Status
Available
Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
HarperTeen (2021), 336 pages
Description
When King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis Brite, Hollis is shocked--and thrilled. After all, she's grown up at Keresken Castle, vying for the king's attention alongside other daughters of the nobility. Capturing his heart is a dream come true. But Hollis soon realizes that falling in love with a king and being crowned queen may not be the happily ever after she thought it would be. And when she meets a commoner with the mysterious power to see right into her heart, she finds that the future she really wants is one that she never thought to imagine.
User reviews
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
In an author's note at the beginning of my review copy of The Betrothed, Kiera Cass mentions that the 1500s era is one of her inspirations for her latest book. I mention this because it is an important note. The Betrothed is not a rewrite of The Selection series. It is a clean and somewhat
That being said, I think Ms. Cass did a fantastic job of showing how stifling life at court can be, how limited you are in your ability to make independent decisions. Through other families, we see firsthand the terror an erratic or despotic ruler can create among his or her gentry. With Hollis, we get to see that being a princess or queen is not all presents and fancy gowns. There is a level of scrutiny that occurs with such high ranking that most people would struggle to accept.
I am giving the impression that The Betrothed is dark and dreary, and that is far from the truth. In actuality, the story is light-hearted, fun, and decadent, but it has a bite to it. Reading it is akin to wearing that perfect prom/wedding dress with shoes that slightly pinch your toes. Ms. Cass might like and write about all the pretty things, but she does not hesitate to go dark when the story requires her to do so.
To me, this ability to flit between the inconsequential and the serious is what I enjoyed most about The Betrothed. The romantic tension hides a more serious underlying story that I am anxious to see unfold. Hollis proves herself to be more than a pretty face and shows substantial grit at the story's end. In all, The Betrothed is another strong addition to the book world by Kiera Cass.
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idealized version of what it was like to be of noble/titled birth and have to live near the king. There are strict rules and etiquette one must follow at all times. There is no privacy, and there is almost always fear that one wrong word could have disastrous consequences for your family depending on the type of ruler.That being said, I think Ms. Cass did a fantastic job of showing how stifling life at court can be, how limited you are in your ability to make independent decisions. Through other families, we see firsthand the terror an erratic or despotic ruler can create among his or her gentry. With Hollis, we get to see that being a princess or queen is not all presents and fancy gowns. There is a level of scrutiny that occurs with such high ranking that most people would struggle to accept.
I am giving the impression that The Betrothed is dark and dreary, and that is far from the truth. In actuality, the story is light-hearted, fun, and decadent, but it has a bite to it. Reading it is akin to wearing that perfect prom/wedding dress with shoes that slightly pinch your toes. Ms. Cass might like and write about all the pretty things, but she does not hesitate to go dark when the story requires her to do so.
To me, this ability to flit between the inconsequential and the serious is what I enjoyed most about The Betrothed. The romantic tension hides a more serious underlying story that I am anxious to see unfold. Hollis proves herself to be more than a pretty face and shows substantial grit at the story's end. In all, The Betrothed is another strong addition to the book world by Kiera Cass.
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LibraryThing member KeriLynneD
Oh man, I was so excited about this book. I LOVE The Selection series and I LOVE The Siren. I've been waiting for Kiera Cass to come out with another book for awhile. Sadly this one just didn't live up to the others. Hollis is a great main character. She is strong, friendly, honest and has a good still completely upends her life to be with him and marry him immediately. I didn't like it and had no real care if they ended up together or not. I guess maybe the author did this on purpose considering the ending? It still just didn't sit well with me. I will be reading the next book when it comes out just because I do really enjoy Hollis and I am interested to see what is next for her.
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sense of humor. Her friend Delia Grace is horrendous. It makes absolutely no sense what so ever for Hollis to keep her around. Hollis is loyal so that may be the main reason why. It is clear from the very beginning that something is up with Delia Grace. The whole book I was waiting for something BIG to happen some big twist or reveal. There was a little bit of one near the end but nothing like I was expecting. Hollis and Silas have an instalove which just doesn't work in this case. They barely spend any time at all together and hardly have any real in-depth conversations. She knows next to nothing about him yet Show Less
LibraryThing member Ray_
Nope.
That's genuinely the nicest thing I could say about this book. Just Nope.
This book had so much potential to deliver an incredible story about sacrifices one makes in pursuit of power, or how you can be deluded into thinking you're in love with someone and only realizing the truth when it's too
But nope the author had to give us a bland love triangle, an insta love relationship with a cardboard cutout of a character and some dumb unoriginal and under developed "secrets" and "plot-twists".
I was honestly extremely intrigued by the beginning of this book, mainly because I expected it to go in a completely different direction than the one it did. But then Silas showed up and I wanted to die.
I have nothing against love triangl- okay that's a lie, I hate love triangles, but I can tolerate a well done one. This one was everything but.
I feel like the moment Silas was introduced, the author tried so hard to make King whatshisface (I can't be bothered to look up his name) look like the bad guy, but that's the thing, he wasn't! He's not my favorite character in the whole world or anything of the sort, but he's not a monster either. I would've much rather seen Lady whatsherface marry him THEN actually (and properly) fall for someone else and see how she navigates the situation than whatever the fuck this was.
As for the story it was quite frankly extremely boring, a lot of the plot twists felt rather childish and not well thought out.
The last few chapters were a struggle to go through despite the writing style being quite simple and straight to the point.
Now, to be fair, I'm pretty sure 16 years old me would've loved this book and thought it was the best thing ever written, but my current self doesn't.
I'm probably just not the target demographic for this book and that's why it missed its mark completely.
Overall, this wasn't for me, but I hope others who read it enjoyed it more than I did.
That's genuinely the nicest thing I could say about this book. Just Nope.
This book had so much potential to deliver an incredible story about sacrifices one makes in pursuit of power, or how you can be deluded into thinking you're in love with someone and only realizing the truth when it's too
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late, or even how one naive girl navigates her way into court after being swept off her feet by a king.But nope the author had to give us a bland love triangle, an insta love relationship with a cardboard cutout of a character and some dumb unoriginal and under developed "secrets" and "plot-twists".
I was honestly extremely intrigued by the beginning of this book, mainly because I expected it to go in a completely different direction than the one it did. But then Silas showed up and I wanted to die.
I have nothing against love triangl- okay that's a lie, I hate love triangles, but I can tolerate a well done one. This one was everything but.
I feel like the moment Silas was introduced, the author tried so hard to make King whatshisface (I can't be bothered to look up his name) look like the bad guy, but that's the thing, he wasn't! He's not my favorite character in the whole world or anything of the sort, but he's not a monster either. I would've much rather seen Lady whatsherface marry him THEN actually (and properly) fall for someone else and see how she navigates the situation than whatever the fuck this was.
As for the story it was quite frankly extremely boring, a lot of the plot twists felt rather childish and not well thought out.
The last few chapters were a struggle to go through despite the writing style being quite simple and straight to the point.
Now, to be fair, I'm pretty sure 16 years old me would've loved this book and thought it was the best thing ever written, but my current self doesn't.
I'm probably just not the target demographic for this book and that's why it missed its mark completely.
Overall, this wasn't for me, but I hope others who read it enjoyed it more than I did.
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Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2020
Physical description
336 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
0062291645 / 9780062291646