User blog:BigLenny/Thoughts on the July 5, 2019 blog post and July 2019 newsletter

After Choices posted their latest blog post here, that got me thinking about it.

AME and D&D
PB already announced that AME and D&D will return on August. To be honest, I'm not super excited because Book 2 of both books are downgrades from Book 1. AME has the repetitive formula repeated from Book 1, the double elimination system prevents me from getting to know the new contestants, and the love interests don't really click well with me. D&D waters down the love interests to mere copies of one another, which is a huge shame because I love all four of them. It also doesn't help that Duke Richards is notoriously ubiquitous and over-the-top while providing little substance. It's a shame because both books are meant to be my guilty pleasures. Not to mention that I find the idea of a book centered on a wedding tedious and unnecessary.

HSS:CA, RoD, and OH
This is just a mere guess, but I think HSS:CA and RoD will return on September, and OH on October. My guess is that RoD is released earlier than OH even though both stories are pretty popular. Honestly, the only one I'm looking forward to is OH, mainly because it's the only story on the list I like. HSS:CA Book 2 is a let-down because of how boring the story is, and RoD is a story I still find bad despite improvements along the way. Nevertheless, I'll read Book 2 for the diamonds. Still annoyed that there's still no word on It Lives Book 3. It could return on October like ILB, however.

Gender options in upcoming stories
I personally welcome the idea of more stories with gender options, but it's certainly no guarantee whether the story will be good or not. What I do want to look for in a story with gender options is that the narrative offers differing perspectives based on gender and race. So far, D&D is the only story that features dialogue variations based on gender even though they're slight for the most part. At least I know for a certain that the upcoming fantasy story Andrew Shvarts teased will have gender and race options. After all, an earlier newsletter reveals sneak peeks of two options for the protagonist, one male and the other female. The upcoming pirate book better have gender options, as there are female pirates as well as male ones in history.

Releases on different days
A book launching on Sunday (Monday for me) in the future? I wonder if PB can actually handle releasing stories on almost every day. Especially since there are so many books updated weekly as of late. It’s overwhelming.

Nightbound cover change
As predicted, Nightbound's cover changed because it proved less popular than expected. Yet at the same time, I think Pixelberry is still missing the point on the cover. The tagline "His... to protect" depicts Nik Ryder as needlessly possessive. The cover depicting Nik and the MC embracing suggests that the MC is subordinate to him instead of them being equals. Yet Pixelberry never mentioned how problematic both the new cover and the tagline come across.

TRH
Not a surprise TRH will become a series. I find it overrated in some ways because of its lack of focus on the political aspect. That's one of the main reasons why I like Book 2 over Book 1. I wish TRH focuses on the gravity of politics.

Genres
So some of the genres Pixelberry wants to do include historical fantasy and pirate adventure. Well, they teased about releasing a book about sailing around this year, so maybe it will be mainly about pirates. As for historical fantasy, I'm up for it. Regarding the era it will show, it seems that the Renaissance is the most likely choice because Pixelberry mentions fighting for power in a Renaissance-era court for an upcoming story. As someone interested in the Renaissance, bring it on! It better minimize the romance aspect in favor of the plot, just like TH:M. No offense to ACoR and its fans (or any romance fans, in general), but I felt that the middle chapters were a drag because of the romance aspect, though I like seducing and manipulating Cassius and Antony.

Planning a few weddings could refer to AME, D&D, and possibly Bachelorette Party. Taking on the challenges of motherhood definitely refers to TRH.

I want more mystery and horror. The It Lives series and Veil of Secrets are god-tier, and Pixelberry should make more of those kind of stories.

Newsletter
Bachelorette Party sounds like it's supposed to be comedy with a tinge of action via the mafia run-ins. I just hope it doesn't devolve into PTR 2.0. I'd say make it more like Wishful Thinking. On another note, what's with the chasing strippers and grand larceny parts? It just made me roll my eyes. If it's for a useless reason, it veers towards RoD territory.

Interesting that there will be another story released on August besides AME and D&D. I hope it's the fantasy book Andrew Shvarts has been teasing. If not, then the pirate book should do.