Regardless of your reading preferences, chances are you have happy childhood memories of books that looked like this:

The concept was created by Edward Packard, in the late 1970’s. He made up bedtime stories for his children, who each asked for different endings. According to Wikipedia, Choose Your Own Adventure, as published by Bantam Books, was one of the most popular children’s series during the 1980s and 1990s, selling more than 250 million copies between 1979 and 1998!

Now that I’ve got you feeling all warm and fuzzy about these books, let me share some good news: you can revel in that joy again as a book loving adult. The choose-your-own-path genre in adult fiction is growing!

I’ve read a couple of the books I’ll list below and I can vouch for them causing nostalgia to bubble up as I decided which page to turn to next. The ones I haven’t read have all been added to my ever-expanding to read list (except for number 6!)

10 Choose Your Own Adventure Stories For Adults

*Disclaimer, I really mean adults. These books are definitely not for kiddos.

1. Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel  by Healther McElhatton

There’s one beginning here, and over 150 different endings. After an introduction to the story, you (the reader) need to make a decision, to determine what happens next, and to direct the course of your life.

2. My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran & Larissa Zageris

In this historical romance novel of sorts, you are an eighteenth century heroine with a lot of choices to make regarding your love life.  Plus, your decisions are brought to life with charming, funny illustrations.

3. Romeo and/or Juliet by Ryan North

This spin on a classic allows you to adventure as Romeo or Juliet (or both at the same time.) There are many paths to explore and secrets to learn.

4. Infected by James Schannep

Here, you are the main character in the Zombie Apocalypse. There are three different storylines with more than 50 possible endings.

5. Choose Your Own Disaster by Dana Schwartz

Part memoir, part personality test, the reader joins Dana on her journey of self discovery. In a world that tells us we can be anything we choose, here is a way to finally test our some of those possibilities.

6. A Christmas to Remember by Matt Shaw

Don’t let the title fool you, this is a horror spin on the genre. An estranged married couple are coming together to celebrate Christmas with their kids. What the wife doesn’t know is that her deranged ex has killed her new boyfriend, and parts of him are wrapped up among the gifts. So what happens next?? You decide!

7. Texas Biker Zombies From Outer Space by Etienne Guerin DeForest

Another Zombie Outbreak. This time you must navigate our main character, Camaro Steve, a drug- addict sociopath, through the outbreak.

8. The Most Boring Book Ever Written by Rudolf Kerkhoven and Daniel Pitts

This one truly sounds so boring, that’s what makes it interesting! You face choices such as: Do you hit snooze or turn off the alarm? Do you take a shower or run the bath?  Do you turn off the freeway to avoid congestion or stay on the interstate? 

9. The Classics Professor by Michael Hemmingson and Mary Anne Mohanraj

Choose your own erotic adventure, what a concept!  Dr. Wendy Lake is your professor who wants to seduce you, and you will decide whether to give in to her perversions.

10. Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography

Instead of reading a straightforward memoir that tells what really happened, you are now NPH! And you must choose correctly to make it to fame, or else you’ll end up miserable or even dead!

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Have you tried any of these unique books? If not, do you think you will? I’d love to hear what your experiences have been as an adult with the CYOA genre!