Hello Readers, welcome back to my blog. I hope we are all doing well.

I love the wave the author gives to her dad at the beginning of the book and the acknowledgement at the end, so cheeky and funny. This is the first time I have come across this author and I must say she has impressed me with her style and I am glad to have read this book.

In a palace of rivals, only once can win his heart.

America Singer is a caste number five singer from a very poor family in a country called Illea and she is in love with Aspen Leger a caste number six. At the beginning of the story is the news of the selection (like a reality show to find the Prince’s wife, similar to the TV show The Bachelor) and most households with eligible young ladies have received their invite. America is not happy to be invited because she doesn’t not want to be a Queen but Aspen’s wife.

Aspen has convinced her to fill in the form even though America doesn’t believe she will be chosen and doesn’t wish to be chosen, Aspen even goes as far as breaking up with her due to issues of his own to push her towards the selection.

Surprise!!! America is chosen as one of the aspirants. So we follow her progress through the selection when she already has someone else in her heart, albeit someone who has broken her heart.

This story certainly shows how class divide can be very unjust and brutal to the groups of people considered lower class. The caste structure and the poverty of the lower caste reminded me of the hunger games but instead of dying for the glory of Panem they were vying to marry into the royal family.

I was unexpectedly surprised by this book, I thought it would be predictable and it was to a certain extent but there were nice surprises that delighted me. I will be reading the next books in this series and reviewing those as well, watch out for that.