Another Little Add On...

The Favorite is #2.6 in the Selection series.  I have gone on about these novella .897 before, and I think most of them are just money makers.  This one was okay.   I am more generous with it than I might be, had I not liked the series so very much.  But I listened to this one because I didn't have anything else to listen to last night.  If you love the Selection, go head.  If you are "meh" or just "it's good" about it, it probably isn't worth it.

A Diamond in My Crown

Emmylou Harris sang this and has been one of my favorite songs.  Of course, that has nothing to do with The Crown, the final installment in The Selection by Kiera Cass.
I thought that this was a much more satisfying end to the series than The Heir was.  Which makes sense, because The Heir was not the end!  But I don't think I knew that at the time!
No...I just read the blog about it and I did know that it was not the end...huh...well, it sounds like I didn't like The Heir so much...but I did like The Crown more!

So that is why...

A novella from The Selection series.  This was kind of disturbing at first.  This is told from the POV of the Queen Amberly, Prince Maxton's mother.  It was hard to take her submission to the one-day-to-be King.  This is her selection story.
But then I read in goodreads, someone say that not all relationships were healthy in real life and this story wasn't meant to be a guide to relationships.
Looking at it from that way, I did find it helpful to see how the King and Queen before Maxton and America came to be the people they are.
If you like the Selection and can understand that this isn't a model of healthy love, then it is interesting to get the Queen's and King's POV.

Since

I have been off of my obsessive reading kick for a while, I didn't even know that Kiera Cass had written another book in the Selection series.  The Heir is number four.  The Queen is a short story that I didn't know existed, either.
I think it is time to surrender and change my goodreads goal. There is no way I will make 300 this year.  I am cutting it in half.
I can't say I liked The Heir all that much.  While I loved the Selection, this one just didn't do it for me.  And the ending was pretty irritating.  I will read the next one though...and yes, there will be next one, for sure.

How I waited and waited

for The One.  The Selection was a great series.  I have read some criticism that this final book was too rushed and I see where folks are coming from, but truly, I can't complain about this series at all.  I am glad it ended with three books instead of being dragged on into a fourth book.  And I feel like it was much better than say, the Matched series, which really could have been done in one book, two at the most.   It also wasn't too short, like Bumped!  But I loved Bumped, I did.  So this was kind of like Baby Bear's porridge, chair and bed, in Goldilocks' opinion.  It was just right!

To Hold Us Over...

As I have said before, little mini-books like The Guard are great ways to hold yourself older until the sequel comes!  Team Maxon all the way, baby!  This novella made me feel that way even more so.  Aspen is okay...but just okay.

While I'm Waiting

for the final book in The Selection, it was nice to read The Prince, told from the POV of the incredible Prince Maxon. 

Nail-Biting!

The Elite was so suspenseful that I had to skip to the end to see what happened, but I went back and read the parts I skipped and, even though I knew the end already- I STILL found myself in suspense!  It was crazy good!  I admit that mostly I am so drawn to this book because I love Prince Maxon and I wish that I could marry him.  I want America and he to be together forever!  I can't wait until the final one! 

The Bachelor- Dystopian Style!

The Selection was recommended to me by my very dear friend and amazing librarian and reader and human, Kara.  And man, man I loved it!  I've never been able to watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette because of work, but I've caught bits and pieces and have found it to be great guilty-pleasure tv and so this idea of a future US, which isn't the US anymore, but a country that is made up of parts North America.  It is the kingdom of Illea and the crown prince, Maxon is to find his wife in The Selection- thirty-five girls from the kingdom come and compete for his love.  There is drama and intrigue!  The story is told from the POV of America, a girl from one of the lower classes, Class Five, who isn't really in the game with her whole heart because she loves a Class Six from her neighborhood.  Great stuff and I can't wait to read the next!