The Betrothed

This book has a great mix of romance and mystery mixed into it, although the romance in this book is was a bit more love at first sight/love from afar it all came together at the end. Not only do we get to read about a love story we get to see the character development of a young woman who goes from enjoying the luxuries of the palace to a woman who understands her position and battles to change the problems within her political system. Although the end of this book was quite heartbreaking I was satisfied to see Hollis create a new beginning out of a sad ending. I look forward to reading the second book, ( the betrayed ) and also recommend other books by Kiera Cass! Such as the selection, because her stories create captivating stories with plots that plan our wonderful books!!!!

Very open ended with its conclusion as to Hollis’ journey but I liked that. I feel like it was a bit fast paced (or maybe I just read too quick) but I loved it overall.

I don’t ever leave reviews on books but I wanted to leave one for this book. I LOVED the selection series, so much I have re-read it over 10 times. This book was boring, didn’t make sense in storyline, and was very childish. The main character seems dull and very naive. I’m very disappointed in this book. If this ends up being a series, I hope the next few books are way better! This was very rushed.

the story was great, as they always are with this author and i loved the main character !! (plus i would watch the heck out of a movie) but i felt like it should have been stretched into multiple books !! the middle to end of the book felt so rushed, and readers didn’t have enough time to process what was happening and to feel the emotions with the main character- i didn’t fall in love with the love interest with her

I can’t say much without spoiling the story except to say that the plot is bland. The story centers on Hollis Brite, a young woman torn between a king and a commoner. The majority of the book centers on her internal conflict but she lacks personality, as do her love interests. All the characters are defined by this love triangle and their backstories remain irrelevant, save for the Eastoffes’. These three main characters are one-dimensional and lack nuance and character development. Plus, the relationship between Hollis and Silas (the commoner) lacks any depth or believability. Love at first sight is common in teen romance novels but this was all extremely rushed. Clichés, sad pick-up lines, never ending comparisons of Hollis to the sun (by both suitors—how original!), and the repeated mention of Silas’s blue eyes did not help. The “tragic” ending was a train wreck and evoked little emotion from the reader. The Betrothed was sadly disappointing and left me wishing for the days of The Selection’s debut.

I love all of Kiera Cass’s books, and I know it’s hard to write a book considering I can barely write a few essays for school, but i think this book is ehh and has a couple plot twists. I just can’t get over the fact that I feel like it is rushed, and no character development what so ever. Reading the selection you get to know the character’s personality first before she started throwing in random people you had no idea where they even came from. Everything went way to fast before you even got to know the characters!

This is a really good book, although I will say it’s extremely depressing, as for age....I would honestly say around 11 or 12

*IN MY OPINION* It is more important to make your characters likable, rather than relatable. Likable characters are unique and fleshed out people with their own little quirks and personality traits that could easily be seen in the real world. When authors try to make their characters more relatable, it's always in an attempt to include as many readers as possible. This leads to characters becoming many shades of gray, and emotional blank slates that cause readers to project their own personality on to the character, and trick themselves into thinking the main character is just like them (no, that's just bad character development). This was a huge issue at the end of The Selection series, and it seems to have continued into this one. For further elaboration, see my review of The Crown. The bottom line is that Hollis is boring and bland, and I don’t care about her. Delia Grace is easily the best character, simply because she's the most developed. In a single chapter you learn more about her than you do about Hollis throughout the entire book. She has much more personality, depth and drive than Hollis, who is just a blank slate of a character. Hollis has no personality, no nuances, nothing to make her stand out in a memorable way other than just being the main character. Which highlights another trend that continued from the end of The Selection, in that we're given another main character with no goal or purpose. However, in conjunction with The Selection series, I have formed the opinion that Kiera Cass is weirdly good at world building (while her worlds aren't very original, they're effective 👍). I stopped caring about the romance because it was dull, boring and had a lot of missing pieces that should have been explained, but weren’t. The most interesting part became the political aspects of the story, and how all these relationships, betrothals and love triangles affected the balance of power among the various countries, which the ending only multiplied. The ending is The Betrothed's saving grace (the fact that I like the ending probably says more about me than it does the book 😈). In an attempt to keep this spoiler free, I will simply say that the book ends on a tragedy. But in terms of character development, it's the best thing that could've happened 👏👏👏👏👏. Our main character has now gone through a tragedy, she now has a defining moment that is unique to her, one that should shape her for years to come (SHOULD). Equally as important, Hollis no has motivation and purpose going into the next book.

I agree with the other reviews, it did feel rushed. I feel like months passed at the castle all building up to her big moment. But then her time comes and the feeling and thoughts were left out. Wedding next, death next, grieving next... And as for the romance, the depth was missing. I believe in those love at first sight feelings. But to throw away a life’s worth over a handful of conversations and a kiss? Then when they’re on their own we don’t get to hear one thing about the relationship evolving or the feelings on their wedding day. It almost felt like a great outline that needed to be filled in. And another thing that felt very unbelievable was the backstory not coming to light. If you ran away with a man and his family you’d want to know everything there was to know about them. They left their country, their home, under duress and you never think to ask why? I loved the outline, the premise, the world building, Hollis’ character, Valentina and more. I believe that book two has the potential to live up to the Selection. But the detail has to come out, the depth needs explored. I will read book two because I’m invested in the story line. I just hope that it’s more satisfying!

Felt so rushed and disjointed. Hopefully the sequel is better. Etan is gonna need some major character development if he’s the one to end up with Hollis in the end.