Kiera Cass

In "The Prince," Maxon reveals there was another girl in his life before America; and in "The Guard," America falls for Aspen Leger, a Six who has risen in the ranks to become a member of the royal guard.

In two novellas, THE PRINCE and THE GUARD, Maxon reveals there was another girl in his life before America, and America falls for Aspen Leger, a Six who has risen in the ranks to become a member of the royal guard. The plots contain mild profanity.

The prince & the guard

Ivy X

Very short read. 
Not that impressive because it was just scenes throughout the Selection series told through Maxon's perspective and Aspen's. Personally I liked Maxon's part more but this book focused a lot on Aspen's perspective toward the later half of the book. 
The book was all over the place and definitely has to be read after you've read the actual series. And even then, it wasn't as great as the other books.

Thais Souza Passos

About Maxon: <33333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333

About Aspen: HOW DARE YOU CALL AMERICA "MY GIRL" "THAT'S MY GIRL" YOU SELFISH BASTARD? and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

About America: Listen girl, first things first. Lesson number 1: how to impress the prince? Lesson number 2: don't ever make it feel like the funniest thing in the world; and Lesson number 3: lose all of your shy and naive personality and go ahead toward the nation and for sure, Maxon's heart <3 YOU CAN DO IT! "I'm not allowed to bet, but if I could, I'd bet on you" GO GIRL!

J Ashlie

Great shorts to give us a little more insight on Maxon & Aspen. I have to say through books 1 & 2 I didn't like Aspen at all! But, book 2.5 the Guard made me like him so much more!

Reyna Wren

You know, I really want to hate this entirely, but I can't. Fans of the series will love it, and it's a nice bridge between The Elite and The One (which I have yet to read).
However, I did only keep reading for the credit in my reading challenge.

Okay, quick overview of my thoughts during each section:


  The Prince:

- Maxon is kind of babyish and annoying.
- Would you not think that his abuse would have some sort of effect on his thought process? Maybe, like, wanting to do better for the country and oust his father, or have some sort of mixture of fear and resentment?
- Why is he only thinking about girls when he's going to be running the country soon?


  The Guard:

- Aspen is stupid and horrible.
- If he really loves her, why isn't he letting her have a better life in the palace, rather than trying to get her to love him back?
- "I don't think you have it in you to be a Princess," WOW THANKS ASPEN THAT'S SO ENCOURAGING YOU'RE SUCH A GOOD BOYFRIEND. Also, he was saying about how he didn't think she could be calculating like they are, but why would she need to be? Couldn't she just be a nice, good queen?
- "Needing help doesn't make me weak!" GOOD JOB ASPEN, YOU JUST LEARNED TODAY'S LESSON, NOW CLASS, WHO CAN TELL ME WHAT 2 + 2 IS? Seriously though, this whole novella just really feels like the author trying to backtrack and make Aspen a good guy.
- This would be so much more interesting if he DID cheat on her, and never really loved her, and came to the palace to try and get with her for his own advancement OR he was actually with the rebels.


  The One:

- HOW CAN HE EVEN BE STILL CONSIDERING HER AFTER SHE BROKE HIS TRUST LIKE THAT?
- Cute, but also kind of boring and typical.
- Yep, I still hate America.


  Q&A:

- I am bored.
- Why am I even reading this.
- It's nice that she acknowledged the online fan community.
- This would be so much more interesting if she took, like, questions from Twitter or Facebook.


  FAMILY TREES

I didn't even read all of this one. But what I did read was kinda boring and one dimensional. 


  Playlists

Interesting, but only if there was an online playlist to actually listen to. As it was, I skimmed through this section.

Overall, this just felt like I was looking through her writing notes and exercises from when she was writing the first two books, but that's not the kind of thing you're really supposed to see in a novel. Like, why do we have pages of irrelevant 3rd-person family backstory, instead of good characterization within the novel which it explained this for us with BACKSTORIES????

Final note: WHY IS EVERYONE FOCUSING ON STUPID LOVE TRIANGLES WHEN THEY ARE LITERALLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A WAR. WHY.

Kathryn 

Tiffany Robinson

I liked reading these short stories from Maxon's and Aspen's POV to see what was going on in their minds and liked to hear a different voice other then Americas. A good quick read.

Becca Leigh

Cute ‘selection’ of stories (lol see what I did there??) I liked being able to see things from the other character’s points of views. I do wish that there were more scenes included that weren’t a part of the original trilogy.

Mia Jones

Pretty good and it's nice to get a different look on the story from another perspective. Still not particularly fond of Aspen and preferred the Maxxon story of the two, but not bad overall.

The prince & the guard

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