The prose is bland, and the heroine is a bit of a by-the-numbers spunky redhead, but much ballyhooed YA dystopian bestseller "The Selection" is a fun read. I would characterize it as "Sweet Valley Dystopia." With princes! And princesses! In the FUTURE! But there's no future tech. Oh well, we can't have everything. 
 The world-building is a little goofy, but at least the author tries, and it is arguably better than other YA dystopias I've read lately. And there's the dreaded YA love triangle. It goes on and on (and still goes on in the sequel), and that makes it drag a bit, but at least Cass tries to work the triangle into the plot, and the two guys are head to head for the most part, which gives the proceedings a little bit of suspense. 
 So I'd give this 3 1/2 stars. It's fun fluff that will while away a few hours, and who can ask for anything more nowadays?