Pretty Little Mistakes

Note: I am not being paid for this book review, other than having received a free review copy. I am also not profitting from the sale of any copies.

I found out about this book while flipping through my Redbook magazine a few weeks ago. I went to buy it online and found it wouldn't be available until May 1 (this was back in April). So, being a writer, I decided to contact the publisher (Harper Collins) for a review copy, figuring I'd write a review of the book here and try to pitch it to a few magazines as well.

Just a few days after contacting them, a "pretty little package" came by UPS. It was the book. And it really is indeed pretty! I am in LOVE with this book!!

I think the author's bio is very compelling and will inspire other writers out there, so I will be writing a separate post on her in the next few days.



You might be a crack whore, a volcanologist, a thief, married-to-the-mob, or any other number of crazy idenities. The one thing you won't be when reading Heather McElhatton's Pretty Little Mistakes is bored.

Remember those Choose Your Own Adventure books you read as a kid? Well, for the first time ever, there's now such a book for adults.

Do you go home with the kind German stranger you just met in a bar? Do you invest in a stock that might get you arrested for insider trading? Or do you kiss a man that you love, but are repulsed by because of his deformed face?

So many pretty little choices. 150 possible endings to be exact. But, the one decision I keep finding myself facing is, "Do I finally put this book down and go to sleep, or do I keep reading?" (I usually keep reading)

Be forewarned: it is not for those who are easily offended. Throughout most of the book you will be a total whore. A sense of humor is definitely needed to enjoy the book. If you're an uptight prude, you'll want to pass.

Fortunately for me, I am not a prude, so I was able to get a good laugh....over and over again.

The book is perfect for when you need to kill a little bit of time, such as a doctor's waiting room. You might go from college to being dead within ten minutes, so you can read it in easily digested little chunks.

Just like a computer game where you can save and do a "re-do" if you die, this book allows you to see what your fate would have been had you taken one or several different paths.

I found the best method for reading it is to bookmark each page where you have to make a choice. As you end your journey, go back to the last bookmark and take the other road and see where it leads you. Keep doing that again and again until you get back to where you started. Then, start on another new path all over again.

No matter what decision you make, and no matter how awful your fate is (I've died in several ways so far- choking on a peach pit, mistaking sharks for dolphins, and being run over by an ice cleaning machine at an ice rink), you will LYAO!

Want proof? Take a look at this little excerpt for a taste of McElhatton's type of humor:

The dry cleaners is run by a small albino called the Tomato Man. He's no more than four feet tall and he sits on a small padded stool as he runs the register. He's called the Tomato Man because of his chubby cheeks and the fact that his fingers are alway bright red from the pistachio nuts he eats. You ask for your laundry and he frowns at the ticket. "I got your order in the back - one of those dresses had a stain so bad they sent it out for special treatment." The he sighs and looks down at his legs. "You mind stepping back there to get it?"

So just what does the Tomato Man have planned for you back there? You'll have to read to find out. :)