This is such a guilty pleasure read! 
 The Selection is clearly targeted toward the YA group (12-18 years). Though I would say it's more 12-16 years. 
 The best explanation for this book would be "The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games". 
 It is written very simple, the dialogue is extremely cheesy and I often cringed at the awkwardness and the unbelievable conversations. 
 The plot is way too smooth. The characters are not that developed and I really think "America Singer" - the most ridiculous name I ever encountered in literature ( and guess what her occupation is. Yes, she is a singer...) - is a very unlikeable character and clearly arrogant. I mean it's always written like she is not that aware of her beauty but she clearly is and the author decided to let us know about her incredible beauty on countless occasions. 
 Prince Maxon is a very nice character. I don't know if it's a facade but up until now he is very basic lovely and nice to our female lead. A little bit boring but way better than Aspen the other love interest. 
 The love triangle is an aspect I could go without but it's there and let's see what she makes of it. But I'm pretty sure it won't be of the surprising type. 
 Another think that is weird is that the story is basically "The Bachelor" and so much reminds me of The Hunger Games that I think it's bold that she didn't even conceal it better. There is this guy who moderates the Election and he is clearly Caesar Flickerman. And this box system reminds me too much of the districts as well. (I know it's a common Hindu thing but still...) 
 But despite all those things and my opinion that this is actually not very well written there is this thing I can't quite explain. There is this phenomenon I can only call "guilty pleasure". Just like "The Bachelor" this is a book that is quite entertaining and I can't help wanting to know how the story progresses and how everything ends up. 
 I'll definitely continue because the ending had such a big cliffhanger and yes, the author definitely knows how to make things interesting. 
 For all the German readers out there: I can't recommend the German audiobook. The reader was so terrible boring and unenthusiastic. It clearly made America more unlikeable and she was such a bad choice for the narration. I would recommend reading it for yourself or if you want then bare the narration.