I am a huge fan of the Selection series by Kiera Cass. It is a total guilty pleasure for me and I wanted to love this book as well. Unfortunately, while I found the story interesting and easy to read, I had numerous issues with the way certain plot points unfolded.
Let me start by warning you that this is book 1 of a duology with a pretty serious cliffhanger ending. I’m not sure what had me thinking that this was a standalone book, but it is not. Upon reflection, much of the early storytelling feels rushed, which I had originally passed off as this being a (relatively) short, YA stand-alone (320 pages). Given that this is actually book 1, I feel like there could have been more time alloted to developing the characters and their relationship to one another, particularly the MC, the best friend, and the love interest(s). However, I did find the MC quite enjoyable. Hollis is sweet and caring with a carefree elegance and surprising sense of humor despite being raised at court, surrounded by egotistical gossip-mongers.
Strike two against this book was the “trope of death”, Insta-love. Granted, we all know when a new character comes along and makes prolonged eye contact with the MC across the room, there’s a new love interest in town. HOWEVER, this romance went from zero to sixty in no time! I saw it coming and still felt blindsided by the magnitude of it. Frankly, from this point on every aspect of the book felt like a shock factor, like Cass sat down to write and thought ‘what kind of f***ed up s*** can I do to this story’.
That being said, I did give this book 3 stars and there’s a reason: I still want to know what happens next. That’s right. I will definitely be buying book 2. As I mentioned earlier, there is a cliffhanger, but beyond that I really loved that Hollis seemed to have a new enemy around every corner. I’d love to see her develop her strength and overcome the overwhelming odds stacked against her. Also, I loved Queen Valentina. She might be my favorite character of the book. If Cass ever decided to write a spin-off about her, I’d be all over it.
In conclusion (does that make this feel like a college essay?), the Betrothed is not a ground-breaking YA fantasy novel, but it will take you for a wild ride. Fans of Cass’ previous work should definitely check it out, as well as anyone looking for a new guilty pleasure read.