Compelling first in the series title about a dystopian future. Echoes of many YA favourite such as Hunger Games / Princess Diaries make this a firm favourite in our school library. Once someone discovers The Selection, they immediately come back and borrow as many as the rest of the series is on the shelf! Very readable, easy to digest, plenty of emotional drama and end of chapter dilemmas keep you reading just one more page. Great as an intro to more crazy dystopias in the genre. Perfect for romance fans.

It was an enjoyable and quick read but it was nothing special. It was a fairly typical dystopia,with a lot of the usual tropes

I thought this was okay. This is a fun and quick read but i have read better and ya stories that feel more relevant and important to readers. When compared this is just fluff as it is not as dark or as gritty as it's contemporaries.

This was not really the kind of book I like I didn,t even get to chapter one

An easy fun read and a funny take on a YA concept that I thoroughly enjoyed

The writing is easy to read and the plot is kind of predictable but the book is enjoyable to read on holiday or something

I will definitely read the other books in the series eventually

So I was worried that I wasn't going to like this book because it has a slight fantasy element to it but I was really wrong about that because the setting for this book has a slightly fantastical note to it, in that it is set in the future, but everything else is totally recognisable and so I often forgot that this was set within the royal household in the future and not just the royal household now. I think the thing that stops it being unreal is that I don't know what it would be like living inside a palace anyway and so it was all cool. This is the book in the series where we really get to know the characters and I was intrigued to meet them all. We don't find out everything about all of these characters but we really get to know the main characters, Maxon and America. We also get to find out about The Selection itself, which it basically a reality TV show to find a wife for the prince, a show which I would so watch! I found this book slightly slower than the rest in the series because of the all the information, but it was in no way an info dump and I still really enjoyed this book!

If you enjoy match maker television shows you’re going to enjoy this book. Firstly the book’s cover is absolutely stunning. As you’re probably aware by now I am OBSESSED with book covers, and I judge the book solely on them before I even pick something up of the shelf. I love that the focus is on one girl but there are fragments of her behind, and the blue is just beautiful. I have to admit that because this book got so much hype I was trying to ignore it completely. However, when I was searching for my next holiday book through NetGalley I saw this book, the cover drew me in and the blurb made me need to know what was going to happen. So I took my chances with it and requested a copy. Thankfully Harper Collins liked me and now I have purchased the entire series, keep an eye out for more reviews.

Overall I was incredibly surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. Looking around I can see many people who didn’t have the same experience I did while reading the book, but when I got to the end there was nothing my heart wanted more than to hug America. The conflict she must’ve felt between being torn away from a forbidden love to then be competing for a prince’s heart must’ve been awful. What I loved is that Kiera makes you feel those emotions too. As soon as I finished this I went out a bought the rest of the series so you know I LOVED IT.

This book is not the usual genre I would pick up, as a sucker for fantasy and magic but there was something in this book that truly captured me and gave me a great reader experience. The characters were absolutely wonderful. America Singer is introduced wonderfully, she’s got this forbidden romance with the boy next door who’s a lower caste than she is, and she want’s nothing more than to marry him. Until her mother, and the boy in question, have other plans for her and convince her to enter into Prince Maxon’s Selection. She’s so reluctant at first and it really brings out her character through the whole process.

As soon as America met Marlee I knew they were going to be the best of friends. Their meeting was brilliant and bonding over how nervous you are is instant best friend status. This grows through the book and the selection. Throughout the book I always had this notion that as America was the main character she’d be the one to win the Selection. However, while Maxon’s first meeting with America is so bittersweet, this first meeting definitely makes you think that both of them have no idea what they are doing in this situation.

There are just as many shocking moments, as there are emotional and this book definitely turned my mind from the usual fantasy reads that I grab. I’m super pleased this book forced its way into my heart (and even inspired some elements of my own stories) and made me love a different genre. I would definitely recommend it and it gets 5/5 stars!