Meant To Be?

I liked this one. I do agree with Darius that the romance doesn’t seem especially wholesome. I didn’t really find it heartwarming at all. It was thoughtful, however, and I think it rang much truer than a lot of romances tend to do. In short, I definitely recommend this to someone looking for a story a little deeper than the typical stock romance story.

SPOILERS

The thing I really liked about this story is that Ash was unattainable. It did quite a bit to add to the realism and emotional validity of the story that even in her “good” ending Ash recognized that she needed help more than she needed a relationship. I honestly prefer that ending to the “good” ending with Amber, which was still a fairly satisfying ending.

One strength that the author really played to here is the ability to write believable dialogue. The banter is not used as a moment to flaunt the author’s writing prowess, but is instead kept very much in character. This helps us really get close to the main characters, especially Sam and Ash.

Another good piece of characterization is that the characters have defined interests. Each date that you/Sam take Ash on reveals a bit of his personality, and allows her to comment on it. This is why this story is meant to be played multiple times (in addition to the multiple endings). I also really loved how your earlier actions sealed which endings would be open or closed at the end of a story. In your life, one good decision can’t undo a whole lot of wrong, and this story manages to capture that on a small scale.

The only real issue I have with the story is the fact that Amber’s “good” ending seems way more neat and tidy than really makes sense for the type of story it is. I do understand the motive behind having one ending where “everything works out,” but in my opinion, it doesn‘t work here. There are also a few minor typos, but who among us is innocent?

So the prompt of the story was: a wholesome romance. I don't think you've got a very wholesome one,but it's a rather fun one nevertheless.

The one thing I like is the banter between Ashley and Sam, their chemistry is quite natural. Sam is a bit more of the reserved type while Ashley is a lot more assertive and teasing. I really can see them in a relationship. Plus I do like the fact that they both kinda are willing to help each other with their personal hangups.
The writing is solid, nothing that bothers me too much. One thing you do really well is character acting and using their body language to convey their emotions. I particularly like these couple of sentences.

"You tighten your grip around the rubber wheel as you chastise yourself yet again for your stupid word choice, but when Ash's hand finds your arm you relax."

Also cool that instead of outright saying that Ash looks like sam's dead wife, you instead get shown that Sam almost mistakes her from Lydia. Cool moment.

Now onto my gripes. True paranormal, you said that we will get seven endings and boy they were a pain in the ass to find, but I found all of them. I still really don't get why some delayed choices lead to certain endings, almost thought it was a bug or something. I wished that there was some tally or some visible stats haha, it would be easier to find all the endings.

Without any context, all seven work out fine. I especially like the good ending of Ashley. However, I just think that we got so little time with amber that her Endings fall a little flat. We as readers don't really have a good grasp on who she is, so it's hard to root for her relationship with Sam. I cannot even remember one single remarkable thing about her except that she got some beef with Ashley.
Oh plus, story was quite linear except for at the end, was kinda disappointed that we didn't get more diverse routes. The dates were also pretty similar which is kinda a bummer.
I also think that the aftermath of the wedding was kinda rushed, but that could have been me.

All in all, well written story, but it honestly wasn't that very wholesome (the main couple breaks up at the end, family drama, etc.). I wonder if it would have worked better as a short story, but that's honestly my take on all story game with romance as the main focus. You'd taken quite a hard genre to write in, something that I quite struggle with as well, so good job!

I love it! I just wish you didn’t use so much language. Ikkkk I sound annoying and condescending but really? It’s not needed and I’m a 14 year old girl who is surrounded by people who curse all the time.

I have a question also if you see this. Was it just the dead wife thing with Sam? Like I didn’t understand why he was crying. That’s also my fault I’m reading this at 6;00 that’s too early

that was good

Definitely wish the Ash (Neutral) line had a place to go, it was shorter than I thought it'd be...but I'm also just a dumb lil do-gooder that doesn't like causing trouble so i guess being on her families side just fucked me over lol. It was still good, a bit short, but the writing style was cohesive, i liked the in depth environmental descriptions. Love you dude :p

The writing was descriptive and engaging, which I really liked. You need more paragraph breaks though, I was bludgeoned with walls of text on some specific pages.

It was a good read. Now I'll try the other endings.