[Arc Review] The Elite by Kiera Cass + Giveaway!

 The Elite
The Selection #2
Kiera Cass
April 23rd, 2013
Haper Teen
336 pages

Arc won from Story Crush. I am reviewing as that's how I do.

Amazon/Book Depository/B&N

The hotly-anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestseller The Selection.

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection. All but six have been sent home. And only one will get to marry Prince Maxon and be crowned princess of Illea.

America still isn’t sure where her heart lies. When she’s with Maxon, she’s swept up in their new and breathless romance, and can’t dream of being with anyone else. But whenever she sees Aspen standing guard around the palace, and is overcome with memories of the life they planned to share. With the group narrowed down to the Elite, the other girls are even more determined to win Maxon over—and time is running out for America to decide.

Just when America is sure she’s made her choice, a devastating loss makes her question everything again. And while she’s struggling to imagine her future, the violent rebels that are determined to overthrow the monarchy are growing stronger and their plans could destroy her chance at any kind of happy ending.

This book was far more action packed than the last. There are plenty of attacks on the palace. There are several fights between the occupants. There's a public humiliation style punishment. Most of the action was off-screen, but hopefully it's a precursor to how the third book will play out. It was certainly a far cry from the prim, proper brooding of the first book.

There's still an awful lot of brooding. America has even less of an idea of what she wants in a man and is tugged between the two corners of the love triangle somewhat violently. When she makes up her mind about one, something else will happen and thrust her into the arms of the other. It's quite the most frustrating thing. After awhile I stopped rooting for either boy. I'm on team America Singer. I want her to live in a nice house equal to her standing with several cats while she teaches others to play instruments and perhaps masters a few more to fill out her repertoire. She'll have some radical thoughts that will keep the town twittering about her mind behind her back, but she'll be happy. Just saying.

The worst blow for her is when her best friend in the competition is taken away from her in a rather violent fashion. America is set adrift with no one to turn to except the two guys, who are mostly trying to convince her to stay with them. This causes her to waffle quite intensely, polarizing completely to each of the boys the second she's with them alone. She eventually does bring another girl close, but she is as guarded with her as she is with Maxon.

A mystery is developing, of sorts. America is allowed to read the founding father's diary. This causes her to learn things they never bothered to teach her in history class. Their revisionist history astounds and sickens her, driving her, in the wake of another romantic spat, to do radical things.

With the king now rooting for her to fail, rebels invading the palace searching for something mysterious, and rebels capturing the loved ones of the Elite in order to shut down the Selection, this book raised itself above the previous one in terms of action and excitement. It still kept the elements that made it what it was, but it threw in more to create something that could, if done right, be pretty awesome.

For those of you who've stuck with me this long, I'm giving away an ARC of this. Please fill out the Rafflecopter below.

 

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