If you liked the Choose Your own Adventure books growing up (at least in my generation), you will enjoy this. I had fun choosing Marsh's next moves as she joins a reality TV show that can send her back in time to make different choices. As a middle aged woman, divorced, single mom of a teenager, not working her dream job, she relishes this chance to go back and change her trajectory. But is it all that it is cracked up to be? With the choose your own adventure style--actually choosing her life choices-this book can be read many times. So fun, and so touching as well. Maybe our lives are best the way they are, and going back to make new choices might change things in ways we didn't even expect (or want).

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

This book is like a choose your own adventure but for adults. The main character is on a reality show that allows people to go back and change their life decisions.

I do give this book points for originality and for something new! I think the concept was very unique and interesting.

However, I do feel like the story itself was just a bit confusing to me. Maybe a physical copy would be better than a kindle copy. I also felt like the writing was just a bit hard for me to understand.

While I think this was an interesting book, it was not necessarily for me. I hope others love it.

All This & More presents an interesting premise that blends the concepts of quantum technology and reality television, reminiscent of Matt Haig's "The Midnight Library" and Black Crouch's "Recursion." The story follows Marsh, a forty-five-year-old woman whose life is falling apart. Her career is stagnant, her marriage has crumbled, and her relationship with her teenage daughter is deteriorating. Desperate for a fresh start, Marsh seizes the opportunity to be a contestant on "All This and More," a show that allows participants to revise their pasts using quantum technology.

Marsh sees this as her last chance to achieve her dreams, and she embarks on a journey to transform her life. She becomes a famous lawyer, reunites with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world. However, as she delves deeper into this new reality, she begins to suspect that the show's promises might be too good to be true. The technology is incredible, but something feels off, and Marsh is left questioning whether she can truly create the life she wants and if it is worth the cost.

Shepherd's novel has a fascinating premise that on paper would ensnare any fiction fan, but the execution leaves much to be desired. The concept of an adult choose-your-own-adventure story is compelling, yet the narrative seems to trip over its own lofty ambitions, especially in the final quarter of the book. Instead of building toward an exciting climax, the story stagnates with repetitive chapters, lackluster reveals, and a protagonist who remains frustratingly passive.

Marsh's character was the weakest link in the story for me. Despite the opportunity to revise her life, she lacks agency and backbone, making it difficult to immerse myself with her journey. Her passivity throughout most of the book is disappointing, and her moments of decisive action are fleeting and underwhelming. The portrayal of Marsh's various lives, particularly her stint as a Nobel prize-winning actress, feels implausible and disconnected from the core narrative.

Overall, All This & More has the potential to be a thought-provoking exploration of second chances and the impact of our choices. Fans of Shepherd's previous work and those interested in speculative fiction may still find elements to enjoy, but the novel ultimately misses the mark as a compelling and cohesive story.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

This wins the award for the most interesting and original approach to writing a story. There was a lot I felt vested in initially, but I felt my interest waning in the middle. I don’t think I ever connected to the main character and I have a hard time when I don’t feel anything for a main character. I’d rather have some measure of like or dislike, but with Marsh I just felt meh.

I read this as a e-version, and I definitely would have preferred to read this as a physical copy. I doubted getting to the right spot sometimes and felt like I re-read some information. I have seen several really good reviews for this one so chalk this up to me being the problem. The writing is good, the story is good and the presentation is original. There is a good chance you will have better luck with this one than I did.

This is a book that gives you choices in how the story progresses. You choose the path you want Marsh to take in order to find the future she hopes to find. In a futuristic and social media based live tv show, one chosen contestant is given the chance to return to a moment in his/her past and change their choice in order to achieve a different future. Sounds amazing. In reality though, that one choice begins a chain reaction that redefines many more aspects of the future. To get rich, you give up this. To be successful, you can’t also have that. And so on. Such an interested premise that got a little stuck in the weeds around the halfway mark.

I think this book is worth picking up. I’ve had a lot going on in my personal life and I think there is a very strong possibility that my attention drifted just enough to make this book more confusing for me that it should have been. I recommend reading a physical copy. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow. I still have this author’s previous book, The Cartographers, on my shelf and will definitely be picking it up in the future.

Oooooh, I love, love, loved the premise of this one! Who hasn't wished they could go back in time and make a different decision? Correct a mistake? Choose a different path? Well, Marsh has the chance to do just that. Using quantum mechanics, she gets to rewrite her history. At first, she's thrilled with the results. But as her chosen life is falling into place perfectly, she starts to feel like something is...off. But things are okay...until they aren't. Wildly entertaining, with multiple timelines and phenomenal worldbuilding, albeit a bit too long.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC.

The concept of this book was so intriguing to me. To go back and be able to rectify or change every mistake you've ever made? It almost felt overwhelming to even consider! I was a bit concerned that the quantum technology would be overkill for me, but I really enjoyed this book. I think Shepherd really made this book human - and I ate it right up.

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
All This and More by Peng Shepherd
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 474 / Genre: Magical Realism

I was so excited to read this book! It’s a choose-your-own adventure, where you get to pick which way the protagonist goes. Marsh is the new star of the hit tv show All This and More, where she uses a quantum bubble to travel back in time to key points in her life and make different decisions. She could pursue her dream of being a lawyer, she could choose her high school boyfriend instead of the husband who cheated on her, or she could take a number of other paths that lead her to totally different careers and lives. And she does. She tries it all. And best of all, you get to pick what she picks next!

Choosing which choice she should pick is a fun idea. It didn’t always work though. One time it sent me back to a chapter I had already read instead of to a new path. And the way the chapters are structured and named, it’s hard to figure out where to go back to and try something else. It would have been great if the chapters with the option to pick which way to go was highlighted so it’s easy to go back and choose the other option. And, not a big deal, but since I was jumping around the book so much, it made it hard to update my progress on GoodReads. And I bet this would be annoying on audiobook, since you’d have to stop and change chapters instead of just listening through.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters. It was well-written and engaging. I will definitely read more from this author.

Thank you, @NetGalley, @WilliamMorrowBooks, @PengShepherd for my gifted copy.

I really loved the premise of this book, but didn't love it as much in execution! It might've just been me though; I could see why others loved it!

Well this was an extremely ambitious undertaking and it was done rather well! I always loved the choose your own adventure books when I was younger so I knew I had to read this one. I let the story play out as Shepard intended as it was following what I wanted for Marsh. Many readers will enjoy this one. Also, how great is it that this came with a s’mores set! I love creative PR packages so much.

Peng Shepherd has written an incredibly complex, inventive, mind-boggling, and thought-provoking sci-fi thriller novel and I LOVED it. I am going to be thinking about this book for days, weeks, months to come…which is a sign that maybe this should garner a five-star rating from me instead of 4 or 4.5…but time will tell.

This book was blurbed as “for fans of The Midnight Library,” and like TML, All This and More explores what might happen if we could experience a variety of possibly futures for ourself…but with more exploration of quantum physics/the butterfly effect, and a lot more mystery, twists, and things going terribly wrong.

My favorite part of this unique book is the choose-your-own-adventure format. I went back and read all three final ending options and loved them all equally. I can’t wait to go back through again and revisit some of the choices I didn’t make the first time through. This is definitely a novel to purchase and reread!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

It’s a clever story, and I think the subject matter will really appeal to some people, but honestly it wasn’t for me. I didn’t really care about Marsh’s love life or career - I really wanted to draw back the curtain and see more of the Bubble and what was inside. Both Ren and Dylan kinda majorly sucked (for multiple reasons) and the illusion of choice we (the readers) are given really works against the story as Marsh digs into choices that we might not agree with or understand.

(Thanks to @williammorrowbooks #gifted.) Remember doing those “choose your own adventure” books when you were a kid? I especially associate them with road trips and would always load up on them for my own kids when traveling. So many possibilities, so many options, so much “if only.” Well that’s exactly the sort of fun Peng Shepherd set out to create in her new book 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 & 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗘… only this one’s for grown ups.⁣⁣
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The story centers around Marsh, a 45 year old woman whose life is a hot mess. Her husband has left her, her teenage daughter grows more distant by the day, the career she wanted never came to be, and the idea of any new romance terrifies her. But, there’s a new game in town: All This & More, a reality show that uses some sort of physics which allows its stars to revisit parts of their lives and make changes. Marsh is the lucky contestant for season 3.⁣⁣
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I was all in during the first half. It was exciting, original and so different from anything I’d read before. By the middle, I began to get tired of the whole thing and just wanted to find the fastest route to the end. It’s not to say that this isn’t a wonderful book. I think it is for the right readers. I just wasn’t one of those. As a wise friend told me before I read it, “It might be too much plot for you.” You were right @sarahsbookshelves! So much happened that my head was spinning and I felt a little lost by the end. Still, I admire what Shepherd created with this story and I think it will be a big win for many readers. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

I may have a bit of an obsession with this kind of story, the kind that gives a character, usually a woman, the opportunity to try out different life choices. All This & More takes an ordinary woman, Marsh, and puts her in the world spotlight. This twist on the sort of story I’m accustomed to turns the opportunity to live out different choices into a reality TV show, so Marsh’s choices and life unfold in real time for viewers all across the world. Not only that, this is a choose your own adventure style novel, so the reader gets to make many of the choices, but I can’t shake the feeling that the reader is led by a ghostly hand as the core story doesn’t really put much more than a toe out of line no matter what choices are made and the three possible endings felt a little too alike.

Marsh is just a regular woman in her forties: a recently divorced woman who made a fatal error on a date with her high school sweetheart, the mother of a musically talented daughter she would do anything for, a paralegal when she should have been a lawyer had she not given up her dream when her daughter was born. Everything changes, though, when, against all odds, she’s chosen as Season 3’s contestant on the reality TV show All This and More, made possible with physics and a special contraption called the Bubble, with the very first contestant, Talia, serving as her guide and producer for the 10 episodes of her season. Things start out slowly, with Marsh focusing on her mess of a romantic life, and the reader is invited to simply page through or deviate and make different choices. Eventually, though, something seems very wrong, and nothing seems tweaked quite enough for Marsh. With things cascading out of control, Marsh might have to return to the beginning to try to set things right.

On my first read through, I decided to follow what I thought of as the more linear, core story, simply paging through to the next page instead of making a different choice. Afterwards, I tried out as many possible choices as I could, until things began to feel too repetitive and I started losing track of what I’d already read. I still think there’s a core story to this one, and, while I appreciated getting to participate in this adventure, I found there weren’t quite as many choices and possible paths as I would have liked. The core story was interesting and held my attention, especially when everything started falling apart, but I was less enchanted with the paths the different choices led to, and I’m certain one of them led me in merry circles that were eventually frustrating. I ended up feeling like a ghostly hand was holding mine, guiding me through the story while giving the illusion of having choices, which kind of mirrors the way I thought of Talia. There are only three possible endings, and all of them felt a little lacking to me. While I enjoyed the magic of the story, the gears that churned it out didn’t quite gleam to me, and I found it fascinatingly repetitive despite having choices.

Marsh was an interesting woman to follow. Typically, the female lead I read about is at most in her thirties and single. Marsh is in her mid-forties, divorced, stuck in a bit of a dead end job, and the mother of a talented girl. When the reader first meets her, she isn’t exactly interesting, but instead feels like a kind of anywoman. She’s a bit bland and dull, but my attention was caught when her ex-husband, Dylan, is introduced. I adored their love story, and I loved that they were as flawed as any other married couple. But, as I got to know Marsh more, I found her to be a little frustrating. Nothing ever seemed quite good enough, though she really tried her best to make her daughter’s life a dream. But, when things started breaking down, Marsh had to decide what’s really important to her and who she really wants in her life, which was fun and sort of made her wake up. At that point, I really didn’t care too much about what happened to her because she and everything had spiraled so far out of control, but I had begun to care about some of the other people in her life, and I like to hope she figured out how to really be happy, and that perfect does not equate to happiness.

All This & More tells a fairly linear story despite the choices it presents to readers. The first half is dedicated to Marsh’s love life: whether she tries to work things out with Dylan or with Ren, her high school sweetheart. Linearly, it was interesting and I thought she did a relatively good job of trying out all her options, but, when I made other choices, I felt like I was going in circles and things were getting so repetitive that I lost track of what choices I’d made and just chose to move forward. I did feel the story was ultimately leading to one male lead, so that was a little disappointing, especially since I felt less and less satisfied with him and wanted more than anything for Marsh to get rid of him. The second half, though, was a wild ride. Marsh’s dream was to become a lawyer, and of course she gets all that and more. Now she’s given the opportunity to try out so many different careers. Some of them are kind of crazy, and some are definitely dream careers. This, too, eventually became a little repetitive, but I liked that the different choices led to some different job possibilities. I thought this part was fun, especially since this is also when things in the Bubble started breaking down and a mysterious symbol kept appearing.

I have no clue how the Bubble operated, and how it integrated into real life at the end of the season. I left this novel with so many questions, but I don’t think that was the point of the story; it’s merely a fascinating vehicle. While it’s explained in the book, I found it didn’t make perfect sense and it was frustrating to me as I tried to figure out exactly how people’s lives were impacted. Were the real people from Marsh’s life implanted into this Bubble, or were they false representations whose lives would be folded into the real counterparts when the season ended? Was this Bubble and everything in it a pocket in space and time where it and real life didn’t touch? What happened to the real people when the Bubble opened at the end of the season, when Marsh’s life is perfect? I just really didn’t understand how the Bubble world and the real world were integrated at the end considering one person’s life touches so many others. I thought it was a fascinating idea, but definitely left me with far too many uncomfortable questions. If there’s really a Bubble where someone I know is making choices that might impact my life, what will happen to me?

Yet I have to give the author credit for coming up with this crazy idea. I enjoyed following along on Marsh’s journey, as she lived out different possibilities and came to understand what was really important to her. I do think the possible endings didn’t do her story justice as they all felt lackluster and I was dissatisfied with all of them. But it was a fun read, and I liked the opportunity to make choices, even if I did think I was being led and hand held a little too much. This was a unique approach I’ve never seen nor thought of; I just wish a little more thought into how it actually functioned had been put into the story. Everything else felt quite solid to me, with the characters and the Bubble being, more or less, consistent, even as it was breaking down. The mystery folded into all of it held my attention and was often the only thing driving me forward.

All This & More is a fun story that will require just as much thinking as you care to give over to it. Personally, I think following the core story is enough, and making other choices is just purely for fun, because nothing really changes and the ending possibilities remain the same; it’s just the journey that varies. All in all, this was fun, but didn’t quite shine as much as I would have liked.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to William Morrow for the copy of this book.

Like most people, Marsh wishes her life was a bit different. She’s offered an opportunity to be the Season 3 star of All This and More - a show that allows the contestant to go back and change their life using a quantum bubble - meaning that it doesn’t affect the rest of the world. Marsh accepts, and from there, we have a choose your own adventure(!!!!!) read where you get to make some of the decisions for Marsh.

This is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read and I couldn’t put it down! Was I stressed at having to make decisions? Yes. Did I read one of the most cringeworthy scenes I’ve ever read where my face was like this the whole time: 😬😬😬😬? Yes. You’ll be suspicious and fascinated and fully absorbed in this adventure, and then you’ll go back for more to re-do some of the timelines or see what the alternatives were. It’s excellent. It’ll be on my list of best books of the year - highly recommend.

As a Peng Shepherd completist, I eagerly jumped into this book knowing that I would get characters who push boundaries and a unique story that would provoke questions. This story focuses on Marsh a 45 year-old divorced mother with an unsatisfying career who largely believes that life has passed her by. All This & More is a reality TV show that has swept the globe and gives each contestant multiple chances to do things over or strike out on a new path to attain their “perfect life”. Can Marsh truly have a life she loves? Is it worth the trade-offs that inevitably surface? This book was smart on multiple levels. From keeping the reader involved and invested in the story by allowing us to choose the path of the story at selected intervals, including the ending (I read all of them and definitely have a favorite), to giving us enough information about possible glitches throughout the story (slightly repetitive) to the secondary character arcs that changed along with the main character. Yes, I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was younger, so this type of story format greatly appealed to me. The characters were interesting and while not always lovable, they kept me wanting to see what would happen next. There were so many fun “lives” for Marsh. It was fascinating to see so many versions of the main and side characters in one story, particularly Pickle. I appreciate that quantum bubbling was briefly explained, but not in an overly technical way. So, suspend disbelief and enjoy the story! Very happy to have another wonderful book from this author. Thank you to William Morrow for the opportunity to read and review.

Meek, play-it-safe Marsh has just turned forty-five, and her life is in shambles. Her career is stagnant, her marriage has imploded, and her teenage daughter grows more distant by the day. Marsh is desperate for a do-over. She can’t believe her luck when she’s selected to be the star of the global sensation All This and More, a show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants the chance to revise their pasts and change their present lives. But even as she rises to become a famous lawyer, gets back together with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world, she begins to worry that All This and More’s promises might be too good to be true.

Thank you @netgalley for the ARC! Dark Matter meets a Goosebumps choose your own adventure in this thrilling tale about all the different paths our lives can take and how one small choice can change everything. I really loved Shepherd’s book The Cartographers, but this book was entirely different in writing style. The choose your own adventure style was a fun choice, but I chose to read the book straight through. I definitely enjoyed the later part of the book, but in the middle things seemed to get quite repetitive. Marsh was kind of a frustrating character for me. While I appreciate it that she was able to get to redo some things in her life and make different choices, she did not really ever grow as a person. or become truly satisfied with herself. Because of this, it was hard to know her true motivations; she got what she originally wanted, she couldn’t help but keep going for more despite what it cost. The concept of this book was very cool and it had some very important messages about expectations and choice. However, I think the execution was lacking a little bit, which is why I could not rate this higher.

When a middle-aged woman joins a new reality TV show she has the opportunity to do-over her life repeatedly to pick the *perfect* future. The technology that makes this possible seems amazing, but everything is not as it seems.

All This & More is a creative "Choose Your Own Adventure" novel. We follow the main character Marsh as she uses the new quantum technology to remodel her average life into something "perfect." The entire world is watching via reality TV as she makes various improvements in each episode. The impact of the changes she makes are not always as she expects.

All This & More is one of the most unique books I've ever read. The writing is concise & entertaining. A story like this might drag in the middle for most authors, but Shepherd did an excellent job keeping the story moving forward throughout the entire book. The options to choose different paths was such a fun way to engage in the story. I really appreciated how the author addressed some heavier topics (ie motherhood, infidelity, etc) without making the overall story too dark. This would be a very interesting book club choice, especially if you asked members to keep track of their various paths chosen!

I do think this type of story was challenging to read in a digital format since you needed to flip to different chapters at various points. After reading the book I went make to investigate alternative paths & found it more challenging to navigate via the table of contents, etc. I'm sure a physical copy makes this easier to navigate.

This was PHENOMENAL! A choose your own adventure reality show based book with something eerie going on? Sign me up! I thought everything about this book was unique - from the format, to the characters' backgrounds, to the premise of the show! I was totally captivated and couldn't help myself from reacting out loud at some of the plot twists! This is a must read and would be phenomenal for a book club that wants to get a little wild!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and William Morrow Books for an ARC of All This and More!

I came in without having read any of Peng Shepherd's books before, and I came out putting her previous two books on hold at my library!

It's been such a long time since I've read a "choose your own adventure" book. I was obsessed with them as a kid, putting in multiple bookmarks so I could redo all the choices. And I won't lie, I did the same with this novel, except now my bookmarks are digital.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun reading this! If you love sci-fi thrillers in the vein of Blake Crouch's books, then give this a try.

If you could redo your life choices, would you jump on the opportunity? This book is very Truman Show meets WandaVision (minus the witches). I enjoyed seeing how Marsh's life could play out in fun and unexpected ways (from being a wildlife photographer or choosing whether to go through with a threesome). I wasn't bored at all and flew through this book in less than a week.

I will have to say though, this would've been a perfect 5 stars for me if the reader found out about the reveals at the same time as the MC. This might be a me thing, but I'm not really a fan of knowing the reveals and then waiting for the MC to catch up to what's going on.

Also, some spoilery thoughts about the endings...

***SPOILERS AHEAD***


So... I'm pretty much a doom and gloom type of person, but I would've loved at least one ending that was happy and *close* to perfect. I read all of the endings and everything was pretty depressing. MY GIRL MARSH DESERVES BETTER. FREE MY GIRL!!!

Also, as much as I liked this book, the bad guy reveal was kinda corny. Lbr here lol


***END SPOILERS***

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this arc.

3.5 -⭐⭐⭐💫

After all, who wouldn't want the chance to change their life?

All This & More is an adult speculative fiction standalone with a sci-fi vibe. It follows Marsh, a forty-five year old woman who's life in shambles - a stagnant career, a marriage that was destroyed, and a daughter she's losing touch with. Yet she thinks her luck may be changing when she is selected for the highly popular show, All This & More, which offers contestant a chance to change their fate using quantum technology. As she navigate this world of changing fate she discovers there is a lot more secrets to this show than meets the eye. She begins to wonder...can you truly change fate for the better?

So I am a mainly romance girly and I do think this didn't really hit the romance spot...but I do dabble with other texts and I want to focus on that for this review. If you like the times I dive into strange fiction then come along for the ride.

The best way to describe this book is a choose your own adventure style of Black Mirror . Essential in this VR type situation, Marsh goes through alternative versions of pivotal moments in her life where she makes one decision to change it. As the reader you have the choice to turn the page and follow the story's natural rhythm OR you can take a different path.

As someone who is mainly character driven in my reads, this book is a bit of a sticky situation. This book deals with a lot of meta elements where the characters are being changed by outside sources (either you by choosing a different path or by the quantum technology) to fit a mold and therefore the essence of who they are is hard to tease out. I found this fascinating to explore Marsh's life because of the style of the story but I wasn't actually invested in her. I was curious about her choices and the consequences of them only. In addition, I couldn't really nail down how I felt for different characters as new information was constantly flowing because of changed fate so I didn't know how to feel.

This story itself does take some fascinating twists that I was not expecting - this is where sci-fi lovers will get a kick. I loved the rabbit hole readers walk into as a result and I enjoyed the addition of a live chat in the story to highlight the changes and reactions to changes - remember this is a tv show. I was hit with things that really changed how I viewed other characters. I will say, I HIGHLY recommend reading this as a paperback if you are someone who likes to flip through choose your own adventure style books because reading it as an e-book I think stifled that exploration for me. It led to me getting confused at times and wishing I could go back during the middle parts where things really escalate. The ending itself offers three choices and I read the all. I preferred one the most but still felt I was missing something.

Now I could dive deeper into the characters and story but this is a book that is best read with not a lot of information. The less you know, the better. What I will end off is that if you are here for a journey and a curiosity more than anything else than you will have a blast.

Thank you William Morrow for this arc!