In The One, the third book of The Selection series and the final installment of the original trilogy, Kiera Cass has managed to write a book that I loved and also frustrates me to my core. While The Elite frustrated me because of things that seemed meaningless, this book frustrated me because there was almost too much happening.
The Selection by Kiera Cass is a dystopian fantasy novel that follows America Singer as she is put into the Selection, a contest of 35 girls competing for the prince’s heart. I have been putting off reading this book for a long time because of its heavily mixed reviews, but I’m happy to say that I was not disappointed.
This coming-of-age novel is about Steve Harmon, a sixteen-year-old teenager, who is on trial for allegedly murdering a drugstore owner during a failed robbery. He challenges the assumption that he must be a Monster because he is an African-American male on trial for murder. In order to cope and redefine his identity, he distances himself from others and journals his experiences in the form of a screenplay.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi is the story of a unique and talented group of teenagers and the eclectic leader who holds them together. The characters are already a seasoned group of treasure hunters by the time the story begins, but the mission that the book sends them on is an important one. The acquisition of this ancient artifact has the power to alter each of their individual lives for the better.
The book follows the life of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in poverty in a dystopian country called Panem, governed by the rich and cruel Capitol. She, along with a boy Peeta whom she kind of knows, is selected to compete in the Hunger Games, a life-or-death battle between twenty-three other teenagers where only one can survive. Katniss must balance surviving the Games and determining the seemingly endless limits of the Capitol’s cruelty, all while maintaining a relationship with Peeta that may or may not even exist.
Always and Forever, Lara Jean, Jenny Han’s final novel in her To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, provided the perfect ending to the series; however, it still lacked compared to the first book. In this book, Lara Jean and Peter deal with the prospect of college and all that comes with it, especially being in a long-distance relationship and having different schedules.
Elizabeth Berg’s The Story of Arthur Truluv (2017) is a realistic fiction novel telling the interweaving stories of Maddy Harris, Arthur “Truluv” Moses, and Lucille Howard. One day, while Maddy is visiting the cemetery to escape her school lunchroom, she runs into Arthur, who is visiting his wife’s grave; they become fast friends and join forces to combat their loneliness –Maddy’s from the estrangement of her father and boyfriend and Arthur’s from the death of his wife.
P.S. I Still Love You is the second book in Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series. Lara Jean and Peter are officially together, for real this time, but things get complicated when one of Lara Jean’s past loves shows up, and Peter can’t stay away from his ex-girlfriend, Genevieve. John Ambrose, Peter’s childhood best friend and one of Lara Jean’s past loves, finally got her letter. John and Lara Jean start to talk and begin to become close.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is a contemporary YA romance written by Jenny Han. The story follows Lara Jean, a girl who hasn’t had much experience with romance but suddenly winds up in a fake relationship. Lara Jean wrote letters for every boy she had ever loved; they were meant just for her, but one day, they were mailed out.
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a wonderful futuristic sci-fi story about a fascist world full of censorship and where happiness is valued over thinking and free will. The book offers an insight on what our world might become, and even though the book was published in 1953, the problems that it presents are even more present today.
