What girl does not dream of growing up to be a beautiful princess? I know when I was little, I sure did. I had princess dresses and tiaras and all of the other princess essentials. In Kiera Cass' The Selection, she brings a whole new twist on the idea of being a princess. Imagine a stubborn girl named America putting her name into a huge pool of names, all competing to be the next princess of their nation called Illea. 35 girls, out of thousands, get picked to live in the palace and try and win the heart of Prince Maxon, the heir to the throne. Cass places the reader in America's shoes and directs them on a long journey full of drama, action and heartache.

The plot of The Selection revolves around The Selection which is a contest that happens when the prince needs to find a wife. This contest only happens for princes; any princesses born into the royal family are married off to a prince from another country. America, the heroine, has no desire to even try to become a princess. "I didn't want to be royalty. And I didn't want to be a One. I didn't even want to try" (pg 1). She would much rather live a lowly life as a five, toward the bottom of the caste system. Living at the bottom, money is a struggle for her family. Every chance they get to work, they take it. When the letter in the mail arrives, informing her that she is eligible to enter, she refuses. Her family pushes and pushes her to enter but she cannot do it because her mind is elsewhere. Her secret boyfriend, Aspen, a six in the caste system, is the only person she wants to be with. Marrying him is all she could ever want. Their love is forbidden.  It is very infrequent to marry down. Wanting a better life for her, Aspen encourages her to sign up, claiming she hardly has a chance to get picked out of the thousands of other girls entering. Being the stubborn girls that she is, she enters her name and gets picked. Before she leaves for the palace, Aspen breaks up with her, making her thankful that she signed up in the first place. The prince takes a liking to her immediately and lets her take refuge at the palace so she can hide from Aspen. Drama blossoms from there keeping the plot interesting and lively. The plot had me flipping pages faster than any other book. I became obsessed with America and all the drama happening between her and Maxon.

The characters in The Selection kept me reading the book, they were enticing and I felt that I personally knew all of them. America, the main character, is indecisive and stubborn. It seems that whatever she needs she never wants. For example, she needs the money from the Selection but she will not try for it because that is not how she wants to earn it. However, she is also loving, caring and always puts others before herself. I found myself loving her more and more as the story progressed. Maxon, the prince, is the Prince Charming all little girls dream of. He is willing to do and give anything to America. "Maxon Schreave is the epitome of all things good. He lets girls who are supposed to be wearing dresses wear pants and doesn't get mad when someone who doesn't know him clearly mislabels him" (pg 204).  His charm affects not only the other characters in the book but also, the reader. He and America balance each other out perfectly. Cass could not have possibly put any two characters together better.  They bring out the best and the worst in each other, causing them to mesh together perfectly. By leaving Carolina America finds the one person that will build her up and make her stronger.

Cass sets the story in America's home province of Carolina. This setting is key because this is where her love Aspen lives. Carolina is where she feels most comfortable and is not challenged to make too many decisions. By having her name drawn, she gets moved to Angeles, where the palace and Prince Maxon are. Here, her character develops more, and by the end of the book she is almost unrecognizable. She learns many new things about herself and her potential in helping a struggling country. America realizes her strengths could reform her beloved nation into the strong, powerful country in once was. There are endless problems with Illea that seem larger than life to America.

Conflict is a major contributor in this book. There are two major types, personal and national. Personal exists because America struggles to fit into palace life. She misses her simple life and how steady everything used to be. Her feelings about Maxon confuse her, especially due to the fact that while he is sort of dating her, he is also, sort of dating 34 other girls. How can she know what he is feeling is the same thing she is feeling? The national conflicts are all related. The caste system caused all of it. It ranges from one to eight, one being the highest. There is a group of people called rebels who fight the monarchy and the caste system. They live off the grid and attack provinces and the palace often. In relation to the caste system, they are lower than eights, they could be considered felons or gang members. They think the caste system is unfair and only supports the upper castes. By accepting Maxon, America is also accepting the crown and all the national conflicts that have been impossible to deal with in the past. Cass writes the conflicts so they flow smoothly and make the reader want to know more and more.

Cass' writing throughout The Selection is easy to understand and follow. She has a good sense of humor and managed to have enough plot twist to keep me interested till the last page. I really liked how Cass developed the characters and the conflicts. She managed to make a small problem an entire 300 pages long and make it interesting at the same time. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. There is a lot of action and humor that complement each other and make the writing stronger. There really is something for everybody in this book. If someone reads The Selection and does not like it, I would be shocked.