The Elite by Kiera Cass

With even more glamour, intrigue, and swoon-worthy romance, this sparkling sequel to The Selection will captivate readers who loved Veronica Roth’s Divergent, Lauren Oliver’s Delirium, or Renée Ahdieh’s The Wrath & the Dawn.

Thirty-five girls came to the palace to compete in the Selection, and to win Prince Maxon’s heart. Now six girls remain, and the competition is fiercer than ever—but America Singer is still struggling to decide where her heart truly lies. Is it Prince Maxon—and life as the queen—that she wants? Or is it still Aspen, her first love?

The Selection was a wonderful book, just the right mixture of fairy tale and Hunger Games and as a result I couldn't wait to start book 2 in the trilogy The Elite.

In book 2 we find 6 girls left competing for Maxon and the crown. America and Maxon still have a wonderful relationship but there are many things to stand in the way of true love.

This was a book of 2 halves, the first mirrored book 1 in that it was light and frothy and full of romance and girly friendships and backstabbing between The Elite. The second half is much darker, we start to see a different side to Maxon and his family which suggests all is not well and darker forces are at work that are in charge of who might win the prince's hand in marriage.

I found this book more frustrating, the love triangle between America, Maxon and Aspen began to grate on my nerves a little. I'm finding Aspen difficult to like as a character. I want to give America a shake and tell her to stop sabotaging herself and realise that she's not being very discreet. The warnings are clear in this book about what book 3 could hold in store.

With no sign of book 3 any time soon that's a little annoying as I'd like to know the conclusion but I'm hoping Cass will not fall into the Hunger Games trap and give us a wonderful first book, build the tension with rising revolts in book 2 only to have a disappointing and war filled third. Please restore some romance and meaningful relationship between America & Maxon in book 3 and don't turn our prince into a fickle man.

Not as bad as the first book. The focus shifts slightly from dresses and boys to politics and history. There are actually scenes that make you want to keep going until the conflict is resolved, which never happened in the first book. The cast has shrunk considerably so the other girls actually get some characterization beyond “sweet” or “Asian” or “slutty.” It's still not great but it's improved enough that I'll stick it out to the end.

With tighter writing and editing, this trilogy could easily have been one good book but everything has to be at least a trilogy to get published these days.

Not a fan of book 2, she is whiny, irrational, and emotional. To be fair, I was the same way at 17.. but it doesn't make it easy to root or care for her.