The Selection

The Selection by Kiera Cass is a Cinderella story retold in a dystopian society.  America Singer lives in Illea, a nation established after war destroyed the United States.  The society has castes which were based on the careers of your great-grandparents. America's family are artists which is a level five out of eight castes.  Her family often struggles to make ends meet. America likes to sing and play instruments, so to help earn money for her family she often performs at parties.  A couple of years ago she met a boy Aspen, who is caste six.  They secretly meet in a treehouse about once a week.  Aspen is a servant who is meant to be invisible.  America and Aspen are in love, but they know it will be difficult to save enough money to start out on their own.

Soon it is announced that the Selection will take place.  Thirty-five girls from around the country will be chosen to come to the palace so that prince can choose a bride.  America doesn't even want to enter, but her mother and even Aspen convinces her she has to give it a chance.   By some miracle her name is drawn, and America leaves for a much different life in palace.  She meets the prince outside in the gardens on her first night there and gets to talk to him before the other girls even meet him.  During their conversation America tells the prince,
          "Actually, I'm here by mistake."
          "Mistake?"
           "Yes. Sort of....My plan is to enjoy the food until you kick me out."

Thus begins America's friendship with Maxon, the prince.  She decides she's going to be herself, and because she doesn't want to marry Maxon, she can tell him about the other girls.   However, America discovers that the prince is much different than she thought, and although she still loves Aspen, she may change her mind about the prince.

When I first saw the cover I was intrigued, but I thought it looked and sounded too much like Matched.  Because the Selection is televised and there is a famous announcer, that seemed like something borrowed from Hunger Games.  However  I decided to give it a try because I enjoy dystopian romance.  I think we all relate to being the underdog like America.  Sometimes we feel a little insecure and think that everybody else has advantages that we don't have.  I wanted America to win because she acted like herself and was truthful.  Don't we all have a dream that suddenly we'll become famous or wealthy or whatever it is you may wish.  Even though America doesn't necessarily dream of life in a palace, as a reader I found myself routing for her and wishing that the prince will choose her.

This is probably just a book for girls who enjoy tales of dystopian societies with romance.  I really grew to like the characters and wanted to find out what happens to them and their society.  I even stayed up late to finish it!