Megan

This book felt like a failed attempt at creating a grown-up Twilight. Whether you like them or not, the similarities between S.M.'s books and this one are obvious. In addition, I didn't realize this was a romance when I bought the book- IT IS! The romance takes up at least 3/4 of the book and moves at a confusing, awkward pace. I only kept listening to it so that I could write a review based on the entire book- otherwise I would have stopped listening around 2/3 of the way through.

On the bright side- the narrator does a fantastic job. The stars are for her.

I tried to power through- sometimes narrators grow on you- I only made it to the first hour. I've heard its a great book and plan to read it, because I can't stand listening to it. The child's voice is grating.

The main character is annoying, the plot is incredibly predictable and offers nothing new. YA dystopian fiction is my favorite guilty pleasure of the moment so I've listened to/read a TON of them, and this is one of the worst. The plot draws heavily from other books- many of the minor characters are carbon copies of characters in other books (Hunger Games to name one). The author tries to portray the main character as above shallow things such as beauty, but Ms. Cass spends so much time doing this that it ends up emphasizing their importance.

No, but I thought she did a good job.

Remove the 'dear'- I know the author is trying to make the prince seem formal but its just awkward.

I've read a lot of books written around less interesting ideas, but enjoyed them much more than this one because of the quality of writing/character development, etc. It could have been a cool idea, but it was very poorly executed.