Thursday, May 16, 2013

The Prince ( The Selection # 0.5 ) by Kiera Cass


RATING : 2.5 Stars

The Prince is a novella by Kiera Cass and I didn't enjoy as much I did with The Selection. The Prince was really hyped up and  the synopsis seemed to be intriguing, but quite frankly it does not add much to the story. The events before the selection has been explained and we could get a clear picture of the King and Prince Maxon.

To see my review of The Selection click here. I liked The Selection and Prince Maxon has become my favorite character but this adds very little to his character other than his weakness. It starts with Daphne, the French princess also his closest friend  confesses her love to Maxon on his nineteenth birthday and he is caught up by the thought of Daphne and the selection. Maxon is quite uptight and that is how he was raised. Maxon, eventually decides to go on with the selection. 

On the contrary, I was surprised to see how America and other girls were thinking of Maxon's reaction which was completely away from the truth. I was taken aback by the King's part in the selection. Nevertheless, The Prince explains Maxon's point of view about the selection, his cogitations and feelings towards the selected girls. If you would like to see more real of Maxon, The Prince is a good short story for you. 

Share your thoughts on this novella and I would love to them.

Monday, May 13, 2013

The Selection by Kiera Cass ( The Selection # 1)



RATING : 3.75 Stars

I got The Selection by Kiera Cass on a whim to read during my study break. Quite frankly I started with trepidation because of the all the mixed reviews and it's a Dystopia. Dystopia has never been my friend. I surmise I should change my thoughts towards Dystopian Genre after reading The selection. In my opinion, it's an amalgamation of The Hunger Games and The Bachelor (Tv series).  Although i had certain issues with the story, I was completely swept by the plot line. I liked the world Kiera Cass created. I ended up giving The Selection 3.75 of 5 stars rating.

The Selection is the story of selecting a Princess from thirty five girls(one from each province), set in the Dystopian society of Illea. Selecting the Princess will be decided by Prince Maxon (with the help of his family and advisors). Prince Maxon, hands down, an adorable and handsome person I'd ever met in my life. I'm totally swoon over Prince Maxon. *blushes*.

The dystopian world of Illea has been divided into "Castes". The Castes go from 1 through 8, 1 being the royal family and 8 are seen as scum of the earth. The protagonist America Singer, falls into the caste 5 (artists) and she is a singer. One girl from each province will be picked out at random to participate in the selection. America is one among the thirty five girls selected and she is forced by her mom to enter the selection and that means turning her back on her clandestine love with Aspen.

You might be wondering why 3.75 of 5 stars. Lets get to that now. Quite frankly I didn't like Aspen and I still don't. When Aspen and America get all lovey-dovey, I wanted to shout STOP, protesting their mawkish behavior. Also it was slow to start with but it did get better halfway through. Nevertheless of the qualms I liked the story because of Prince Maxon's  demeanor towards everyone especially with the selected girls. I'm Team Maxon all the way. There was a little twist in the story towards the end which i didn't expect and I assume it will all be answered later in the series. The ending was a cliff hanger.

All in all, The Selection was a good read. I would be picking up the sequel, The Elite soon. If you have enjoyed the Tv series The Bachelor I'm quite sure you'll like this book. Although you don't like Dystopia I would suggest you to give it a shot.

Sunday, May 5, 2013

STAY by Deb Caletti



RATING : 5 Stars

I sat down to type out my review but I was completely out of words to describe the poignancy and beauty of Stay by Deb Caletti. Caletti makes the characters incredibly real and relatable. Very rarely I come across a book that strikes a chord within me. This book will Stay with me forever and definitely will go to the top tier of my favorite books. I let Stay to saturate in me and devoured every part of it.  

What do you call an intimate relationship? - Intense? but do you know that it can sometimes  turn out to Obsession? Well.. Stay is about abusive relationship between Clara and Christian.  Often we relate this type of  relationship as physically abusive, but Caletti brings out that it can also be purely Emotional.

It starts out with Clara and her father moving to a small seaside town to escape her stalker ex-boyfriend. As the story is said in retrospect, we could look through Clara's life at the time of her relationship with Christian. Clara meets Christian across a crowded basketball game. Things between them escalates into Obsession quickly. Christian is the kind of a guy who thinks he is being protective, he is but he isn't. Do you get what I mean? Protectiveness turns more like controlling. Clara is terrified of Christian and tries to escape. Furthermore Clara meets interesting people at the seaside town and their bond with Clara is brilliantly explained.  

What makes this novel endearing? - It's Bobby Oates, Clara's Father and of course the footnotes. Footnotes are funny and I loved it. The openness between Father-Daughter relationship and their witty-banters are spectacular. I wish I had such an awesome relationship with my Father too.. Caletti's writing style is fantastic and has a poetic flow to it. I would like to quote a few. 


" We can't get so wrapped up in our own misconceptions that we miss the simple beauty of the truth."


" Fate is a shape-shifter. It is the kindest and most generous entity imaginable, laying out more goodness than a person deserves, and then it shrinks and curls and forms into something grotesque. You think something is one thing, but then it´s another."


I felt Clara's relationship with Finn was rushed. That was the only qualm . Nevertheless, this book took me on an emotional roller coaster. Are you the kind of a person who would like to sit by the sea with the lapping and sloshing of water and enjoy a good book? Then Stay is for you. I warn you it's not an easy beach read. 

I know it's not more of a review but I can't go any further. It is a poignant novel. Without a doubt I would recommend Stay by Deb Caletti to anyone, particularly teen girls. 
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