The One by Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection
Genres: Young Adult, Romance, Dystopian
Maturity Level: 3+
View on Goodreads
Rating: ⋆⋆⋆
The time has come for one winner to be crowned.
When she was chosen to compete 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 threats 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.
As far as creating and end for this story, The One was perfectly adequate. But all of the problems and poor writing that plagued this series were still there.
In particular I’m finally over how inappropriately everyone reacts to everything. They laugh hysterically about things that aren’t funny, fight about things that aren’t upsetting, and make-up for no reason at all. However, characters fail to be upset by things that are actually upsetting, like being shot.
At least it was less frustrating than The Elite, which had almost no redeeming qualities. The One finally got into some interesting politics, with the rebels finally making an appearance, and Maxon really came into his own as a potential leader. I was also relieved that America finally decided who she liked, so I could start to become interested in the love story.
My biggest complaint would be that the ending was both contrived and abrupt. One second it’s all going horribly wrong, then there’s a surprise attack and a bunch of people are randomly dead, and everyone has completely changed their minds about everything for no reason at all. But at least it ended the right way.
I do not recommend this series to anyone looking for high quality YA literature, but if you want something quick and fun, this series does the job.
Never Not Reading 
This is a good review. Despite the problematic train wreck that was this series, I could not look away. It was much like the few years that I spent completely wrapped up in watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, despite it just being a whole lot of stupid unnecessary drama.
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I think reading a low-quality YA series from time to time is good for your soul. Like watching a stupid rom-com.
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That is very true. And it also really makes you think about why you love the high-quality reads you find.
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