Genre and Audience: Dystopian Romance Novel for Teens
You’ll like this if you like: Princes and Princesses, Competitions, Romance, and a Feisty Heroine.
Cleanliness: There is one questionable point where Maxon and America are (OBVIOUS SPOILER ALERT) positive they’re going to get married, so they almost… Ahem, do stuff together. But they don’t. Which is good. That’s my only concern, and it is a phenomenal story. Just decide beforehand if it’s something you want to invest your time in 🙂
Hero Type: Beta Male
The setting is dystopian in some sort of new America, called Illéa. When the prince of the country is ready to get married, the Selection is created. Thirty-fix girls are chosen to live at the palace, so the prince can see which one he’s compatible with. Think Hunger Games with tiaras 😉 America, the heroine with gorgeous red hair, is one of the Selected, though she signed up thinking she wasn’t going to be Selected. She was kind of coerced into it by her mother and boyfriend, not because he doesn’t want her, but because he wants to give her a chance at a better life (Aww!). She goes to the palace, intent on avoiding marriage to the prince, because her boy friend’s cute, sweet, and everything she could ever want. Or so she thinks.
This is another one of my favorite books. I personally love the dystopian setting and the competition for the prince’s hand. Kind of backwards, since fighting for the princess’s hand is the norm 😉 I enjoyed the entire series immensely. The romance and tension were just wonderful (sigh).
Have you read the Selection yet? If you were in America’s position, what do you think you would do? Do you typically like stories about royalty? Do you think that a dystopian setting was the best setting for this YA romance?