Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection, and to win Prince Maxon’s heart. That doesn’t change in this book…but somehow, it totally worked this time, maybe because the stakes were higher, and I really felt the insanity of America and Maxon’s circumstances.With even more glamour, intrigue, and swoon-worthy romance, this sparkling sequel to The Selection will captivate readers who loved Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, or Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn. In my review of The Elite, I mentioned that I found America a little too whiny and dramatic. I don’t want to give anything else away about that, but I promise, you guys will love that part of the book. It was fantastic seeing them learn to grow together. There are only four girls left and yes, they’re in competition, but they soon realize that they can also be friends. I will give a very minor spoiler and say that one of the best and most unexpected parts of the book for me was how the relationships between the girls deepen. Some of them were a little contrived, and I suspected that they would happen, but what I liked was that none of those changes felt wrong for the characters and they were explained pretty fully. A couple of characters got a bit of a turn-around. Within those details, there were actually a decent number of surprises for me. Even though I knew what was going to happen, it was the little details that sucked me in. But this is definitely a book where the journey means more than the destination. Add up all of the pieces of what Cass has written before, and you kind of know where things are going to go.

I know there are a ton of you out there who were like me, desperately awaiting this book, and some of you haven’t read it yet, so this will be a spoiler-free review and one that really focuses on my own reading experience.įirst of all, I’ll say that for me, most of the book was quite predictable. And let me tell you, it delivers on pretty much everything you want from it.

I carved out an entire night (barely spoke to my husband) just to read it in one go. I ate up the first two books like candy, and those of you who have read it know just how addicting this series is. It is not an exaggeration to say that The One was my most anticipated book of the year. 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. When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown–or to Prince Maxon’s heart. The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

The reign kiera cass