Thursday, May 2, 2013

Review: The Elite (The Selection #2)



Book: The Elite by Kiera Cass (The Selection #2)
Published: April 23rd 2013 by Harper Teen
My rating: 4/5 Stars
Genre: YA Dystopian Romance

*DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVE NOT COMPLETED THE FIRST BOOK, THE SELECTION* If you would like to read my review for The Selection here.

Goodreads Summary:

"Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending"

So just after finishing this book, I looked at the publication date... I am so sad this book just came out because that means I have to wait a really long time for the last one in this trilogy, The One. I had a few small issues with this book, but all in all the story was great so I did my best to ignore my annoyance for the greater good of the story :) Here are the more specific reasons I enjoyed/got annoyed with this book:

Reasons I enjoyed it:

-I really enjoy the overall concept for this series. If you read my review of The Selection, then you know I fell in love with it. It is a dystopian romance, with more emphasis on the romance than the government. Usually in dystopians the main focus is the government, so I was really excited about this. The second book, The Elite has more about the government in it, but not to the point where I feel like we lost the original story. 

-We got to know a lot of the characters better in this book. In the first one, there were 35 girls, the maids, the royal family, and a bunch of other random people like Aspen and America's family. Too many people! In this book there were only 6 girls and we really got to know the main characters more than before. After reading this book I feel like I know the king and queen so much better. I know which girls I like and who I want to see fall in a puddle of mud on national television. *cough* Celeste *cough*. 

-The other thing I am really happy the author did when writing this, is she didn't leave some crazy huge cliff-hanger that leaves me feeling lost at the end of the book. There is enough suspense that I will definitely buy the last book because I really need to know what happens next, and waiting will be torture, but I don't feel so distressed about not having the book I can't function. I HATE that feeling. 

-There's more action in this book! This is what I felt the first book was lacking. And even though some of it is about the government, not all of it is so I really like it! I definitely feel like the first book was setting up this series, but it was really enjoyable so I am okay with it. And now that its picking up more, I love it even more!

Things that annoyed me:

-The characters. I know, I know.. above I mentioned how happy was I was that I got to get to know them all better. And in doing this, it kind of made me dislike some of them. It also made me love some of them, but this is not the point. I kept having to remind myself that most of them are 17 year olds who have no experience with relationships. (Which is totally cool, I didn't have my first boyfriend until I was 19). But now that I am in my mid-twenties, I think a little differently than them and I had to constantly remind myself. So back to the annoying characters.. I just want to smack them! 

--First, America. Make up your mind! You don't get to choose who you want forever, and you don't get both Aspen and Maxon so pick one! One moment she wants to marry him and the next she wants to go home with Aspen. Get you s*** together and decide already. I was constantly confused on who she loved. Indecisive temper-mental girl. 

--Maxon. If you say you want to marry a girl, don't go slut around with all the others. I understand spending time with them, and trying to pick a back up because America can't make up her mind. But if you already know who you want to marry, theres no reason to make out with all of them. Man whore. I get that the rules are a little different when you are basically dating 6 different girls, but still. UGH. 

--Aspen. GO AWAY. I still can't stand Aspen. He makes America join the Selection "for him," then breaks up with her, then tries to get her back and gets upset when she has a hard time choosing. YOU. BROKE. HER. HEART. Don't try to force her to be with you. And definitely don't do it by talking crap about the other guy. At least play fair. 

Overall: I really did enjoy this book and I can't wait for the final book, The One, to come out! Although I really can't stand the characters sometimes, the story is so great that I can overlook it. I just want America and Maxon to end up together!! :)

Did you read this book? What were your thoughts??

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