#44 [2022/CBR14] The Selection by Kiera Cass

My favorite review I found for The Selection by Kiera Cass called it a "fairy tale for a stupid child." Kind of harsh? Maybe, maybe not. I'd never heard of this series of books until we were playing a book-related game at my wedding shower/book club where we matched up love interests from different books. I obviously did not recognize "America" and "Maxon". My friends informed me that the character names were from The Selection, a new, popular young-adult romance novel and book one in a series. I was told that it was a mix of The Bachelor and The Hunger Games, and they were easy to find in the bookstores because they all have sparkly dresses on the cover.

I figured that I have a high tolerance for mediocre young-adult novels. I'd survived The Twilight series, after all, and my curiosity won out. I put the audiobook on hold at the library. 

The Selection has 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon, with over 14,000 reviews. It's truly, very disappointing that this book is so popular. 

America Singer lives in a dystopian world where there is a rigid caste system. Everyone is born into a number that signifies a certain career. America is a "5" and she is an entertainer. She is in love with a "6" named Aspen who is some kind of server. Fooling around before marriage is strictly illegal and marrying a caste below you very rarely happens because you join the lower caste, with serious disadvantages in housing and food supply.

America is in love with Aspen, so she has no interest in the contest to become the Prince's wife. Apparently it is tradition for the Prince to find his wife from the populace, which totally makes sense, considering how obsessed the country is with their caste system. But, that is how the King found his wife, who is beloved by the people. All girls in the kingdom between 16 and 18 (?) are encouraged to apply, and 35 girls are chosen to go live in the castle for the duration of the contest.

America reluctantly applies, not even dressing up for the photo, but she is chosen [because she is stunningly beautiful] and heads to the castle. Aspen breaks up with her because he knows he can't give her a good life. America finds a couple of nicer girls and a lot of vapid, catty ones. She has no interest in Maxon and doesn't try to get along with him, but she does keep running into him and the two kind of become friends. Every once in awhile the castle is under attack by two possible sets of "rebels"--from the North and the South. There's no explanation of where they come from or what they're fighting for, but the castle is used to such attacks.

There's one girl who is particularly venomous, tearing America's dress when it's too pretty and doing other ridiculous things. She is a bad caricature, and somehow faces no consequences for her actions. I presume this is so she can continue to be an antagonist for America in the later books.

America has three maids that she likes to think she treats better than the other girls, but the maids are all simpering admirers of her and the prince and lack personalities. She doesn't have any kind of real relationship with anyone. 

The tension ratchets up as the Prince starts dismissing girls and Aspen shows up as a castle guard. Apparently he went to soldier school and proved himself well. But now America is caught in a love triangle and doesn't know what to do!

Don't worry, there is no closure in this book. The Prince narrows the contestants down to five. America has made the cut. And that's it. I made it through all the Twilight books out of curiosity, but I'm not curious enough about this series. This one will do it for me.