I am really struggling to review these books individually rather than just reviewing the whole series as a whole because I read them all within like a four day period. Which normally means I was loving every second and couldn't get enough and just needed to keep reading. But from my 2 star rating you know that's not where this is going. 
 I have never been more confused about how I felt about a book series. I do not think I ever truly understood the concept of having a love/hate relationship with a book until I read these. 
 The basic premise is that in order to find a princess for the prince the royal family hosts The Selection, in which 35 girls from across the country compete for the heart of the prince. Of course, America Singer is different. She ends up in The Selection unintentionally. She has no interest in the prince, as she is in love with a boy one caste below her, named Aspen. 
 I really liked this book at first. While there was nothing particularly special about the premise, I did think it would make for a fun read. I mean, it is obvious from the beginning how a series like this ends, but you still want to know what happens to get the characters to that point. And as soon as I met Prince Maxon I was in love with him, whatever America thought about him. 
 I also enjoyed getting to know the other girls participating in The Selection. I was worried it was going to take the simplistic route of them all hating each other from the get-go, and some did, but most of them were willing to at least try to be civil with the girls they were going to be spending so much time with over the next months. It was nice to see a book where even though the whole point was to compete with each other they still managed to form some friendships. A lot of books struggle to offer real female friendships even when the premise doesn't put them in competition with each other. So that was cool. 
 This is going to be a common criticism across the series for me, but even from this book I felt like the rebels should have been playing a larger role. It was obvious that they had an important piece to play in the overall story, but they were hardly dealt with in this book. I realize that they were meant to be developing in the background, but I still feel like they could have been brought to the fore a bit more. 
 To be honest this book as a standalone was alright. Nothing special, but a fun quick read when you're in the mood for a cute romance. The internal conflict facing America- still being in love with Aspen, wanting to get over him, curious about the Prince- is all realistic and well portrayed. And her relationship with Maxon is simultaneously cute and hilarious. Reading it you can't help but want them to end up together purely based on their dynamics together. It was their strange, adorable relationship that made me so eager to keep reading into the second book. And if I had not read the second book before writing this review, I honestly would probably have rated this book a bit higher. My love/hate relationship didn't really begin until The Elite, so this book is sort of being punished for that one disappointing me, which probably isn't fair, but what're you gonna do.