Since the debut of PtR, I've been thinking a lot about why I love certain books, and why I dislike others, and why some books I don't mind, despite having a snooze-worthy plot. So I thought I'd break down my thoughts here, and see what other people think.

As a disclaimer, I'm only going to be critiquing how PB presents their MC's. I won't talk about other factors that go into making a book interesting and engaging, because there are plenty of books that have weak MC's, but make up for it with a riveting plot and fleshed-out side characters.

1 ) Scooby dooby doo - MC, who are you?: I get that the whole draw of Choices is that we get to be the main character in this book, and make choices for them. What I don't get is why PB consistently puts out flimsy, 2-dimensional MC's (a la Bella Swan) to play as. I understand that Choices wants us to put our own touch to the character, but there needs to be an overarching voice to their dialogue.

Some good examples of a strong voice would be ACoR, and surprisingly, BSC. ACoR MC is a strong, independent woman, no doubt about that. But you're able to put a spin on her voice through our interactions with characters and LIs -- does she flirt to get what she wants, or does she stand her ground? Our BSC MC is a quirk who talks to their cactus and is an eager beaver when it comes to helping people. But we get to decide how "strange" she can get through our dialogue choices. PB writers don't have to rely on writing stale dialogue for MC's non-choiced dialogue; instead, they can still continue the voice that we are already presented with when we start the game.

2) Oh, Mary Sue, I love you!: Now, it's hard not to write a Mary Sue when the entirety of Choices is based on inserting yourself into the game. I'll give PB a bit of leeway considering that they write a lot of these books to fulfill voracious chick-lit readers. But they are entirely capable of writing a building romance between MCs and LIs. Maxwell and MC come to mind in TRR. It wasn't immediately established in the book (partly because he was never meant to be an LI), but because of that, we're allowed to develop a rapport between him and MC before embarking on any sort of ~sexy time~. When PB creates a character that immediately falls in love with the MC (and it's apparent), it a) makes MC, whom we also have just been introduced to, a Mary Sue and b) cheapens the characterization of the LI.

PtR is VERY guilty of this. We were just introduced to the MC, who honestly seems fairly average overall, and now all of a sudden she has four different people fawning over how great she is? Give. Me. A. Break. Whom a character likes reflects back onto them as a sort of secondary characterization. When MC is already a, well, Mary Sue, there's no personality being added to the LI. Great, our LI loves this perfectly bland MC! How unique!

3) My MC is good and boujee: For the purposes of writing these books, I get why MC can't exactly go rogue and wreak havoc on their respective towns. But it's rare that we ever get to play as anyone other than someone who's "good", whether they are lawful, neutral, or chaotic.

Now, this is where I sing praises of ACoR again. We're able to align as neutral, and not deal with the savior complex PB loves to give the MC's. I want an MC that doesn't want to do good all the time!

As a conclusion, I really wish that PB would come out with more books like TC&TF and MW, where we play as already established characters in the canon. Any thoughts?