Book Summary from Publisher:

“Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon – and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she’d put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess’s life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can’t escape her very own Selection – no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn’t expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn’s heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her … and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought.”

My Summary and Thoughts:

Eadlyn Schreave is not an average eighteen-year old girl. As the daughter of King Maxon and Queen America, she has been trained her whole life to become the next ruler of Illéa. This means, among her many other duties, she is expected to marry and produce an heir. And she isn’t happy about it.

Twenty years ago, her father’s first act as king was to dissolve the caste system that had been the backbone of Illéa’s society from the beginning. At first, people rejoiced in the new era of equality. Without the old, unfair labels, people were free to be whoever they wanted to be. But now, people are rioting, and the country’s leaders don’t know why. They’d phased the castes out gradually to give people time to adjust, and it had seemed that the country had done so happily. But, prejudice can still be found, and old caste labels still limit people.

Eadlyn’s parents finally come up with a solution – one that they see as ingenious and she sees as insane – for Eadlyn to have her own Selection. They see it as an opportunity to give the people something to celebrate and give them time to think of a way to defuse the tensions, as well as a way to do something wonderful for Eadlyn, to give her the chance to fall in love. Eadlyn sees it as little better than marrying her off for an alliance (something her parents promised they would never do) and rather pointless in the end. She’s not the type of girl to fall in love, and her parents can’t force people to be fair and let prejudices fade.

So, she negotiates. She agrees to go through with the Selection on one condition: If she hasn’t found a suitable prince in three months, she doesn’t have to get married. This leaves her a perfect loophole, or so she thinks. She’ll just scare her suitors off, intimidate them into leaving, and then get on with her life. But some of the suitors begin to find their way past the walls she’s put up and into her heart. Will she fall in love after all?

I’m so glad that Kiera Cass chose to continue the Selection series, because I love this series more with every book. This time, we get to see the Selection not from the viewpoint of the Selected, but from the Selector herself. Eadlyn is a strong and sassy girl, and quite often a hilarious narrator. She can be frustrating at times, but you care for her anyway. And the romance is this book is perfect and exasperating all at once. In the first three books, I knew exactly who I wanted to end up together. But The Heir leaves no clues as to who Eadlyn will choose, and I can’t decide any more than she can. There are so many new characters to love, and the suitors are part of that. And the stakes are just as high for Eadlyn as they were for America. Eadlyn’s world is changing more everyday. Some changes are good, and she may gain the love of her life. Some changes are terrifying, and she may lose the people she’s always loved.

Happily Ever After, a collection of all four Selection novellas and bonus materials, is coming out in October of this year, so hopefully, we’ll have a review of that soon!

Comments! If you were the prince or princess of Illéa, would you want a Selection to be hosted, or would you want to try to fall in love on your own? Let me know in the comments!

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Hi, guys!  Today, I’m reviewing The One by Kiera Cass, the sequel to The Selection and The Elite. If you’d like to read the other reviews for the books in The Selection Series, click here for The Selection and here for The Elite. 

Book Summary From Publisher:

35 girls entered the Selection. Only 1 can win.

The time has come for one winner to be crowned. When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown – or Prince Maxon’s heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose – and how hard she’ll have to fight for the future she wants.

My Summary and Thoughts:

America Singer is one of the five girls left in the Selection. The Selection is nearing its end. And to America, it should have been over ages ago. She is in love with Prince Maxon, and he has made it clear that he loved her from the beginning.

But not everyone is ready for America and Maxon to choose each other. Maxon’s father, King Clarkson, detests America. Manipulative and cruel, he does all he can to force America out of the competition. Nor are her fellow Elite ready to concede defeat. And there’s still Aspen. America has recognized that she no longer loves him, but she hasn’t found the words to tell him. While she doesn’t want to marry him, like they had planned back in Carolina, she can’t imagine a life without him in it, and she’s terrified of losing him.

America and Maxon both make unlikely alliances, and find friends in people they never would have thought they could trust. But will it be enough to protect them from the threat of the rebels and those who refuse to see them together? Can America hold on to the beautiful future she sees ahead of her? Or will she lose it all?

YOU GUYS, THIS BOOK. My mom, sister, and I all read it like our lives depended on it. Which, as our fellow fangirls or boys understand, it kinda did.

The One had the perfect balance of happiness and sadness. There were scenes with Maxon and America that were so cute, I could die.

But it had its fair share of heartbreaking scenes as well. America, as well as Maxon, Aspen, and her family lose and gain so much. Everyone in Illéa is touched by the war. (I can’t say much more, because of spoilers, of course.)

The ending was perfect, and I just want to hug Kiera Cass for making me so happy. But I want to know more! I wish the epilogue had been fifty pages longer, because the stories of these characters are clearly not done. That’s why I’m so, so, so, so excited to read The Heir, the fourth book in the series. A collection of all the novellas that are also part of the Selection series is going to be released in October 2016. (If you want, though, you can read them all separately now.) And, sometime in the winter of 2016, we get the fifth book! So, there will definitely be more Selection fangirling in our future.  Will we ever really stop?

Comments! There’s actually one more reason to freak out that I didn’t mention - there’s going to be a movie adaptation of The Selection! So, do you have any ideas for who should be cast in the upcoming movie? Let me know in the comments below!

I’d love to connect with you guys! Join me on Instagram, Tumblr, Goodreads, and Pinterest.