Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Eliten by Kiera Cass

18 reviews

cath_reads_books's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It’s safe to say this series has me absolutely hooked! It’s basically The Bachelor but with actually intelligent people, and the political status of an entire country hang in the balance of the outcome. 

I thought I was Team Maxon before this book; now I’m definitely Team Maxon forever.

It’s heartbreaking to read about what a difficult spot he’s in:  trying to be compassionate and show mercy to people around him while dealing with a tyrannical and abusive father. Finding out that Maxon has been taking physical punishments and beatings from his father for years absolutely broke me. And it made me love Maxon so much more, because clearly those punishments had not broken him or turned him into a monster of a person.

 

America continues to be the upstanding, caring, thoughtful heroine I needed in my life. She is devoted to what is fair and good, even if it means giving up a little of her privilege for others. In every decision she’s making she’s weighing not only what would be good for herself, but good for the country and the citizens of Illéa. I know she’s got doubts, but I honestly think she would make a fantastic princess and an even more wonderful queen! As an aside: I absolutely adore the relationship she has with her maids. 💜 She truly values everyone regardless of caste. 

It was clear from the end of this book that Maxon and America have an extremely tough time ahead.

There’s still four girls left…

cannot wait to see how The Selection ends!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Classism, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Genocide

ellionora's review against another edition

emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Death, Gun violence, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, and Gaslighting

Minor: War, Medical content, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, and Panic attacks/disorders

ashe01's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I’ve heard that this book is one of people’s least favorites in the Selection series, and I can see why. Don’t get me wrong, I greatly enjoyed this book and read through it quickly! In comparison to the first book, I believe this one had a great deal more political world building in it. Because of that, the actual aspect of the Selection seemed to be almost paused and not much happening there. But it was still something I wanted to read and became completely immersed in; just not as much as the first book.

Side note: I LOVE the relationship America has with her father. The way she constantly asks him for guidance and looks to him as a level-head is just incredible!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: War, Bullying, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Miscarriage, Alcohol, Blood, and Violence

tania_mybookishsecret's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse

Minor: Death and War

helenafaustina's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

America Singer is insufferable. She just follows emotions without thinking. That's literally the whole book. So read this if you want a girl flip-flopping around about what she feels.

I was holding out hope for Maxon, but he disappointed me so much. Boo. Marlee disappointed me too. She did wrong, even if her sentence was harsh. Aspen is still a jerk.

The only character I like at this point is the queen and we probably only got one paragraph of her. The maids are still really nice, too.

Also, what is going on with palace security??? They can afford so much luxury, yet they apparently can't find a way to keep someone from breaking into the palace every two seconds. Not to mention we have the world's best detective team here who clearly is figuring out what the rebels want. (Spoiler, THEY STINK AT DETECTIVE WORK.)

I usually try to find nice things to say about books I have negative reviews about but I can't for this. It's false romance, predictable, annoying and uninspiring. And I hate that I need to know what happens to these characters. 😂 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Classism, Blood, Child abuse, Gore, and Infidelity

Moderate: Grief, Bullying, Cursing, Sexual content, Death, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Mass/school shootings, Miscarriage, and War

The Lord's name is taken in vain a couple times. Minor swear words are used.

isabelleroyall's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, War, Death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Murder, Classism, Bullying, and Blood

Minor: Sexism, Medical content, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Body shaming, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

siglerbooknook's review against another edition

funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This was a reread for me that I remember really loving as a teenager.
I can definitely see why I liked this so much. It is funny and cute and light-hearted. As an adult some of the plot points for the lead characters a bit trivial, but the book isn't aimed at adults, so that doesn't effect the star rating.

While I enjoy a lot of the banter and adore the side characters immensely, I often found the reasons behind decisions, America's temper, and the miscommunication forced. She makes so many rediculous assumptions and often acts out. But I guess I was just as impulsive at 17. 

I still find this story incredibly cute and one I look forward to keeping in my collection and sharing with friends in the future.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Infertility, Grief, and Body shaming

alexa_10505's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying and Classism

Moderate: War and Physical abuse

Minor: Miscarriage and Death

becca_w_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Police brutality, Sexual content, Infidelity, Medical content, Physical abuse, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Classism, Torture, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Colonisation, Child abuse, Child death, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, and Slavery

im_just_vidu's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I'm not sure if I like this book. I liked the first book a little, because it was good at world building and character formation. But this...? I don't know. I don't have such positive idea about this book. It was more like passing the ball from one to another. It was just not that good.
America is looking at both Maxson and Aspen thinking both of them are good. Yeah, they are good. Then why the heck are you still looking at both of them, kissing both of them and longing for both of them. It's like cheating in a premium way. I don't like that at all.
And same goes with the Maxson. I hope someone will understand that "If you really love the first person, you wouldn't even think about the second one". What kind of stupid dating game is this? And yeah, you want to show the world how great person Maxson is by showing him forgiving everyone for their faults and all. I wonder if he does the same if he knows that America also goes back and forth with Aspen and Maxson.
Being a prince must be nice. You can have so many girls around you and experiment with them while saying it "finding the right one". Bleh. Bullshit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship

Moderate: Bullying and Colonisation

Minor: Death, Cultural appropriation, and Violence