I have been eager to read The Selection by Kiera Cass since I first laid eyes on the cover art. Reading the description, I was hooked enough to buy a copy stat. Of course then it sat on my bookshelves for awhile waiting for me to be in between book club books and other books that had simply grabbed my attention first, but then finally it was time to read The Selection!

“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 a palace and compete for the heart of 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.”

So the story is sort of  like The Bachelor but set in a dystopian future society in which America (the country) is almost unrecognizable, with a new name and new leaders (royal ones) and a new way of life involving a caste system which determines what jobs you can have and how much money you’re likely to make doing it.

But every time a crown prince is of age to marry, they hold a Selection that women from all over the country, regardless of caste, can enter for a chance to woo and marry him. The whole thing is televised and publicized and very much in the public eye – because of course a futuristic America would do that!

So the only thing that kept this from being a five star read for me is that the writing itself is not quite up to par for me – but it’s a book written for tweens and teens so I think that’s likely the reason. This is almost completely made up for by the fact that the story is really good and the characters are fantastic.

This book sucked me in and refused to let go until I was finished a dizzying two days later. If you know me, you know that that is an absurdly fast time for me to read a book. I literally spent all day Wednesday with the book by my side, reading it any chance I got until I finished it that night. It was that good.

Really, it’s the love story which makes this book compelling for me – give me a good love story and I will follow it until the end typically. Add in a sassy heroine who refuses to just do what society asks of her and really makes an excellent narrator as she is very hyper aware of everything going on around her – and two love interests that are equally compelling for different reasons. I downloaded the sequel to the book and a novella short story featuring the Prince before even finishing book one. It was that good.

How long does it typically take you to read a book?