The Crown - Kiera Cass

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Genre: Contemporary
Pages: 279 pages
Goodreads

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review. This in no way influenced my opinion of the book. 

It's been a while, but I'm back! If you follow my Youtube channel, you'll see that I have still been reviewing the Bailey's Women's Fiction prize, which has been amazing so far - and is almost ending!

However, amongst all those literary books, I craved some YA and I was ecstatic when I was approved for The Crown on Netgalley. Because, in case you missed it, The Selection series is my guilty pleasure. While I see everything that is problematic with it, and the author and agent, I still can't keep away. I don't want to focus too much on the drama, but more on the story.

First of all, if you don't like clichés, don't read this series. The Crown is the fifth, and final, instalment in the series. While books 1 to 3 focused on Prince Maxon's Bachelor journey to find his wife (and I'm sure there are some prologues and short stories books too, but I never really read those), book 4 and 5 focus on Maxon and the lucky winner's daughter Eadlyn bachelorette journey - and The Crown was the winner of the cliché competition.

In this dystopian world, the royal family likes to pawn off their own children by featuring them in a bachelor-like match making show where random citizens are chosen to participate and in the end there is a wedding that keeps the whole population quiet. The Crown focuses on Eadlyn's decision who to get married to and if she wants to marry at all.

In the Heir, book 4, I already didn't really like Eadlyn. While she laments constantly how everyone sees her as cold, mean and rude to everyone, she actually doesn't really do anything to prove people wrong. She is cold, mean and rude to her family and suitors. While in this novel, she does some growing up, mostly with her way nicer attitude to her family, she's still those things.

SPOILER PARAGRAPH: Not to ruin the ending completely, but towards the end, she decides to just pick someone to get married with because it will save her crown. Even though she doesn't love any of the guys left. And is pretty sure she never will. She almost subjects these perfectly nice guys to a life of misery. Though she sees her mistake, it takes her a remarkably long time for an intelligent woman.

And while there's a certain attempt at empowering women in this book, Eadlyn's final 'I'm going to stand for something' moment falls remarkably flat in the main scheme of things. There's also a massive threat looming throughout the book, however it is fixed in one line in a way that confused me. If it was so easy, why did it take 300 pages?

So why do I still love these books? Because they're easy. It's like that cheesy Backstreet Boys song (everyone has one; mine is I Want It That Way) that you shouldn't be singing if you're older than 15. But you do. And you probably always will. There's SO much wrong with The Crown, but the predictably of who will marry who, the easy to read style and the strategically placed plot twists, as on queue as in a soap opera, makes this irresistible to me.

If you're heading to the beach this summer, you want this book. You don't need to think; you can just gush and ship couples and enjoy the book version of a Lifetime movie. However, because of all its flaws, I can't give it five stars. Though it is enjoyable. I can't wait to read a novel that is as easy and enjoyable as The Crown series, but with way less problematic elements. 

The Heir - Kiera Cass

I was late on The Selection train. I made a post with reason to read/not read the books, but I never really reviewed them, because everyone had seem to done that already. And then The Heir came out and suddenly I have the opportunity to get down all my thoughts about it. Yes.

Plot

Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

Review

The Selection books were always compared to "the bachelor meets the Hunger Games" and clearly this holds up for The Heir too. Instead of following a girl entering the selection, we follow the girl at the head of the game. Is this original? Not really. Does it make things predictable? Yes. Does this mean it is a wonderful book? Yes. 

I really didn't like Eadlyn - I thought she was condescending, rude and extremely cocky. She does make some progress throughout the book, but it all felt rather forced. However, when comparing her to America, it was a breath of fresh air (she isn't likeable, but not as annoying as America). I also didn't like how much America and Maxon seemed to have changed. It is 20 years later, but that's no reason for them to have lots all the characteristics they had as teenagers.

The guys who enter the selection are all flat characters that portray just the right characteristics Eadlyn needs to push forward her own character development. I really didn't bond with any one of them and though I can make a pretty good guess about who will win, I don't really care about it. They all seem boring and uninteresting.

However, and this might sound surprising after everything I just said, I really enjoyed The Heir. Just like you sometimes want to watch the bachelor, you also sometimes want to read books like this. From the very first pages, you can already make a pretty good guess who will win the games and that makes the book so wonderful - it's like a hot cup of tea on a rainy day. It just makes you feel warm and fuzzy to be able to predict what will happen and to know that you won't be taken on an emotional rollercoaster. Kiera Cass' writing didn't stick with me, but it does a great job portraying the story in a way that works. Every chapter has a mini cliffhanger at the end so you will keep reading. And reading. I guess guilty-pleasures aren't just limited to movies.

Selection series - 5 reasons to read or not read!

There are certain series that seem to be YA must-reads and that everyone in the YA community has read and reviewed. But then a new girl comes in, one who didn't realise that YA was a thing until last September. I'm that girl. I saw all these reviews about all these series that everyone read and I felt the need to read them too. However, I discovered that just because everyone reads something, it doesn't mean it's right for you.

So hence a new kinda post: 5 reasons you should and 5 reasons you shouldn't read some of the most well known YA series. If you're new to the community, then first of all: HIII!! and second of all: I hope this helps you. I know I would have loved a post like this so I could objectively decide if I wanted to read these books. I'm not passing judgment on these series and won't say if I enjoyed them (though you're always free to ask). These series could be a great read if they're your kind of book - I'm just here to help you decide if they are.

Today I'm discussing The Selection by Kiera Cass. (I excluded The Heir, because even though it's officially part of the series, it deals with (mostly) different characters and is kinda a serie on its own in my opinion)

5 reasons to read

1. It's the perfect feel good book

Life sucks. We have work, school, tons of boring forms we have to read. Some days, you just want to crawl into bed and read a book that you will enjoy without it taking any effort to understand. That's The Selection series for you. It's easy, you breeze through them and there's enough fluff to make you feel wonderful whatever kind of day you have.

2. You like The Bachelor - without all the really creepy contestants? Here's a series that's basically one long episode.

Look, I can pretend I'm all high class and only like "important entertainment", but I love The Bachelor. I hate that it's so cliché and fake and brings together some of the worst people in the world, but I love watching it. It's addictive and you can't help but get involved in the romance aspect of it all. Same with The Selection. You'll cringe at points, you'll encounter incredible clichés, but you'll be too invested to stop reading. All you want to know is: will America get the prince?

3. There's not one boring page.

Relating to that previous point - you won't be bored. You might get annoyed or frustrated, but so much happens that there's no way to put the book down. I'm not a night reader but I also did a few all-nighters while reading The Selection. That's how good it is.

4. The prince is a totally hottie and sweetheart

Obviously, it's all about the girls. But when the main goal is to find out if they'll marry the prince, a cute prince is important too. And Maxon doesn't disappoint. He's cute, caring and incredibly nice. He was my favourite character of the book and it was so easy to imagine all these girls falling in love with him.

5. Dystopian + princesses + insane fashion + bachelor = fun

Do I need to explain this note? All those elements together? How can you not love it?

 

5 reasons not to read

1. America is extremely annoying.

Narrators are important; they basically influence your whole reading experience and even though The Selection world is awesome, America is not. At all. She's the most annoying, immature, read-too-much-Cosmopolitan narrator you can imagine. A lot of readers think she's too annoying and naive, while others appreciate her innocence. It's all about what you look for in a narrator, but be prepared that she's a cliché - and not a good one.

2. America's family is the weirdest and their communication is unrealistic.

America's family treats her like she is a toddler. This could be due to the fact that she acts like the baby of the family or that they are just overprotective. I personally skimmed all communication between America and her father, but it is kinda endearing if you're up for a sentimental parent/child relationship.

3. Some things are too dramatic.

I mean, this was bound to happen. The Bachelor is dramatic. Dystopian fiction is dramatic. The dresses are dramatic. Sometimes you just want to shout RELAX! to everyone. The good news is, they do calm down - eventually.

4. Easy ending.

The ending took a note from Game of Thrones. There were so many lose ends and people who were there that would be in the way so... yeah, if you've watched GOT, you'll know what that means.

 

5. You might not root for the main character.

Like I mentioned, I kept reading the books to see how to romance turned out, but I must say I wasn't 100% team America. If you want to absolutely relate to the main character, this is not your book. But if you want to see a very creative world and amazing side characters, you'll love this book. 

So what do you think? Will you pick it up? If you have, do you agree with my points?