23) The Selection-Kiera Kass

For the young country of Illea, the Selection comes around once in a generation. 35 girls are selected from castes around the country for the hope of becoming the next princess and future queen of their country. America Singer never found any of that appealing. However, her mother was adamant that she enter. But how could she possibly consider entering when she loved someone else? Doesn't she feel like that would be cheating? Her mind was made up: she would not be entering.

But the man of her dreams insists that she enters. Aspen tells her that he would feel awful knowing that he had stopped her from having the life she deserved and asks her to please enter. Figuring that she wouldn't get picked, she does as he asks and enters. The day she takes in her form, she sees Aspen's mother and sisters. They tell her that Aspen has been secretly saving money to marry a mystery girl. Knowing that it was her, America's heart warms and when her photo is taken for the Selection, she is radiant. Weeks later, she learns that radiant photo has made her one of the 35 chosen girls and she was heading to the palace to compete for the affection of Prince Maxon.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was really well paced and it had me giggling like a little girl because obviously it was a love story. Prince Maxon is completely the prince that you want to fall in love with. The story kept me interested and when I realized how many pages I had left, I said, "But this won't be resolved! No!" I can definitely see this book being a hit among girls and I would totally recommend it.

However, I cannot give it full marks. While I enjoyed it, there were so many parts where I said, "Wait, I thought I was reading something else. Why do I feel like Katniss is speaking?" There were a lot of moments where you could confuse the two. There's a man exactly like Caesar Flickerman, America loves the food in the palace and often comments on it just like Katniss does, the selection sort of feels like a less sadistic reaping. There were just those moments that sort of made me shake my head. Also, I think people write dystopias simply to create bizarre names.

It will be interesting to see how the CW turns this into a TV show later this year. I'd also be lying if I said I wasn't really looking forward to the sequel next year.