Pretty Little Mistakes

My roommate lent me this book I started reading today. I picked it up around 4:55pm. And finished it at 5:10pm. The book was 504 pages long. No, I really did finish it. At least one of the endings. See, the book has one beginning and 150 different endings. It's all about how we are in control of our own destiny. The author, Heather McElhatton, calls it her book, Pretty Little Mistakes, a "Do-Over Novel." Because after you finish it, you have the option, the choice, of going back to the start to "do-over" your life. What if you decided to make the other choice? How would your life turn out then?

The rules of the book were simple:
- Don't read the book straight through
- Try not to turn back
- And remember, good behavior is not necessarily rewarded, and sometimes bad decisions can lead to wonderful (and not so wonderful) results.

My first time around ended rather quickly (if you plan on reading the book, I suggest you stop reading this).

I made the decision to go to college, major in Art, cheat on my boyfriend, join a hedonistic art tribe, and in the process I got raped, took kickboxing courses and after seeing my rapist years later, I die of a heart attack right before I testify. Some life huh?

My second time around wasn't so hot either. I major in Science this time. I get so caught up in the schoolwork that I'm the one cheated on, drop out and go back home, can't find work, become an alcoholic, get arrested for manslaughter, and go to rehab where I meet the man of my dreams. But even that turns out awry because I get hit by a bus years later and die. Mind you, the bus was on time.

Third times a charm right?

I figured this time around, I'm gonna make some brash decisions. Like the book said, destiny is officially in my hands. But as always, each choice I made either came with a consequence or a reward (most of the time, it involved something shitty). My third attempt, my third "pretty little mistake" involved some California dreamin', and some sleeping around to get what I wanted (or in this case, what I needed but didn't have the money to pay for). Hey, I oftentimes joked about sleeping around to get a leg up in life (no pun intended...maybe?) so this was a way of sorta seeing that through. God, I am such a slut at times. Or at least think like one.  The pretty little mistake was short-lived because I was shot point blank in the face by some unstable kid while his younger brother tried to sell me a candy bar for their local Boys & Girls Club. A Lifetime Original movie? Yeah, but not about me.

This book makes me rethink the decisions I made even though I'm playing with fiction. I'm up in arms after reading a little into each choice and find out something goes terribly wrong and it's up to me to try to pick up the pieces with the next choice. Life is like a game sometimes. A game of strategy. Let's just hope my real life doesn't involve my death when I'm trying to do something right like help out a local Boys & Girls Club for instance. Or having to sleep with someone on my way up the ladder of success. Well, maybe if they're cute ;)