Playing Through Every Choices Book In Order (Part 117: Guarded)

Hey! Today we deal with a stalker on set of our new movie!

Next time, we become the queen-to-be of Camelot, and have to contend with psychic visions fortelling doom.

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

Guarded

M/C: Emily Wu

Love Interest(s): Ash

Favorite Characters:

Least Favorite Characters: Shannon, Renee

Rating: 2/10

Review:

Yet another book where I think the concept is good, but the execution falls extremely flat, to the utter deteriment of the book.

The plot is just very unfocused at best. The stalker stuff is interesting, but it really takes a back burner to the actual main plot, which is the boring relationship stuff between M/C and Ash. Instead of getting actual tension, drama, or even a bit of horror in terms of the stalker, we mostly just get M/C being a frail shivering emotional mess and Ash constantly fawning over her. How riveting.

This book is also a clear rip-off of Red Carpet Diaries, Book 3. The stalker plot, the book-to-movie adaptation, all of it is essentially redone here in a much worse way. And for those who read my review for that book, you'll know I already wasn't the highest on it to begin with.

Ash is boring, plain and simple. We get this really whatever backstory with this Enzo guy dying, and I'm just like...apathetic? Like, we need some contrived reason for a third-act breakup, so Ash is suddenly extremely traumatized by the death of this guy that we really only hear about in diamond flashback scenes. At least there's some nuance to Ash, so I won't be too harsh or anything. I do like the male Ash sprites though, for the most part.

Shannon is a terrible twist villain. She shows up in the FIRST chapter, and then doesn't show up again until chapter 18 out of 19. It feels so forced, especially her motivations. We needed more time with her, more of a look into her psyche. I would have loved if she showed up throughout the book at innocuous moments, maybe in disguises, where the eagle-eyed players might notice her, but most casual players might not. She's clearly deranged, so lean into that more. Have her appear more than once before the confrontation, my god. This is the same issue I had with Red Carpet Diaries, Book 3. Also, she doesn't do enough harm in my opinion. She drops that light, trashes the trailer, ties up Gemma, and leaves some notes. Nothing really all that harrowing or thrilling there, huh? They really dropped the ball with this character, who had the potential to be a really cool viallain.

The other characters are bland. Gemma and Val are so, so boring. Renee is there to be mildly antagonistic...and do nothing else of any relevance. In fact, all the stuff related to the movie is so pointless and dull.

The smut is alright, I suppose. As usual with these smut books, M/C and Ash's relationship is almost entirely founded on constant hook-ups. It's just lame, and I sense no romantic chemistry between these two at all. The fake dating angle isn't played up nearly enough to be interesting as well, leaving their whole relationship feeling so, so lame.

There's also a pointless genderlock, although this book does let you play as Ash every other chapter, meaning there technically is at least the option to have a male (semi) M/C. Too bad the main M/C can only ever be a woman, meaning gay male players get screwed over once again.

Overall, Guarded just isn't my cup of tea. It executes its premise terribly, the characters aren't memorable, the setting isn't utilized well, and it's genderlocked to boot.