The Selection by Kiera Cass Reviewed by Paige Espinosa

     America has her life planned out already. She knows her musical talent will enable her to work and she's even found the perfect boy to settle down and have a family with. That is, she thinks she has. Aspen seems perfect but he is a caste below America, doomed to even worse poverty than she faces as a Five. When The Selection is announced and girls from every caste have the opportunity to marry the prince and become Ones, Aspen makes America enter. She never would have guessed she actually would have been picked. From there, she must decide if the life she had already chosen for herself is still what she wants or if maybe she could want something else.
     I gave this book three and a half stars because even though it wasn't very original, it was a quick, easy read that I thoroughly enjoyed! I found myself laughing out loud and moved close to tears at the same time at various parts of this book. Like a mix of The Hunger Games and The Bachelor with a similar plot to every other YA teen romance novel on book shelves around the country, I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did. Even though the plot twists were so obvious I saw them coming from the first chapter (literally), Cass's writing kept me engaged and I even felt a connection to America while reading. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something to read just to pass time or take a break from school but I doubt this is a book that could be reread and enjoyed every time as much as it was the first.