The Heir Review: Eadlyn

Everyone knows the story of my parents.
How the Selection brought them together.
How they fell in love.

It's time for me to hold my selection.
A new Selection.
One with boys.

I am Princess Eadlyn Schreave.

Hi guys! Finally, after a long time, I read The Heir!

Book: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass
Series: The Selection
Standing: Book 4
POV: first person by Eadlyn, past tense
Genre: YA romance, dystopian-ish (as in there's a monarchy, but nothing extreme)

Source: physical copy
Pages: 342
Favorite part: "What are you up to today?" I asked.
                      "I don't know."

               "Go find the Selected guys and ask them  awkward questions. Report back."

Rating: 4 stars



From the very start of the book, we get an immediate sense of the difference between America (the protagonist of the original trilogy) and Eadlyn (the new protagonist). One of my first thoughts about her was that she was a little bit on the high-and-mighty-and-I-know-it side, but when you think about how she's been raised, knowing that she'll be queen one day, it's not that big of a surprise. She's the daughter of America and Maxon, so of course she's going to be spoiled by them. Her character is really realistic to her upbringing, and I really liked it.

Eadlyn is stubborn, determined, strong, and a bit scary . Her struggle with trying to be independent really got to me, and I admire how she strives to not fail. Yes, Eadlyn is going through with a Selection, but right from the start we find out that she's perfectly capable (and a little too willing) to rule Illéa by herself. She makes a few drastic calls, and though she sometimes doesn't immediately see what she did wrong, she does eventually learn from them. Her character arc was very big, in the sense that it isn't hard to see the differences between Eadlyn in the beginning and Eadlyn at the end. I think it was done really well, as we really get to see her change and grow.

35 suitors. Which means of course there's going to be more than one love interest. To be honest, it's working brilliantly by pulling my heart apart in different directions. I don't know who I really ship her with, because each guy has their own set of charms.

Like in the first 3 Selection books, we got a taste of all the different kinds of girls that existed out there. In The Heir, it was no different. There are extremely different types of guys in the pool, ranging from being super nice to super jerks. Sound familiar? Like a super nice girl (cough, America/Marlee) and a super mean girl (cough, Celeste/Bariel) in a competition? Yeah. But it was nice to see multiple personalities, even if they can't be that well developed.

The romance aspect was a little frustrating at first, because Eadlyn's attitude towards it was completely...hmm, what's the word...ambitious? She's a plotter, that's for sure. Not ambitious in the sense she was dead set on finding true love. More like the completely opposite...if that doesn't make sense, then you'll probably have to read to book to get what I mean. But by the end of the book, the romance aspect is much better, exactly what I was expecting from Kiera Cass.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. Eadlyn, however bratty or spoiled people will say she is, is actually very true to herself and her upbringing. If I were in her shoes and had that much courage, I probably would do the same thing. Independence is a huge aspect of it, and you really get to see both how tough and vulnerable Eadlyn is. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle all that media coverage, though!

Have you read this book yet? (If no, you can add it to your Goodreads here) Were you for or against Eadlyn?

Annnnd I think I'm going to discuss some of the suitors in a little more detail now, so the rest after the blurb is going to be spoilery :)

Blurb:
Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.

Spoilers after the cut :)

***Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers!!!***

Still here? Great. Let me discuss the suitors and the ending. THAT ENDING. But suitors first.

The first suitor I really liked was Hale. He has this overall nice personality, and he seems sincere. I mean, he starts off by telling Eadlyn that he hopes he can prove himself worthy to her every single day in a different way. (Hi there, Reality? Where can I find guys like him?) He's just nice. And he even used himself to shield Eadlyn when people were throwing things at her. So yes, I do ship them.

I was a little set off by Henri at first. When Erik rolled onto screen (er, page) my mind immediately went, There's a translator? Nope. I don't see how a relationship is going to work. But then after a while, I couldn't not dislike him. Regardless of the fact that Henri doesn't really speak English, he is easily the sweetest guy in the Selection. I mean, he bakes. And he's absolutely adorable about it. Add to the fact that he's one of the two people Eadlyn kissed, and yes, I ship them very much. I really don't want to see Henri unhappy.

Interesting topic here, but I actually spent a lot of time thinking about Erik. He's not exactly a suitor, nor did he even put his name into the Selection. But he's there at the palace, spending time with Eadlyn either through Henri or just by pure coincidence. And I can't help but imagine what would happen if those two ended up together. I mean, there would be a ton of roadblocks, but...yeah. Okay, I'm just being weird. But I still think he's really nice. Way to confuse my heart, huh?

And, of course, the main suitor that I'm suspecting Eadlyn will end up with (but who knows? We may all be surprised): Kile. They grew up together, hating each other guts (okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration). But now, they're starting to see each other in a new light. I mean, Eadlyn kissed him 3 times! I'm pretty sure that means they're heading towards being an official couple. There's just the tiny issue of how Kile doesn't want to live at the palace, meaning if he turns out to be the one for Eadlyn, he's going to have to work with that issue. Do I ship the two? Yes. Because I think childhood hate-turned-love is an incredible love story. Am I sappy? Probably. But oh well.

And there you have it. All the guys I ship Eadlyn with. Of course, she can only have one, so I'm going to have at least 3 sunken ships. But in the meantime, I'll be content thinking of all the what-ifs in the book...

Let's discuss the ending. Ahren and Camille eloped! My first reaction: THEY DID WHAT? My next reaction: Is this Eadlyn's fault??? My third reaction: WAIT, AMERICA HAD A HEART ATTACK???

Yeah. A tornado of emotions, all within, what, 10 pages? *Looking up the pages* Nope. 11 pages, to be exact. My god.

Anyways, I'm rambling again. What I'm trying to get at is: 
a) I have a suspicion that Eadlyn is going to end up with Kile.
b) That being said, I happen to love Hale, Henri, and maybe Erik. 
c) AHREN, YOU FOOL.
d) AMERICA IS NOT GOING TO DIE. She won't. She can't. I mean, what would the point be?

And so, the agonizing wait for the final book begins...