Here is the pitch: Black Mirror meets Sliding Doors meets Groundhog’s Day meets Pretty Little Mistakes meets Life After Life meets…well, you get the idea. This is Shepherd’s third speculative fiction novel, and although its premise is solid, it is not exactly groundbreaking. It uses a reality show frame and multiverse theory to create an adult version of a “Choose Your Adventure” book. The actual storyline is pretty straightforward: Since just about every aspect of Marsh’s life is a shambling mountain of regrets, she would like to be able to go back in time and fix her mistakes. Fortunately, in her world, there is a game show for that. Through manipulation of “quantum mechanics,” the creators of All This and More can arrange unlimited opportunities that allow a contestant to relive important transitional moments. Within this scheme, Marsh can make different life choices or just tweak tiny details until she is satisfied with her life. She begins with conservative alterations, but soon finds herself in increasingly outrageous and improbable scenarios. After many iterations, Marsh begins to notice some disturbing irregularities and glitches, leading her to suspect that she is not solely guiding the process. The reader has the opportunity to occasionally “help” Marsh decide by selecting among offered options, following the text to a specified location. Shepherd’s book is an example of how the alternate-universe plot can become tiresome, with required repetition and inherent logical inconsistencies. The jumps and re-workings get harder for the reader to track, the effect is numbing, and it encourages skimming— despite the author’s efforts to incorporate the fantastic and outré. Similar to those classic CYO adventures, what results is a disjointed narrative that sacrifices depth to accommodate a gimmicky design.

All This and More
by Peng Shepherd
Pub Date: July 9, 2024
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is a very unique book.
From the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of The Cartographers and The Book of M comes an inventive new novel about a woman who wins the chance to rewrite every mistake she’s ever made… and how far she’ll go to find her elusive “happily ever after.” But there’s a twist: the reader gets to decide what she does next to change her fate.
Shepherd easily juggles multiple timelines and throws us forward and back, filling in the questions of what maden Marsh the woman she is and what happens when she tries to change. The world building is simply amazing and best yet, the reader can make the decisions just like a Choose Your Own Adventure story.

This is a book for the ages and for anyone who has second thoughts, looks back, loves reality shows or has that one friend they wish they could help. Join Marsh on her journey - you will not be sorry!
One woman. Endless options. Every choice has consequences. 5 stars

Wow! This was the most fun I've had reading a book in a longtime. Peng Shepherd's newest novel is a mind-bending choose your own adventure. Having not read a choose your own adventure in over 20 years I forgot how fun it is to see the different paths your protagnist can take and how a single turn of the page can change everything.

"All This and More" follows Marsh, a recently-divorced, single mom who is looking to find her perfect life. Feeling depressed and wishing she could go back in time and change some of the decisions she made Marsh jumps at the chance to be the new star of the hottest show on the planet - All This and More. On a quest for perfection, Marsh travels through different versions of her life (think MCU meta-verse) and is able to make changes at anytime until her version of perfection is achieved on live tv.

Marsh's journey is full of twists and turns and as the reader this was a wild, page turning, out-of-the-box read. Peng Shepherd continues her string of hits with this newest story - she really gave us all this and more!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow Books for this ARC.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. All This and More was FUN. At first, I will admit that the beginning is a little slow & at first I wasn't 100% hooked, but as the story progressed, I thought that the choose-your-own-adventure aspect of the story was an amazing touch, and nostalgic to those who read those types of stories growing up. I ended up really liking the story (though of course aspects did get a little repetitive), and I would highly recommend to anyone who likes a story that isn't linear, and unique. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads. 3.75 stars rounded to 4.

Synopsis: Marsh’s life has gone off track. Her career, her marriage, and even her recently rekindled romance with an old flame have all fizzled. When a popular reality show promises her a total life makeover, Marsh jumps at the chance. Will Marsh be able to create the life of her dreams, or does perfection come at a cost?

Review: Marsh’s decisions are structured as a “choose your own adventure” story for adults. I HIGHLY recommend actually choosing a path. I’m a little neurotic when it comes to books and insist on reading every word in any book I start, so I probably would ignore my own advice. However, I can unequivocally state that this book is enhanced if you actually choose a path. This book also generates great discussions, making it an excellent book club choice.

This was a completely wild ride. I didn't read anything about this before I requested it or read it - not even the summary. I loved The Cartographers so much that I was all in for this. I do wish I'd read a *little* about it because I would then have realized that there is a time-based speculative sci-fi element to this and also a choose your own adventure element. Once I realized that at the start, I was a bit apprehensive because I really tend to struggle with timey-wimey stuff/multiverse stuff (which is also what this kind of felt like), but I got pretty into the story, decided to just go along for the ride, and ended up liking it a lot. The premise of this is that Marsh, a middle-aged woman who is recently divorced with a teenaged kid, becomes a contestant on a reality show with a twist. In this universe, physicists have discovered a phenomenon called quantum bubbling that somehow makes it possible for a person to go back and make tweaks to past decisions to change the course of their lives. Marsh explores past decisions through the "season" in order to make different choices and see where she ends up. Throughout the book, you can choose different options to move through the narrative in different ways, though Shepherd says in an author's note at the beginning that you can always go with choice 1 if you want to progress straight through the story. I make enough decisions all day long, so I went with that option. The whole quantum bubbling "science" was totally confusing to me, but that's more of a me issue than it is a problem with the narrative. I was really impressed with how well Shepherd balanced the speculative with the very realistic, and I found Marsh's journey really compelling. This also brought up lots of questions that I think really would come up if we could change the past in this way - questions about perfectionism, how quickly we would abuse something like this, and consent of others who are bound to be impacted by such choices, among others. If you're someone like me who struggles with time stuff, I would still recommend this - just buckle up! Though the specifics are different, this did remind me of Kristin Cashore's Jane, Unlimited.

I received an electronic ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

All This & More by Peng Shepherd is a choose-your-own-adventure for adult readers. ON FORMAT: As a kid, I was one of those anxious readers who didn’t want to commit to any choice (often none of them felt like what I would actually do), so I’d fill the book with bookmarks so I could explore all the paths. With All This & More, one possible way to read the book is to read the first 75% in order as if it were a normal book. The book presents choices but one of them is always “just turn the page.” That is, up until around 75%, when the book makes it clear that now you must choose (if you want it to continue making sense.) In the interests of a full review, I did read through all the lead ups to the endings, and I will note that doing so feels redundant. I recommend just sticking to one path and reading through to the end. There are three different versions of the final chapter “…And More,” and do read all three of those to see the different ways things can end for our protagonist.

THE REVIEW: Our protagonist, Marshmellow (yes, really), who is usually just called Marsh, is a self-conscious, unfulfilled, middle aged, divorced mother. She got her nickname in high school when it was decided that she was “sweet and soft,” and she just kind of let the nickname happen to her, even though she didn’t really like it. That really gives you a great sense of who she is as a person, moving through life in a fairly passive manner.

The premise of the book is that this character, Marsh, has been chosen to be the star of the third season of a reality show. In this show, the star will enter a “quantum reality bubble,” which allows her to go back to earlier moments of her life, make different choices, and experience all the consequences of those different choices. For Marsh, this could mean not getting a divorce, not dropping out of law school to take care of her daughter, making a life with a new boyfriend who is actually an old boyfriend.

Within this premise, the same characters appear time and again: Marsh’s ex-husband Dylan, her daughter Harper, her best friend Jo, and her new boyfriend Ren. We also have the host of the reality show, Talia Cruz, who was the star of season 1 of this reality show. Early on we also learn that season 2 never aired and the general public (including Marsh) doesn’t know why. So we have to assume that we readers are going to find out by the end of the book.

The first part of this book is really pretty light, like an actual reality show. Marsh makes changes to her romantic life, work, etc., and experiences all the interpersonal changes that happen because of it. But as we progress, Marsh starts to feel like something is off with the bubble. A certain word or theme keeps reappearing in every reality, Marsh doesn’t know why, and if Talia does, she isn’t saying. After that, the book becomes more of an adventure story, and a chance for Marsh to grow as a person and take more agency in her life.
For me, that’s when it picked up and I became more interested. As a strong-willed person, I could not relate to passive Marsh, who is not referred to by any other name throughout the entire book, so I found the beginning a little slow. The middle and end were much more satisfying to me as Marsh made choices and moved forward in other ways. The format of the book was pretty successful in conveying this. The three endings were also very interesting, as they were sort of all more realistic. Meaning that we moved from the idealized concept that the All This & More show was proposing (you CAN have it all), to more realistic scenarios where the world is more complex than all good or all bad.

Recommended for people who missing choosing their own adventure, fans of Peng Shepherd, and people who like reality shows. Also for people who love to see the main character change and grow. Four stars.

A Choose Your Own Adventure novel- I hadn’t read something like this since grade school. This was a unique novel, and gave me the Truman Show vibes. The character Marsh is aware she’s in a reality show but it starts to get confusing for her. It reminds me how fake reality shows are and that they have their own game-plan. Although they tried to portray that Marsh was in control, they’re highly deceptive.

All This and More shows gives the contestants second chances to live their lives again in a different path. As humans we seem to want a quick fix and glamorize what could be. This novel makes me think and reminds me to let the chips fall where they may and appreciate what’s to come rather than trying to control every narrative. I love a book that makes you think and second guess yourself.

Recommend for summer reading, and especially if you’re craving something different.

3.75 stars.

Thank you to Cindy Burnett with the Thoughts From a Page podcast / Page Turners Patreon Early Reads group for arranging ARC copies. Thank you to the publisher William Morrow books; author Peng Shepherd; and Netgalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Who wouldn’t want to be a contestant on a reality show to perfect your life! This is the premise of Peng Shepherd’s latest novel. It is set up as a “choose your own adventure “ and you can decide which direction you want Marsh, season #3’s contestant to follow. It doesn’t matter which path you choose, twist and turns will follow. If you are a fan of this type of book, this one is for you.
Thanks for the early read
@thoughtsfromapage @williammorrow

Marsh is a contestant on a new reality show, All This And More, where thanks to a breakthrough in quantum physics technology, the contestant can revisit past decisions and choose a different path in life. Marsh takes full advantage of the opportunity in a search for her “perfect life”, but the further the show goes on, the more she feels there’s something not quite right as her perfect world appears to be crashing down around her. This is quite an ambitious book by the author, where the reader has the opportunity to choose which path Marsh will take at different junctures by jumping to the appropriate chapter, or just follow the chapters chronologically. It’s a unique plot, but the book is quite long, and it’s a challenge for the reader to hold their interest, and could probably have worked better by having less “adventures” for Marsh, some of which border on the ridiculous. While I thoroughly enjoyed the concept, it got a little muddled and confusing at the end, but it’s worth a read though, just for its originality. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really clever, ambitious novel, and I am so impressed by the planning and thought that went into this. The structure is that of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, which so many of us read and adored as kids. This one centers around a reality television show where the stars can go back in their lives and change decisions they've made in pursuit of making a "perfect" life for themselves. I have to rate this book highly, even though the execution and storyline is a bit confusing and drags on for much longer than my brain could concentrate. I wish more had been explained about how this whole concept existed in the real world, and some more clarity as to when we were in the Bubble or not. But I do hope this kicks off a resurgence of Choose Your Own Adventure books, this time for adults!

I'm not really sure how to review this book. I have a feeling that I'm going to have to take a couple of days to gather my thoughts, but I'll try my best.

I really am a sucker for stories that delve into the hypotheticals of life, exploring what would happen if you had the power to make different choices or do things over differently. I have yet to find one that truly hits for me. This story had a lot of potential, but ultimately it was just ok. I think what threw me off the most was the reality TV aspect. It just had that performative tone to it, a sort of over the topness. Everything was dramatized and over inflated. She couldn't just be successful, she had to be the most. A Nobel prize for acting?

I understand what the author was trying to accomplish. The Choose Your Own Ending aspect of it was very interesting, it's just that the story for me, and all of it's choices, weren't necessarily to my taste.

The part that seems to be bothering me the most is how the story glosses over a malicious manipulation from someone she trusts and there is no reflection done by the protagonist about it, no disgust about sharing her body with him, no real heartbreak about it when she was considering him to spend the rest of her life with. And then to top it off, he is still one of the choices at the end. It just felt gross to me. I know a lot of the story was unbelievable, but the protagonists lack of reflection and emotional reaction to these things happening made it really difficult to empathize with her.

On the subject of the endings, out of the 3 that were provided, none of them were very satisfying in my opinion. I should clarify that I read the book straight through, without jumping around. The book worked fine that way for about 75%.

A wild choose-your-own-adventure tale for adults, ALL THIS AND MORE by Peng Shepherd experiments with narrative in a way few can.

All This and More by Peng Shepard is a mind-bending thrill of a story. This is choose your own adventure for adults, basically. The concept of this is so cool and I felt that Shepard really executed it so well. Being a 45 year old woman myself, I related with Meek and could see myself in her position. I enjoyed seeing all the different avenues this story took and I really need to check out what else Shepard has written!

I am a HUGE fan of Peng Shepherd and I was so excited to receive this eARC!! I had an absolute blast reading this book, it grabbed my attention immediately and I couldn't wait to pick it back up every time I had to put it down. I was hoping for a bit more of a wrap-up from the ending - it felt a little unfinished to me, if I'm being honest. I will say, this may have been a glitch in my copy of the book, but I was very confused at the end as it kept redirecting me to various points in the story, despite my attempt to read it straight through. Felt like maybe the formatting was off?

Either way, this felt like a movie and I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy to make sure I got everything I could out of this fun choose-your-own adventure type of book!

This was just OK felt like it could’ve been edited a lot more. It was way too long and dragged at points.

I loved the Cartographers but this really didn't work for me. I was super interested at the beginning, but the cringey way the fans of the show were included and the little dialogues felt unrealistic. I also think it was WAY too long, it got soooo repetitive and draggy, and the twist (?) wasn't interesting enough to make up for it.

Peng Shepherd does it again once more proving she’s an out of the box writer. Her Book of M is still one of my favorite books so I knew I had to read All This and More.

And wow, Peng’s imagination knows no end. This book is a Choose Your Own Adventure style book with the reader being able to make the protagonist’s choices.

The premise of this story is a reality TV show where, because of a “quantum-bubble”, the contestant is able to go back and make different choices in her life. She can become rich, or famous, or find the love of her life, or all of the above.

Needless to say, the adventures go quite over the top and it was really fun to see what would happen next.

*Thanks so much to William Morrow and to NetGalley for the gifted eARC!*

4.5 Rounded up

I wasn't fully sure what to expect from this book. The premise was fascinating, but so complex that I wasn't sure if it could truly be done well. I absolutely loved it! There were so many moments to reflect on the concept of perfection and what it would mean to have the perfect life and also how addicting it could be to have the power to change anything in our lives on a whim. The first half of the book had a bit more of a serious tone, that nearly seamlessly shifted into the fast paced chaos of the second half. The mystery evolved slowly at first and then nearly all at once towards the end. There could've been opportunities to plant more clues for the reader to follow, but the reveal felt worth the wait by the end and, while I couldn't predict the outcome too far in advance, I had the realization moment at nearly the same time it was revealed in the story. My main complaint was the ending (I read 2 of the 3 possible endings), I was frustrated with the main character's choices, but I also understand why the character made that choice and the development that led to those decisions. In terms of character development, I saw growth and change from the main character in a lot of ways, but not in the ways that I would've hoped for. I took it as commentary on the way striving for absolute perfection can be a dangerous game.

There's quite a bit of rambling in this review, but I did thoroughly enjoy this read and was constantly thinking about what could happen next when I wasn't reading. It's been awhile since I've been so hooked on a story.

All this to say though, due to the nature of the book, your experience may be different. The beauty of a choose your own adventure novel is that your choices could make the read a completely different experience. There are clearly some constants, but I'd be curious to return to this book again in a year or so and see how a different path plays out the story.

Thank you Thoughts from a Page, William Morrow, and the NetGalley for this early book copy.
I had the hardest time rating this book because it was a 5-star rating for the idea, plot, and just the way it made me feel. However, execution was not for me.

I loved the general idea of choosing your own story and had the most fun with it. I loved the twist at the end and the topic of making your life perfect. The ending made me think about my life and I am still coming back to this book now and then, thinking "Would I want a chance to make other choices, what if they would have been better?".

What did not work for me mainly was how our main character's life revolved around 2 men. It would have been nice to have a third option of "erase them both, single mom with a strong career". (I understand why it was not an option, I just wish there was an option).
Also, the way she was so obsessed with her daughters' talent made me feel like she did not see Harper for anything but her musical skills. There was no real development to the character, for me, she ended up where she began.
The "sci-fi/magical realism" aspect of a Bubble got too confusing in the end and some scenes made little logical sense and took me out of the story.

Overall, I would recommend this book and I think it was a great idea, it just was not the right book for me.