I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this book, another review had said it was a dystopian version of "The Bachelor". I usually can't stand dystopians but when I saw that it was available from my library (and with no wait list!) I decided to give it a go. I am really glad that I read it, it wasn't perfect for me but it was a really nice read. I would probably describe it more as "The Bachelor" meets "Cinderella" (the Disney version, not just the general idea - there was even a dress ripping scene!). 
 I am still a bit confused on the whole dystopian thing, I honestly think the book would have worked better had it just claimed to be a fantasy and set in a new country with all of these unique rules. Unless the whole changing history thing comes in later, I'm not really sure why the author stretched to make this new version of the world. 
 Overall the writing was good, and I did like most of the characters. The initial scenes between Maxon and America were great and made me smile. I didn't feel as though America was too stereotypical, I think that she had moments where she wasn't the nicest person on the planet, and then moments where she made up for it. I wish Maxon had been developed a bit more, right now he came off as the perfect prince, I think I would find him a bit more believable if he had a flaw or two. Celeste actually confused me a bit, normally the 'mean girl' character tends to have a following to back her up and in this case Celeste didn't - it was kind of hard to understand how she could continue to be so horrible without anyone mindlessly backing her up, but I suppose she had fooled Maxon well enough that he sufficed. Nonetheless, it just seemed a bit odd - but that is really just me and it didn't affect how I felt about the story, just something that I was thinking about. 
 The main reason this was not five stars for me (other than general minor annoyances, like how Celeste was a complete stereotype or how Aspen dumped America and then assumed that she would be desperate to jump straight back into a relationship with him) was that it did not feel like a complete story. The only conclusion we received was America deciding that she was choosing herself over either one of the two guys (which quite frankly came out of nowhere for me, she spent so long being herself it was never really a question of her losing herself . . . other than it being a cliche, I'm not really sure where that 'conclusion' was supposed to take me). I think the ending really made this feel like a written version of "The Bachelor" because instead of an actual ending I felt like we were given the end of a tv episode and told to tune in next week (or whenever the next book will be released).