Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Selection by Kiera Cass

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 the palace and compete for the heart of the 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. (Goodreads Summary)
Me and author Kiera Cass at the RT Convention
I have been lusting after this book for awhile. I heard about it several months ago when I found out that it's going to be a TV show on the CW. Since then, I'd been really wanting to read it. I even joined a Goodreads group looking specifically for this ARC (Advanced Reader Copy). So I was super excited when, while at the RT Conference in Chicago a few weekends ago, I was talking to Kimberly Derting and she introduced me to the author, Kiera Cass, who was sitting right next to her. "YOU are The Selection?!?!" I exclaimed excitedly. Like she IS her book. Lol. Then I hopped on over and immediately launched into my tale of trying to get ahold of the ARC. She didn't have any at her table and I was sad about that, but she signed some pretty, pretty bookmarks for me*. Then later that night I gasped when I saw that fellow BookNerd Jacque had scored a copy! I offered to trade her basically any book I had for it, and seeing my enthusiam, she agreed.

First: Cover Love! This is in all the reviews for a reason -- it really is a gorgeous cover! Look at it:


Ohhh.... Ahhh....

I read this book literally in one day. I had to leave my house when I was about 2/3 of the way through, and all I kept thinking about when I was gone was coming back home so I could finish. I saw this described as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor, and that is pretty accurate. America's descriptions of her prettying up in the palace reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games' Katniss' experiences upon arrival in the Capitol. I really enjoyed America. She was very real -- she was stubborn, she put her foot in her mouth a lot, she made mistakes. She loved her family, she worked hard to right any mistakes she made, and she was honest. She was very real, and I liked that a lot. In the end, it was the fact that she was so real and so honest that determined how she did in the Selection. 

I was happy that the interaction between the girls was not all cattiness -- I was afraid it might be, and I am afraid they might try to present it like that on the TV show. But really, I enjoyed the Selected conversations about wanting to be friends with each other and not just see each other as competitors. This was a storyline where you knew what was going to happen while the protagonist did not. But that worked in this case -- I wanted to keep reading because I knew what was going to happen and I was excited and eager to see it happen.

....but it didn't end up quite going down like I thought. And now I have to wait however long for Book #2!!! *flails* Let's hope I can score an ARC of that one.

~Flo~

P.S. Team Maxon!!!

*The signed bookmark....you want? Let me know in the comments and I will choose a random lucky commentor to send it to.
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2 comments :

  1. JacqueApril 30, 2012 at 9:26 AM

    Well...if I had read this review before trading the book, I may have thought about it a little longer :) You did, however, have a copy of Shade...which I LOVED. Logan was definitely worth trading for!!! I will add this to my TBR. Is it available yet?

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  2. FloApril 30, 2012 at 9:10 PM

    Logan has that effect! <--says the girl who currently has 2 copies of Shift just because she wanted to buy another one for Jeri to sigh. LOL.

    But yes, The Selection came out last week, I believe. It's super cute! Definitely TBR material.

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