The Selection - Kiera Cass - Mel's Bookshelf

The Selection (The Selection #1) – Kiera Cass

(1.5 / 5)

Sometimes I consider myself to be quite a YA fan. I’m not even sure what I like about the genre. I guess it depends on the novel. I like the adventure when someone is just growing up and is thrust into a world that they have to learn how to deal with, even though they have limited life experience. It reminds me of growing up I suppose. As I become older, growing into an adult becomes more and more of a memory and part of me yearns for the innocence and naivety of youth. Wow, that was deep. Ok enough of that. Lets cut a long story short: I hate “The Bachelor” on television… I have no idea what possessed me to listen to this audio book and think that I would enjoy it.

America Singer (yes, that’s actually her name) is a teenage girl growing up in a dystopian world, where people are divided into numbers based on class. The upper classes are wealthy, and never have to want for anything. The lower classes are starving, and work hard to stay alive. The prince needs to find himself a wife, so they run the bachelor. Its actually called the “selection” but its the darn bachelor television show but getting around trademarking. A bunch of women must compete for the love of the prince, he must eliminate all but one… Blah blah blah… And of course he is drawn to the beautiful lower class America, because she is “witty” and “stands up to him” and “brave”. But she is already in love with someone who is of a lower class than she is. Oh what? A love triangle in a YA? Nooooo.

I actually didn’t dislike this book too much at the start. I was listening intently, enjoying the story. However the problem was, that the WHOLE BOOK was just the start. I knew that it was a series, what I didn’t realise was that the actual selection GOES ON for the whole series!!! Who does he choose in the end? No idea, there are another TWO books to get through first!!! Stuff that! I’m done. I have no doubt he will pick her in the end and that she will dump the lower class boyfriend for the handsome rich prince (that is not a spoiler, I honestly have no idea!)

Anyway, perhaps the 14 year old me would have enjoyed this a lot more. But it was just way too “oh woe is me, oh I love him, but I also love HIM”. Yes, this will end in heartbreak, which is exactly what my wasted hours listening to this audiobook has turned into.