Format read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Series: Long Shots #5
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Release Date: Aug. 12, 2013
Publisher: Carina Press
Formats available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Author’s website | Goodreads| Amazon | B&N | Kobo
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.
Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? Choose Your Shot takes that concept, that the reader starts with a basic story and then decides where the heroine takes it from the beginning premise, and applies it to the sex club Mavericks introduced in the erotic romance series Long Shots.
How well does it work?
There are the reading mechanics and then there’s the story. Or stories, as the case may be.
Tegan was a regular at Mavericks before the fire that closes the club at the end of Calling the Shots . But we haven’t met her before. Our link to the previous stories is Paul and Sadie, the hero and heroine of the very first story, Double Shot.
Because the club has been under reconstruction for a year, Tegan hasn’t had a place to explore the various kinkier sides of her sexuality. She has missed having a safe place to “play” and she’s also missed the friends she has at Mavericks. But the time away has given her the chance to think about her life, and she’s starting to think that she’s ready for a long-term relationship. But that relationship would need to be with someone who understands all her needs.
With that set-up, the stories begin. The choose your own fantasy can lead Tegan to explore all the sexual possibilities on offer at Mavericks. Tegan is extremely flexible, but while steam rises from some scenes, others may go too far past the reader’s boundaries. And the scenes can get repetitive.
Because one of Tegan’s original thoughts was the possibility of pursuing a relationship outside the club, those choices are embodied in three different men; there are different romantic outcomes if she goes through the club as a Domme, a sub or a switch. Even if she leaves the club alone, someone will stop by her apartment at the end of the night. The story ends with the possibility of Happy For Now, or a small chance of Friends with Benefits.
Is that enough?
Verdict: The concept is way cool. You pick what Tegan should do, she does it, and then you pick the next thing, and read that. The links are much easier than flipping pages. But, it worked much better as a way to explore the club than as a way to explore Tegan’s erotic choices. It was also much too easy for the rooms to repeat.
Other people’s sex, scene after scene, starts to be repetitive, even with kink. There wasn’t enough plot to get to care about Tegan and her choices.
That was the difference between the rest of the Long Shots series and Choose Your Shot. The first four books, Double Shot, A Shot in the Dark, Pulled Long (still my favorite–see review of Long Shots 1-3 at Reading Reality) and Calling the Shots (which I’ll be reviewing later this week at Reading Reality) while they may have all had at least one kinky scene in Mavericks to spice things up, were still romances. The couple, (threesome in the case of Calling the Shots) get their HEA.
Choose Your Shot read like an excuse to show off all the different ways a kink scene could be written.
I give Choose Your Shot by Christine d’Abo 2 and ½ very kinky stars!
I have read Double Shot a few years ago, and decided again that erotica is not for me. This premise is fun, but perhaps you really should read just one option.