The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Selection by Kiera Cass

Release Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 327
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge, ABC Reading Challenge

For thirty-five girls, the Selection is the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to escape the life laid out for them since birth. To be swept up in a world of glittering gowns and priceless jewels. To live in the palace and compete for the heart of the gorgeous Prince Maxon.

But for America Singer, being Selected is a nightmare. It means turning her back on her secret love with Aspen, who is a caste below her. Leaving her home to enter a fierce competition for a crown she doesn't want. Living in a palace that is constantly threatened by violent rebel attacks.

Then America meets Prince Maxon. Gradually, she starts to question all the plans she's made for herself- and realizes that the life she's always dreamed of may not compare to a future she never imagined.

Okay, enough of that. I was trying to use a mathematical equation to express how much I loved this book, but those of you who don't know a lot about math are going to have no idea what I'm talking about, and those of you who know a lot about math are going to know that I have no idea what I'm talking about. Therefore, I should probably stick to the usual format.

The Selection is that sweet sticky sour savory delectable kind of guilty pleasure that any lover of dessert or reality television will completely identify with (and likely gobble up as hungrily as I did). Imagine watching an entire season of the Hills and eating a sleeve of cookie dough and not feeling full or fat afterwards. Completely delicious and engrossing, right? Seriously people, you should use this book as a diet tool or something because I honestly did not want to put it down long enough to get actual food.

This book is marketed as a dystopian, and while I suppose that yes, technically it is, it's really more of a Cinderella story with a twist. The book starts in America's home town, where we meet her lower class family and get to know their dynamic pretty well. We also learn that she has been illegally sneaking out at night to meet with Aspen, the boy she plans to marry. Why is it secret and illegal? Well, unfortunately, he's from an even lower class than her, which is a big no-no in Illea. Anyways, we spend a while in her town and at first I was super impatient to get to court where there would be intrigue and backstabbing and ball gowns, but I'm glad we lingered because it gave us the chance to see America with her family and with Aspen, and both of those things factor really heavily into why she stays at the palace later.

So America gets chosen to be a part of The Selection (a.k.a. The Bachelor, royal edition) and she travels to the palace with 35 other girls. There she meets Maxon, and WOAH, this girl literally whips out an axe, chops off a piece of her mind and gives it to him. She is super unimpressed by the fact that he is a prince, and she makes that more than clear. Read: Bitch Fest. Like a true monarch, Maxon listens, takes it all in stride, and doesn't give America the whooping she probably deserves because he's a forgiving and compassionate dude.

Let's talk Maxon. Or should I say omg omggg SQUEE MAXON, because that was my reaction each time he turned up. He is so adorable. I loved watching him fumble through his first attempts at dating (poor guy, to have such a thing watched not only by one's parents, but the entire country). He's such a compassionate person that I felt like he got walked on some, but at the important moments he definitely knew how to stand up for himself. His back-and-forth with America was fascinating because while I love the girl, she is a force of nature and occasionally a bullheaded beeyotch and Maxon is basically a big puppy. America is used to being in control, but in this situation Maxon has essentially all of the control, and that's something they both have to navigate.

I've heard some complaints that this book has yet another love triangle, but honestly, I don't think of the whole Aspen-America-Maxon relationship as a love triangle as much as I see it as a story about getting over first love and learning to move on, which is a huge and awful part of coming of age. Aspen (which is always what I wanted to name my first daughter, and now I'm pretty sure he's ruined that for me, so THANKS A LOT Aspen) does not strike me as a great guy. I believe that he loves America, but his pride is big enough to squash the palace, and everything he does--from dumping America to wanting her back, etc--is entirely motivated by selfishness. I'm just going to put it out there and say that I hated him. I think it's pretty clear that America falls quickly in love with Maxon, she is just having trouble fully moving on and that is the source of a lot of her denial. Whenever she would get cranky while Maxon was on another date I couldn't help but yell at the book because Eeeee, America!! You're all swoony and jealous! Don't you know what that means? Do it, girl! Doitdoitdoit!

Another element of the book that I enjoyed was getting to know the girls. You have the psycho power hungry Celeste's that are just so much fun to loathe, and the sweetheart's like Marlee that you can't begrudge for doing well in the competition. While there is definitely some drama here--and you can bet that it's nearly all Celeste's fault--most of the drama we see is between Maxon and America. The girls themselves managed to develop a semi-harmonious sisterhood; they even acknowledge at several points in the book how they see the ways in which each of the other girls would make good queens. I wish that we could have gotten to know the girls to a greater depth, but America can be a little bit of a recluse sometimes so she spent a disproprtionate about of time in her room. I think with the whittling down of girls that happens over the course of The Selection we will get more depth in Book 2. But honestly, I'm not that sad about the lack of girl time, because whenever they were in the ladies room all I could think was comeoncomeoncomeon I want a scene with MAXON! And luckily for me, I usually got one.

Complaints? I honestly feel like this book could have gotten away with being a couple hundred pages longer. It ended in such a strange place; there was a little closure and a small cliffhanger, but I was pretty confused when suddenly the whole thing was over. Books 1 and 2 could have been turned into Parts 1 and 2 of the same book, and that would have made more sense. Additionally, the whole "outsiders" plot line felt flat and undeveloped, but I'm thinking this will shape itself in coming books. Like I said before, the book qualifies as a dystopian, but the history of how the world got from its 2012 self to the monarchy of Illea was a complete mess of nonsense. Placing the whole thing in an alternate history or universe might have helped to solve the problem, then at least we could have avoided the perfunctory disaster of a chapter that attempted to explain the national debt and the American State of China and the invasion by Russia (confused yet? because it keeps going…). I know dystopians are hot right now, but unless you are going to give the history as much thought as the plot, then don't attempt to write a dystopian. Essentially, Illea is just a technologically advanced monarchy that is in the middle of a guerrilla war with both its northern and southern borders.

All in all, the biggest success for me is that fact that things changed from beginning to the end of the book. America is likable but also a piece of work. In certain ways she reminded me of Lizzie Bennet: she is humble and kind but she holds some serious prejudices based entirely on her perceptions of wealth. I think both she and Maxon learn that the quality of a person is not dictated by their caste. There are good people in the upper and lower classes; there are horrible people in the upper and lower classes (I'm looking at you, Celeste and Aspen). Watching America and Maxon change each other, and the country in the process, was extremely engaging and I'm definitely looking forward to more of it in the next installment.

Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

Sometimes It Happens by Lauren Barnholdt

Release Date: July 12, 2011
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
Challenges: N/A

This novel opens on the first day of Hannah’s senior year, but the story really starts on the last day of her junior year. That’s when Hannah not only gets dumped by her boyfriend, Sebastian, but she also finds out her best friend, Ava, is going to be gone for the entire summer. But Ava’s boyfriend, Noah, is definitely around—and such a good guy that he snags Hannah a job at the diner where he works. Hannah and Noah move from coworkers, to friends… and one night, to something more.

Now it’s back to school, where Hannah will see Sebastian, Ava, and Noah all in one place. Over the course of the day secrets and betrayals are revealed, and alliances are broken and reformed. In the end, Hannah will learn a lot about love, friendship…and herself.

Hannah's summer was all planned out. She and her best friend, Ava, decided to forgo summer jobs and spend the months sun bathing and relaxing together while finding time to hang out with their respective hunky-hunky boyfriends. But when Hannah finds her boyfriend, Sebastian, making out with some bikini-clad sophomore she completely falls apart. Add to that Ava's sudden out-of-nowhere plans to go work at a summer camp, and Hannah is left alone to brood and chow on truly epic quantities of ice cream and Keebler Elf cookies.

Enter Ava's boyfriend, Noah, who not only convinces Hannah to work with him at Cooley's Diner, but goes out of his way to try and help Hannah out of her self-pitying-stupid-cheating-ex-boyfriend-slump. It all starts out innocently enough, but Noah and Hannah clearly have undeniable chemistry, and overtime, well... the title really says it all.

The book alternates chapters between the first day of school and the summer (starting with the cheating fiasco, moving up to the present). I found this method surprisingly easy to follow, and I sprinted through each chapter, wanting to know what would happen in each respective time period. This read was clean, fun, fast, and easy (mostly), but it also felt truthful. There are consequences for every choice we make, and those play out in difficult ways over the course of the book. I was a little confused about the apparent secrecy over what happened between Noah and Hannah. Between the title and the really gratuitous foreshadowing, I'm pretty sure we all know what the "it" in Sometimes It Happens is.

This book raises a lot of challenging issues that I struggled with in high school, many of which I still struggle with today. What do we do when we've changed, but a friendship hasn't? How to we make room for our new selves in an old box? In the Ava-Hannah friendship, Ava has always been the one to take charge and hold most of the power, but when she goes away for the summer, Hannah has to find a way to be all those things for herself. Ava wants things to stay the same, but Hannah can't go back, which causes obvious friction. And what about boys? Is it okay to go back to a mediocre relationship because the predictability of it is comforting, or do we owe it to ourselves never to settle? And seriously, what do you do when you've found your match in a person who is off-limits? What lines are worth crossing for love?

For a fast an easy read, I thought that this book was wonderfully complex and rich. Noah, Hannah, and Lacey were all wonderful, but the vibrancy of the story also lived in the fullness of its other characters: Ava, Sebastian, Hannah's mom, Riker, Danielle, and even the "Sophomores Do It Better" girl. As for Noah? I totally get it, he is pretty squee-worthy. Perhaps I should be far too mature for this, but the 13-year-old girl in me just loves a good ol' fashion show down with two men fighting over the same lady. For those of you who read my review of The One That I Want, this book felt similar in content, but was a more mature, nuanced version.

If you are looking for a whirl-wind summer read, or perhaps something to remind you of those turbulent high school days, I would definitely suggest Lauren Barnholdt's Sometimes It Happens. I give it 4 out of 5 Stars. (If you wait three more months, you can catch it in paperback on June 12, 2012!)

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

The One That I Want by Jennifer Echols

The One That I Want by Jennifer Echols

Release Date: February 7, 2012
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
Challenges: N/A

Gemma can’t believe her luck when the star football player starts flirting with her. Max is totally swoon-worthy, and even gets her quirky sense of humor. So when he asks out her so-called best friend Addison, Gemma’s heartbroken.

Then Addison pressures Gemma to join the date with one of Max’s friends. But the more time they all spend together, the harder Gemma falls for Max. She can’t help thinking that Max likes her back—it’s just too bad he’s already dating Addison. How can Gemma get the guy she wants without going after her best friend’s boyfriend?

When best friends Gemma and Addison go to majorette camp at a nearby college campus, they meet Max and Carter, the cute kicker and quarterback from the rival high school. Though both girlfriends are immediately smitten with Max, Addison is quick to lay claim on him, pushing Gemma to fill her regular doormat role and back off. Thanks to more manipulation via Addison, an awkward double date ensues, Gemma with Carter and Addison with Max. Over the course of the story, we get to see the way each relationship builds and functions in this unlikely foursome, I can guarantee that it is replete with angst, drama, crushing, and unrequited love.

This is a Jennifer Echols novel, so obviously there is a lot of good happening in these pages. Despite her cluelessness about guys (but lets be honest, weren't we all at one point or another? Some of us are probably even still...), Gemma is a centered and surprisingly confident character. She has recently lost 50 pounds, and I was worried that she would be the kind of character who never stopped talking about weight. It certainly remains forefront in her mind, but she attempts to take a healthy approach to her loss and maintenance. She also has a distinct sense of personal style and the bravery to try out things she knows people will make fun of her for. If someone says something nasty about what she's doing, she knows that it's their issue, and can acknowledge them for the bad friend that they are. Also, the relationship between her and Max is very sweet. The two of them have a comfortable teasing relationship, but are also sensitive and in tune enough with each other to feel out awkward moments or tricky conversations. I felt like they had the tools as friends/couple to really work.

The things that bugged me? Well to start off, Addison. She is absolutely AWFUL. I lost so much respect for Gemma for being her friend. Every time she was mentioned in the book I would become angry to the point of near nausea because I disliked her so vigorously. It seemed like Jennifer Echols intentionally made Addison so terrible that we wouldn't feel bad if Gemma did something to hurt her. But listen y'all, one wrong does not equal another. I hated Addison, but I also disliked Gemma when she used Addison's nasty behavior to justify her own, and when she let Addison walk all over her. Lets try for a little ASSERTIVE COMMUNICATION, please.

This book is cute and fast and if you are looking for a quick easy read with a lot of teenage brooding, look no further. On that particular day, I think I was hoping for something a little more mature, along the lines of my last Echols read, Love Story. 16-year-old Gemma felt so much younger to me than 18-year-old Erin. She tried so hard at playing love "games" that she created her own problems, and sometimes I became impatient with her cluelessness. However, there are a lot of great messages to get from this book. I really enjoyed the way that the relationship was crafted between mother and daughter, the development of something between Gemma and Max, and generally watching Gemma grow fully into her smaller, more-confident self. I give The One That I Want 3 out of 5 Stars.

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The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

Release Date: January 2, 2012
Publisher: Poppy
Pages: 256
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased
Challenges: Audiobook Challenge

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

The title? Brilliant. The cover? Brilliant. The book? ALSO Brilliant. I had been excited for months to read this one, but when it was released I was too afraid to pick it up. This book had been teasing me for months, drawing me in with its siren call and promises, telling me it could fill the gaping hole that's left between Stephanie Perkins novels. And y'all, those are big promises. Promises that I wasn't sure my siren book friend could keep. But fortunately, these sirens are apparently not the same as Odysseus's sirens, because I got all I wanted and more.

This book takes place over the course of a 24 hour period. Penning a complex, natural romance that can come to a boil in 24 hours is a seriously challenging task, and Jennifer E. Smith conquers it. Hadley is a broody, dramatic teenager that manages not to overstep the line into obnoxious. Oliver is an adorable and funny British bloke (swoon) that I am pretty sure any reader would love to date. Excuse the creepy factor, but I would love to keep a mini-Oliver in a jar that I could open every time I got a little sad. He could cheer me up with his silly jokes and accent, and I could give him little Oliver-hugs because he's so adorable. But second to that option is reading the book, in which we get to watch something very real build between him and Hadley among their innocuous chit-chat and the deeper, harder conversations.

While the core story is between Hadley and Oliver, there is actually a lot else happening in the tale that both ties them together and pulls them apart. We get to meet Hadley's father and step-mother to be (whom she's never met), in addition to a cast of other characters, all of whom were fleshed out and added bursts of life to the narrative. The craft in this story was incredible. I would be crying one minute, laughing the next, cringing at something awkward the next. I can recall at least one moment where I was doing all three simultaneously. I don't want to spoil anything, but some of the scenes between Andrew (the dad) and Hadley, or Charlotte (the step-mom) and Hadley, were extremely difficult and touching, and those made the book for me as much as the parts with Oliver.

My only complaint: I took a flight the day after reading this and there was no Oliver or cute British boy!!! My flight was just the regular variety of suck. I feel scammed.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is a book about love and family. I jumped into a world and story that was vivid and honest and charming. The characters, the dialogue, and the pacing are all crafted with extreme care and skill, and I love the premise of how much life could change if you happen to be four minutes late. This book has definitely entered my pile of favorite contemporary romances, right next to Anna and the French Kiss. I give it 5 out of 5 Stars and I would highly suggest picking up your own copy as soon as possible.

*Audiobook Note*

I'm super-dooper picky about accents in audiobooks, but I was very pleased with Casey Halloway's versatility on this one. The only downside of listening to this one is that it's so good, you might have to pull over to laugh or cry at different points if you are driving (I did).

Slush Sleuth's Rating:

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Release Date: September 29, 2011
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 338
Format: Audiobook*
Source: Purchased

Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Hello world, she's done it again. Stephanie Perkins has created complex, believable characters that make me wonder why I ever used to abhor Contemporary YA. Lola, Cricket, Max, Calliope, Lola's Dads and every character in this book felt fleshed out. That's one of the incredible things about Stephanie's writing: no character feels like a set piece or plot device. Like in Anna and the French Kiss (which, if you haven't read my review, I loved!), the characters were complex. No one was entirely lovable or blameless, but it was also really hard to fully villanize anyone--even when they acted terribly--because it was possible to understand why they were being irrational. Yes, that's how well formed these characters were.

The world, too, was wonderfully palpable. I have an absolute idea of what Lola's room, her house, her street, her work, and everything in between all look like. Once again, the setting of the book was an essential feature that added to, rather than pulled me out, of the book. There were no "Lord of the Fly-esque Million-page-landscape-descriptions" (ugh, don't get me started), rather the world seemed to just be sitting there, in complete HD, ready for me to hop on in.

I both enjoyed and was slightly uncomfortable with Lola's relationship with Max (she's 16 and he's 22 when they start dating), but the relationship was treated very fairly in the book. Don't get me wrong, I still seriously wanted to punch Max in the face. Repeatedly. But, I thought the portrayal of first love and Lola's desire to be and act older than she really is were both sensitively and realistically done. I also thought her relationship with Cricket was fun to watch re-blossom (they are so endearingly awkward, I couldn't help but giggle uncomfortably at multiple points myself).

I will say that this book did not come close to living up to Anna for me. I had a very serious issue with it that made it somewhat inaccessible. Lola feels so unbelievably young. I'm sure that part of this has to do with the fact that Anna is at boarding school and Lola is living with two very overbearing fathers (I mean, seriously! I can appreciate the love, but back off a little puh-leaze). Part of this is that she whines constantly. Most of this, though, really had to do with her relationships with Max and Cricket. Where as in Anna I understood what was keeping Etienne and Anna apart--even though it drove me crazy--in Lola there didn't seem to be any major obstacle other than Lola's own immaturity. I became very quickly frustrated with her constant denial and back-and-forthing, and unfortunately, this seemed to go on foreeeeevver. Maybe it's easier to excuse Etienne for staying with his girlfriend because he wasn't the narrator, maybe he was easier to excuse because I understood his fear of being alone. In any case, while I liked each character in the book, the experience was a little frustrating at times. As someone who is the same age as Max, I could not understand why he would date someone who acts like a child and lies like she breathes (though perhaps it is because he possesses an equal level of maturity development)....

Overall, I found Lola spunky and funny and I enjoyed the characterizations. I teared up during multiple scenes between her and her mother, and I absolutely ah-dored her quirky dads (when they weren't going psycho patrol-men). The writing is just as wonderfully crafted in this one, I just didn't like Lola as much as I liked Anna, which is entirely personal preference. My reservations about Lola's immaturity aside, there is a lot positive going for this book (eeee! sparkly costumes!) I give it 3.5 out of 5 Stars, and would recommend it to any reader. And besides, we get multiple cameos from Anna and Etienne!

*Audiobook Note*

Shannon McManus did a very good job with this one, and I would suggest it for anyone interested.

Slush Sleuth's Rating: