Book Review: 'Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays'

Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon, alum writers for The Onion, are back with another comical modern choose-your-own-path story to ruin your upcoming holiday spirit. Earlier this year you might remember I reviewed their crazy workplace adventure titled Choose Your Own Misery: The Office. Well, the duo has just released the next volume in their parody series Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays to take with you during your holiday season. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of the new book to review, but before I reveal my thoughts, take a look at the cover and official synopsis.

Official synopsis:

This is the year you’re going to do it: you’re going to avoid Christmas completely!

...or you were, until your island getaway got washed out by a hurricane. Now you have to choose: should you spend the holiday with your shrewish sister and her Europhile husband, or endure your new girlfriend’s family for a week? Help chop down a tree even though it might throw out your back, or endure the icy judgment of a woman who thinks only children and p*****s help bake cookies? Jet off to the glamorous slums of Kingston, Jamaica, or accept the offer of a ride from a man who never stops smiling...and is probably going to turn you into a skin suit?

From the writers who brought you the hilarious parody Choose Your Own Misery: The Office comes a second helping of misery with a festive twist. Christmas is full of fun surprises for kids, but for adults, it’s just an endless series of aggressive crowds, overwhelming credit card debt, and pretending to like the people you’re forced to spend it with.

Once you unwrap all the holiday misery hiding in these pages, the blackness of your heart will rival any lump of coal. 

Review: Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays is an outrageous R-rated holiday adventure that combines the travel habits from Planes, Trains, & Automobiles with the family antics of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. This dark comedic adventure will truly brighten your personal outlook on upcoming holidays with family by living out worst-case-scenario type situations.

Fortunately, my extended family's quirks are relatively innocent when compared to some of the encounters in this book. Most of the scenarios that the reader will stumble into are quite shocking and at times heinous, but not too over-the-top that you can't put yourself in the situation or imagine it taking place in a Seth Rogen film. The explicit language can be a little excessive at times but overall, it was fun to flip (or in my case, click) through the book to try different paths. If you a fan of dark comedy books or film, I'd recommend reading Choose Your Own Misery: The Holidays. Just don't let your kids borrow it when you are finished.

Choose Your Own Misery: The Holiday from Diversion Books is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, and Google Play.

Connect with author Mike MacDonald on Facebook and Twitter as well as author Jilly Gagnon on Facebook and Twitter. Learn more about the book series and authors by visiting their website.