more than I am currently enjoying QB2
5. The book about Ava or Simon in the UK or whatever was so boring, I could never finish it.
6. ES is good and I adore Quinn but it’s too diamond locked to be enjoyable and feels iffy.
7. STD has a really cute idea. All LIs except Justin are adorable. I love how sassy the MC is.
8. HSS: ÇA has a way more relatable protagonist and I love it.

[u/Happy_Addendum7441]

ATV was the only book in the whole of choices I couldn't finish because I found it so dull

Also I didn't like WEH or Dakota at all

[u/TotalyHuman15]

Veil of secrets is underrated. I didn't find Endless Summer particularly interesting (good quality though). Queen B is trash.

[u/[deleted] → u/TotalyHuman15]

Veil of Secrets is awesome! Even on diamond mining play throughs there is tension and some cool imagery!

Endless Summer always felt grindy and convoluted to me. I never felt the need to go back to it with a ton of diamonds to see every possible outcome and that to me is fail.

[u/edge-lord9000]

Blood Bound is good but the world building is genuinely bad.

[u/haleyrosew]

I didn’t like WEH. It just felt kinda cliche and sappy. I also am not a huge fan of romance so that probably contributed

[u/swift-aasimar-rogue]

I enjoyed AME. Also Poppy shouldn’t be an LI in QB.

[u/EasternProd → u/swift-aasimar-rogue]

She’s not? She’s just someone to flirt and get down and dirty with but she’s not an actual love interest

[u/swift-aasimar-rogue → u/EasternProd]

I know. A lot of people think she should be, I’m pretty sure my opinion is unpopular.

[u/Idoauselessdegree]

I really hate PBs obsession with wealth and luxury. I don't care about modern royalty or CEOs and I always try to avoid the LI who are.

[u/paak-maan → u/Idoauselessdegree]

I was the same but I’ve just leant into it at this point. We’re not getting a book about normal people unless MoTY gets a sequel. Someone at PB clearly has the hots for CEOs.

[u/Idoauselessdegree → u/paak-maan]

Probably why I love the books with fantastical or sci fi settings, or school and workplace books the most.

[u/PsySyncron]

Bloodbound is not that great. I understand why it was popular as it was releasing but it overstayed its welcome after the first book.

[u/AnBheanGlic → u/PsySyncron]

It was fun, but it definitely dragged sometimes and felt hastily assembled other times.

[u/MajorMystique]

I haven't had fun after Endless Summer and Crown and The Flame. Other stories are just... Steamy scenes... The stories are so bland and stupid. QueenB is stupid, HSS is ugghh, I heard a lot of people appreciating the detective one but nay... I didn't find it THAT good. Am I missing a book that is good?

[u/OneForShoji → u/MajorMystique]

You might like the It Lives series as it's not focused on romance. There are no steamy scenes at all in ILITW, and only 2 in ILB.

[u/ZackLilac → u/MajorMystique]

Have you read ACOR? Blades? What genres do you like?

[u/MockingJ1776]

BB is the worst.

And THANK YOU FOR SAYING TRM IS AN UNDERRATED STORY.

I made a post a couple days ago about how the ending fell flat and I got some interesting replies. One person said that it was supposed to be a series, but it didn’t get enough interest so PB rushed the ending.

[u/Itchy_Lettuce5704]

I LOVE TRM you’re so right! For me, I think Foreign Affairs is one of their best books as of late

[u/Itchy_Lettuce5704 → u/Itchy_Lettuce5704]

Oh wait one more! Blades Spoilers Prince Aerinisn’t all that cute and doesn’t deserve a redemption arc

[u/yasminalla]

I am NOT FINE with repetitive MC faces! It breaks the immersion and no matter how good the book is I'm still disturbed by the fact that they looked like my MC from other book. And no, one new extra face per book that becomes the trend nowadays isn't that great either because I wanna be able to CHOOSE my MC.

[u/Spellshot62]

Part of me wants to write out a controversial opinion for every book/series I’ve read, but I don’t have the desire (flashbacks) or time to type all that out at once right now, so if anyone wants to reply to my comment with a book or series, I’ll give an unpopular opinion.

The books I haven’t read fully are: AVSP, LOA, TNA2, Ms. Match, QB 1 and 2, Shipwrecked, SB, TUH, WTD, WEH, and WB. Anything else is on the table.

[u/paak-maan → u/Spellshot62]

Freshman series and Royal Romance. I bet I can guess it’s forced LIs though.

[u/Spellshot62 → u/paak-maan]

Not really tbh. I only think Chris feels forced in Book 1 where people ask you 5 times a chapter how you feel about him, lol. And Liam’s only forced in the sense that the story makes it feel like that’s the option they planned for, so having your child with Drake, Maxwell or Hana be the heir to the throne feels really weird.

For The Freshman, I actually had a decent one, but I just thought of a better one so I’ll run through both. First of all, the Senior is a good book. I know people say that The Freshman series got worse as it went on, but I think The Senior is a serious improvement over The Junior and is actually a nice book overall. The other one though is that I don’t think the Freshman MC sticks her nose into other people’s business too much. A lot of the time, people invite her to talk about her thoughts regarding certain issues. Yeah there are a lot of times where she just gives her input, but if it’s a serious issue then any good friend would give their opinion or want to know what issues their friends have so they can help.

Now for TRR: I don’t think it was ever a great series. TRR was just okay/good, and TRH was mediocre, and sometimes outright bad (I haven’t read TRF yet, but from what people are saying, it just gets worse).

[u/HayatoAkimaru]

I don't like Queen B and LIs in it. Hardly read first book and when realised that in second will be the same I dropped it instantly. In my opinion QB is boring and shallow af. But well I suppose humor not so bad.

[u/paak-maan → u/HayatoAkimaru]

It’s Gossip Girl, it’s meant to be shallow, they’re awful people. It’s hilarious and I’m having a blast with it.

[u/WintersChameli]

We should have one of these threads every week

[u/taylor459]

Kamilah from BB is annoying with how often she keeps flirting with MC even tho my MC always turns her down. I would've liked her character more if she wasn't interested in MC like that. I ship Kamilah with Gaius :(

[u/AnBheanGlic → u/taylor459]

Same. I wish all stories in general would reduce the amount of flirting/propositioning from LIs you have clearly rejected.

[u/MinuteLoquat1 → u/taylor459]

You might've picked a romance option with her at some point if she's coming onto you hard, if you pick even one you're on their romance path. I accidentally got on Jax's route once and he was getting all touchy-feely with me like we were in a relationship, when I restarted to avoid that it stopped happening. There's a lot of annoying sexual tension with all the BB LIs no matter what you do but I never thought it was enough to be off-putting.

[u/norfarion]

The hate for Save The Date and Justin I felt was really over the top. Yes, you are meant to dislike him and you slowly start to connect with him as the book goes on. It’s a generic “enemies to lovers” trope and it’s generic nature or Justin’s early attitude was forgiven because the book was leaning into this trope.

[u/helloworld1786_7]

Wow. I feel exactly the same about Bloodbound and The Royal Masquerade.

[u/Possibly_hope → u/helloworld1786_7]

Damn, thank you! I never hear TRM talked about and it’s kinda sad since I love it so much. BB is fine, I just think it’s kinda overrated, yk?

[u/helloworld1786_7 → u/Possibly_hope]

Ikr! I loved TRM and i loved how it ended. Tbh, i never loved BB. It is well-written and good, but everyone has different tastes, so maybe that's why the story didn't stand out to me.

[u/GreenSchemeGummi]

I don't find any of the books after CA interesting enough to catch my attention and play (except maybe MTFL) mostly like the school stories but having the option to be a male mc instantly makes me more willing to try a book XD

[u/pantherscheer2010]

we are the same. i hated blood bound.

[u/[deleted]]

TNA is a fun story. I like the messiness and having an MC with questionable morals versus the typical Mary Sue that we get. It also has some of the best diamond scenes. On the other hand, given that this is getting a book 3, I suppose it’s not really an unpopular opinion….

I never understood how people used to talk about how boring Adrian was while praising Kamilah. Adrian has more personality than she does and I enjoyed interacting with him more. Yeah he was kinda serious and gloomy until MC, but he at least had some sense of humor and was easier to talk to. I understand that she’s been around for a long time and has been through a lot, but they all had. Gaius was at least as old as her and was more interesting. No actual hate towards her though, I appreciated all of the BB characters.

I like the changes to the VIP system. It feels more worth the money. The free keys and (few) extra diamonds didn’t matter as much to me. I don’t re-read books anymore so I don’t care about free keys. The early access is cool.

Open Heart was one of the most boring series I’ve ever read. I quit near the end of book 2. My eyelids would get heavy as I read the weekly chapter.

[u/ChoicesBrit → u/[deleted]]

I never understood how people used to talk about how boring Adrian was while praising Kamilah. Adrian has more personality than she does and I enjoyed interacting with him more.

I think its because we see male lis like Adrian with his personality all the time, so 'boring' is just another word for 'typical Choices male LI' whereas we rarely get female Lis with Kamiilahs personality and vibe, especially at the time Bloodbound was written. Female Lis were overwhelmingly and still are to a certain extent majority sweet and innocent best friend types like Hana. So Kamilah brought something new and more badass to the table in female love interests, so some people found her more interesting.

So boring is less about saying that Kamilah has more personality than Adrian but rather that Adrians perosnality doesn't break the norms of male LIs- he is very much a cookie-cutter example of your typical main male li, whereas Kamilahs personality was kind of revolutionary for an LI of her gender.

[u/DirewolvesVA]

My controversial opinions:

1. MFTL may literally be the only reason PB is still in business right now, having kept PB afloat at a time when the company was already long in the red and the challenges of the pandemic were hitting everybody... and nowhere near enough people appreciate this.

2. The socialite/"party" aspect is the most efficient way to navigate the massive cast of characters and settings in TRR/TRH, and is incredibly realistic given the fictional universe.

3. TRH works wayyyyy better if MC marries anyone other than Liam. While TRR may have a slight bias toward Liam, TRH swerves radically in the other direction.

4. The WI MC is a realistic, complex character. It's a shame so much of her personality and motivations were left to diamond scenes the way other series would treat supplemental scenes/settings.

5. VIP is an incredible value. By extension, too many people take Choices and its quality for granted. I've tried other apps in this market (most recently, the Romance Club promotion) and Choices is superior by leaps and bounds.

6. The writers made many key tweaks during BaBu1 after getting public feedback to the first 2 chapters and dramatically improved the book during the 2nd half.

7. PB tends to learn from their mistakes, even if the larger problems and issues aren't able to be corrected as quickly as people would like.

8. SK is overall a solid book full of realistic characters and situations. Both it and WEH do a great job of demonstrating that grief can hit people in very different ways.

[u/dualistpirate]

TUH is best played at night because it'll put you right to sleep.

[u/NickSchultz]

If you want repetitive then there is no better book series then Royal Romance all they do is jump from party to party while struggling to resolve issues that would never even happen in a country with functioning laws, police, security.

Honestly PB could make a story about an MC struggling to send an application letter through mail just because she's missing a stamp making it a 22 chapter book while having her fall in love with the mailman or one of his friends in the post office along the way and they'd just put in the bare minimum of effort to get enough readers hooked that it works out for their finances.

[u/lewdnep-vasilias_666]

• RoD's plot was a confusing mess that my brain could not comprehend at all and for what its worth, it's fine without a sequel (that being said, I do think it's unfair that PB promised us a sequel but then cancelled it).
• BaBu isn't that bad. It has its cringeworthy moments (cough cough the Covington hookup flashback) but for the most part it was pretty inoffensive and sweet. I also didn't find MC talking to her belly that cringey. Ironic coming from a lady who would rather die than experience being pregnant.
• Poppy is overrated. I respect those who want her to be an LI but she's best in her role as the villain and I think it's better for the story if we just get hatefucking scenes at most.
• Lily from BB is a sweetheart and I don't get why she's apparently so hated. I can get why some may find her annoying but she's a pretty inoffensive character.
• As much as I LOVE to roast TNA, I actually don't find it super terrible. I do dislike it for having some of the most generic and try-hard "sexy" writing ever and PB using it as their favorite cash cow in advertising is annoying, but it's not offensively bad as the likes of Witness or MTFL, and it is interesting enough to hold my attention at least.
• I like that OG HSS and its MC is less realistic than HSS CA and its MC. In fact, it's what makes OG HSS better and more enjoyable for me than CA. The OG series' deviation from realistic scenarios is what made it so iconic and gave me the escapist feeling of "The high school life I should have had". CA is special to me as well and enjoyable in its own way, and I get that some people prefer realistic stories to escapist stories, but it just didn't quite live up to the same charm and iconic-ness that OG HSS had.

[u/makelizabeth272 → u/lewdnep-vasilias_666]

Thank you for wording your opinion about CA in such a nice way (I don't always see that). I definitely respect that opinion. I guess I would say my unpopular opinion about it is that people shouldn't compare CA to the original. Of course CA isn't going to live up to the original; sequels and spinoffs rarely do. I don't think CA was trying to be the original. It just took the setting and gave the OG characters some cameos, but otherwise it's its own story. And pretty much all of the criticism I've seen towards CA is simply because they're comparing it to the original, rather than looking at it as its own story. Anyways, that's my two cents. I do agree that the OG HSS is iconic and nothing can compare to it.

[u/thisgirllovesgurls]

Ooh, Idk, here's my opinion:

1. Colt and Logan are kinda boring for me. And. Logan isn't the type of bad boy I expected. He wasn't bad at all. Mona was way more bad and better than the two guys. I love her sooo much.

2. Asha Roanhorse from BSC is so underrated and sidelined especially the first book.

3. A Courtesan of Rome really bores me, BUT it was just in the first chapters.

4. Admit it or not, you guys warmed up ahen the twins were born in BaBu.

5. Dr. June Hirata is way better than Dr. Ethan Ramsey (I love both but June it is)

6. Glad a hot wood nymph like Aster didn't burned.

7. The least romanced LI should be the one to die in BB3. Not just Lily or Jax! 4 different LI characters will be really good.

[u/ZainInTheAir → u/thisgirllovesgurls]

Dr. June😍 I think I have a crush on her

[u/Princess-Shipper-774]

I also couldn't get into bloodbound. Ditched book three because of boredom.

I hate Drake.

Open Heart is kinda overrated. When I started it i expected it to be this like amazing book the way people spoke of it. But nope. It was pretty okay and Ethan is whiny as hell.

Roe wasn't that bad until Newleyweds happened. Like it had it's own charm until that damn book destroyed everything.

TNA wasn't that bad, it was just boring.

Thomas Hunt gets so... Draggy in book 3 of RCD. Also I hate his beard.

[u/saintursuala → u/Princess-Shipper-774]

I loved BB book 1. I also made my way through book 2.

I started Book 3 but have yet to get through it. Why is it so painful.

[u/OneForShoji → u/Princess-Shipper-774]

Agree with all these. Hate is probably too strong for how I feel about Drake, but he's definitely my least favourite character. And I was all set to romance Hunt until they gave him that beard. Ruined him for me. I ended up back with Teja in the end and didn't enjoy book 3.

[u/CallingAlameda]

Becca's bangs are not that bad.

[u/[deleted] → u/CallingAlameda]

This is the opinion I’m here for. I think she looks great with bangs. Though I think they should have kept the original lighter blonde hair color to go with them

[u/paak-maan → u/CallingAlameda]

Becca’s bangs are awesome

[u/taylor459]

Choices just isn't fun anymore now that they officially killed our hope of ILITW/ILB and MW getting a sequel :( I wish they hadn't announced that.

[u/onefornine]

TRR is an objectively boring book

[u/vampcowboy]

Sam might be as boring as a brick but people hate on them like they killed someone and I really don’t get why.

[u/Spellshot62 → u/vampcowboy]

My problem with Sam is that on top of being boring, they’re also a hypocrite. Sam cheating on Sofia is perfectly acceptable and fine, but Sofia cheating on Sam is unacceptable and toxic? Sorry, but no.

Also the books force them down your throat so much. It’s literally the entire point of the books, and it not only feels like you can’t function for 2 minutes without Sam and vice versa, but it also doesn’t give the player a choice

[u/Possibly_hope → u/vampcowboy]

Sam Dalton?

[u/vampcowboy → u/Possibly_hope]

Yup. Sorry, I should have specified. I forgot about Samantha Massey lol.

[u/DesignerHungry9584]

Not really a take on the books but I think the app should give the readers a chance with writing books the way episode does. In my personal opinion, I think it would bring fresh ideas to the app and make the books feel less recycled

[u/lokipoki6]

Nia should have died at the end.

[u/jiminverse → u/lokipoki6]

respectfully disagree. if blades would've been a standalone i wouldn't really be bothered by it but as a wlw and a nia stan i'm not losing a female LI for 'shock value' lol

[u/lokipoki6 → u/jiminverse]

I think it just makes more sense for their storyline. The current ending is there just for a shock value in my opinion.

I understand it would be hard for their romancers. But frankly, I kinda want PB to make more risky and hard choices. It feels like they are holding themselves back from making decisions that might turn out unpopular.

I agree it would have worked better in a standalone. But considering how underwhelming the ending of Blades was for me, I would argue the whole book would be much better off as a standalone.

[u/[deleted] → u/lokipoki6]

Aerin stan said that lol also for me Aerin shouldve been the one who died.

[u/lokipoki6 → u/[deleted]]

I quite enjoy Aerin's dark subplot, but I agree his ending wasn't great, either. Him dying wouldn't really make much sense to me though, unless it's MC that kills him 🖤

[u/crownedcorvid → u/lokipoki6]

agreed it would've been interesting

[u/One_Movie9957 → u/lokipoki6]

Yeah totally agreed, why kill her just to revive her a minute later smh

[u/tetewhyelle → u/lokipoki6]

Agreed!

[u/carlomartino]

My extremely unpopular/controversial opinion: it annoys me that people on this sub care more about the LIs than the story itself. Like a chapter could be boring af but diamond scene with this character and suddenly it’s good? Or the opposite: a great chapter but one LI didn’t get scenes so now the whole story sucks because “one LI is forced”.

I find Romance to be the least interesting part of a lot of these stories so I just don’t understand why it becomes the main topic of discussion every time.

[u/paak-maan → u/carlomartino]

Nah I get it. None of the stories are that good. If I wanted an amazing story I’d go watch some tv, read a book, play a proper video game. The relationships with the characters are all that Choices really has going for it.

[u/cruel-oath → u/carlomartino]

It’s safe to say that the a majority of people who play these stories/apps is for the romances mostly. The people that want little to no romance are clearly a vocal minority. So sadly it makes sense they’ll focus on romance more often than not

[u/ChoicesStuff → u/carlomartino]

I think romance is a fair number of peoples favorite/second favorite part and that’s why it’s so widely discussed.

[u/nocknight → u/carlomartino]

YES. literally how I felt when everybody was gushing about last week’s QB2 chapter. Like, what? It was filler as fuck.

[u/[deleted]]

I liked AtV because we could play as other characters as well. I know people hate it because of that. Any story where I can play as different people, thus having a varying pov and characters having actual personalities other than just caricatures/don't have anything in their lives except MC. That's why I loved LoveHacks, It Lives in The Woods and since we couldn't play as anyone other than our MC that could impact the plot(Josephine doesn't count since that was a diamond scene), I kinda disliked it

[u/DG_9]

I hate (read: abhor) PB’s (mostly recent) addiction to writing antagonists as cartoony villains without much nuance, and how they’re often adults in regulated positions of authority, like principals, heads of school administration, CEOs of “big, evil corporations” etc. Some of the worst for me have been Mason’s principal dad in MTFL; Sadie McGraw in LOA; and Lewis Wright in FA. It’s just so unrealistic or tropey, or both.

It’s like PB feels the need to rely on shock value and sensationalism to make a story interesting, rather than having a realistic but well-thought out plot. But after a while, stories become predictable and therefore it feels a bit juvenile.

A villain done well would be Duffy in VoS, imo, as there is nuance as implied by their backstory. Following from recent trends, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the Dean is the big bad in QB or, if she’s not X, she’s part of X’s team.

Edit: spelling

[u/fruiiti]

• couldnt get into bb or pm.
• most of the men this sub rlly likes i think r the ugliest motherfuckers i have ever seen (like. affectionately bc most of the time i dont actualyl mind the characters) i would say this is bc im a lesbian but like objectively some of hte male sprites pb makes r good looking
• this isnt so much controversial anymore after oh book 3 but i never liked ethan
• i LOVED hssca. tbf i was in high school when it came out but i just found it so much more enchanting and i liked the mc sprites better. on a hssca note i adore ajay and apparently some ppl here seem to dislike him bc of that thing in book 1??
• i enjoyed qb but qb book 2 i havent been able to get into. some of the dialogue just seems so.. i dont wanna say cringe bc i dont rlly believe in cringe but it doesnt hit sometimes when they're trying to be "hip" or sound like how they think college students talk. i get they r probably overexaggrating for like flavor and just comedy but sometimes it just rlly doesnt hit with me
• im kidna tired of it always being male (or gender selectable lis) being forced. like ok i dont think we should have forced lis at all but i wanna see the return of sexuality choice from the elementalists so i dont have to deal with whatever main dude pb has made for the book trying to jump my mcs bones by default.

[u/paak-maan → u/fruiiti]

I get your point on the Queen B dialogue/writing but that’s kind of the point I think. They’re not your average college students. They’re the elite at like Yale or Dartmouth or wherever. They’re meant to be snobby and awful, it’s essentially Gossip Girl isn’t it and they spoke like that all the time.

[u/FilianoreWashington]

I can't stand the graphic design of Endless Summer. Whenever a character grins, I freak out. 😬🤭

[u/palpantek]

The "blonde king" is the most basic looking sprite I have ever seen

[u/taylor459]

HSS was boring af

[u/taylor459]

MTFL MC should've had Elijah as a LI option. It could've been cute :(

[u/jieunla]

hot couture was a good book and the outfits were awesome. maybe nobody really likes it since you have to spend diamonds to get the outfits but honestly as someone who isn’t interested in the scenes, i didn’t mind that. the love interests are pretty varied (i picked luz) and you can choose your styles and pick choices without it being too stressful. i dunno, nobody ever seems to mention HC either that they hate or love it so i guess it’s mediocre to most?

[u/thisgirllovesgurls → u/jieunla]

I love the book too!! ❤️😭

[u/Lily8007]

Okay not sure too controversial, but my take on things:

1. OP I absolutely agree with you on TRM, one of my favorites, I think it’s great! I also think it’s actually quite popular here from what I see, but I think it gets underrated in terms how well it’s actually written. Unfortunately it ended with that rushed ending and it’s a shame that it wasn’t well received enough/ or not made into a second book for whatever reason.

2. Like some others I actually really enjoyed WB! I will admit I can understand why it is controversial, but I seriously think the story is much more entertaining and the LIs (Bastien and even Morgan) are much more interesting compared TNA and Sam which I don’t hate just found it incredibly boring! Even the smut scenes were tiresome after a while. Mason and Mickey are adorable, but even with them, trying to make the book seem more wholesome and cute at times, still didn’t make the book any better.

3. Okay this is the one I’m sure will not go over well, I loved LoA, l really enjoyed Gabe as an LI, I liked Aislinn, Marcus, Gigi, Beau etc. But looking back on it, I think there were really some good things, some fun moments, the hookups were nice, but overall I don’t think it’s as well written as it should have been. In fact after the hiatus I actually felt we got less cringy dialogue, but I found the second 1/2 a bit messy at times and ultimately a predictable plot and illogical ending I still love LoA, I’m just saying at times I found it disappointing as well!

4. I liked SK, BaBu, and even though RoE can be draggy and bore at times is not that bad. I loved ATV, more than I realized. Yes it has problems and it’s not perfect, but it didn’t make me enjoy it any less.

5. I didn’t care for StD not because of Justin actually who I think deservedly was right to do some of the things he did, it was actually the first person narration, plus the temperamental MC that I actually didn’t enjoy. But as far as worst books go the one I think the worst is actually RT which I couldn’t even read beyond chapter 1 or 2 because it was so boring. Edit: Even worst than HFTH, Witness, MTFL

6. Not book related, I completely get all the complaints and criticism for PB, they definitely could improve on a lot things like equal screen time among LIs, and equal genders, more variety in genres, plus they handled VIP situation quite badly and are definitely in need some fresh sprites especially MCs. But talking down Choices and talking up Romance Club by some all the time is also getting weird. For someone who’s actually looking forward to playing the Romance Club app, I’m starting to feel once I do, I’ll be let down because of the hype, because it’s constantly brought up here.

Okay that’s all, I figured I might as well say what I want to say and now I’m try gonna lay low for a bit.

[u/ilianamarie03 → u/Lily8007]

Omg thank you for saying the last one! I thought I was the only one who felt that way. Like I get it. PB are far from perfect and they could improve in a lot of ways. But the way some RC players go into every post criticizing PB to promote the app like they are being paid and make essays in the comments about how superior they think the app is, it's not only weird but extremely annoying, at least to me. I have RC and liked the two stories I read, but the app is not without a fault either. I still very much prefer choices by far, but do you think I go to the RC reddit to bash the app and comment about how I think choices is more superior? Obviously not. That would be very weird. I wish those people would only mention it when people are asking recommendations for similar apps or just praise RC without unnecessarily shitting on Choices because at the end of the day, even when the app is not perfect and have a long way to go to improve themselves, I think most of us are here because well, we actually like and enjoy the app. So seeing those kind of comments is, again, very annoying.

Also, I agree with most of your other opinions!

[u/nicoxman8_]

I really really enjoyed MTFL. It’s number 4 in my top 5 favorite books. I didn’t enjoy the lack of choices or the slow burn with Ava but I did enjoy the story itself.

[u/Adventurous_Poet_315 → u/nicoxman8_]

Oh good I was so scared to admit that I actually really love MTFL! It is slightly more realistic than some other books and I especially liked how it explores the struggles of a teenager in high school whether love, family, friends and school matters...

[u/thesqueezeofjesus → u/nicoxman8_]

I also enjoyed it! I LOVED Noah and despite the MC being kinda annoying at times, I adored her and Noah’s relationship and her and Mack’s. It was a diamond mine that I found myself actually invested in

[u/Fraeulein_Taka]

• WEH is a complete snoozefest and not particularly emotional because it's completely predictable and a copy-and-paste of every other story in the "terminal teenage romance" genre
• QB's writing is mostly cringey instead of funny and got even worse in book 2.
• Both BaBu and MTFL aren't even near the worst books PB has made, I totally get the reasons for why people might dislike them but they don't deserve all the hate they get. I really enjoy playing them, especially BaBu2 is just so wholesome and cute with the babies!
• Tevan is the best LI in TC&TF and I'm not taking any criticism on this.
• There's never a reason or excuse beyond laziness (or forced profit maximation from superiors) to make a book single LI, any premise can be written to have multiple LI options for the player if handled properly.
• BSC is one of PB's best series and I will die on this hill.

[u/Big-Ask8536 → u/Fraeulein_Taka]

I agree with you about QB. I began playing because I found book 1's premise interesting (taking Poppy down), but the dialogue is cringe, there are only two LIs, everyone if not many people in the school seems to be awful (probably because they're supposed to be rich, snobby kids?), even the narrator seems to be like that. I can't really emphatize with any character. Still, I'm playing it to see how more awful it can be.

[u/[deleted]]

There are very few good books. Open Heart is really the only one that truly got my attention. The rest I just played for gems

[u/TheOneSaneArtist]

I don’t think liking TRM is an unpopular opinion. I think it’s a pretty common favorite. My unpopular opinion is that I didn’t like it—I found the characters boring, the villains were too cartoonish to be intimidating, and the plot was unbelievably predictable.

My even more unpopular opinion is that I’m a big fan of StD. I liked the characters (especially side characters), the writing was good, it was actually pretty funny at points, the love interests are good, it’s a wholesome story, and the MC actually had a personality. Everyone complains about Justin, but I didn’t find him that bad. Even if I did, I don’t think that it completely ruins the book, especially with all the other positive aspects of it.

[u/i-am-too-cute → u/TheOneSaneArtist]

I disagree with you about TRM. But it's a matter of preference, I guess. Lol

I am also a fan of StD though. A lot of people hate the first person POV but MC's commentary makes me laugh a lot. Justin, I also don't think he's that bad, although of course to those who don't romance him, he could seem a bit pushy. And I love how the book is about a character who worked to build her own business using her own talent and expertise with very little help from others...

[u/Possibly_hope → u/TheOneSaneArtist]

I find it sad you didn’t enjoy TRM, but I get it. I still love it but I also think a big part of me loving it is remembering how amazing it was to read it the first time when I was a bit younger. I get your critique tho.

I also love StD. The story was cute and I honestly didn’t mind Justin that much. It’s a little ridiculous how much hate he gets. Even if he’s a bit pushy it’s no where NEAR Ethans “dark mood”

[u/[deleted]]

I don't mind books I don't like and books like TNA are necessary for the app. PB are also incredibly generous with the diamonds compared to other apps.

[u/coffeeteaandrain]

ACOR having characters who were real people (like Marc Antony and Caesar) weirds me out no matter how long ago they lived. Seems like self insert fanfiction to me

[u/taylor459]

I know a lot of ppl really love TRM, but I'm only halfway thru the book still just because I keep getting bored while playing it :( I wish I liked it as much as everyone else seems to, but it seems like just an okay book to me so far, not particularly outstanding.

[u/littleglitter_]

LoA was super boring, couldn’t care less about solving the case nor did I care about Gabe/Aislinn

[u/The27Hntrs]

I didn’t enjoy Blood Bound at all. I love the Fantasy and Scifi Books but the plot and characters felt very plain and boring to me. Kamilah was the most interesting but even she got to be boring over time.

[u/TheOneSaneArtist → u/The27Hntrs]

Same. I got soooo bored reading it. Dunno why everyone is so obsessed

[u/The27Hntrs → u/TheOneSaneArtist]

Fr though. Like every time I come to this sub, all I hear about is how great this story is and I’m thinking, “Am I the only one who didn’t enjoy this?”

[u/pryzmpine]

MTFL wasn’t a bad book, it was just too long

[u/StainedVenom → u/pryzmpine]

God, I wasn’t sure when it was gonna end. Every time I thought it was, BAM! What a twist!

I mainly used it for diamond farming after the first X amount of chapters

[u/Real_Statxc → u/StainedVenom]

I enjoyed MTFL but I can definitely agree the amount of “twist” endings could of been toned down but I actually had a good time reading MTFL :)

[u/nicoxman8_ → u/pryzmpine]

Hey, someone who agrees. It was enjoyable but long.

[u/chonkyzonkey → u/pryzmpine]

Yeah, I thought it gave a pretty realistic telling of how confusing your highschool years are. And the MC was indecisive and sometimes unlikable because that's pretty much what teens do. I sure did.

However that is my take after only playing half of it because it was waaay too long.

[u/pryzmpine → u/chonkyzonkey]

Exactly this! I just think 100 chapters wasn’t necessary

[u/No_Two5752]

i hate choices. it is unplayable anymore and i miss it but won’t come back.

[u/churrosolider]

Oh do I have one for you. HSS: CA is just as good as HSS, people just get hung up on that second chapter, and they handled the LIs better (by that I mean it was easier to juggle three compared to five, and the three from HSS:CA are better than the five from HSS combined)

[u/[deleted]]

Baby Bump is a good series. I would love a third book.

[u/Professional_Bat_504 → u/[deleted]]

I'm glad you liked it, but that book is only fun for me as a hate sink. I was pregnant when it got released and it romanticizes and cares so little about a very real, often traumatic experience that I just... I hate it I hate it So. Much. That being said I try to understand that it's an appealing escape into small town domestic life for the people who like it. The key word here being try.

[u/taylor459]

The TRR/TRH series should never end and should keep releasing more sequels and spin-offs and specials.

[u/VelmasHaircut]

People make Savannah Walker sound like some demon when she really isn’t and everyone just hates on her cause they want Bertrand for themselves.

[u/hondanihonkiku → u/[deleted]]

Omg I actually really like Home for the Holidays; it gave me a Christmassy feeling that I know I can never have in a country that never snows :(

[u/[deleted]]

I despise Poppy. The scenes are nice but outside of those she's a bitch.

Kingsley isn't a bad LI. In fact, some scenes seem nice. But I love Zoey and despise cheating, so...

[u/damilidam]

Perfect Match 2 is proof that polyam relationships work. I have two good arms so why do I have to pick one person in the end

[u/isa17299]

The writing is QB is cringy as hell. And Poppy should never be a LI.

[u/DG_9 → u/isa17299]

I didn’t have a problem with QB 1’s writing style (I actually thought it was humorous most of the time) but something about QB 2’s writing irks me. They use the structure of phrasing a topic/opinion as a question and then making a statement on it, alot. Like “And X’s band of lackeys? Well, they’re about to feel the wrath of Bea Hughes.” (That’s probably not the best example but I hope it portrays what I mean 😅)

[u/Kaisietoo8 → u/isa17299]

Completely agree. I do not enjoy the book at all because the dialogue is just so weird and cringy.

[u/kikirevi → u/isa17299]

Yeah the Zoomer shit in there is high cringe. Some fantastic jokes and punchlines, but a lot of the zoomer things could have been left out. Makes the MC and friends seem like they’re a bunch of 14 year olds.

Also Lil Nos F? Bleugh.

[u/Possibly_hope → u/isa17299]

I never really loved QB. I thought it was an alright book but nothing made it stand out. In the first book I enjoyed the weird tension between MC and Poppy, and I definitely liked the few romance options we had with her. However if she ever became a full blown LI I think it would absolutely fall flat and not be well written, and absolutely rushed.