For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
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GoodReads Summary:
For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in a palace and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon.
But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn’t want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.
Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she’s made for herself and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.
My Review:
This book had been on my radar for quite awhile now but the cover honestly bugged me and you know how I am about covers. Then I read the back cover and was like “Ehhhhhhhhhh”. It just didn’t sound like something that I would honestly be interested to. But then I had friends pushing me to read it, so I added it to my “to-read” list and my “wish list” and my blogger Secret Santa through The Broke and Bookish got it for me, and I knew I had to read it.
Once I’m done writing this review, I have plans to go to Barnes and Noble and pick up the second book. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book was. It caught me up so fast, and I couldn’t stop reading it, and I stayed up until about 2 am last night and finished it. It was like Hunger Games, except instead of competing for their lives, they are being prepped and trained to be the wife of a prince, and competing for his hand in marriage. So…Hunger Games and The Bachelor put together in one.
I definitely enjoyed the story. It really reminded me of both The Hunger Games and The Bachelor. The various casts from 1 to 8, and what their purposes in society were, reminded me so much of the districts. One is obviously the highest you can go, and it is very unlikely to attain it. America is a Five, the artists and musicians. She’s in love with a Six, who are the servants. At the insisting of her mother and her love, Aspen, she enters into the Selection and is incredibly surprised when she is chosen to “play”. I liked that America did it for the help of her family, who gets a compensation for America being part of The Selection, and that she appeals to Prince Maxon to be his friend, and to keep her around as long as he can to provide more for her family. It makes the build up to her possible affection for him that much more exciting. Its unexpected and it keeps the tension alive, especially when an unexpected person shows up at the palace.
I really loved the characters, as well, most of all: America and Marlee. I like Aspen and Maxon and the rest but I really like those two, and I think I love them both because of the dynamic between them. Technically they are both competing for the same thing and yet they are friends. I think there is more to be learned from Marlee and I can’t wait to dive further into her secrets and mystery but for now, I really liked their friendship and how genuine it is.
I had a little bit of a problem that there didn’t seem to be much depth past the competition at first. I’m not one to read a book all about a prince’s quest to find true love out 35 girls from his kingdom. I love romance as much as the next person but this seemed to be too much, especially since I suspect a love triangle is developing. BUT as the story begins to delve deeper and deeper, I realize that there is so much more than just the competition. There is going to be war, battle, and defense going on, and I think more and more of that is going to be happening in The Elite and I think the build up in The Selection was beautiful.
My Rating:
4 out of 5 stars
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Ooh this book was at the centre of a goodreads scandal a while ago! A reviewer didn’t like it and gave an excellent review as to why not, and the author and publisher went kinda nuts. Rather put me off reading it to be honest. I’m glad you enjoyed it though. I know you have a thing about character names – did these ones annoy you? And when you say the cover bugged you, do you mean it made you want to read it or not? I can’t help but see a fancy deodorant commercial when I look at it, like she’s trying to take a sneaky sniff at a fancy party to make sure she isn’t smelly or something :P
LOL oh my god this comment made me laugh in a million ways. Lets see…
GoodReads wise. Here’s my thing. I don’t personally do bad reviews. I do “meh” reviews but I try not to do bad reviews because even though I personally may not like the book but I don’t want to bring down their goodreads average for others. That being said, I think a reviewer has the right to say what they feel about a book WITHOUT being disrespectful. If that person did a negative review, in a respectful way, I say, there’s not a problem.
The name America is driving me insane. You have no idea…especially when anyone uses the nickname “Mer”. I want to scream.
I just didn’t like the cover because it made it look like a fluffy story, like girls in pretty dresses and that’s all and I wanted to roll my eyes. But its actually a lot more than that.
Oh yes, the reviewer was totally respectful. It was all “I didn’t enjoy it because xyz” not “OMG this book sukz.” It was the author and publicist being disrespectful. I know that in terms of my own acting and writing I actually love it when people can say “here’s what I didn’t like” and can then explain. Its valuable stuff. I’ve never really thought about how a bad rating might bring down an author or book’s rating though. I don’t generally review books, but I do rate them. It’s mostly for my own reference. Maybe I’ll rethink that.
Haha I am such a sucker for covers with pretty dresses on them! But I think you have to be in a particular mood to want to read a fluffy story. Maybe I will give this book a go, if only so I can weigh in on the scandal :P
I think authors and publishers have to realize that sometimes people aren’t going to like it, and yeah, some people are going to be disrespectful about it and that sucks. But I think that there are a lot of reviewers who do it respectfully, knowing that, even though they didn’t personally like it, that it was something that you worked very hard on and they don’t be to be insulting or disrespectful. I tend to rate books higher on GoodReads than on my blog, mostly because I feel bad for dragging down the average…unless the book truly was so bad that I think people need to know it. But I’m leaning toward a 3ish, sometimes I’ll do a four, simply because…I may find it “meh” but someone else may truly love it. I only usually rate low, or review (respectfully) bad books if I truly didn’t like it.
Glad to hear that this book was a success. Other blogger friends loved it too. I’m gonna need to buy myself a copy and give it a read.
It honestly surprised me a lot in how much I liked it. I was very very unsure of it but I really did like it.
I found your site. And I am glad you liked this book. I was the same way about it. I was really unsure because I am not a Fan of The Bachelor tv show in real life. But I really enjoyed this book and the 2 that followed.
Hi Misti! Thanks for finding the blog :) I LOVED this series! I was so surprised at how much I did but it really is great and Kiera is just the nicest person ever. She’s writing two more books in the series, and the next one is called The Heir, and it’ll be from Maxon and America’s childrens’ points of view