I should have known from the blurb that this wasn't going to work for me. 
 The Selection meets Reign in this dazzling trilogy of interwoven novels about three girls on a quest for freedom and true love. 
 Really. This is my own fault. What did I think this book was going to be? I couldn't bear the aching stupidity of The Selection. Reign, the TV show, was abominably dumb, and more a parade of pretty prom dresses than anything resembling historical fact. And for once, the book was true to the blurb, sadly so. And in fact, this book is more an homage to fashion than a book with an actual plot. 
 Some of the dresses, particularly the daytime ones, were of purest white, made of delicate fabrics that rivaled those I'd worn in my former life. The evening and ball gowns were radiant confections of velvet and satin, done in gleaming white and glittering silver, embellished with jewels and metallic lace. 
 This hurts. It really does. Richelle Mead was one of my favorite authors, but her previous few books have done nothing for me (and let's not even mention the bullshittery ending of the Bloodlines series) and I have regretfully knocked her off my favorite author list. 
 This book is about a noblewoman who runs away to escape an arranged marriage - only she's kind of dumb, because in running away to escape that marriage, she ends up in a place where the "men outnumber women three to one." These men are fucking desperate for pretty wives that they're willing to take servant girls and My Fair Lady them into perfection. 
 "...the Glittering Court has taken it upon itself to create a cohort of young women willing to transform. We take lovely girls like Ada here, girls of common birth, girls with no family--or maybe too much family--and we train them up to greatness." 
 So running away from one marriage into another. Out of the pot and into the fire, as they would say. Not the brightest girl, our Adelaide. Even so, she finds herself the object of desire. The "diamond." 
 "I don't want to risk losing her to someone who might woo her with a lot of flash and no substance. I'll put out a price to make it worth your while for removing her early--one I might not be willing to match if I have to wait. One thousand gold if you do the deal right now." 
 Some of the girls near me gasped. There'd never been a sum like that offered in the Glittering Court's history. It was double my starting fee. 
 Wow. Much expensive. Very special. 
 The book is as boring as it sounds. It is 416 excruciating pages full of proper girly training, dressing up, and checking out cute rich guys. I could include quotes, but there are no notable quotes. The writing was dull and uninspired. The setting is left unbuild, it's a pseudo-historical setting with some made-up religious stuff and that's it. No effort is made to give this world a sense of reality. The romance was dull, the love interest completely lackluster. It wasn't even one of those so bad it's good books, it was just plain old boring.