Oh.

Shit.

That was a rollercoaster of a chapter...

Kinda curious, for anyone that played today's chapter, did your MC also say they wanted to be with Gabe when Jade asked us to choose one over the other? While I have romanced both, I have a pretty strong feeling that unless there was a default option to choose both, I've always chosen Cas over Gabe, so I'm curious if anyone actually got Cas instead of Gabe. I've noticed that PB is a little...looser with handing out the romance points to Gabe over Cas, so I wonder if that was the reason why Gabe edged out Cas. It's no secret that PB often favors the golden love interest type more over any other love interest type.

But to be fair, if the MC chose Cas, the following scene wouldn't have made a lot of sense. And I'm a little disappointed that there wasn't an option on who to choose for the MC's very first time. It was either Gabe or skip the scene entirely. Might be the one diamond scene I skip in the story when I replay the chapter just because I've already decided on a Cas endgame if the poly-route falls through and we do have to choose one over the other. I just hope they don't automatically default us to one over the other because I will restart the entire series and strictly go Cas for every choice.

Not that I don't like Gabe...but like, you have a whole ass Cas right there...and you expect me to NOT choose him in the end?

Working my way through Unbridled (because I'll take the free diamonds for this story and use it towards Immortal Desires 2) and I'm confused. Besides the fact that Kit makes an appearance in the story and isn't even the Kit I used in the first book and the story seems suspiciously similar to the same plot and characterization of the first book (Saving a failing ranch, the male love interest who loves the ranch but is emotionally distant and doesn't express feelings well, the same timing of the first time the love interest and the MC actually hook up, the great big event at the end of the book that saves the ranch etc.)

The MC is practically useless in this book. The plot seems more revolved around Mandy and her story, and not so much as the MCs. Even Ryder, one of the love interests, seems to make more sense in Mandy's story as an "enemies to lovers" type of thing because they bicker and fight, but they both share a common love of the ranch and want to see it grow and be successful. Even in Chapter 14, the fact they were all touchy-feely with each other (and even go further in a threesome diamond scene) despite the bickering and fighting? But to be fair, that scene was simply there because PB knew people would want it and doesn't actually change anything because everyone goes back to normal afterwards and nothing stems from it. The MC is just kinda...there. Yes, they have their own story-line and plot, but that is only addressed in bits and pieces thrown in throughout the story and isn't taking up the majority of the book like I would expect it to be given since it's the MC's story. We really don't see the MC become the focus of the story until the last 2-3 chapters of the book.

I genuinely wonder if PB had created this story to focus it around Mandy and Austin's relationship because you had the opportunity to make them get close to each other in the first book. But since the fandom and the public had made their intentions known that they didn't want Mandy and Austin to be the focus of the second book, PB had to quickly adjust course to correct that story. So they dropped Mandy to a love interest, conceived Ryder because their paying audience wouldn't read it if there wasn't a ripped, hot male love interest and created this MC out of thin air and tried to work some thinly-veiled story into what they already wrote because starting over from scratch would've costed them a lot of money and completely abandoning the book would've costed them money and wasted a huge chunk of time for absolutely 0 profit.

You forgot the self defense class the love interest and the main character always have

Oh shit you're right.

There's always a self-defense class or some type of combat sparring session in these stories now, isn't there? Now that I think about it, there's really not a whole lot of stories PB has produced where there ISN'T the mandatory self-defense class or combat training diamond scene.

Deciding to read through Along Came Treble, but to make it more interesting for myself, I decided to give my predictions and then update after I finish the story to determine if my predictions came true. Anyone else currently reading, let me know how I did.

Female-Only MC, so that means she's going to an intelligent, career-driven woman whos' focused on making it big. Or she has already made it big and she's looking for the next big challenge to keep her on her toes. Because we can't have any other personality traits for Female-Only MCs in these stories.

There's going to be instant connection between the MC and LI, but the MC is going to try and fight it while the LI is aggressively flirty and borderline sexually harassing their employee until she inevitably falls for them after getting "the best sex they ever had"

A Blonde, White female side character who will be the villain simply because she's blonde, white, and has an unrequited crush on said LI.

Because the LI is a bad boy/bad girl, there's going to be something they do that will ruin their image and the MC is going to be used to rehabilitate said image.

There's going to be nothing but innuendo after innuendo and no actual realistic conversations. So much sexual tension that blooms into love but isn't because all they have in common is sex and nothing else.

LI is going to shrug all the rules off because they're "rock and roll"

The one female best friend, bonus points if she's a POC, that will be socially outgoing and bubbly but will also give outfits to the MC.

One of these damn sex scenes is going to give off BDSM vibes because it's practically a requirement.

Something +forbidden or +intrigue or +mischief or something that pops up when we choose to flirt back with the LI.

When they inevitably get into a relationship, their relationship will be outed, and the MC's career will be jeopardized until the LI does some big gesture they never do for anyone else that demonstrate they've changed and MC will have her career and everything else magically fixed.

Feel free to add your predictions. I tried to cover as many as I think would happen.

Just a quick little rant (not about choices)

Unless you actively do someone's job or know what they do on a regular basis, STOP MAKING DRASTIC CHANGES TO THEIR JOB AND EXPECT THEM TO FIGURE IT OUT IMMEDIATELY AND DEAL WITH THE FALLOUT OF IT.

I swear to god, the last 6 months have just been this one bitch of a manager making drastic changes and getting the chiefs and higher-ups to make it a bigger issue than it really is, not caring who it affects, and then when I tell them it's not going to work because it will cause this issue, they get insulted that you're calling them out and questioning their intelligence.

Well, guess what happened when she implemented a drastic change without thinking it through? It pissed off the wrong person and no one stood up for her when she got chewed out for it. And now she's ranting about how we need to be more team-spirited and more supportive of each other.

Maybe don't be such a massive asshole to your workers every single day and someone would've had your back. But since I'm not a manager, I apparently don't know anything...

They spent two years and shoved this book behind a paywall just to not even double-check it?

No because it's so tiring.

I don't know who is running the PB team anymore, but the work lately they've been putting is sloppy.

Immortal Desires has the closet glitch for the players with the male MC body type. But even outside of the glitch that should've been fixed before the book was even released, the work has been getting sloppy at best. Grammar and spelling issues are plaguing every story they're putting out. I've had other characters call my MC the wrong name. I've had the story say the wrong Love Interest's name in the story. Continuity from what they've written earlier and what they're writing now is not there.

And don't get me wrong. Every now and then, it's understandable that there's a glitch or a bug, or a spelling mistake here and there. But it seems like lately, there's problems in the stories that they're putting out. And especially now because the app has practically become pay-for-play (and not at a cheap pay-for-play price either), you would think they would double or triple check their writing or coding to make sure the story is good before putting it out. People shouldn't be paying $15.00+ a month only to have the outfits not work or have other characters call the MC by the wrong name.

Um i may not be the best at well...anything...but I dont think this is right...

The way the book just released and now the closet is broken for male MCs...😒

I don't know if you've left Tumblr but I miss your commentary on stories.

To be blunt anon, I've lowkey given up on the app.

I mean, I'll still play a chapter or two every couple of days, but I don't find myself rushing out to read the chapter the day it drops anymore. Plus, there's only so much of my griping I can give before even I don't have the energy to gripe.

I've just grown tired of getting nothing but smut thrown out every month. I'm tired of sex scene after sex scene instead of a well written plot. I'm tired of characters who are nothing except aggressively horny 24/7 and have the personality of wet doorknobs. I'm tired of getting a sale advertisement shoved into my face every time I open the damn app.

I know I said it before, but Witness was really the start of PB's downfall in my opinion. They've essentially abandoned what made them good to begin with in favor of getting money at any cost, including their own writing. I mean, why do you think they shoved every book behind a VIP paywall now and shove a sale advertisement in your face every time you open the app? They want the money. They don't care about good writing, good character development, etc. They just want money.

Other people have said it before, but they really are trying to become Chapters, and by doing so, they've abandoned what made them stand out and started driving people away from the app. Why would I download Choices and Chapters if both are essentially becoming the same thing? Meanwhile, I find that Chapters has better VIP benefits over Choices, and Chapters VIP costs less, so take that as you will.

It really is sad to see a once good app with great stories and interesting characters go down the drain simply because of corporate greed.

Sent by anonymous

‘I remember back in the day, I'd look forward to playing new Choices chapters every week... and now, I have to motivate myself to even open the app.’

POST/CONFESSIONS DO NOT REFLECT THE MOD’S PERSONAL OPINIONS!

What's even crazier is that his adopted brother John (one of the love interests) in the Unexpected Heiress also had a fiancee who died on the Titanic...

Isn’t he the deceased sister’s fiancée in The Unexpected Heiress?

Alright, I'll give it to PB for finally making a consistent string of above decent looking love interests in the "smut" books for the first time in a very long time.

With that said...

The Titanic? The MC being a woman of upper-class society getting pawned off to an "eligible" upper-class match? The love interest she eventually falls in love with is a member of the lower class? Not even Third Class like Jack Dawson, but now a member of the Crew?

Like, I don't know who they're trying to fool, but it's mildly concerning that the writers have on more than one occasion taken "inspiration" from other popular works and basically morphed them into a virtual choices novel. However, historical fiction has been one of their stronger genres of writing, so I'm holding out hope, but I'm not holding my breath on this being eerily similar to the movie with just some added in stuff to avoid a plagiarism claim. I just find it hilarious that in their blog post they wanted to portray other stories outside of what's been done before...but like...this story has been done before and made over $2 billion dollars so how does that make sense?

However, I do find it hilarious that Francis Somerset's model from Unexpected Heiress is re-used as an eligible suitor considering his brother John Somerset's fiancee Victoria died on the Titanic according to the Unexpected Heiress. Wonder if she'll be worked into the story since PB tries to have all their stories tie-in to one gigantic Choices Universe World.

yeah we put your girl in the fandom and they villainized her beyond comprehension. yeah sorry they took out all the nuance and made the argument completely black and white. yeah my bad. we can’t reverse it. sorry.

Ok so I read the bonus scene where they go over the evidence, and IT STILL DOESNT MAKE SENSE

The Signet Ring. All they do is state it was Vasili's, but we're never even shown Vasili wearing the ring, nor are we told he was left handed. Vasili himself never even mentions wearing a ring nor was the ring brought up during his villain monologue. So once again, who made the signet ring indent on Sebastyan's neck?

2) The Dagger. I find the dagger thing to be completely bogus. They state Vasili had his own dagger as the explanation, but according to Trystan in Chapter 5...

11 chapters ago, Vasili was not an heir to the throne, so he would not have had his own dagger at the time of Nadja's death. SO HOW COULD IT BE HIS OWN DAGGER?

Once again, I fear PB forgot their own writing, but I fear they did the one thing I hate in mysteries.

They had Vasili tie himself to the evidence and clues instead of having the clues and evidence tie themselves to Vasili. All the clues and evidence made more sense tied to the other siblings than they did for Vasili.

Ok, but I still would like some answers on the other pieces of evidence that were used in this case.

1) The signet ring indent. Who actually caused it? Ruby mentioned half the Thornes wear them, and we’re only shown two of them wearing it, Lydea and Astrid. So, it’s safe to assume only the legitimate heirs have the signet ring, which would make sense like the daggers only being used by the legitimate heirs. Vasili wasn’t a legitimate heir, so how did the signet ring indent show up on Bastien’s neck if Vasili was the one to kill Sebastyan?

2) The dagger. Did we ever conclusively figure out who’s dagger that is? I know it’s probably safe to assume Kaspar was the one who left the shallow knife marks on Nadja as a way to cover up him stealing the garrote. The twin snakes are a good bet to say it was Kaspar’s or Emika’s, but Trystan states their dagger was exactly the same minus a red jewel to denote the heir to the throne, so if their dagger also has the twin snakes, then who’s dagger did they find in the secret passage? I can see why it was used a clue, even if the idea behind it is very shallow, but I still wanna know who’s dagger we found.

The only explanations I can figure out is that they were used to cast suspicion off of Vasili, but then it still doesn’t explain how the signet ring indent showed up on Sebastyan’s neck and consequently pointed out to us as a clue by Ruby and used as a lead to follow Astrid and Lydea around as suspects. Unless there was an option I didn’t choose where Vasili admits he has a ring on his left hand too (if anyone can verify). Or the other explanation is that PB once again dropped the ball in the ending of yet another story after building up the anticipation and suspense for 14 chapters and forgot what they wrote previously...

I dont want to say I called it but...

Called it.