Kiera. Freaking. Cass. What on earth have you done to me? I'm sitting here after finishing The Heir, trying my absolute best to sort out all of my emotions, but all I can do is stare at my screen. Before I take a huge amount of time explaining all of those tangled-up emotions, let me just say that I loved this book. 
 The Good Stuff 
 I was honestly shocked at how much I loved this book. I was absolutely fed up with Eadlyn by page three. I kept thinking "I know I criticized America in the first three books for her indecisiveness, but at least she was a likable character! Eadlyn is just spoiled, vain, pampered...etc." But I continued on and eventually I came to the frightful thought that I had so much in common with her. Maybe not so much with her absolute worst traits (I desperately hope) but more in her unwillingness to participate in the Selection and her reasons behind that reluctancy. 
 This is a girl who is bent on eventually becoming a woman in a powerful position, a woman who does not require a man to make her happy and successful. I admire strong females with that conviction, because I personally hold those same beliefs. I've never seen marriage to be a part of my future, I've never really considered it at all. I've always been driven by my desire to be successful in my career and I value my independence more than I let on to others. Honestly, I don't think I have ever really understood these beliefs that I hold as well as I did after reading this book. I feel like this book has sort of opened my eyes to a few of the reasons I do hold on to those beliefs and has maybe left me questioning whether or not I should change my way of thinking a bit. If anything, I loved this book for those reasons alone! 
 But, I also loved this book because I enjoyed the story and the characters. I have acquired an attachment to a few of the Selected guys, as well as to a few of the others...like Ahren. Ugh, a mini Maxon if there ever was one, which obviously had me loving him from the moment he was introduced. Even more than that, he's a wonderful brother, which also had me loving him even more. I'm torn between love and depression at seeing the main characters from the last three books older and more in the background. In a way, I feel like I would have been completely content to have everything end with The One. But on the other hand, I'm so appreciative to get to see a little more of their story. 
 The Not-So-Good Stuff 
 As I mentioned before, Eadlyn is not exactly my favorite character. She has many, many flaws, but I feel like those will be addressed in the next book. 
 I was worried before I started reading this book because the last three books allowed us to really get to know Maxon and America. Despite thirty-five ladies vying for the attention of the prince, we still got to know our two protagonists because of the point-of-view through which everything was written. This book on the other hand is written from the opposite side of the Selection process, through Eadlyn's point-of-view. This gives us a wonderful opportunity to understand Eadlyn and the royal family better, but it does absolutely nothing for the Selected gentlemen. If one of those guys is going to be a main part of the ending to the series, I would be heartbroken to know that I don't have as much of a grasp on his character as I do everyone else's! I know there was really no way to avoid this problem, but I still wish we could get to know the Selected guys a bit better than what was given to us. I have a tiny sense of a few of the main guys, but I would love more... 
 This may be extremely nit-picky, but I absolutely hated it when the guys were called "boys". I know they range from about 18 to 20 years old, but every time they were called boys I couldn't help but picture 15 to 16 year olds. It just gave me a weird picture to work with in my mind while reading. 
 And lastly, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME WITH THAT ENDING! You're seriously going to leave it at that big of a cliffhanger? Like...seriously?!?! 
 My Overall Thoughts About The Heir 
 I'm an emotional wreck, obviously. I loved this book, but I had a few issues with it. I have quite a few theories about how the entire series will end, which any one of them will make me quite happy. I am dying for the next book to be released, but I will be absolutely heartbroken once the series comes to a close. I hate ending wonderful things.