The One (The Selection, #3) by Keira Cass

Synopsis: The time has come for one winner to be crowned.

When she was chosen to compete in the Selection, America never dreamed she would find herself anywhere close to the crown—or to Prince Maxon's heart. But as the end of the competition approaches, and the threats outside the palace walls grow more vicious, America realizes just how much she stands to lose—and how hard she'll have to fight for the future she wants.

Review: The Selection was an enjoyable, light read. As a standalone book, it offered romance, a love triangle and some dystopian elements.

The Elite actually took some of those elements forward and made it a more intriguing read.

By the time of The One, you would think these elements would collide into each other to create
a hell of a finale.

In some ways, it delivers on these.

America, or Mer, remains a divisive character. Sometimes I think she is really growing into the role of Number One Princess, other times she doesn't seem to have grown much from the girl who left her
family in Book One.

There's simply no reason for her to like Maxon. Over the three books, he remains a mystery to me. He doesn't  seem remotely 'kingly', and yet his only apparent competition is Aspen - who is still hanging around after telling the poor girl to 'do one.'

Main characters aside, I'm actually growing quite fond of Celeste. She's not Bad Girl Number One - she actually has some reasoning for her actions, and even though her cattish behaviour was a bit annoying in The Selection, she's actually become my favourite character.

Marlee remains nice. And that's it. She's nice, and that's all anyone can say about her.

So why stick with the series?

Well, it's actually rather readable - a minimum requirement for a book, but in this regard Keira Cass succeeds. I credit her for trying something different, even if the idea of a monarchy in a dystopian world isn't fully realised for me.

By the end of The One, whilst some of it you just know is going to happen, there were some things I did not expect.

Finally the rebels actually do something - and for the first time it seems we could be in for terrific finale.

I kind of believe The One isn't so much the end of Mer's story, but the start of Eadlyn's one (The Heir - which I will definitely be reading).

I probably wouldn't go for the short novellas unless you are a real Selection fan and a completist.

The One just about delivers. On Amazon, I will be giving this book four stars.