Why did I even pick this book up. It still haunts me to this day and I finished it 5 month ago. I just never had the care to write a proper Review on it, even if I promised some people it would come. I just didnt want to rant to much and be to angry in my Review so maybe i needed the time away.

Everyone on my goodreads seem to have read this book, togetehr with some otehr books i never read but are seemed to be “classics”….*cough* harry potter, twilight, hunger games *cough*. Yes, I have not read these but I have a special reason to every book.

When it came to this book I remember when the first one came out in Swedish, i remember seeing the the cover and thinking it was beautiful. I also remember buying it for the library i worked at. And I did put it on my TBR further I didnt get.

I later read a “negative” review on this book that got dragged in the mud by the authors friends and other lovers to the book did the same. This is wrong. I hate when a Community dont accept everyone dont like the same books and accept we are all different. I dont agree with the “if you dont like what I like you are trash” thought process.

My friends on Goodreads started seeing the books I havent read which started questions their friendship with me. I myself dont understand how this would effect our relationship. I’m sorry I dont read the same books as you but sending me rude comments and dm’s wont make me want to read your favorit books more.

I decided to fool my “friends” on goodreads and marked harry potter, twilight, hunger games etc all as read. This stopped most problems. This book I didnt. And soon people started telling me I needed to read it because how dare I call myself a librarian if I havent read this book and not just a librarian but a school librarian. The Childrens Reading was in my hands and I didnt even care enough for this Classic Amazing teen book.

I got fed up and decided to quickly listen to it on my audiobook app. I didnt like it so i decided to read the second half of the book, didnt help much more for the story for me.

Most of you, im guessing, have read this book and I will give a very sloppy summery of the plot

35 Girls will compete in a Bachelor kind of setting to win Prince Maxons heart. They will all live in the Palace with the Prince and he will send Girls home, their will be a tv crew filimng things happening so the country could tag along. But the main charecter America isnt like other Girls. She dont want to do this selection and she has someone she loves but because of her family and because her love asks her to she apply anyway. And would you look at that she is selected to be one of the 35 Girls.

I will now list some things I didnt like about the book:

Character names : America Singer, Tuesday, Tiny, Aspen…..mhm….I wouldnt mind if there was a good explanation to these bad names…..

Male characters seem one sided and not taken from this Century, and this book should be in the future….and they act like they are from 1800?

Aspen gets mad because he isnt the provider but a cast below America so he feel like he cant give her what she wants in life. So it makes him angry when she gives him food, jobs and oppertunities etc. This reminds me of a destructive relationship i was in once and it was hell. Run America!

Prince Maxon doesn’t know what to do when women cry, like ok if you have never met a girl in your entire Life. But He has a mom and many maids. Does he seriously mean he never seen a woman cry and therefor freaks out when it suddenly happens, like its something that uncommon? He also knows nothing about his own country, nothing about the casts, rules or how bad the starvation is. How can he be of age to rule and not know the situation in his own country?

Blatant misogyny and girl hate : well the premise is that 35 girls will try to tear each other down over a man. So we can’t have a room full of girls without them gossiping, trashing and degrading each other. Jealousy fills the air as the women mock each other’s clothes and makeup. I also hate that its all about looks the entire book, we dont talk about who would make a good Queen, who has a good personality, who knows the country best. No, we talk about what color of a dress Maxon would like, we all give Girls lotions with vanilla because Maxon likes that smell and we teach the Girls how to eat with the right fork….these things are clearly more important. Then the author try so hard to make America stand out and be different because she doesnt care about these things….(makeup, looks, dresses etc).

The main character : America Singer is one of the most condescending, self-centered and judgmental girls I’ve ever read about. The amount of times she judges other girls and their behavior is just disgusting. She mocks the amount of lipstick a girl puts on, tells Maxon that other girls wouldn’t mind fucking him or throw themselves all over him, she judges the way the girls dress. Her self-righteousness is so goddamn intolerable that it almost makes me laugh. I mean somebody named America thinks everybody is wrong and she is right, everybody is stupid and she’s smart? The way she flaunts her modesty and simple dress and light makeup doesnt make her a better person. Like seriously, I don’t like makeup , but I don’t go around shitting on other people for putting it on either. Would she make a good queen? Would she treat people all alike? Yes, she is from a lower cast and that makes her judge and look down on girls from higher casts (because they had a better/easier life and shouldnt complain). But why should she have the right to be a dick?

The terrible world-building : many of my questions regarding the system are left unanswered. Like why has a futuristic world turned into monarchy, why would China invade over a massive debt, what is the point of the selection, what is the reasoning behind the class system.

What I want everyone to take away from this Review isnt that I hated this book, i Mean i did but that isnt the important part. I want everyone to stop forcing people to read things they dont want to read. And to tell people whats right and wrong to read. We are all entitled to read and enjoy whatever we want and nothing makes you a bad person/reader/librarian. It doesnt matter what you read or dont read.

I asked my best friends since 15 years back and she told me it didnt surprise her I didnt enjoy it. She said I usually enjoy more serious books and that this sounded to fluffy and unfinished for me. Maybe im just not the right reader. And if this story do sound good to you and you loved this book thats great.

So many questions twirl around in my head: Would I have liked the book if it didnt feel so forced on me? would I have enjoyed it as a teen and maybe im to old? Would I have accepted it as a light read if i was in a Reading slump?

But at the same time these are questions we will never know about.

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What is a book you read and didnt like but everyone else seemed to enjoy?

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Happy reading,

Elin Adler