The One by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection #3
on 7th May 2014
Pages: 323
Format: Paperback
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When she was chosen in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown - or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the end of the competition approaches and the threads outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose- and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

This review will contains spoilers for the first two books (The Selection & The Elite) in the series but not for The One.

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In a journey which started with 35 girls all competing for a chance to win the prince, it is now down to just four. America is still struggling with her feelings and finds the competition more fierce than ever. Against a mean girl, a sweetheart and a girl who would would be a perfect princess, America doesn’t see where she fits. The fact that she keeps letting her heart rule her actions and disappointing King Clarkson doesn’t help matters.

The two factions of rebels are complicating things further with those to the south being vicious in their agenda and the Northern Rebels having a proposition which may change the way the entire kingdom is run. America finds herself in the middle of everything and realize the fate of much more than just who she loves is at stake.

The Selection series is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I may not always like the characters or certain things they do but I adore the journey.

What I enjoyed most about The One is that Kiera Cass hasn’t forgotten about what made her series so great in the beginning. This is a love story. A story about a girl who has intense feelings for two very different men intermingled with a Prince who has no life experience in matters of the heart having to select the woman he wants to be with for life from a pool of 35. It’s a little crazy. But it worked for me because, all the dystopian stuff aside, this is about personal choices and how love doesn’t always make sense. America is illogically jealous at times and her decisions – bizarre. But I think Kiera Cass managed to capture just how intense the situation is and how mixing a competition with love drives you to do things you wouldn’t normally.

America has grown over the series. She’s still a little too perfect and thinks she is the best thing since sliced bread however there is comfort in her consistency and she is starting to fight for what she wants. As she works out what she wants in life (and who!) her decisions start to make more sense to me as a reader and I grew to admire her for her choices.

The action in this book tended to whiz past me and whilst it did drive the story forward, the focus of this book is mostly about the romance. And the romance is great. I loved how relationships became more intense and there are some love letters which I adored! There are hearts which break, couples formed and I was satisfied with just how everything went down at the end.

The One is a great ending to what has been an entertaining series. It’s full of romance and indecision (which can drive you mad at times!) and overall I’m glad I read it.

 

 Many thanks to Harper Collins Australia for the review copy