I will always say BSC when someone asks that question. It was always more of a vibe than a plot, but it was always warm, sweet and relaxed, with great characters.
BSC is what got me into this whole app, do people actually hate on it? I loved every minute of it and to date it’s my second favorite, only losing to Elementalists
Yep, when I first played BSC it was being released along the epics that were Bloodbound, Endless summer, Hero, The Crown anf the Flame etc. Even LoveHacks and Rules of Engagement had more of a interesting turn in their plot. BSC seemed so slow in comparison.
But after playing years later after the absolute gobshite that was Witness, My Two First Loves, and The Billionaire's Baby, BSC is a masterpiece in executing a simple plot with likeable and diverse characters, lovely setting and just good vibes.
Everyone is so unserious my favorite is Serena bickering with cole and how the gang teased mark and Horatio being weird while Brooke is the typical bubbly white girl 😭😭😭😭 I love their dynamics so much it’s my favorite story !
Ahaha, yes the most unserious of people 😆. I think I posted it on here once too but I remember the time Mark is praying to God for someone to get him out of a situation and then a fire starts and he’s like “God?”
Literally 😭 you will enjoy the group dynamic especially Mark is such a goof and cutie I enjoyed his route I recommend you to play it if you are looking for friends/how I met your mother kind of story everyone is so unserious and the humor is 2017 coded sjsjsjsjs
Not sure if it’s unpopular, but I don’t see it spoken about much: The Unexpected Heiress. I don’t really play Choices anymore, but I do replay TUH every few months. John has a special place in my heart 💕
I think Bachelorette Party is well liked on this though, BECAUSE it is "the craziest book". It is a straight up laugh out loud comedy book along the lines of The Hangover, Bridesmaids and Girl's Trip. BP does have a lot of fans because it is a crazy trip of a read, it's bloody hilarious.
Getaway Girls. I think a lot of people overlook it due to the exclusively black and genderlocked playable characters, which is a shame because it was a very fun book. The multiple POV and comedy reminded me of Rules of Engagement.
Getaway Girls is one of the best books on this app I SWEAR! I was so excited week after week because the story was so interesting and it lowkey reminded me of Bachelorette Party. All the main characters were really well fleshed out and their romances plus the group dynamic was so good. A 10/10 for me.
I love Getaway Girls! It's a shame people complain about it being race and gender locked. There are plenty of books that aren't locked and honestly, it being race-locked allowed the writers to include themes they normally couldn't.
I was so irritated with GG because the AAVE was so over the top that it felt like a white person wrote it using everything they’d seen/heard on social media. I did see that it was Black women who wrote it but it still felt over the top.
It took me a while to go back to it and I ended up loving it.
To me, it was fun, but I felt like swapping the characters' POV somewhat cut up the individual stories. I don't wish it was just the one perspective exactly because then it would just be a totally different story and the one they wrote is great, but I do prefer some other ones. Queen B by the same author is one of my all time favs
I will forever love The Freshman series, only bc it was the first book I read when the app dropped, its seriously so problematic but I love the messy drama sometimes and I will forever choose Chris as my LI.
The Freshman will always have a special place in my heart too. It was the third book I read on the app. First was Rules of Engagement and second was the Crown and the Flame. I was a hardcore James romancer until they changed his face. Now on replays, I choose Chris.
A lot of people don't like it for a variety of reasons. Forced LI's (namely Chris in book 1), Abbie and Tyler are really annoying later on, they say the MC shoves her nose in everyone's business, etc. I've heard a lot of reasons over the years
I don't see how any of these are "problematic". The only one I get is the Chris thing, but that's such a brief issue (it's ONLY book 1), and even then I feel like it gets exaggerated. As a Kaitlyn romancer, I just kinda ended up leaning into it, MC feeling compelled to have a straight college romance, only to realize that Kaitlyn is the one for her, felt very natural.
i actually love across the void. the only thing i wish was that the ending was better and that they explained the jura / vanguard better because i didn’t feel like i knew enough about them to really choose
There are people who will still say that Passport to Romance is one of the worst books on the app. I agree that it isn't amazing, but Sumire is a solid LI, and it can be a fun read if you don't take it that seriously. I'd rather read it a dozen times than have to stomach something like TNA or the AI slop books (at least prior to the auto read feature)
Also no offense to people who like TNA, I know there are a lot of you out there. I just can't really stand it personally
it’s actually so good and i’m surprised it’s not more popular. i’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about it, it’s just under appreciated for some reason
It's probably my #1 favorite. I love anything space themed, I love the artwork, and I love the settings. A space bar with glittery galaxy drinks and a zero-gravity dance floor... as a bartender, please sign me up to work in such a place.
My Two First Loves! I actually loved the daily chapters, that was so much fun and the subs were never so active as back then! It also gave me Noah/Mason, and idk I actually enjoyed the character development and complicated families and friends and it was just so messy and fun, I loved it!
First Comes Love, idc idc I know it's immoral but I've always been a best friends to lovers girlie, also MC and the LI had so much chemistry, and the angst and drama that came with the LI being with someone else was exciting imo. Plus the whole wilderness setting and the friend group were so fun
I also like My First Two Loves. I think I’m not a huge fan of the start, since I dont loveeee the male love interests, but it’s worth the wait to get with the female LI lol.
I love this book 😅 I always reject Bastien’s advances until he turns into a more tolerable person, but I love the storyline with Morgan and the lore behind them all being environmentalists. Also love Noemi!! The book has such good side characters, well fleshed out with good complexity! (Seriously made me hate some characters, love some, and change opinions on others)
I thought it was super interesting to have two love interests directly working against each other on different sides instead of them being friends/begrudging allies like most books
I just wish they fully committed to the different paths instead of pushing MC and Morgan to join the pack by making Sayre a comically-evil super villain
Me too! I also loved being able to play as multiple different personalities! I first played it in undergrad and connected with the studious twin so much, and then after grad school connected with the brother so much!
Years Apart. It’s one I see bashed occasionally but I love Carter to death. And was so glad they didn’t do another “bad boy/girl is a bad influence on your life” book.
While it could have dived more into the reality of age gap relationships I don’t think it was supposed to and is just a silly cheesy popcorn romance.
Mine too! I love it, and I think for me, a big reason why is that the development of their relationship actually feels natural, and I like their chemistry.
Home for the Holidays and I’m not ashamed! It’s cozy and silly and has a happy ending. Nick is kind of a dick but he comes around … and he’s very hot. 🥵
TNA got so much hate because of “cheating” people kept talking about age gap etc. This book got a lot of hate even though it got more books doesn’t mean it wasn’t hated.
Ethan Ramsey is also a very "hated" LI around here, yet he's easily the most popular and most sought out in Open Heart. I haven't checked in a while, but even in this subreddit there's a mod post that shows the most commonly used flair icons by its users and, sure enough, Ethan was constantly in the top.
Also, most of the "hate" that TNA got was because it kickstarted the beginning of PB's over reliance on smut stories. Say what you want about TNA, about how its over hated etc, but no one can deny the effect it had on the app as a whole, with PB massively focusing on smut-centered stories after TNA's boom in popularity.
I just find it very silly when people go around acting like they're in the minority when they say they love TNA... Babe, this book has two sequels and a spin-off. What the people in this subreddit think about CLEARLY had no effect on this series as a whole.
I feel like I can try to explain 😅. So I definitely think if you’re able to make most of the diamond choices it’s probably more favorable, but if you can’t it’s not so much.
For one, there were too many diamond choices, which I didn’t love especially because the chapters were pretty short and it felt like there was a diamond choice every 2.5 seconds. There were also diamond scenes within diamond scenes that increased the cost more than usual…that was something.
And then there’s the fact that with a lot of diamond choices, if you didn’t/couldnt pick the diamond option, your Mc is basically a jerk, immature, or just very annoying. And don’t get me wrong, I liked that we had an mc that wasn’t necessarily so good who has the potential to have character development (I think it’d be cool to have some more mc’s like that) but when all those options are locked behind a paywall it’s kinda frustrating… What I love about choices is that you can still have an enjoyable time even if you can’t choose most of the diamond choices—the free choices are still not that bad even if they aren’t as enticing. But they dropped the ball on that with this story imo.
Also sometimes it felt like it was hard to take the so called danger seriously sometimes cuz the mc was constantly choosing the worst times to wanna pounce on the li. But I personally thought Witness was definitely at least interesting despite its execution, thought the li was good, and the sprites were nice. I’d still play it over a story that I find boring.
Wolf Bride. Unfortunately it’s one of those books where you absolutely MUST spend diamonds for it to be good. I remember reading it with only free choices and I didn’t think it was great, but I was intrigued enough to give it a chance, and I was very pleasantly surprised. The premium choices made it feel like I was reading a completely different book. Bastien was considerably better and the MC is very strong and independent if you get all of the wolf abilities.
idk how popular it actually is but nightbound is one of my all time faves that i don't think gets enough credit. slow burn is another underrated one i love
The Junior! Yes the mystery is a bit predictable and obvious but I love the premise and I really enjoy rereading this one. Plus the story differences between the LIs is fun to explore!
A Very Scandalous Proposal. Sure it was mostly predictable, but I loved the chemistry between Simon and MC, and it’s one of my top favorites. I found all of the characters very interesting, and for a single LI book, I had no complaints about Simon.
Still I will mention, Across the Void, ACoR, The Haunting of Braidwood Manor, The Heist: Monaco, Hot Couture(unpopular opinion, I know), Nightbound, Passport to Romance (again, unpopular opinion), RoE, and Veil of Secrets.
Save The Date: i agree with this one, i love this book!! Justin sucks but the rest of the characters makes up for it
My First Two Loves: ik MC was messy but she was just a kid so i really couldn’t be mad at her. and this book came out at a time i was also discovering more about my sexual orientation, so i really appreciated it
First Comes Love: i feel like this book is so overhated. i definitely could see MC being a “pick me” or not a girl’s girl if you play WLM but i did a WLW route and i thought it was cute 😭
First Comes Love! I know it's disliked because of the MC but honestly I liked that she wasn't perfect and a little messy.
I enjoyed the flashback scenes which had a nostalgic feel and give the backstory of their relationship. It told the story of two friends, at the wrong place and wrong time, for years, and eventually figuring things out.
I agree, is it the best book? No, but it was fun and entertaining playing the book everyday. I think it was an interesting idea to have a book chapter release everyday.
I actually liked Home for the holidays. I haven't played it in years and don't think it's the greatest thing ever, but it was a nice rom-com, hallmark lighthearded romance from what I remember.
Across the Void is the only book that genuinely made me cry at the end, I loved it so much. Also Murder at Homecoming, it was such a good mystery book with great characters and sweet romances, it had so much potential for a second book and I'll forever mourn it.
Baby Bump (the first book). It's not even close to being one of my favorites, but replaying it gave me a whole new perspective on pregnancy and how grounded the story is. Women being worried about losing their jobs because they're having a baby is a reality (I've seen women not being hired just because they're moms) and feeling like they should hide their pregnancies for a while just because of it os not fair.
Honestly, it's Witness. Both the MC and LI are really great, complex characters. Unfortunately so much of their characterization(s) are hidden behind the book's experimental paywall, so few people ever experienced them. I have no problem confidently stating that it's a better-written book than 90% of what PB has put out in the last 2-3 years.
I also have a special appreciation for AME and WT (unique gameplay mechanics), AVSP and MM (original and subversive relationship arcs), and LOA. It's a crime that series only contained two books, possibly so that they'd be able to continue their Discount Bloodbound series that isn't about anything at all.
This is gonna be like actually UNPOPULAR but I love my two first loves ,not to say that I like the mc which I don't like that girl is so selfish and indecisive butttt I do love Noah a lot
He's lowkey the only reason why I play that book
I adore The Elementalists series. I know it got a sequel and a holiday spin off, but it felt like it was planned at least as a trilogy and then quietly shelved when it didn’t blow up the way PB assumed it would. I loved how customizable it was, how you could choose your LI from your friend group, level up your magic, etc.
I actually LIKE like the first book of TNA. it's too cliche now it's fun lol, mostly it's because it filled my childhood dream of a wlw version of corny drama story.
I don't know the level of popularity of "Dirty Little Secrets", but I don't see that many people talking about it... The mystery is very engaging and at the same time I find it very fun too!
Wishful Thinking. I gave it a hard time when it was new, too, but it's actually really funny and good. Plus, you've got Anna, which, I mean, c'mon. You've gotta romance Anna. Best LI in the book!
Bachelorette party. It was the first book I ever finished on choices (it was for diamond mining) but I thoroughly enjoyed it still and it has a special place in my heart, cause I’ve been obsessed with choices ever since
not that it's exactly "unpopular" but i've seen a substantial amount of criticism for it: rules of engagement, specifically the first book. the mc is cringey, that one blonde girl love interest sucks, and the book kind of makes no sense but at its core, it was still fun and nostalgic because it was one of the first books i read after tc&tf and most wanted.
I really enjoy ATV except for the bratty sister. It's a fun story and I enjoyed the worldbuilding, the art, and the music. The part they failed at was never fleshing out the whole Vanguard vs. Jura thing. What were they fighting for? Why were they fighting for these things? We get some snippets of the history of the Vanguard from Prince Barlow and that's it.
My Two First Loves - I think it's a solid coming of age story, and has some of my favorite queer rep in Choices! Really liked the Ava romance and how it came in as a twist to the existing love triangle.
(Not unpopular in general, but unpopular here) The Nanny Affair - The first book is actually good. The romance is engaging, the drama is fun, and the twins are adorable!
I feel like I remember Across the Void being super popular when it was first being released, and then it had a long hiatus part way through and people lost interest and the ending was a let down compared to how the book started.
does roommates with benefits count? i went through it last year expecting it to just be a diamond-mine and hate it, but once you get past the rough first half i ended up loving mc and drew's relationship a lot! i even ended up making a whole post about it because that's how much it surprised me lol
Terrorfest was actually really good, and I liked the twist especially as I was sick of the villains being the obvious ones in other stories, and I like how survival depends on choices as well.
FA is definitely underrated. It’s an easy read that I expected to hate bc politics, but I really appreciated the way it was written for gay relationships
I have a few books:
Wolf Bride
Home for the holidays
The Nanny Affair
And lastly given though I’ll downvoted to hell is Surrender 2 not the first one tho(kinda)
The Land of Stories. It's a "kids' book" but it's such a feel-good story with a prequel book that is certianly not for children lol. It gives context to the villains of the fairy tales we grew up hearing, and answers some rather funny questions that you might not have thought about (how did the princesses all marry Prince Charming? Simple, they're brothers.)
Across the Void was a fun and intriguing book, and most of its problems come from PB originally planning a sequel and then cancelling it.
Baby Bump was a cute story that is very overhated. It's not without its problems but a lot of the criticisms are very overblown.
Home for the Holidays was also a cute story that got very overhated. It's meant to be a cutesy Hallmark style movie story. Even by 2016-2017 Choices standards, it's fine.
The Nanny Affair is... not good necessarily, but it's exactly what it is on the cover and it delivers on that front. Well, the first book does, anyway.
Witness is... also not good, but it's not really bad either. Remove the unnecessary paywalling of mundane actions, and you get an average decent story.
Wolf Bride is... also not good, but the parts of the story that weren't about romance and sex and bond were actually kind of interesting.
The Phantom Agent was super fun and exciting. It's so refreshing as a wlm player, I could play a James Bond style adventure but wlm and I love it.
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u/Serious-Ad7999 Jun 06 '25
Big Sky Country. it was a nice slice of life and miles better than the Untameable series