Kathryn in the City

I really enjoyed this book, and I thought it was amazingly well-written, given the limits of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" format. It's not easy to describe sexual activity in a way that's erotic, rather than embarrassing or gross, and the author does it very well indeed. It's a good book for couples, too; my husband and I have had a lot of fun reading sections aloud to each other.

Imagine for a moment that you are a young woman named Kathryn, who has found herself facing a boring future. Everything is all mapped out for the next fifty years of her life. Plain, boring Kathryn.Yet, you know that you are capable of more. So you leave your fiancée and your perfect future, and set out for a new life in San Francisco. No longer will you live vicariously through your best friend Sally's letters, imagining what you life would be like; imagining the explosive sex you are missing out on.With KATHRYN IN THE CITY, you are Kathryn. You decide her fate once she arrives in San Francisco. You decide if she is open to a lesbian relationship, if she delves into kink or enjoys a vanilla relationship; you make the choice as to who she dates, what career path she follows and everything in between.How many times have you read a book and found yourself thinking, "I wish it had focused on this aspect", or "she should have done this and not that". I know I have wished the author had written things differently many times. I think that is what first drew me to the Create Your Own Fantasy line of books. The fact that I can control what happens. I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and turns I took Kathryn - and myself - on. I liked being able to back up and start all over and see a different future open up for the character, and to see the new aspects of her that were revealed with each choice. I especially liked the different sexuality options. It was fun to see the same character react and interact with different partners, different choices and different sexual preferences.Review © Michelle Houston

I haven't read a "choose your own adventure" book since I was a kid, so I was expecting something along the lines of those books: a glib little romp through events where the goal is to find the one "correct" way out of the maze. Instead, to my surprise and pleasure, I found a story where you can try all kinds of different actions and get different end results, some of which are better than others, but all of which turn out to be interesting. Kind of like life, eh? The choices you make as "Kathryn" actually shape the course of her character development and love/sex life. It's a neat game this book offers, finding out what happens if you dare to do the things you'd never dare to do in reality... and let Kathryn enjoy (or suffer) the consequences! Very fun, a fantasy with multiple possibilities for sexy twists and turns, and a sympathetic, likeable character. I totally got into it.

Mary Anne Mohanraj has had a chance to do something I'm sure many people have thought about... but have not done before, a "choose your own fantasy", not with knights and dragons, but women (and men) in San Francisco.Great fun, lots of rereading needed (what more can you ask for in your erotica...), and many different paths to explore.As a man, this particular book is of interest as the perspective is that of a woman.