Title: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass
Publisher/Year: Harper Collins 5/5/15
Length: 256 pages
Series: The Selection #4
Overview
Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won Prince Maxon’s heart. Now the time has come for Princess Eadlyn to hold a Selection of her own. Eadlyn doesn’t expect her Selection to be anything like her parents’ fairy-tale love story…but as the competition begins, she may discover that finding her own happily ever after isn’t as impossible as she’s always thought.
A new generation of swoonworthy characters and captivating romance awaits in the fourth book in the Selection series.
My Thoughts
Going into this next installment, i think that i didn’t realize that it was going to not only be a full length addition to the series, but that we were going to get a full new story line. This was a GREAT extension from the series that i have clearly raved about in the past and i’m thrilled that we got something that was so amazing.
As the summary tells us, we are now in a point in time where it’s America and Maxon’s children who are coming of age, and while they are now living in a time when there’s no need for a Selection, the castes have been disbanded, there are still things going on in Illea that need something to turn it around. And the proposition of a Selection, well that’s what Maxon and America think may be what the people need.
We have Eadlyn – the next in line for the thrown after her parents had the laws changed, and she’s being asked to hold her own selection, the first of its kind with 35 men vying for her affections. She’s been raised her entire life to know that she’s the most powerful person out there and that she’s independent and sheltered, and of course that’s a problem since she’s lacking in emotional and social skills and she really doesn’t want to open herself up to romance.
It’s definitely an interesting process because as we saw with America, she had Aspen in the palace – not in the form of a real romantic option, but as someone familiar (who caused problems). Eadylyn has Kile who’s Marlee’s son as a potential suitor, he’s found his way into the pool and it’s something that Eady wasn’t thrilled about at first but is warming up to. What i love here is that because of how much they don’t like each other to begin with, it makes things interesting when they are finding that they have chemistry.
The journey that we go on is such a contrast to what Maxon and America had. We knew that right off the bat there were sparks with her parents, we don’t see overt sparks for Eady, but we see that there are a few interesting prospects that could have potential. We don’t see that there’s anyone that’s really striving to be Prince Consort aside from Henri, but i also don’t know that he’s in a place where he’ll ever be able to really be supportive.
It’s not until the end when things really get exciting, Ahren, Eadlyn’s twin brother makes a big decision about his relationship with Camille at the push of Eady, and we know that something’s going on with her parents, and it’s the last few pages that really make things scary. One of them has a medical emergency and we’re in limbo waiting to see what will happen.
What does this mean for us? Well, that even though we now have to wait until 2016 for the next installment, we’ve got a LOT to ponder. Which suitor will Eady choose if she even does choose – what will that mean for Kile since we know that there are feelings there, but she made him a promise to help him get out of the palace, what about Erik and Henri? i feel like although Eriks not in the mix officially, he’s in the mix some how, and Ean i just don’t trust. The other piece is that i think that while we don’t have a rebellion like we did in the first 3 installments, the information that Ahren imparted in his note means that something BIG is going to happen and it’s up to Eady to do something to make it right. Sooooo much great stuff, and well, we’ll have to be patient for it to come through i guess.