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The Elite (The Selection, #2)

Kiera Cass

Start date: June 1, 2020

Finish date: June 30, 2020

Discussion: Book of the Month Discussions

Why we're reading this: Series continuation
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What Members Thought

Jul 28, 2017 Celia Buell (semi hiatus) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: decisions, coming-of-age, friendship, american-author, family, feminism, to-reread, romance, series, favorites

Kiera Cass is the perfect example of a writer who listens to her readers. This book was the exact opposite of The Selection in its writing style. Where The Selection shows the girls as emotionless, The Elite paints them as real people with feelings and purpose. Where The Selection falls short on plot, The Elite fills in every hole. Where The Selection's take on the history of a country and war in general seems outlandish and juvenile, The Elite fixes the gaps and creates a story that engages the ...more

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Dec 25, 2017 Sylvs (NOVELty Reads) rated it really liked it

Can I just mention how rare it is when I read a book series one book after the other? Seriously. I’m not kidding here. You know how I go on and on about how amazing ACOTAR was? Yeah I haven’t read ACOMAF straight after have I? (The answer to that is no.) So here I am writing a review of The Elite at roughly ten at night just grinning at my computer screen at all the swoon and romance I just experienced.

What has Kiera Cass done to me?

Well, if you read my review of The Selection you’d know how m Can I just mention how rare it is when I read a book series one book after the other? Seriously. I’m not kidding here. You know how I go on and on about how amazing ACOTAR was? Yeah I haven’t read ACOMAF straight after have I? (The answer to that is no.) So here I am writing a review of The Elite at roughly ten at night just grinning at my computer screen at all the swoon and romance I just experienced.

What has Kiera Cass done to me?

Well, if you read my review of The Selection you’d know how much I fangirled to the point that I literally wrote 1000+ words on that review alone. So OBVIOUSLY I had to pick up The Elite because I guess I thought: “Knowing you, you’d probably end up forgetting all this romance. You better read The Elite or I will never forgive you.”

Before I say anything more know that it is common knowledge that sequels are never as good as the first book in the series (the same goes for movies) Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this book but it was just lacking a little bit in the romance-y swoon as experienced in book 1 (but of course I needn’t worried because Kiera Cass made up for it at the end and I guess that is the reason I am currently reading The One as we speak)

But The Elite honestly wrecked in two. So, in The Selection the Maxon x America relationship was so swoon-worthy (and a bit cheesy but hey, I told you I like the cheesiest things and I’m not just talking about pizza) and I was shipping them even harder than I did with Tamlin and Feyre in ACOTAR (then book two happened and I honestly don’t know how to feel right now)

In The Elite Aspen x America had more page-time than Maxon x America did for like half of the book or maybe that’s me just being a die-hard Maxon x America shipper.

Anyway, the reason (apart from the shipping) for me giving this book a 4 stars rather than a 5 was because it focused a lot on Greggory Illea the founder of the country (politics) and also the rebels who are bombing the palace in like every 5 chapters.

Look don’t get me wrong, I mean world building is a great thing for any author to do in any book but I’ve seen better world development in other fantasy books than I do in this series. To be quite honest, I don’t think the politics should’ve been mentioned as much as it should’ve been and I guess that issue arose in The Selection but I was just like “It’s just a book, accept it as it is.” Anyway, in the first book it was just briefly mentioned (even though the explanation of Illea’s history was really weird. For starters why would China invade the US just because they couldn’t pay back the money debt they owed them? I got lost a bit after that but there was something in that whole explanation about Russia attacking “The United States of China” and it’s just really messed up and I almost laughed just reading that.) but in book 2 the political history and that Greggory guy was mentioned even more in diary entries and just by the royal family themselves. But the romance made up for all that political nonsense so I’m not complaining here.

Speaking of politics, there were themes that were darker than those in The Selection. That being with the consequences of cheating on Maxon and loving another man and also how awfully cruel the King is and how merciful Prince Maxon is (which lead me to loving him even more) and his whole backstory… oh! my heart was breaking so much for the poor guy.

I guess I should mention another negative for me right about now. That negative being America Singer. I don’t know but I reckon we have a love/hate relationship. On one hand I like her “don’t give a damn” attitude but in The Elite she does something really ridiculously stupid I was smacking my forehead. Look, I get that she wants to demolish the castes once and for all and look I’m saying “Go for it America” but she really shouldn’t have done the thing (that shall go unmentioned for spoiling reasons) that came afterwards.

Despite the fact that I disliked The Elite a tiny little bit I am still going to binge read The One and freak out, swoon and return to your bright electronic screens for another fangirling review.

ACTUAL RATING: 3.9 STARS
...more

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Jun 06, 2018 Rochi rated it liked it

Ya me esta cansando este ida y vuelta entre ella y los dos chicos. Decidíte hermana!

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May 17, 2018 Books by Kimi rated it it was ok

Shelves: ya, romance

I struggled to find the right words for The Selection.. I've just finished the second book in the series, The Elite, and I feel completely the same way! It's so bad, like, bad characters with bad morals, bad romance, bad dialogues.. And for some twisted reason I keep reading! I will never understand this but I've come to accept that some books just fit the IDEK tag and now that I've gotten this far I plan to finish the series. ...more

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Mar 26, 2018 Emma rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, ebooked

Review will come some day (and it totally did). There will also be no spoilers. I lied there will be spoilers.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3/5 stars).

For some reason I absolutely forgot to write a review for this book, well oops. I'm gonna say something real shallow but this has to be my least favorite book cover. And red is even my favorite colour😂😂 It's still a pretty cover but I like the others a bit more (especially the one & the heir. Those two are soooo pretty).

I think this book might be my favorite b Review will come some day (and it totally did). There will also be no spoilers. I lied there will be spoilers.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟 (3/5 stars).

For some reason I absolutely forgot to write a review for this book, well oops. I'm gonna say something real shallow but this has to be my least favorite book cover. And red is even my favorite colour😂😂 It's still a pretty cover but I like the others a bit more (especially the one & the heir. Those two are soooo pretty).

I think this book might be my favorite book out of all five. Or maybe the one is my fave? No clue about that. BUT MAN THIS BOOK WAS SOOOO GOOD. Like it had aaaa lot of action and I loved that we got to know a lot more about the world and all the politics. Also the Italian women were aaaaamazing. I loved that section soooo much. And Marlee POOOOOOOR MARLEE. I was screaming and cheering at America when she was running towards Marlee while she and carter where being caned. Like girl got no strenght but she wasn't gonna let that happen to her friend. When I was younger I always had to stand up and fight for my friends, so i was really moved and happy when America did that too. From that moment on I loved Mer even more than I did before. She's also such a rebel in her own way. Also I started to hella ship maxon and mer in this book. I seriously love their relationship now and I'm not that angry or irritated towards maxon anymore. Maxon is indeed the BAE. Aspen was still useless and added there for the drama. Poor guy. I felt really bad for him. Also sooo much was happening in this book. I was never ever bored. Wasn't bored while reading the others too but this was plotwise on another level than the first book. The third got even better too. I just have soooo much love for these books and characters. Like Kiera Cass WHAT DID YA DO TO ME?

SO EVERYBODY JUST READ THIS😂😂😂 just kidding these books are definitely not for everyone. I do know I'm Kiera Cass trash now and I'll probably read all of her books now. ...more

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