The Betrothed

"*** under further reflection I have lowered the rating down *** <br/><br/>2 -<br/><br/>Most of the book is written Kiera Cass's formula. It reminds me of her "The Selection" series all too much. But then pages 224 on happened and gave the story some much needed variety. For the first section of the book, I would rate it a solid 1.5 stars. <br/><br/>I was quite disappointed in how the royalty acted, politics, etiquette, and in the commentary of the main character. <br/>• Royal actions: The author needed to brush up on her history and read books about and by royalty. That would have made it more bearable. <br/>• Politics: Little to none. If the author would have included more, it would be much more interesting. They were included in such a brief way too. She just really brushed aside worldbuilding in favor to her “story.”<br/>• Etiquette: Little to none. What there is doesn't match the setting. Author needed to do research. <br/>• MC commentary: 100% unneeded. She is rude to everything that she doesn't approve of. People from other countries, foreign clothing, even her own friends. One of the worst parts about this book is this. <br/><br/>I like two things about the main character. <br/>1) Her name, Hollis. <br/>2) After a long while of thinking, I finally decided that her choice to tell people what she did after the crowning ceremony was a good choice. <br/><br/>I don't like the main character Hollis. She's rude, spoiled, and racist. She rubs me the wrong way. The king is little better. The foreigner love interest is sort of interesting, but wasn’t fleshed out enough. <br/><br/>The writing style still needs some work. It is written to middle school girls, even though the content within should probably go for an older age group. <br/><br/>I separated the story into two sections, the first of which being "The Selection" near replica. The second is the new stuff.<br/><br/>Section 1) Fluffy. A lot of times that were pretty pointless in the long run. Hard to get through. <br/><br/>Section 2) Action. The start of character development. Actually interesting and new stuff. <br/><br/>Thanks to the second section, I will be reading the second book. I’m not sure if it will be any better though."

"The Betrothed was a little better than okay. I expected more, having loved the Selection series, but this was not as good. Unfortunately, I didn't connect with the characters (Hollis, Jamison, and Silas) or this works/setting as much. I prefer the Selection series but I still love the author."

"Book 1 Betrothed Duology - When you have a chance to marry the king but your heart has over plans! "

"I absolutely loved this book. The whole duology really the first book was so sad but I loved the story highly recommend."

"It was slow at first, there wasn’t much happening. However the twist at the end is what made me be able to start to be intrigued with the world and interested to see what would happen next! "

"An easy read and fun story! I love a good romance and this did not disappoint. The ending was wild and unexpected, but the cliffhanger made me excited to pick up the next book and see what was going to happen "

"This book in super short and has an easy to follow plot!! The characters aren’t complicated but at the same time aren’t flat, and all in all great if you need to get your mind somewhere or off something :)"

"Great book. More of a slow read compared to the other Cass books but it was amazing and I almost cried because of the end and how family centered it was "

"This book is perfect for those who liked the selection, the school for good and evil, delirium, or frostblood. Royalty that is perfectly characterized and plot twists I truly never saw coming (rare for me tbh with so many ya being predictable) definitely worth the read and it is beautifully clean. Any teen or young adult will love this book. "

"The plot twist was unexpected, but I didn’t care or feel anything due to the lack of connection made to the characters prior. I wish there was more development in that part. I had a hard time empathizing for Hollis. Again if there was more development of the characters, I would have understood her decisions more. I’m hoping the second will be better (another comment said it was). However, I was not hooked by the ending to run out the door and and read the next one."