The Selection by Kiera Cass

I've been interested in reading this book for a long time.  Of course it has such a pretty cover, so that pulled me in at first.  Then I heard lots of great reviews of it.  I guess there are negative ones out there, but I didn't see them.  And I don't plan to go look for them either!  I have to say that I loved this book!  As I've seen it posted before, this is basically The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor.  In a good way though.
This is definitely dystopian.  This society has castes, that are numbered, and if you are in a caste, it is almost impossible to get out of it.  The main character is America Singer, and she is in the level 5 caste, which is for musicians and artists.  This society has also condensed all holidays into two or three a year, which makes it harder for this caste to make money because about the only time they are hired is to perform at holiday events or make gifts for holidays.  Whenever the current prince gets to a certain age, the way that they find a wife for him is through the selection.  35 girls are chosen from around the country, in all levels of the castes, to compete to win his heart.  In fact they go live at the palace and get to know him, in a very Bachelor tv show  style.
America doesn't want to go though, she is in love with a boy from her home, he is a level below her, but she loves him just the same, and he seems to love her.  But her mother wants her to apply when she gets the invitation.  Her mother of course hopes to see her daughter become the next princess.  Not to mention that while she is there her family will be compensated.  And it turns out that she will automatically be higher level in the castes even if she isn't chosen.  When America talks to her boyfriend, Aspen, he wants her to go as well.  She's shocked at first, but he says he doesn't want her to not try something because of him.  And then, one night, he breaks up with her  when he feels she's kind of taken his manliness in a way, because he wants to provide for her, not have her give him things because she is a higher caste.  America is upset because based on something Aspen's mother had said, she had been sure he wanted to propose to her.  So they end it, and America ends up getting selected to go.  When she gets to the palace, she gets a makeover, so this reminded me of The Hunger Games, because like Katniss she doesn't want to be made to look different.  And this seems to work for her.  There are all kinds of rules about how they must act and how they can interact with the Prince.  The first night there, America gets claustrophobic, but they're not allowed outside without guards because of rebels attacking.  So she runs out, and finally while the guards don't want to let her out, Prince Maxon shows up and allows her to go.  She yells at him, and basically does nothing to endear herself to him.  To me, I think Maxon is kind of wimpy seeming at first.  He gets better, and you like him more as you go on.  But there is always that little doubt in your head, like I'm sure for the girls on The Bachelor, that you don't know what is really going on with him and the other girls.  But he seems to like America, even when she can't seem to like him back, or at least not that way.
We don't know a lot about the rebels, and that makes this more of a dystopian book to me in a way, because we don't exactly know what they want, and what is going on is supposed to be what people thought was best.  So I'm hoping to learn more in the 2nd book about what all happened to get the society to where it is now, and how that will relate to America and Aspen, and even Prince Maxon.
I've had a great time the last 2 days at the Romantic Times Convention taking place here in my hometown, and last night I was able to get an autographed copy of the book, which will replace the copy I purchased with the gift card I won from The Reader's Den.  Now I loaned my autographed copy to my sister, so I can't show you the autograph, and unfortunately I didn't get my picture taken with her today at the book fair, I forgot to go back and get it I think.  Darn it!

Delirium Stories: Hana, Annabel, and Raven by Lauren Oliver

A lot of times the little 1.5 or 2.5 stories that authors make available are only in ebook format.  I'd assume these originally were as well, but I was excited to see they were all put together into one actual paper book.  I bought this with the Amazon gift card that I won from The Reader's Den.  And I'm glad to say it was definitely a good way to spend part of that prize!  I also often feel that the little in between stories are a waste of time, and while $1.99 or whatever the small price they cost seems fair, on occasions I am left feeling like I wasted that money.  As much as I love the Wither series by Lauren DeStefano, the short novella, Seeds of Wither, was actually kind of a disappointment.  There really wasn't that much new in it.  All three of the stories in this book though were 5 star stories in my opinion.  And so I'll review them each on their own.

Hana - This is the story of Lena's best friend from the first book, Delirium, it is considered 1.5 in the series, although it's not really in between the first and second books, just during the first one.  But I love hearing about their friendship from Hana's side.  To see things from her perspective really opens up the story.  Even makes me want to go back and re-read the first book to fit in my new thoughts as I read the story.  Whereas in Delirium, I actually didn't really like Hana.  Without this story it was hard to understand her.  This story really makes you like her, or it did me.  You even feel sorry for her and hope things could be better for her.

Annabel - Now we get to meet Lena's mother and what led up to her being put in the prison cell.  It is 0.5 in the series.  Learning how her "delirium" actually even worked when she got her "matches" so that she was able to marry the man she loved, even if he would never be able to actually love her like she loved him.  We learn about what her sister, Lena's aunt was like as she grew up.  Again, another emotional story that really added to the story.  Not just a little, but so much to learn about the world before, where all this began.  A great beginning to the series.  Although I think it is good to have read it after reading the actual stories, to make it all more emotional.

Raven - The 3rd and final short story, counts as 2.5 in the series.  Now of course, it does go back a little, and kind of meets up with the 2nd book, Pandemonium, but it also ties in to the end and I believe leads us up to read book 3, although I haven't read it yet!  I can't wait to read it, but no money, and since I have so many other things to read, it's on the list for maybe a library check out this summer.  I don't remember a ton about Raven from the 2nd book, but again, this story really helped to meet her and get to know her.  I do remember Blue from the 2nd book, and so reading about her and Raven was really emotional.  Just another viewpoint that gave so much more information about the story, a whole other aspect of a character.  And not just "extra" but more to the story.

If you're going to pick short novellas to spend the money on, these are definitely worth it.  All 3 of them.  I wouldn't leave any of them out.  If only all novellas had this much.  Really the only one I can remember that I felt had this much to it was in The Goddess Test series by Aimee Carter.  I'll keep trying them though!

Stacking the Shelves April 14, 2013

As I mentioned last week, I've been really getting a lot of stuff lately!  Plus, as I get e-galleys I'll try to start writing them down and posting for this meme, sponsored by Tynga's Reviews, as well.  I also mentioned last week about how I won a $50 gift card from The Reader's Den. Well, now I have all the stuff, books and a t-shirt, that I ordered!  So here we go, all the stuff I got this week!

First, from Netgalley, I got an e-galley of The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau.

Second, from Edelweiss, I got Project Cain by Geoffrey Girard.  

Finally, here are the four books that I ordered with my Amazon Gift Card prize:  The Selection by Kiera Cass, Delirium Stories:  Hana, Annabel, and Raven by Lauren Oliver, Soul Screamers Vol. 2 by Rachel Vincent, and Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.

And the one other thing I got with my Amazon Gift Card was a t-shirt, in honor of my one of my favorite tv shows, The Walking Dead, and my favorite character on that, Daryl Dixon.

So, a pretty good haul for me this week!  What did you get this week?