Choose Your Own Ever After: How to get to Rio by Julie Fison

Hardie Grant Egmont Australia, 2014. ISBN  9781742977744.
It is refreshing to find a new spin on the Choose Your Own Adventure which was so popular years ago. Whilst from memory many of the old titles were aimed at boys and generally resulted in some paths leading to a fatal end, this book features teenage girls and all endings lead to an 'ever after' full of promise.
Kitty and her friends are about to start school holidays. After a longish introduction to the characters, covering the last few weeks of term and establishing the relationships between the girls and boys, the first choice is made. Does Kitty go camping with her 'besties', or with Persephone to the luxury resort of Paradise Point where, coincidently, Rio, the object of her affections, is also staying?
With camping, bonfires on the beach, pool parties, mobile phone problems and an encounter with members of a boys' band 'The Lads', the story lines become entwined especially when Kitty discovers the camping ground is only a walk away from Paradise Point.
The feel of the story is modern and the dialogue realistic and engaging as the holiday romance blossoms or faces challenges and that not all endings turned out as Kitty might have wished at the beginning. The choices offered are reflective of realistic situations and the dilemmas facing many teenager girls, especially if they are a bit shy as Kitty is portrayed. The beauty of the easy to read writing is that it is not difficult to go back and make a different choice just to see how it turns out.
I look forward to the next Choose Your Own Ever After title just to see what choices will be offered and how they affect the outcome.
Sue Keane