The Elite (The Selection #2)
By Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Dystonian 
Recommended Ages: 17+

The Selection began with thirty-five girls.
Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it with Maxon, who could make her life a fairy tale? Or with her first love, Aspen?

America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want—and America’s chance to choose is about to slip away.

The Gist:

An engaging sequel to book one that gives you more of that romantic tension you loved in the first book. With the rebel attacks increasing, the threats banging on the door of the castle are growing louder and being in the Selection is now dangerous.  But that doesn’t stop the teenage angst of falling in love. All I can say is I couldn’t stop once I started. That was true for this whole series, and for me, that’s always the number one sign of a good book.

What I Liked:

You will never be able to give me enough America and Maxon scenes.  I devour the whole “I like you and want to kiss you desparately but I’m too scared to” thing.  It was encouraging to see America come more into her own in this book and get the courage to stand up for what she believes in. It was a pleasure reading about their intimate moments and seeing them grow closer together.

This book made me fall in love with Maxon. The way he started doing what he thought was right, despite the consequences he might incur from his father, was swoon-worthy. And we really start to appreciate the pressures he’s under in this book, which made him way more adult than the ignorant pushover he came across as sometimes in book one.

What I Didn’t Like:

The whole America trying to figure out who she loves thing got old fast. Mainly because it was obvious that she was more into Maxon than Aspen, so it felt too teenage over-dramatic for her to agonize over who to choose. And I did get a little frustrated with America. I get that she’s supposed to be a young woman in love and they can be annoying sometimes, but it felt like she went too far with the annoying. She was so selfish a lot and it just became a turn off at some point.

I’m still failing to see the important of the rebels beyond adding vauge tension to the story.  I feel like their concerns aren’t super addressed and the interactions with them are few. We do get to meet some of the North rebels, but they’re the semi-peaceful ones. I think it would have been nice to have the violent ones seen more so the threat felt more real and imminent.

LunasLuckyRating: 4.5/5 Lunas