2-2.5 stars
SPOILERS AHEAD: consider yourself warned...

So, I actually enjoyed the Selection. It wasn't one of my favorite books or anything, and there were plenty of WTF moments, but all in all, I took it for what it was: dystopian-ish bachelor...I mean really, was anyone EXPECTING it to be serious??? That being said, I just finished Elite, and man was I disappointed. For starters, I pretty much hated America for most of this book. Like really couldn't stand. I actually disliked her almost as much as I disliked Bella through the entire Twilight mess (and I REALLY hated Bella. Especially in New Moon. I rooted for her to throw herself off the cliff and hit the rocks below...just saying). Anyway, back to America. She just became so neurotic and wishy-washy I just wanted to hand her over to the rebels and get it over with. When she was with Maxon, she KNEW she wanted him. Five minutes later, Aspen was in her room and she KNEW he was the man for her. She says at one point that he is the constant in her life...Then when she sees Maxon with Kriss and sees that they've bonded, she gets all upset because he's sending mixed signals and spending time with the other girls... O.o HELLO!!! What were you doing with your ex-boyfriend-turned-guard?? Can we say hypocrite??? It feels like she got dumber from book one to book two. At least, her instincts dulled considerably. Things that she promised to keep secret she blabbed to everyone, and things she should've talked to Maxon about she kept to herself until it was too late to do any good...

And I just have to throw it out there into the universe...Aspen is such an un-attractive character. He's possessive when he has no right to be. He's literally putting America's life in danger by pursuing her, which is proven when Marlee's secret is discovered...he encourages America to sign up in the first place and then gets all butt-hurt when she actually starts to feel something for Maxon...can we PLEASE bury the love triangle for awhile? It's tired.

I think my biggest problem with this book had to be the lack of a believable history and also a seeming lack of continuity from the first to second books...in the first book, the king is never described as anything remotely like what he ends up being like in the second book. From what I recall, there wasn't even a hint of it. And as far as the 'history' goes...smh. Again, I don't mind suspending disbelief if the story as a whole is engaging, but this just wasn't most of the time.

One last negative for me was the repetitiveness of the story. Went something like this:
1. America and Maxon are in love
2. America and Maxon have a misunderstanding that could be quickly cleared up if either of them took a moment to speak with the other (usually if was America who misunderstood)
3. Aspen steps in and becomes the light at the end of the tunnel
4. Rebels raid the castle
5. Maxon explains the misunderstanding
6. Repeat steps one through five until you've pulled all your hair out.

With all these negatives being thrown out there, I will probably still read the third book. I still think the original premise is interesting and I'm hoping that the third book will have a satisfying conclusion to a story that got seriously muddled in the middle.