Review: Maybe Tonight?

Maybe Tonight?
Snap Decision, Book 1

Author: Bridie Clark
Pages: 224
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: August 6, 2013
Read: July 29, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher

Description from Goodreads:
Maybe Tonight? opens as the reader is getting ready for the most exciting party of the year—Midwinter’s Night Dream, set in the frosty woods just off campus—with her roommates and best friends Annabel Snow, Spider Harris, and Libby Monroe. Choices unfold quickly and the reader must decide which risks to take in pursuit of social status, adventure, success, and love.

First Sentence: "Congratulations!"

Review:

Oh, the reviewer's dilemma: if you want to read something but it's going to be difficult to review, should you request it? While I could not resist requesting a choose your own adventure book, I find myself unsure how best to review it. Am I duty-bound to read through every possible path to correctly analyze it? Well, I hope not, because I didn't. I completed a couple of the myriad branches, enough to determine that Maybe Tonight? does offer the choose your own adventure fun, but leans a bit too heavily on the morals.

As a kid, I refused to read any Goosebumps books that weren't Choose Your Own Adventure. I would, inevitably choose the route that ended in my death, every time, then backtracking to try again. I delight in getting to be a part of the story, though I have to say I may be a bit old for them now, since they just do not seem to have the same charm that they once did for me.

The basic premise of Maybe Tonight? is that you are an incoming freshman at an exclusive boarding school. You're a motivated, brilliant scholarship student, and a bit envious of your beautiful roommate, who has tons of money, a generous heart, and the hottest boyfriend, how you wish was yours instead. Despite your book smarts, you're a bit vain and money-conscious. Depending on which route you take, you navigate one or a couple of days at school.

Now, if you're like me, and you choose the safe options (not letting a girl cut you with a knife, not drinking when you might lose your scholarship, not ignoring a friend because he's not popular), the story ends really quickly. My first path ended in like three choices, which was a bit anticlimactic. I wish there was a bit more doubling back and interconnection, but I think that once you make a choice, you can only move linearly through the book and they actually all come to an end fairly quickly. I'm not sure if it's meant to be for reluctant readers or if the audience is intended to read through all of the possible outcomes.

The choices are often leading, completely not subtly lecturing the reader on proper behavior. For example, "ratting out the party is social suicide, no question about it, but it's still better than expulsion." Rather than just letting the chips fall where they may and teens to soak in lessons therefrom, the questions are basically telling you what your options are. In this case, rat out the party or get expelled. The moral element is just too heavy-handed, and I'm not sure how much fun that will be for a teen reader.

While I definitely enjoyed the nice quick read in my busy schedule, I'm not all that impressed with Maybe Tonight? and won't be continuing with the series. If you enjoy choose your own adventure and have the perseverance to flip through every possible outcome, it might be more your speed.

Rating: 1.5/5

Once Upon a Dream - Mary Costa & Bill Shirley

Cinderella: Ninja Warrior

Author: Maureen McGowan
Pages: 314 (if you read all of the scenarios)
ARC Acquired from: Baker & Taylor Publishing Group via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
This is Cinderella as you've never seen her before. This Cinderella has magical powers and, as the title intimates, ninja skills. Why is someone so rocking a prisoner, you might conceivably wonder. Well, that's because her stepmother has magical powers too, only she works for the dark side. Can Cinderella escape her evil stepmother's grip in time to win a contest in magic and a dance with Prince Tiberius (and, more importantly, with Ty, the royal messenger)? You decide!

Review:
When I was a kid, I absolutely loved choose your own adventure books. In fact, they were the only Goosebumps books I could bear to read, since I have always been a complete and utter wimp when it came to anything remotely horrific. Additionally, I adore fairy tales, so this new series that does its best to combine the two was impossible to pass up.

Unlike the choose your own ending books of my youth, these books aimed at teens or adults have many less decision points, a sacrifice made for story and plot. On the one hand, this is a good thing, but, on the other, I really wanted to make all the choices. Oh well. I only read one of the eight possible outcomes (along with one of the other sections, just to get an idea), because my reading pile is ridiculous, but it was pretty good. I imagine it would probably be my favorite of them, should I read all of the others.

Actually, this book reminded me, rather strangely, of The Post-Birthday World by Lionel Shriver, which has nothing to do with fairy tales or choose your own adventure. In this book, you see two possible courses a woman's life could take, based on whether she decided to have an affair or not on the night of her birthday. There are two story lines in all but the first and last chapters, where everything comes together again. Here, too, all roads lead to the same place. Again, that's cool, but not altogether realistic, I feel. Some of the plot lines always feel forced to get you back to that specified ending.

All that aside, this was a charming, fun way to spend an afternoon. It was nice seeing a powerful Cinderella; in fact, my favorite parts were the ones that were off book, where she was doing magic. If you miss having a say in some of your main character's choices, give this a try!

"But if I know you, I know what you'll do
You'll love me at once
The way you did once upon a dream"