Playing Through Every Choices Book In Order (Part 120: The Holiday Bakeoff)

Hey! Today we try to save a local cafe by winning a baking competition!

Next time, our fledgling sports reporter career is upended by our connection to a fiery hockey captain...

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

The Holiday Bakeoff

M/C: Vanessa Valentine

Love Interest(s): Darcy

Favorite Character(s):

Least Favorite Character(s): Pam, Alex

Rating: 1/10

Review:

This is the first book I've reviewed that comes from the modern Choices era, or at least, post-AI company acquisition era. I've seen all the posts on this sub about the character models, and the writing, and well...you guys weren't lying.

The plot is just alright. It's a somewhat cute, extremely short story about winning this baking competition, but there just isn't any charm to be found here. Compare this to Home For The Holidays, another holiday-themed short book. This book has none of the charm, character, or just cozy energy in comparison. We lose the competition, then immediately just win by default in the next chapter when Pam's cheating is exposed (not even by M/C...).

The romance is whatever. I actually don't hate Darcy, but the romance itself is so, so rushed. I mean, Darcy starts out as a smug egoist that M/C can't stand....fast forward a chapter and suddenly they're all cutesy and Darcy has done a complete 180 on their personality? It feels like they were trying to copy what Home For The Holidays did with Nick, except there, it worked so much better. The fact that Darcy can say they love you in Chapter 4 is insane. You've known M/C for like a few days? Are you insane?

The other characters are lame. Candy is in 2/4 chapters and I don't care about her. Why bother having Alex be M/C's ex and do nothing interesting with it? Alex doesn't even show up in the final chapter. Pam is a terrible villain with minimal screentime. Also, I get that Alma is retiring, but why does she have to sell to Pam? Surely they could find a different buyer?

Let's talk about the elephant in the room. The character models. Oh my god, they're atrocious. They look so odd and malformed in just their neutral sprites, let alone their shocked or happy or angry sprites. The cameraman actually looks like a demon when he smiles. M/C's shocked face makes her look like a fish. Who decided this was the right direction for this app? Oh right, the AI company that bought out Pixelberry. It's just tragic. I compared this book to Home For The Holidays earlier. Take any character from that book and compare them to the designs and personalities here. The decline is so clear and noticeable.

The book is also genderlocked, because I guess even with AI they're too lazy to bother making male M/Cs for the majority of books.

It's just tragic to see the app take this turn. I've been on this app forever, and I mean, I'm on my 120th review. I'm holding out hope that at least maybe the stories will continue to be good, even if the art continues to deteriorate. Don't you miss the days when the Wolf Bride werewolves were the ugliest designs this app had produced?

Overall, this book is a sad harbinger of what's to come for this app. At least this one is inoffensive and incredibly short. Still, there's no interesting characters, the plot is boring, and the winter vibes aren't even done as well as other books on the app.