The Selection (The Selection #1)by Kiera Cass
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This was the man who was going to lead our country; the guy rendered useless by tears. It was too funny.
An absolutely surprising, fun, and engrossing surprise, I couldn’t believe much I loved this book and the characters included. Like so many other series, I did find that it was a tad mislabeled with the term dystopian-sure, there were multiple elements I guess we could tag that label to, but for those of you who are turned off by dystopian (not me, EVER) , then you will be glad to hear it’s definitely more of a romance with minor elements of rebels trying to attack the palace.
America is in the middle of the caste system. She isn’t privileged like a one, two, or three, but she isn’t as bad off as the lowest of the castes, an eight. She is a five, and fives are the artists, musicians, the entertainment caste. They have enough food for one serving at each meal, and there is rarely room for leftovers. Sometimes it comes down to whether they should choose food or electricity-they’ve always chosen food.
Then all of her family’s prayers are answered-the Selection is asking young ladies to enter their name to be drawn to fight for Prince Maxon’s hand at the palace to become the future Queen. For each week they are there, the family of the remaining girls is compensated greatly. It all seems too good to be true. But there’s only one problem with this whole situation: she’s secretly head over heels in love with someone else.
”I love you, America Singer. As long as I live, I’ll love you.” There was some deep emotion in his voice, and it caught me off guard.
“I love you, Aspen. You’ll always be my prince.”
And he kissed me until the candle burned itself out.
She and Aspen have been secretly dating for two years, unbeknownst to her family who are pushing her to fight for Prince Maxon’s hand. She fights tooth and nail, but then another problem arises: Aspen wants and encourages her to join the Selection. See, he’s a six, a caste below her, and not only will it be hard to get married, he doubts he will ever be able to provide for her the way he wants and needs to…..so she agrees. What’s the problem anyway? There’s no possible chance she will be chosen. Right?
Wrong
I absolutely adored this book. It was sweet, witty, funny, and a lot better than I imagined it would be. I never expected to fall in love with Prince Maxon. I never thought it would be so funny to watch him talk to her about all his prospects and what he’s thinking about the situation, and I had no idea that I would love both guys, but ultimately wish for her to leave Aspen behind and fight for Maxon.
The girls were kindly applauding, but I couldn’t register the sound. All I saw was that Maxon wore a handsome, awestruck expression, which slowly turned into a smile, a smile for no one but me.
I think the hardest thing to accept about this novel is clearly Maxon fell for America hard, and wanted nothing more but to end it all and be with her…all the while she’s trying to move forward and escape the past that won’t stop plaguing her thoughts. She is still in love with Aspen, but what happens when she also starts to fall for Maxon? He’s sweet, kind, caring, and listens to what she has to say. He looks at her as if he adores her, and it made my heart melt.
”So she’s still with us, then?” Gavril looked over at the collection of girls, grinning widely, and then returned to face his prince.
“Oh yes. She’s still here,” Maxon said, not letting his eyes wander from Gavril’s face. “And I plan on keeping her here for quite a while.”
A tangled web of old love and new love, this book promises to make you feel things that keep contradicting what you previously thought. I don’t know how many times I went back and forth and tried to justify what was going on, because I just couldn’t decide what would be best for her in the long run. I can’t say everyone will love the set up of this book or what it plays at, but I loved it without a doubt and can’t wait for book two. I didn’t realize the actual selection was going to be dragged out for three books, but I just can’t wait to see if she will end up with Maxon or Aspen. Both guys really are great….but GO MAXON!! ♥ ♥ ♥
Had fun on our first BR, Harriet!! aka Pea!!! ♥
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