Well what can I say about this ? This thing that I have read. Why did I read it in the first place? Two friends of mine recommended it to me showing me the cover. And may I say, the COVER is just AMAZING it's sooo pretty, so me being me, I decided to pick it up and give it a try. I know, I know, one should never trust captivating covers but what could I do? 
 Okay, so the book starts off with an obnoxious girl called America Singer, yes ,if your wondering, she is ironically a singer. I had to suck that up and proceed. 
 America lives in Illea, a future version of America that was founded after the 3rd or 4th (I won't even bother to check) World War by some guy named Gregory Illea. The kingdom is subjected to a caste system, ranging from being an Eight till being a One. The financial conditions of people are related to their caste, as the caste number is higher, the more money one has. America's a Five. 
 America is beautiful girl, who gets annoyed when people tell her she's beautiful. I mean seriously? What's so wrong about being told you're beautiful?!! 
 "Please don't call me gorgeous. First my mom, then May, now you. It's getting on my nerves." By the way Aspen was looking at me, I could tell I wasn't helping my "I'm not pretty" case. 
 She's in love with Aspen, a Six. This forces their relationship to be a secret, since her mother wouldn't approve of her daughter loving someone from a lower rank. 
 Maxon is the son of the King and Queen of Illea, and since he's 19 years old now, a Selection should be held for him. The Selection is a competition through which Maxon is going to chose his wife. 35 girls are selected to compete. America forced by Aspen, who oh couldn't live with the guilt of the chance that America could have a better life than the one she wants with him and her mother, enters the selection and is chosen as one of the 35 girls. 
 Basically, America hates the Selection and acts like a whiny child during it. She's torn between Aspen and Maxon, whom she surprisingly starts to have feeling for. 
 What I don't understand is why do people like Maxon?!! He's a two-faced-idiot!! 
 I mean take a look at this: 
 "You are all dear to me. It is simply a matter of discovering who shall be the dearest." 
 Gross, that is horrible actually, not romantic at all, not even remotely acceptable. 
 About the world building, there's isn't actually much building here, more like you are just faced with the fact that there's a caste system that rules the Kingdom and that "Dear girls, history isn't something you study. It's something you should just know." Seriously?! I mean like it's not like I was born in Illea to know its history! Moreover, there's a brief mention of rebels, Southerens, and Northerens. Apparently, the Southerens are bad just because they attack the castle and want to end the Selection, while the Northerens are good because they're just good. 
 Anyways, overall this book wasn't that much interesting, it was okay. If someone asks me if I recommend it, I would probably say that if you're able to endure some idiocity and nonsense, a non dystopian labelled as one, then go ahead and read it. The only thing that kept me going is that I actually liked Aspen very much. He's just too... I don't know, but I really liked him.