The Selection (#1) - Kiera Cass [Review]

Book: The Selection (#1)

Author: Kiera Cass

Published: 24th April 2012

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 336
Source: eARC from the Publisher via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5 stars

Going into this book, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Would I love it? Would I enjoy the story, the characters? Well, honestly, I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I actually did. The story left me overwhelmingly surprised, and excited to read the next installment.

The story follows America Singer (what a stellar name), a lowly 'five' girl from a family of artists and musicians. She finds her life taking an unexpected turn when she is chosen to be one of the girls in 'The Selection', which is essentially a dating contest to find the Prince's bride. It's like an amalgamation of Blind Date and Take Me Out, if you've ever seen those shows.

The crucial thing, for me, was that I found it easy to connect with America and really understand her situation. She's overwhelmed, anxious, confused, and trying to make sense of it all. She's no push over either, which I loved. She knows how to give some sass, and I enjoyed her light-hearted banter with her fellow chosen girls, and the Prince. Speaking of, I enjoyed his character, however there's definitely more there to explore in terms of his background, and I'm hoping that this will be illuminated a little more in the sequential book.

Other characters I enjoyed were Marlee, Kriss, and Lucy. I found myself detesting Aspen (I'm not sure if that was the point?), so I'm really eager to see how his story-line progresses, hopefully resulting in him becoming slightly less pursuant and creepy. 

The plot was reasonably paced, and I was definitely not bored; I blazed through this book in a few hours. There was a good flow to the story-line and I liked that there is a lot to build on for the next book. The story is light, with some dark and mysterious undertones, and again, I'm hoping these are expanded on in the next book.

Overall, this was a wholly solid and enjoyable read, and I shall definitely be picking up the sequel to see what happens next!