"The Elite" by Kiera Cass, Review

After tearing through Kiera Cass's "The Selection", reading the following book in the series - "The Elite" was only the natural next step. I began reading this book with high expectations. Wether these were met is ... questionable, at best.

"The Elite" is the action packed sequel to Kiera Cass's "The Selection". We watch as America continues to navigate her way through the competition to win over Prince Maxon's heart, with much higher stakes now as she is one of the 6 girls left in The Selection. We watch the 6 girls undergo many tests, such as planning an event to host foreign royalty and proposing intricate plans for philanthropic projects, as they compete to become the new queen. This book also takes us deeper into the lore and history of the kingdom of Illéa, as we discover snippets of Gregory Illéa's personal journal, and read about several rebel-attacks.

"The Elite" does a great job at providing momentary escapism. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of the Halloween Ball, and the banquet America and Kriss hosted for the Italian royalty. However, I felt this sequel was lacking. This book dragged on, especially in the first few chapters, and quickly became tiring to read. The narration felt empty and used repetitive vocabulary. Frankly I found the main character, America Singer, to be rather irritable and self-centred, immature at times. It was quite hypocritical how she criticised the Prince for mingling with the other women of the Selection, while she herself went behind his back and did the same with Aspen Leger, member of the Royal Guard and her former best friend.

That being said, this book definitely had it's fair share of exciting moments; particularly America's disastrous presentation where she reveals the palace's most secret books on National Television. The scene where The Prince and America were trapped inside a tight confined space as they waited out the rebel attack was another high-stakes moment which was thrilling to read.

However I found it quite difficult to connect with America Singer, our main protagonist, the same way I did in the novel prior. Moving forward, I think I will be seeking out books that aren't such mindless-reads and challenge me a little more than this.

Love,

Ann ❤️