My first status update for this read: "Let's hope my favourite cover of the series becomes my favourite read of the series." It totally delivered on that front! I finished The Elite feeling a little disappointed but not so much so that I wanted to forgo continuing with this series, and I am so glad that I didn't. I felt like there was a vast improvement in the plot development and pacing in this book, compared to the previous installments in the series and, for the first time, I genuinely cared for the outcome of the myriad of relationships present. America is still a flawed and problematic protagonist and the romantic triangles and back and forth will they/wont they still consume much of the pages with, in my opinion, often repetitive and superfluous dialogue but for all that, I still liked it! 
 This book can definitely be described as a guilty pleasure read. There is so much that I should dislike about this... and yet I can forgive it all its flaws. It is reality TV transformed in to book form: it may be a mindless, passive pleasure and, sure, it may be a little trashy but it sure is one hell of a good time!