The Elite by Kiera Cass
(Format used for this read: Audiobook)
This is Book #2 in the Selection series…I TOTALLY enjoyed the first book and if you wanna know what I thought about it you can click here:
https://brainglitterwithdani.com/the-selection/
I was pretty into the story with book #1 …and was hoping to feel the same as the royal “Bachelor”/Hunger Games saga continued in Book #2…
But YALLLLLLLLL……uggghhhh…….this book IRRITATED ME SO MUCH.
And I DO NOT NEED MORE IRRITATION IN MY WORLD RIGHT NOW.
Maybe my perspective is a teensy bit skewwed because I’ve been doing virtual school while quarantined for two months with my two boys….my patience for any type of whining /complaining shenanigans is operating in the negative levels.
So check it…this review is probably gonna be hella shorter than usual because I was NOT as much of a fan with round 2.
Here is the official summary:
“Now with the group narrowed down to the six Elite, the competition to win Prince Maxon’s heart is fiercer than ever—and America is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies.
Is it with Maxon who could make her life a fairy tale?
Or with her first love, Aspen?
America is desperate for more time. But the rest of the Elite know exactly what they want–and America’s chance to choose is about to slip away.”
From the get go with this book, I was OVER America’s wishy washy heart.
Okay…I get it…I know she is young and a teenager and trying to figure out true love for the first time….not to mention the fact that she is now living in a castle and competing with other girls….
Not an easy situation to be able to make rational, thought out, life altering SERIOUS decisions.
BUT GEEEEEZZZZZZZZ.
The back and forth, to and fro she does THE WHOLE EVER LOVIN’ BOOK is plainly exhausting, yall.
I mean…GAAAAHHHHH…to have two guys falling all over you willing to do anything to be with you….MUST BE SO HARD.š
(Sorry…my cynical button is on super overdrive right now too…soooooo this probably will affect the vibe of this review….and in case you’re wondering, yes I am absolutely a LOVELY PERSON to be riding this pandemic out with š¤£)
And I mean…I felt so bad for the two guys she is basically toying with.
One second she is so in love with one and her heart is made up and nothing can get in the way….
and the VERY NEXT HOUR she is with the other one and COMPLETELY flips the script and it’s he who is now her soulmate.
Really she acts quite selfish in regards to their affections and takes advantage of their understanding and patience, if you ask me.
I mean “WTF AMERICA?!?” was a literal thought on repeat in my head.
There was enough happening in the story around all her fickle admiration that it kept my attention and kept me invested in the story…..I did enjoy her learning about the “real” history of Ilia (she was SHOCKED that they had been taught a false narrative their whole lives of what REALLY happened in their country’s founding and creation…hmmmm, sound familiar???) and seeing her trying to find ways to use her voice against various forms of injustice.
BUT THE DANG BACK AND FORTH LOVE DRAMA YALL.
I just wanted to grab her shoulders and say “Figure out who YOU ARE girlfriend…THEN figure out ‘who you want’…but for the love, QUIT TORTURING THE POOR DUDES!”
In addition to the love drama mess, I did think there was also a lot of useless, unnecessary “filler” type of things going on in the story too…just things to fill pointlessly fill pages.
And the end of the book is just kinda…weird…Prince Maxon goes into this whole explanation of his recent behavior that is surprising and unexpected…but seems to come out of nowhere and doesn’t really fit with everything that happened previously.
I wasn’t really a fan of this one if you haven’t been able to tell by now.
I do plan to read the third because a part of me just HAS to know how to all ends…and since I enjoyed the first one so much I’m holding on that there is a shred of hope available for a salvageable storyline.
I’ll keep yall posted after I finish it to let yall know if you should invest in this series at all…because if #3 is a bomb….well…this may be a “one and done” kinda series.
Stay tuned, friends…