Kiera Cass

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals...

The Selection (The Selection, Book 1)

"Sixteen-year-old America Singer is living in the caste-divided nation of Illea, which formed after the war that destroyed the United States. America is chosen to compete in the Selection--a contest to see which girl can win the heart of Illea's prince--but all she really wants is a chance for a future with her secret love, Aspen, who is a caste below her"--

The Selection

Luna

»Nein, weder für dich noch für ihn. Ich entscheide mich für mich selbst.«

»America, meine Liebe, ich hoffe, Sie finden in diesem Käfig etwas, wofür es sich zu kämpfen lohnt.«

Franzi

Maxon looked like he was about to do a back flip. There was a similar feeling in my chest. 

Emmm :p

 ‘something about the tentativeness of it made me feel beautiful. Without a word, I could understand how excited he was to have this moment, but then afraid at the same time deeper than any of that, I sensed that he adored me. So this is what it felt like to be a lady.’

‘if you don’t want me to be in love with you, you’re going to have to stop looking so lovely’

Blub

RacquelElizabeth

I stepped up to him and rubbed my hand across his forehead.

"I'm erasing that memory. I think we can do better"

La selección

Ariella

“He reached up and tugged his ear. And I did the same.”

“I hope you find someone you can't live without.I really do. And I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to try and live without them.”

bee 

“america, my dear, i hope you find something in this cage worth fighting for” 

Brooke Barnett

Chiara Tallir

Cody Nicole

Fall in love—from the very beginning. Discover the first book in the captivating, #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series. Prepare to be swept into a world of breathless fairy-tale romance, swoonworthy characters, glittering gowns, and fierce intrigue perfect for readers who loved Divergent, Delirium, or The Wrath & the Dawn. For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape a rigid caste system, live in a palace, and compete for the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her, and competing for a crown she doesn’t want. Then America meets Prince Maxon—and realizes that the life she’s always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined. Don’t miss The Betrothed, a glittering royal romance sure to captivate Kiera Cass’s legion of loyal readers and lovers of courtly intrigue alike!

Kimmy Hobden

Elles sont trente-cinq jeunes filles : la "Sélection" s'annonce comme l'opportunité de leur vie. L'unique chance pour elles de troquer un destin misérable contre un monde de paillettes. L'unique occasion d'habiter dans un palais et de conquérir le coeur du prince Maxon, l'héritier du trône. Mais pour America Singer, cette sélection relève plutôt du cauchemar. Cela signifie renoncer à son amour interdit avec Aspen, un soldat de la caste inférieure. Quitter sa famille. Entrer dans une compétition sans merci. Vivre jour et nuit sous l'oeil des caméras... Puis America rencontre le Prince. Et tous les plans qu'elle avait échafaudés s'en trouvent bouleversés...

La Sélection

Sarah-Anne Goyette

For 35 girls, the Selection is a dream come true. The chance to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To live in a castle and compete to win the heart of gorgeous Prince Maxon. The first in a trilogy, "The Selection" is now the basis of a new series on the CW.

Catalina 

No matter how many years has passed. This story has a very special place in my heart and would always make me feel as if it was the first time reading it.

𝒫

taylor

I’m so mad I slept on this series. Love this. Reading it for my Lit Honors Paper. Reading the rest of the series beyond the assignment 

Taylor Nuzzolo

Sarah

This book was really good, it gave a warm feeling and kinda reminded me of the hunger games but without the violence and sad stuff, it was fun to see the process of The Selection and what craziness takes place inside the palace, felt like I was one of the girls in the room rooting for America.

Linara K.S

this is such a guilty pleasure read
i can't help but read these books every year

(2.5) Dude, Maxon was so boring idk how the main character found him interesting enough. Maybe will still read because the books aren't that long.

Anna 

Selekce je knižní série, kterou zná snad úplně každý. Je to jeden z těch bohů Young Adult literatury, kterého musí mít přečteného snad úplně všichni. Já jsem až donedávna byla výjimkou, a taky jsem chvílemi přemýšlela, jestli mi nějaká přihlouplá romantická kniha s princeznama stojí za můj čas. Ale stejně jsem si Selekci nakonec přečetla. A rozhodně jsem neudělala chybu. První díl série mě vytáhl do našeho světa po čtvrté světové válce, a já, jelikož jsem očekávala fantasy, jsem byla zmatená. Ale nenechala jsem se odradit. Čím víc jsem se do knihy začítávala, tím víc jsem si začala uvědomovat, že jsem našla svou Guilty pleasure. Kniha mi přišla zábavná, postavy se v ní chovaly opravdově a sama bych řekla, že v jejich situaci bych přemýšlela dost podobně, a ukázalo se, že celé to palácové prostředí se mi vážně líbilo. Takže nakonec jsem ráda, že jsem nad Selekcí nezlomila hůl, a odhodlaně se do ní pustila. 
✩
Selekci dávám 5*/5*, protože byla vtipná, a mně, jakožto náctiletou dívku, zahřála u srdíčka. A přece jen, každý člověk občas prostě potřebuje nějakou tu Trashy romantickou YA.

3.25*

Although the plot was amazing, the characters are... unlikeable? I have never been conflicted on rating books until this one. The main character just screams 'I am not like other girls' and I am supposed to like this kind of attitude but I don't know what to feel on this one. I also didn't like their choices. And the love triangle, god. If I have known that this book has love triangle, I would not have read this one. 

But I still really enjoyed reading this one. There are other elements of the book that I really liked. Overall, it was okay to me.

But I really hope their choices would be better on the next books.

Ellie M.

** spoiler alert **
           It did not give what I expected it to give. The world-building was simple and easy to understand yet for most of the book I was bored. America and Maxon did have chemistry and I loved their banter and their hidden way of communication by tugging on their ear. I can see them being a wholesome couple in the future. 

***
🚨 
- Aspen is a red flag. Always gaslighting and guilt-tripping America to do what he wants and get his way through things. 
- the love triangle in the story is so annoying. Aspen is clearly not worth all the trouble of sneaking around at night. 

***

Note: If I was a bit younger, say 14 or 15, I would've loved this book. I'm about 5 years late in delving into this series and I don't know if I'll finish it. I can also see Maxon Schreave as the prince from Bridgerton. IDK if that's weird or whatever.

I like this book. It's an easy read, the commoner-royalty trope and plot is good definitely team maxon, I'll see what is there on the next part 😋

Molly M

ok well. it’s safe to say i will not be picking up the sequel unless my drain gets clogged this bad again

Monicap

Review circa 2017: 3 stars
On maturation and rereading, this book loses not only much of it’s appeal, but also its positions on my favorites shelf and a star.
The only reason this book still has three stars is because it’s fun and enjoyable, despite all its flaws. 
The books begins on a bad foot with America’s initial ‘refusal of the call’ going largely unexplained. The reader is given to understand that America has some of philosophical disagreement with the Selection, but is never told exactly what. Instead, all the reader sees is that America doesn’t want to sign up because a) she’s already in love so b) it doesn’t matter anyway. However, the arguments in favor of the Selection offered by her mother and Aspen stand, so when she does sign up for the Selection, the reader is left wonder why she didn’t just do that in the first place.
This lack of depth is conspicuous, and continues throughout the entire novel: Aspen’s ‘love’ for America is baseless, as his break-up with her; it feels like scaffolding in order to put America in a position to fall in love with Maxon, and then give her a reason to feel conflicted about. The endless descriptions of dresses are as shallow as they numerous, and much of the dialogue is wooden, to boot. 
Many of the most interesting characters (Ashley, Bariel, Celeste) are squandered. I still have misgivings about America’s name, though not quite so dramatically as I did a couple years ago. 
Overall, I feel Cass’s ideas outmatched her writing ability. She wanted to tell this story, a market-driven dystopia with a twist (monarchies? In the future? WHAAT?) yet she lacked the depth to tell the story well. 

Review circa 2012: 4 stars
OMG, The Hunger Games and Princess Academy had a love child and nobody even told me about it!
No seriously, there were some pretty obvious elements of the Princess Academy in this book, but I also got some HG vibes. Especially toward the middle-beginning, when she first arrived at the palace. The greeting people, the going back to beauty base zero, all that stuff reminded me of similar stuff from HG. The ‘crowd favorites’ were talked about. Yeah. There’s some definite HG here. except, of course, you don’t really have to worry about dying.
…
Or do you?
I’ll let you dwell on that. 
Yeah, so. 
Okay, let’s talk about her name. Before I read this book, (actually, it was, like, three months ago) I read some reviews about this book and I noticed that a lot of people were annoyed with her last name being ‘Singer’. Because, hey, she sang, and people who sing can’t have Singer as their last name, cuz that’s too cliché. But it makes sense. if they were all sorted into these castes because of what their ancestors did, and America’s family was sorted into the Artisan/musician caste, and it kind of makes sense that artisans/musicians would have a last name like Singer.
So, no, her last name didn’t annoy me. Her first name, however… I have mixed feelings about.
I think she was named America in order to highlight some point. As in, hey, I just wrote this book where the U.S. got taken over by China cuz we couldn’t pay them back all we owe them, and when we revolted against china, we didn’t keep the name America cuz that name brought into a mind a country that basically crumbled when worse came to worst, and now, just to make sure I’ve hit the nail on the head, the main character’s name is America! 
That’s what I think, anyway.
But, all that aside, I still have general mixed feelings about the name America. 
See, I have this baby doll. I’ve had him since I was really little, like, younger than three. At the time when I got him (or when I named him. Those might have been two separate times and occurrences, but I honestly don’t remember) I was so happy to be alive, and so proud that I lived in this country, I named him America.
and then High School happened and I started hating life and all that junk and I think politics are annoying and stuff. so.
Suffice to say, mixed feelings about the name America.
Now, the main point of this book that wasn’t the ANTM-like part was the rebels. They attack. Ooh, scary. What are they after? Such and such.
This was interesting. I enjoyed it. probably more so because I was reading it this afternoon in place of math HW, which I actually have completed half of and have five days to finish before it’s due, so I think I’m good on that front (in case dad is reading this).
Will I read the next one? Most definitely. If only to find out who she chooses (I’m pulling for Maxon. Aspen is a jerkface) and to find out who Maxon chooses (most definitely America, unless something drastic happens) and to find out what he rebels are after, cuz that has me guessing, too.

Thirty-five beautiful girls. Thirty-five beautiful rivals! It's the chance of a lifetime and 17-year-old America Singer should feel lucky. She has been chosen for The Selection, a reality TV lottery in which the special few compete for gorgeous Prince Maxon's love. Swept up in a world of elaborate gowns, glittering jewels and decadent feasts, America is living a new and glamorous life. And the prince takes a special interest in her, much to the outrage of the others. Rivalry within The Selection is fierce and not all of the girls are prepared to play by the rules. But what they don't know is that America has a secret -- one which could throw the whole competition and change her life forever.

zatul 

i wrote about this book and sultana's dream for my paper regarding women in utopias and dystopias being the centrepiece in different circumstances

It wasn't absolutely horrible. Just VERY predictable, and I also kind of hate America. She is really annoying and has main-character syndrome. (I know she is the main character but she just acts like that, y'know?) I never felt much of a connection to Aspen, so I'm not rooting for him at all. Every time she goes back to him (every other chapter), I just honestly skip it I don't care about him at all. I think this is kind of a spoiler so that's why I put it on :) This also goes as my review for the second book. 

Payton Washer

Rahmat Junaid

Simply amazing..........................OMG.

gülefşan 

people were telling me that this book is gonna be like hunger games... umm ok.

Isabella 

It’s an easy read, and it was okay, I guess. I just didn’t like it. I wanted to DNF this book, but I just continued it because it was a fast and easy read. The plot wasn’t strong, the characters aren’t that charming or interesting; they lack depth, and the writing was not my style. It lacked tension and I guess my expectations were just high, but I really didn’t like it. I think if I read this at a younger age, I might have liked or even loved it, but after reading better books, it’s hard to make myself like it. For a dystopian book, it really didn’t explain much about the society which I would have loved to see. I felt like it was all dialogues which I wasn’t a fan of, kinda got boring. The whole idea was interesting, but I guess the execution was lacking. It isn’t a bad book, and I get why people like it, but I guess it just wasn’t for me. I, most probably, won’t read the following books. The TV show might be better though, so here’s to hoping.

Danielle Annika

im not kidding when i say this book got me screaming for about an hour 

someone get me a maxon pls im deprived of romance and im living vicariously through books :'))

Ena Kalkan

the synopsis caught my eye and i generally think i’m usually a sucker for these kind of stories but this one feels sort of like it falls flat or just doesn’t really hit the mark. there’s a lot going on and it seems like rushed writing. the romance in the book feels extremely impractical as well.

Elizabeth Pinder

Risa

at first, this book is quite boring. but when you sink deeper to the page, you will found some interesting things (well, i did). 

honestly i didn't enjoy this book a bit. then, there's maxon, and i couldn't resist.

Mel 

a reread! pretty good for preteens, but when older it's pretty predictable and the protagonist is quite pick me. it's alright for casual reading tho

chloe

I've read this book series once ten years ago and I still remember crying because I was so annoyed by the characters. 

The Selection (The Selection, Book 1)

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