Review: The Crown by Kiera Cass

Title: The Crown
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher: Harper Collins Kids
Published: May 19th 2016
Page Number: 278
Rating: 4.5/5

Summary:
In The Heir, a new era dawned in the world of The Selection. Twenty years have passed since America Singer and Prince Maxon fell in love, and their daughter is the first princess to hold a Selection of her own.

Eadlyn didn’t think she would find a real partner among the Selection’s thirty-five suitors, let alone true love. But sometimes the heart has a way of surprising you…and now Eadlyn must make a choice that feels more difficult—and more important—than she ever expected.

REVIEW

It's bittersweet that this series has finally come to an end. As everyone knows, The Selection series was meant to have ended after 'The One' and I did mourn a little after that book. And then Kiera announced that there were going to be 2 more books to the series, which I'm not going to lie, made me happy. I love the world and the characters that Kiera creates because she does it so well.

The Heir wasn't my favourite book in the series, and Eadlyn certainly wasn't a favourite character but Kiera Cass ended the series in a way that shows so much character growth, not just as a teenage girl but also as a Queen. Getting to see her interact with the boys and fight between what she must do as Queen and her heart was special. Eadlyn is young and teenagers fall in love quickly. We're all in or nothing at all.

Who did Eadlyn end up with?

I'm not going to tell, I don't like posting spoiler reviews, especially when it comes to a series. All I will say is that I think everyone will be happy with the outcome. I know I certainly was. But that's the beauty of Kiera Cass, one of my absolute favourite thing about her as an author is how she creates male characters that you root for. You haven't got to like them all but in some crazy way you love them none the less.

For me it honestly felt like Kiera had written this book for us, her readers. She gave us everything that we already love about her series and added that extra bit of panache. I know that I for one will be excited to see what else Kiera has to write.

 

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Review: Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass

Title: Happily Ever After
Author: Kiera Cass
Genre: YA Dystopian
Publisher: Harper Collins Children
Published: October 8th 2015
Page Number: 320
Rating: 4/5

Summary:
Meet Prince Maxon before he fell in love with America, and a girl named Amberly before she became queen. See the Selection through the eyes of a guard who watched his first love drift away and a girl who fell for a boy who wasn't the prince. This gorgeous collection features four novellas from the captivating world of Kiera Cass's #1 New York Times bestselling Selection series, as well as exclusive, never-before-seen bonus content.

 

REVIEW

To review this in it's entirety as my usual reviews would be a little complicated, so I will be reviewing each novella on their own and also giving my thoughts on the bonus content we had. ut firstly I want to talk about the illustrations and how gorgeous they were. I really felt like they added to the story and we completely needed.

The Queen - 3/5 Stars

I've always respected Queen Amberly in the Selection trilogy but reading her Selection was completely eye-opening. Teenage Amberly was incredibly naïve and a whole lot of stupid. Prince Clarkson was looking for a wife, a Queen, someone who would obey him. And he found her in Amberly because she was like a puppy and Clarkson the dog trainer. Everything he said, she did. And it pissed off the feminist that is inside of me.

The Prince - 4.5 Stars

I've always loved Maxon. Kiera writes perfect male characters and Prince Maxon stole my heart from the first time he was introduced. Seeing some of the Selection from her perspective was very fresh and I loved it. We saw a new layer of depth to him which was missing from him in the first book in the trilogy. I will always want more Maxon. Always.

The Guard - 3 Stars

I'm not Aspen's biggest fan. At all. He's an okay character but I always felt like he was there for annoyance other than anything else. So seeing his story with America rehashed was completely annoying. I was hoping to see his love story with Lucy but we saw hardly anything of that and I had no idea why, because their story would've been nice to have read.

The Favourite - 4.5 Stars

Marlee is everyone's favourite. She's beautiful, intelligent but also incredibly selfless and her friendship with America was always nice to read about. When the drama entailed in the series about her and Carter, I was gobsmacked, mainly because it seemed unlike Marlee but seeing her story was so special. I love her and Carter so much, their love was infinite, endearing.

We then got a few scenes from Celeste's POV. Celeste was the Bitch in the series but she was always a favourite character of mine. I always saw her as misunderstood and that became clear from her progress in the series. Her façade was always on point but her character is forever my favourite.

Lucy also had a chapter in her POV, which was interesting. She's a maid and if I am honest, I'm not sure why her part was in there for. Her perspective if fun, fresh but the story we got was a little boring and certainly not satisfying.

Lastly we got a new chapter that would've taken place after The One and it was everything in life. Life has been fulfilled for me. The scene was a little short, but filled with everything that Kiera Cass does so well.

 

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