Interesting but ultimately depressing. So many of the endings were unhappy., despite - or worse - because of the character doing the right thing instead of being selfish. But the most selfish character, Jed, came to the worst end of all. So the moral of the story is "life's a b***** and then you die"? I thought this was going to be a fun book, so it was really disappointing.

"Consider the Consequences" is a fascinating and creative concept that brings back the charm of classic "choose your own adventure" storytelling. I really enjoyed the interactive structure and the multiple narrative paths that made each choice feel meaningful. It's clear that a lot of thought went into crafting the different storylines, and the idea itself is both nostalgic and refreshing. However, I have to say that reading it in digital format takes away from the experience. A physical copy would make it much easier to flip between pages and follow different outcomes, which is such a core part of the fun. The digital version just doesn't quite capture the playful element that this kind of book thrives on.
Still, if you're into experimental fiction or interactive stories, it’s definitely worth checking out, just try to get your hands on a printed edition if you can!

Helen, Jed and Saunders are the three main characters in this choose your ending story. Helen is in love with an exciting man...but is he the right one for her long term or should she try to force herself to love another who would be a more reliable choice? Depending on the route the reader takes, families come into play, too, including a hateful mother in law and children.

It was a nostalgic experience for me and I adore Golden Age writing. Consider the Consequences was originally published in 1930 and I know I would have loved it if only the options to be shown where to start reading the chosen section were obvious in this format. The only option was to basically read it through like a novel relying on detail and memory. Of course this affected my enjoyment which is a shame as the potential is huge. It would be great fun to read this properly formatted (I read the Kindle version). Due to this challenge, it is tricky to review and rate.

My thanks to NetGalley and Steerforth & Pushkin for a copy of “ Consider The Consequences “ for an honest review.

Unfortunately due to the formatting on this Kindle edition it wasn’t possible for me to enjoy this book in the interactive way that it was intended .It obviously will work better in physical book form ..I’ve given an average score to be fair.

I enjoy a Choose Your Own Adventure style book. This one is very simple with very few choices to make along the way. Owing to the age of the book, the attitudes within it are pretty dated and most of the paths come with some moralising included (because a moral lesson is always fun at parties.) It was also pretty bleak, with one choice being should he commit suicide yes or no? As a novelty piece of history, it's quite entertaining but I can't say I really enjoyed reading it.

Please note - the Kindle file doesn't include paragraph numbers above each paragraph and so is almost unreadable in the game book format in which it is meant to be enjoyed. It does work in the Netgalley app, although links to jump to the relevant paragraph would have been great.

Thank you Steerforth and Pushkin for the advance copy in exchange for my honest unbiased review.

The book is a reprint of a nostalgic party game of sorts… pick your future and we’ll see where it goes! If you don’t like it, return to the beginning and start again. As a kid who enjoyed “choose your own adventure” books, I was very excited to dive into this one for adults.

The story follows Helen, Jed and Saunders through a series of completely relatable life choices. You get a lot of great backstory and then the fun starts… who do I marry? Where should I work? Do you lend someone money? Etc etc.
Each journey has the potential to end in several different ways and the take on the outcomes are funny, alarming. and frustration inducing, which I think that’s probably the whole point.
If you loved these types of books as a kid. If you love nostalgia or if you have a game night coming up and want something different and entertaining, this is a great pick for you.

When I first saw this on NetGalley, I was so intrigued by the concept. Consider the Consequences is a playful, inventive novel first published in 1930, well ahead of its time and is being republished this year by Pushkin Press.

The premise is simple but brilliant: you follow the lives of three characters, Helen Jed, and Saunders and at the end of each chapter, you get to choose how their stories unfold. While the characters’ lives gently brush against each other, the choices you make for one don’t affect the others’ perspectives. The writing is light, witty, and incredibly readable. It is perfect for those moments when you're in a reading slump and want something refreshing yet smart. The consequences vary widely, and it’s genuinely fun to choose your own path. Of the three, Helen’s arc stood out to me the most, her storyline felt the most engaging and satisfying in terms of both stakes and payoff.

This was such a fun and innovative read, especially when you’re in need of something a little different. That said, I couldn’t help but feel it would be even more enjoyable as a group activity or party game. Reading it alone is fun, but reading it together could be an experience.

Would I Recommend? Yes
For readers who like: Interactive entertainment, games for group, Social satire
Song Rec: None

Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Impossible for me to read the NetGalley book file unfortunately! I may just have to wait until the physical copy is available later in the year to give it a whirl

Unfortunately, I was not able to read this book as intended because none of the sections that you can choose from is labeled. I still perused the pages, however, and found them exceedingly depressing. I don’t know who thought this would be a fun party game. The writing is stilted and the characters are miserable no matter what they choose.

I really wanted to read and enjoy this book because it sounds so fun but the formatting is so awful?? I tried to read on both my kindle and my iPhone and I don’t understand how I’m supposed to find the pages to flip to, why aren’t there links to click? Idk I could not figure it out. I’m sure it a fun time but it was a nightmare trying to figure out so I gave up.

Consider the Consequences is an interactive gamebook where you are able to read through different life choices.

This was fun! I wish I had a physical copy to be easier to flip through based on the choices.

Thank you to NetGalley & Steerforth & Pushkin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I probably should have realized that with a title like "Consider the Consequences", this interactive, choose your own adventure book wouldn't exactly be a joy-ride through lots of happily ever afters.

No, there was a definitive lack of sunsets being ridden off into, and instead a whoooole lot of unemotional reality checks. But honestly, I could only help but laugh at the various endings for Helen, Jed & Saunders, and the strangely straight forward nature of them.

I truly did try the system honestly, at the beginning. My choices for Helen I assumed were a fairly good balance between rebellious and submissive, predictable and unexpected. So I quietly shrieked when I was told after a mere few paragraphs "The consequence of Helen's inability to take chances and be moderately selfish was that she had no failures in her life, nor had she any hard-won triumphs from which to draw strength for further struggles." And that was it.

That was it!? I asked myself. And then promptly returned to the beginning to start over again, just to hit another sudden and slightly clinical conclusion. Again. And again. And again. Until I finally decided I would just read through every single path that Helen's life could possibly take and see what directions would be taken.

There were certainly many variations running the gamut of personal, romantic, and professional outcomes. But I wouldn't hesitate to say that nearly every ending was fully realistic and dosed with a small bit of worldly wisdom. The morals and lessons within this little book certainly remind you that it was written nearly 100 years ago, and I recognize that I'm reading it through a cultural lens that is very far removed from the time it was originally published.

I suppose when it comes down to it, I don't prefer to be told outright what the moral lesson is to be found from a person's decisions. I want to experience it. And that was my main issue with this style of book.

Don't get me completely wrong - I enjoyed this little blast from the past, and it was fascinating to peek inside what was a new concept for that day and age. And personally, I've never done a choose-your-own-adventure style book like this. It's just limited by its format more than anything else.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read and review this ARC!

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC of the rerelease. I have always been a sucker for choose your own adventure stories and it was lot of fun seeing where the story changes based on decisions. And I love how Helen choosing things for her own good was consistently positively rewarded by the narrative.

Enjoyable without being riveting, Consider the Consequences is a time capsule for modern readers. It is sometimes adorable, sometimes far too serious- I liked it but I did not feel connected to any plot points or characters. A good idea- an acceptable literary offering.

I loved choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid—I had nearly all of them! So I was surprised (and delighted) to learn that this book is actually the one that started it all. I thought it was incredibly clever to apply a reader-driven, branching plot structure to something as universal as dating and marriage.

I read the Kindle version, which made navigation a bit tricky, but I can imagine how much more enjoyable and interactive this would be in a physical copy. The book does feel a bit dated—the tone is more matter-of-fact than emotionally engaging—but I kept reminding myself that it was originally published in the 1930s, which added historical charm.

The story centers around Helen and her two love interests, Jed and Saunders. It was fun exploring the different paths and seeing how choices shaped Helen’s future. I’d love to see a more modern version of this concept—it would absolutely be a hit with today’s readers.

Thank you to Pushkin Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

This book is absolutely delightful.

The first of the "choose your own adventure" type of books, it enlightened the possible life paths of three people: a woman and two men -though the woman has by far the biggest share- in 1930s USA. It is an interesting and charming read, not only because of the possibility, but because in the possibilities given and the results portrayed it gives a very clear picture of the potential paths that people one hundred years ago perceived, and how they thought of it, for good or ill. Helen, the woman, has potential careers that are not discounted, can become a wife of several men, stay at home or leave, and there is in general more choice than what we would think.

I found it a very interesting read, and strongly suggest it to anybody interested in the time period.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pushkin Press for this digital review copy.

This may be the earliest 'choose your own adventure' styled book, so I really wanted to read it and see the beginnings of that literary subgenre. Unfortunately, the overall mood of "Consider the Consequences" was not what I expected. No matter what route you read through (whether it's Helen, Jed, or Saunders), the book's tone is too serious and the same story beats happen every time a new route happens. Every 'bad' decision seems to lead to love affairs, unhappy marriages, bad parental relationships, etc. Had the authors focused on just one character, the book would have been much better.
NOTE: the advanced review copy I read has serious formatting issues, where routes weren't labeled properly (or at all sometimes), and it took a lot of extra work to figure out which paragraph was the correct next step.

This couldn't have been more fun! This was the perfect solution to romance book where the heroine ends up with "the wrong guy". It was so fun to get to play through all different endings! I would highly recommend this to anyone!

This was interesting and fun to read through the different scenarios 📚 thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this copy

I absolutely adored Consider the Consequences. I loved that this book could have both the traditional happy ever after endings along with darker endings (including suicide). I can't wait until the next time I have a gathering with my friends because I will force them all to choose their own adventure using this book. I had so much more fun reading Consider the Consequences than I expected. I highly recommend it!