Book Smart Kate

Book: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫 

by @pengshepherd (July 9, 2024) – Many thanks to @williammorrowbooks for a #gifted print copy of this bold and wildly creative book! Below is my honest review.

What would your life have been like if you’d made different choices? When Marsh becomes the season three contestant on All This & More, the groundbreaking and wildly popular reality TV show, that’s what she intends to find out. This unique concept, based on advances in quantum physics, allows a person to make different life choices in a controlled environment and see if they improve their life. Throughout a season, contestants make choices to improve their lives, and their final choice is seamlessly slotted back into reality. The first season was a global phenomenon, but season two was mysteriously shut down and never aired. Now they are back with season three, and Marsh gets to see what her life would look like if she had put herself first. From obvious what-ifs to radical life changes, Marsh examines happiness from many angles in her quest for the perfect life.

This book requires active reader participation as it is a grown-up choose-your-own-adventure book. Shepard poses choices after many chapters where you must decide how to advance in reading based on what choice you want Marsh to make. You can read along in page order for a while, but you will ultimately have to choose how you experience the book. This interactive element makes you feel an extra investment in Marsh’s journey. The whole book looks at what defines the perfect life – and how individual readers choose to direct Marsh’s choices ultimately will be based on how they define happiness and want that realized for Marsh. Your decisions will shape Marsh’s journey, making this an interactive and engaging reading experience. I kept reading this book and thinking about whether happiness is found in the perfection or messiness of life. It is a deeply engrossing read that will keep you thinking long after you finish.