User:Matt620

Hero - I did feel like I was in a comic book, the art style worked here. And the characters were kinda fun with their different abilities.

It Lives (Both books) - Fond of them both. High stakes, lots of fun. It Lives Beneath was slightly better because it felt more like a team effort than It Lives in the Woods, but the first one allowed multiple deaths and really let me feel the consequences of my actions.

Veil of Secrets - An enjoyable mystery with great action scenes and a real sense of discovery. Plus had some of the most likable characters across the books.

America's Most Eligible 1 - Loved the cast, took a second to figure out the mechanics of it, but it really brought out a competitive edge and made me want to win. And the cast were a lovable cast of rogues.

Bloodbound 2 and 3 - Ramping up the action and excitement while playing down the romance was definitely the right choice. Also liked the plotline built in the for the Main Character with the whole Bloodkeeper thing, she felt more connected to the world and not some random schmuck. The stakes were constantly raised and I was hooked.

Desire and Decorum (All books) - TBH, I went into this not thinking I'd like it, but it's charm, authentic nature, and likable characters won me over. Book 2 was the strongest overall, but the others are good too. Fantastic cast of characters with just the right touch of mystery.

Big Sky Country (Both books) - A bit of a cliche, but charmingly acted and the style felt refreshing from the more urban looks of the other Choices books. Also had a well made supporting cast.

The Elementalists (Both books) - An easy to pick up mythos and collectibles focused around success made it well acted and wonderful. The holiday special was good as well, and I'm usually not fans of them.

The Heist: Monaco - Fun premise with a lot of enjoyment and hilarious characters with interesting backstories.

Open Heart, Book 1 - Wonderful characters, immersive in the setting without being overmuch and well written romantic scenes.

Nightbound - A fantastic mythos with lots of action and intrigue, a properly written tragic villain, and a real sense of emotion between father and child.

Platinum - The struggles of the main character felt realistic, she felt like a newcomer to an industry and had to work for her stardom. And the songs had an earwormy quality. Supporting cast was also very well written, and I always felt like I earned the choices I made.

High School Story: Class Act 3 - Giving the player a book-wide goal that could be improved made the smaller scale of the story feel more engaging, and the aesthetic felt unique. The struggles of high school students felt very well acted.

The Royal Masquerade - Engaging plot with a likable main character, a slight touch of mysticism, refreshingly honest villain, and authentic to its style without being overblown and pretentious.

Blades of Light and Shadow - Exciting action packed scenes with a believable immersive world.

Queen B - Ridiculous, trite, everyone in the story is utterly irredeemable. And I love it. The story never tries to be anything other than a guilty pleasure, and it does it immensely well, except for being forced to side with Zoey.

The Unexpected Heiress - Delightfully authentic to the time period and full of mystery and intrigue.

Wolf Bride - A cliched start that quickly turned into an incredibly interesting story full of magic and wonder.

Laws of Attraction - Slick and sophisticated, with tons of great looking suits, an ability to go purely for my profession rather than some self-righteous crusade, and a fun supporting cast, though it was quite preachy with the Marcus Sharpe case.

Stories that were okay
Rules of Engagement (All books) - Eh, started out all right, but the story got very samey and dragged on and on for far too long.

Endless Summer (All books) - The story was fine, actually pretty good. But I could not get behind the weird art style, and it was really a diamond sink.

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor - Too short to really get anything out of it, one way or the other.

The Royal Romance and the Royal Heir (All books) - Enjoyed it's more political coup nature, but in the end it felt like a long, drawn out romance. The political nature was stepped up in The Royal Heir, but I feel like the villains made their moves too early and the story began to drag.

High School Story (All books, and Class Act 1 and 2) - Lower stakes made it less interesting, but the characters were all right and I could understand it for the high school setting. Class Act had a great idea with the twin sibling that made for great storytelling, but it felt squandered. The focus on building a greenhouse rather than the implementation of the Class President felt like a throwaway.

Red Carpet Diaries 1 - A little too unbelievable with going to a high paid actress right away, but a lot of the earlier scenes had charm.

Perfect Match (Both books) - Started out all right, but I saw the twists coming. Perfect Match 2 upped the main cast greatly with great character interaction, and the ability to play as a complete nymphomaniac, but a lot of the supporting cast like Khaan and Winona were pretentious and I felt forced to like them.

Bloodbound 1 - A bit cliché in the beginning, but established its mythos and found its footing to be great by the end.

America's Most Eligible 2 and 3 - Not a bad idea, and decent new characters, but the rehashed plot of being run by a bad showrunner made it get really old really fast. The 3rd story does make me want to play it, but without the first two stories, it would've been bad. However, it had an extremely well written redemption arc.

Across the Void - Great looking characters, and the collectibles were useful, but a good story is more than liner.

matter.

decent.

dad.

concepts.

digger.
hell.

characters.

Things I'd like to see

 * A post-apocalyptic setting a la Fallout or Wasteland.
 * Mystery and suspense novels
 * An adventure novel a la Indiana Jones
 * Buddy cop drama where I have to solve a crime to save my bestie.

Things I don't want to see

 * Stories that are gender-locked without good reason. Bloodbound paid lip service to it in Chapter 2, but the later stories have no excuse
 * Shilled characters. When characters tell me how good someone else is without those traits being on display (or a good reason for someone to say things otherwise). These are characters like: Blaire Hall (bad businesswoman but everyone tells me she's good and fires people when they do things she tells them too, excuses theft); Winona Johnson (told she's a great journalist, actually isn't and springs surprises for ratings, as well as letting her guests get attacked); Emerald (pretentious eco-warrior full of herself), Selma (did nothing but act pretentious)
 * Negative shilled characters. When I'm constantly told by others how bad someone is for no reason than to make me the reader feel that way.