When I was a kid, I loved choose-your-own-adventure books. They were silly and gender neutral and always ended too quickly, but I remember some of the plots vividly. So I was more than super psyched (if that doesn't make me sound like a cheerleader, just wait another paragraph) to learn from a friend that there is a choose-your-own-adventure book that was created for grown women. I bought it the next day and read through six different life stories.
Pretty Little Mistakes starts on the last day of high school. The first decision to be made is whether to follow your boyfriend to college or travel. From there, you can end up anywhere. You're only in charge of the most basic decisions--to marry or not, to follow or stay--so the most fun can be had by letting go and enjoying the ride. So far, I've ridden through Europe with drug-dealing hippies, become a doctor helping the underpriviledged in the American South, had a wildly successful movie career, made controversial art and joined a cult. At the end of every story you die, whether it's happily in old age, in a car accident or at the hands of a murderer.
Am I gushing? I've had so much fun reading this book, and it's different every time. I highly recommend it for anyone looking for a juicy and quick summer read that you can read over and over again. It's definitely rated R, with swearing, sex and drug use, so it's not for everyone, but for now it's my obsession of the moment.