Monday, April 30, 2012

THE SELECTION by KIERA CASS

The Selection by Kiera Cass is published by HarperTeen and was published on April 24th of 2012 in 327 gorgeously written pages! I was fortunate enough to receive an ARC and I thank HarperTeen for allowing me to view this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!




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




THE FAERYS VIEW

At first I thought The Selection by Kiera Cass was going to be like the TV show Bachelor with a little light dystopian thrown in. I was dead wrong! Oh how I adored this book! It was so very much more, Ms. Cass built a dystopian world with a strict caste system that either puts you at the top with food, adequate shelter and clothing or at the very bottom where there isn’t enough food for everyone, let alone warmth or clothing. Safety isn’t exactly to be had, either. A small starving child is whipped in the town square for stealing a piece of fruit. There’s no empathy from the higher castes for the lower castes and really it boils down to where and to who you were born.

Taken from a caste system where America or 'Mer' is at the bottom of the pecking order but not so far down that her family is starving to death; her family is a ‘5’-Artists, and they skimp on food and clothing and there’s been times when they’ve had to go without but not that often. America’s family is artists, and America’s voice is heavenly plus she can masterfully play many instruments just like her mother. America has fallen in love with Aspen; a gorgeous sweet boy a caste down from her. He’s incredibly smart, works as many jobs as he can find to help his widowed mother and all his siblings just to put food on the table. What America and Aspen have is the real thing; going on two years, each one knows how to comfort the other. Aspen is proud and when there’s extra food at America’s, she’ll bring it to ‘their’ tree-house, a rickety old thing in America’s postage stamp back yard. They spend countless nights there, dreaming of how they’ll run away together, that the caste doesn’t matter but deep down Aspen knows they can never really be together, he would never subject her to the starvation and fear that his caste constantly feels. When The Selection comes up; Aspen encourages Mer to join because he could never forgive himself if she lost her chance at a better life because of him, he encourages her to join and when she gets picked he breaks up with her, effectively breaking her heart.

With all of the preparation for The Selection, America can’t get excited; her heart is heavy with grief until the day of her going away ceremony when she sees Aspen with his arms wrapped around another girl. She decides then and there to get mad-it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. The opulence of the Palace is amazing; unlike anything America has ever seen! She has 3 maids, foods that are so delectable that she tries very hard not to make a pig or herself. Her clothing is so fine and her hair always done by her maids that she looks her very best. America soon starts to love the Palace she once hated. Prince Maxon soon becomes very dear to her heart and there is no mistaking his affections towards her. But something happens that could spoil it all. Amidst the rebel attacks, her heart break and the realization that she is as beautiful inside as out; America has an epiphany of sorts and that leaves us at our cliffy!

I am so impressed with Kiera Cross’s writing! Every main character was so very easy to get to know and the secondary characters were, as well. I fell in love with all of them and in deep dislike with some, too. Kiera’s sense of what Palace life would be like makes me wonder if perhaps she lived in one at one time or another! I felt the luxury that America felt and saw the beauty of the gardens all around me.

THE FAERY SAYS THAT THE SELECTION ROCKED MY WINGS!!!

12 comments:

  1. I was not expecting to like this book, but I really did! I am looking forward to seeing the made-for-TV movie the WB is doing.

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    1. I felt the same way, Kate but by page 20, I was hooked!

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  2. I LOVED this book too! One of my favorites of the year. The CW is making a tv series from it and I can't wait to see it!

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    1. I know! The girl from Friday Night Lights is playing America!
      I kind of have my own cast set in my mind, LOL!

      This was one of my favorites, too!

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  3. yay! I loved this book! I was a little afraid to read it due to the fact that there is a love triangle, but I thought Cass did a great job with that part.

    Great review!

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  4. Okay, I know I'll want to drop kick Aspen, but this does sound like a good book. I am so wishlisting it! I'm also glad it wasn't like a YA version of the Bachelor. I don't care for that show at all. :)

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  5. I think this is the type of book you have to read and decide for yourself. The reactions for it have been so mixed, but interesting to compare. I'm glad it worked for you.

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  6. I can't wait to read this one. It's almost in at the library! Great review!

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  7. I'm honestly a little hesitant to read this book due to all the author/reviewer drama that happened with it a few months back. But I do think it sounds good.

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  8. I've heard LOTS of mixed reviews on this one chick... but I'm picking my way through review books and I'm almost to this one!!!!

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  9. I love your review! this is the best I have read.
    I didn't know if I want to read this book, but now I feel like I need it!

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  10. Wonderful review dear, and so glad to see you enjoyed it so. :) Thank you!

    Hope you are doing much better dear. Take care!

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