The Selection

4 stars I'm surprised I liked this as much, and I feel that I am way too invested in this whole selection competition thing. It's like I'm suddenly 15 again, watching America's Next Top Model. I'm kind of ashamed, but also not. It's different than other dystopian series, but it's also really predictable and love triangles, can we not anymore? America is a great protagonist though. I love how smart and strong she is and she has such a good heart. The Prince ain't bad either, I suppose.

Bingung mau kasih 2 atau 3 bintang, tp akhirnya 3 saja untuk cover cantiknya.
Ide untuk seri ini bagus sbnrnya, dari 35 propinsi kerajaan Illea diambil 1 gadis untuk mengikuti seleksi. Seleksi bertujuan untuk memilih siapakah yg akan menjadi pasangan hidup putra mahkota Illea, Pangeran Maxon.Namun eksekusinya, kurang berhasil. Menciptakan karakter wanita yg plin plan, keinginan & tindakan saling bertolak belakang & jadi terkesan manipulatif.
Amerika Singer katanya mencintai Aspen, org yg sdh ditemuinya selama 2 thn di daerah asalnya. Dia mengikuti seleksi krn mengikuti keinginan ibunya. Katanya dia gk antusias mengikuti seleksi “bodoh” tapi tiap disiarkan dpn kamera dia bertekad tampil terbaik & membuat keluarganya bangga. Hah??
Itu baru hal kecil, hal yg benar2 menyebalkan adlh, katanya dia tdk ingin bersama Maxon, tp nantinya dia akan sering memikirkan kemungkinan2 bersama Maxon. Dia gk bisa memutuskan sbnrnya dia pgn bersama siapa, dgn memberi harapan baik pada Maxon maupun pd Aspen.
Kutoleransi hanya krn covernya bagus, layak koleksi. Dan tentu saja, tokoh Maxon cukup menyenangkan, hanya tokoh utama wanitanya ini, manipulatif, real b*tch...

edit: this review aged like milk lmao no


My heart.. I loved this book since the second I picked it up. It was an easy read but I had to pause just to take it all in. I love Maxon and America so much. I don't know why people dislike America she is so genuine, so what if she had feelings for Maxon too. Aspen broke up with her and hurt her. She didn't expect to fall for Maxon but it happened. I SHIP SOOOOOO HARD LIKE MY BABIES I CRY

edit: this review aged like milk lmao no


My heart.. I loved this book since the second I picked it up. It was an easy read but I had to pause just to take it all in. I love Maxon and America so much. I don't know why people dislike America she is so genuine, so what if she had feelings for Maxon too. Aspen broke up with her and hurt her. She didn't expect to fall for Maxon but it happened. I SHIP SOOOOOO HARD LIKE MY BABIES I CRY

Oh, I just love Maxon and America. Their kind of love, but also a really close friendship is so cute and awkward at the same time. I only hate America for keeping Maxon in the dark for so long, even though he made it all pretty clear. But the book is really good. I love Kiera's writing and I adore her for her writing!

This review contains spoilers. But not spoilers for this book. Spoilers for a different book, which was published in 1862, so I don't even think you can really call them spoilers at this point.

So a few days ago I was working through more of Les Miserables. The men were in the barricade, and fighting, and in a single paragraph, Victor Hugo wrote, “— died, —- died,” essentially killing off like five of the main characters (of the barricade section of the novel, not the whole novel, this thing is like 1500 pages) in a single paragraph. And that night I told Matt, “You know what Victor Hugo did today??” And he laughed at my phrasing as I told him about everyone dying.

So this morning at breakfast I was reading The Selection and I told Matt, “I'm like 50 pages from the end and there are still 25 girls in this competition. This book is totally going to end on a cliffhanger, and I really don't care enough to read the next four or five books. Maybe I'll Wikipedia it to see what happens in the rest of them.”

“Maybe it won't end in cliffhanger,” Matt said. “Maybe they'll get Victor Hugo'd.”

I won't spoil the ending for you, in case you still want to read this, though I can't say I'd recommend it. It's got some major problems with the world building, with misogyny, with classism. I kept picturing Caesar Flickerman, like this was the beginning parts of the Hunger Games but for 300 pages and not as inventive or well-written. It's kind of infuriating, and while the story was quick-paced, I don't really care about these characters, so I'm not gonna bother with the rest.

I loved it!

I was actually pleasantly surprised by this! Such a quick and easy read which was what I was after. Although it was a little cheesy in places, I enjoyed the writing and the characters so will be looking to get the rest of the series soon.

“I hope you find someone you can't live without. I do. And I hope you never have to know it's like trying to live without them.”
-America Singer


I absolutely adored this book. I must admit that when I purchased it, it was only because the bookstore clerk suggested it based on another series I was reading at the time. I read the synopsis and though it seemed interesting I didn't have the urge to crack it open just yet. It took me almost a year to actually open the book and when I did I still had mixed feelings on whether or not I truly wanted to read the book. Last month I decided it was time I gave it a try and I'm glad I did.

This story follows America Singer a 5 from Carolina who is madly in love with Aspen Leger a 6. In Illea it is not acceptable for people to date outside of the caste, especially when the husband is in a lower caste than the wife. For two years America and Aspen meet in secret, the only place they can truly admit and express the love they have for one another. Despite being of low status America is absolutely in love with her life and the people in it. But their was soon to be one problem, the selection.

Prince Maxon had just turned 18 and was in need of a wife. He had no time to date so the royal family decided on “the selection” a competition for 35 lucky women who will compete in order to become Illea's next Princess. America had no desire to apply for the selection, but her mother insisted on it, and surprisingly so did Aspen. Just to make them happy she did, she would never be picked anyway and they could both stop bugging her about it. But she was picked, now what should she do? How could she compete for a hand at marrying the Prince when her love was Aspen?

America decides to go along with the competition, it would be a nice break away from home and help support her family at the same time. She is absolutely sure that she will not be in the competition for long, how could the Prince ever take her seriously? But would he? With the time spent in the palace and with time spent with Prince Maxon, will America change her mind? Will she fall in love with the Prince?

My favorite thing about this books is America's need to remain true to herself even when in the presence of royalty. I also love the Romance it's refreshingly amazing.

This story provides hope that love is not about pretty faces and financial gain, but of true chemistry and amazing friendships.

Read this because of... https://thewritingcrafter.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/the-selection/

Ahh, Loved this..

I was tempted to pick this book up after a friend on Goodreads read it, but this was not my style of book. It was a really quick read but I didn't connect with a single character.

Not the best quality book- but was a fun read! The plot isn't perfect and I would have liked to have gotten to know the characters more deeply. But I thought it was a really interesting idea and it kept my attention enough that I want to read the sequels!

On one hand this book is not very good and does not make very much sense, but also it was very compelling and we couldn't stop listening to it and immediately, frantically put a hold on the next one in the series. So...there's that.

The Selection–basically The Bachelor for a prince to find a princess–is a great concept for a book. The worldbuilding around this dystopian future is very stupid and makes no sense and it's basically just handwaving to create set dressing for the Bachelor, I mean, Selection. Like it's 300 years in the future but there's no technology at all really, not even in the palace?! (Like I get it in the Hunger Games when the poorer people don't have anything but the Capitol has like holograms and shit. But here even the prince relies on sending messengers around with notes? There ARE phones but not like...cell phones? Like the palace seems to have like one land line that nobody uses. IT'S WEIRD.)

Also the caste system makes no sense and seems to leave out a lot of professions?!

But again...that's not really the point of this book. It's definitely a romance, not a dystopian.

Also it ends pretty abruptly. Having listened to the first 3 books I feel like they honestly should have been edited down into 1 book that tells the whole story of the Selection but whatever, nobody asked meee

To be totally honest, I went into this book expecting to hate every word of it. Lately it seems that every popular YA book is either dystopian, fantasy, or a combination of the two. The Selection just seemed like yet another play on a Hunger Games type story; this one just added The Bachelor into the mix. And in regards to that assumption and pretty much all the others I made, I was correct. The characters had ridiculous names, one dimensional personalities, and the story was absolutely typical. Now I know that I probably shouldn't have even read it because of all the assumptions I make about popular dystopian YA, but this one had a gorgeous cover and a few of my reader friends love the series so I thought I'd give it a shot. It lived up to all my low expectations BUT I couldn't put it down. In the past I have really struggled with finishing some YA dystopia (i.e. The Maze Runner) but this one I finished in a day, only pausing to get a drink or a bathroom break. I'm not sure why I was so enthralled in it considering my previous opinions, but I didn't hate the characters despite their flat personalities and struggle with being just too beautiful and kind. I somehow felt a connection with them and although it was predictable, still wanted to see what happened next. I actually really enjoyed reading the book, the imagery was lovely, as well as Cass's writing style. I plan on reading The Elite and I'm anxious to see what happens with the rebels more than anything. What are they looking for??

O still think this book is really bad, but, sometimes, I just want to read trashy fun books.

This story is like the “Bachelor” meets “Hunger Games”. Its sort of painful yet still addictive.

4 stars.

A kindest, cutest Bachelor. Where the other girls aren't really trying to kill the favorite one (even Celeste). Everything in this book was sweetened, but GOD I liked that. Mellowness will forever be my greatest weakness.

I'm not entirely convinced about America's name, tbh. Too unrealistic. Kiera Cass was like : She's american? She wants to be a singer? Let's call her AMERICA SINGER! Ugh. No.

I'm not entirely convinced either about America and Maxon. I'm waiting to read the next books to have a real opinion on it.

Loved it! It definitely was not what I was expecting. I don't know how I would feel if The Selection was a real thing in America. I think I would participate for the fun of it and to get away from home, but like America I don't think I would actually win. I like how America and Maxon's relationship started. Even though she wants to be with Aspen so bad, I think her and Maxon would be perfect for each other. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

I really would like to read all of them, but this one fell kind of flat for me. let's see if it gets any better...

Each time a Prince comes of age, a Selection occurs, to find the Prince a wife from a member of the public. America Singer is a seventeen year old girl who is a Five. She never wanted to be Selected, and when she was, it changes everything.

Overall, this book wasn't too bad. It was quite different, at least, not exactly the same as some of the other ones out there. The romance in the book drags on for an awful long time though. I've just finished the third book and it dragged on throughout that one as well! Despite that, I enjoyed the plot. America is a really down-to-Earth character that, despite her circumstances, is somehow relatable, even though her name is annoying as hell.

Yet again, we have a YA book with a love triangle! How unique! The love triangle really wasn't necessary. It didn't add anything to the plot. The romance was having enough trouble as it was without a love triangle!

I'm not really sure why I went on to read the rest of the books. I wouldn't really recommend anyone else to read it, unless you want one of those stories where the love is awfully annoying and eye-roll worthy.

I'm so impressed by this book! I was unsure whether I was going to think it was way too cheesy or cliché, but I'm actually just really happy with it! I couldn't stop reading once the Selection started!
I didn't like that America was already in a happy relationship, when she was shipped of to the Selection, but I have a theory of how it all will turn out, so I'm not taking it too hard, except for the fact that I just KNOW it will create problems in the next books. Typical.

This book is pretty terrible, but i have so much fun reading that is a shame give him the same rating that i give to others pretty terrible book.
Definitly will read all the trilogy (but truly don't recomend to anybody)

Not going to lie, I kind of rushed into this one. I barely read the synopsis before jumping right into it, mostly because of the pretty cover. Yes, I judged a book by its cover and was quite disappointed. Maybe it's because I'm not a young adult anymore, I don't know, but this book seemed very childish to me. That's not to say I don't enjoy the Young Adult genre immensely, because I do, but this one fell extremely short for me. It seemed many people on my friend's list were reading it and have liked it and I decided to give it a chance for this exact reason.

First of, am I the only one who was extremely annoyed by all the grammar and spelling mistakes I found in this rather short book? I couldn't even believe my eyes, I thought the proofreaders would have done a better job before putting this book out to be published. This issue is rather unforgivable for me because there's nothing that ruins a book more for me than spelling mistakes and improper grammar.

Further on, the writing, in my opinion, was overly simplistic. Like so simplistic that I thought the vocabulary was extremely limited and this book should have been geared toward teens and preteens as opposed to young adults.

The whole fairy-tale, “poor-girl-comes-in-and-makes-the-prince-fall-in-love-with-her plot” was just too naive and uncomplicated for me. I love messed up story lines, the more fucked up, the better. But this one was rather predictable and although once she had the love-triangle going I thought there might be hope yet, once it was clear who she was going to choose, I lost all interest and faith in this book completely.

It also very much bothered me that America, who apparently has been in love with Aspen for over two years or so, just gave up on the relationship so easily, pretty much as soon as she saw Maxon and he started taking an interest in her. I mean, if she actually truly loved him I don't think it would have been so easy for her to just move on and take into consideration the fact that she might start developing feelings for Maxon. I guess that's just from experience but that part wasn't realistic to me. It's like Cass was trying really hard to fit everything together perfectly and therefore her heroine fell short in remaining true to herself, acting instead like any other naive girl who is swept of her feet by the grandiosity of the situation she is thrust upon. I had bigger expectations from America, especially since she seemed different and had known more of life than the other girls.

Also, the book itself was a little too much like a soap opera for me. I mean non of the problems that America encountered in this book were very heart-breaking in any way. Except for Aspen breaking up with her, the rest of it was just girls trying to get Maxon's attention in every superficial way possible. I also didn't like America acting so “whorish” with both Maxon and Aspen (at the same time!), especially because of her love for Aspen that she kept mentioning all throughout the book. It seemed to me that America changed as soon as she arrived at the castle and met handsome Prince Maxon and then was also swept away by the beautiful gowns, grandiose setting and delicious food/entertainment.

This book was definitely not my cup of tea, although I can see younger kids reading this book and enjoying it. Personally, I prefer books that are a little deeper and make me think and ponder long after the book is done. Of course, I did give the next book in this series a chance, especially because it was rather short and a very easy read, although my expectations were much lower this time around.

Incredibly trite. Good for tweens who still love fairy tales but are taking an interest in fashion and love triangles. For anyone else you've got to be pretty bored.

There are little scraps of distopian future, reality show, and politics tropes and more focus on any of those could have made it more interesting but mostly it's all about fashion, bland friendships, and PG makeout scenes. The narrator dodges saying words like “sex” or “rape” but the topics come up multiple times.

I listened to the audiobook, which is incredibly lackluster. The reader has just one “male” voice, so it can get confusing on the few occasions two males are actually interacting. Her “female” voice is her normal speaking voice, so there's no variation there. Spoken aloud, the names of the two love interests, Maxon and Aspen, are similar enough that I got confused several times.

4.5 stars
I enjoyed this book so much! At first, America annoyed me. I didn't really like Aspen and thought it was so stupid of her to decide to not like Maxon. I would've married him in a heartbeat, just sayin'.
The world in this book was really interesting. I'm guessing it's set somewhere around 300 or 400 years into the future?
I don't watch The Bachelor on TV, but reading about a similar thing was a lot of fun. I just want America to accept Maxon's love ughhhhh!