The Elite – Breaking of a Prince’s Trust

It took me longer than I anticipated to finish the second book in this series, but I am still enjoying it a lot. This one definitely was the part of the overall story where things take a turn for the worst.

But that’s what keeps us reading right?

In this novel, America Singer and five other girls have been chosen as the top 6 Elite to remain in the competition and America is still struggling with her feelings for Prince Maxon, and then Aspen suddenly reenters the picture as when he joins the military, he becomes posted as a guard at the palace so he and America have been secretly sneaking around. They haven’t been caught yet but I was always worried that they would be.

America does love Maxon but to her, becoming a princess is a frightening change for her as it is a huge step from what her life used to be, and she often doubts she’ll be good at it. I was proven that the public soon agreed with this later on.

I loved the chapters when she and Maxon found one of Gregory’s diaries and then learned about past celebrations and put on a Halloween party. This seemed like the “honeymoon” phase of this novel before things went downhill. America was dancing with Maxon and their relationship has reached a point where she realizes she has misjudged him when she first met him and now she’s deeply in love with him. He even says that he would have proposed to her right then and there if it weren’t for the competition.

But then there was the shock that followed, I wasn’t expecting Marlee to be eliminated, let alone have an affair with one of the guards, but I guess I knew better because there were some suspicious scenes with her earlier and in the last book, even when she said to America that she didn’t feel like she was attracted to Maxon. But, I suppose being an Eight is better than death right, from there, I could see how America began to realize more and more what was wrong with this country.

But this is also where America and Maxon’s relationship began to decline. I don’t blame her for being upset at his decision regarding Marlee and trying to put a stop to it, but she was beginning to push him away a lot more. It reminds me so much of the time that I was doing an RP with someone, our characters were in love, and I became extremely sensitive and upset when I saw him getting intimate with someone else, so I was able to step into America’s shoes a few times when she began to wonder why Maxon was spending more time with Kriss, or when she [America] caught him with Celeste, and they started arguing afterwards.

I was also increasingly suspicious about King Clarkson. While Queen Amberly always seemed to be on America’s side, the king was a different story. After the incident with Marlee, the king held a tea time before the Report and appeared to socialize with everyone except America, which upset her. It was like foreshadowing up until her proposal on another Report, seemingly weeks later. He’s a king afraid of change for sure.

Now it seems like America’s relationship with Maxon is hanging by a thread and the king doesn’t approve of her. But I believe America’s going to prove them wrong and now she’s even more determined to win because she still loves Maxon.

I don’t know about you, but I just want Celeste gone, I don’t care if others say she’s a model, looks good on TV and has lots of connections, she’s a nasty bitch who managed to get away with several acts to sabotage other girls.

Anyway, yeah that’s my little rant at the end of this review, I still enjoyed the book and it seems I’m a lot more rambly in book reviews for my physical novels rather than my ebooks. I think it’s because I didn’t start writing this immediately after I finished the book as I had two days of work which gave me time to think it through. I should do that will all the books I read, no matter the format.