Kiera Cass
Kiera Cass (born 19 May 1981) is an American writer of young adult fiction, best known for "The Selection" series. Career. Cass was born and raised in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and graduated from Socastee High School in Myrtle Beach. She is of Puerto Rican descent. She attended Coastal Carolina University before transferring to Radford University. She graduated from Radford with a degree in History. The first book in "The Selection" trilogy, "The Selection", was published in 2012 by HarperTeen. Television rights for the trilogy were optioned by the CW Television Network and two pilots were filmed, but  neither were picked up for a full series. In April 2015, movie rights for "The Selection" trilogy, "The Selection" were acquired by Warner Bros. In May 2013, Cass announced that she would be working on an as-yet untitled series she refers to as "238" on social media, to be published by HarperCollins. The series was cancelled and Cass pursued other projects. . On August 14, 2014, Kiera Cass announced that "The Selection" series would be expanding into more books. First, "The Elite", was published in 2013. "The One" followed. "The Heir" followed in 2015. Cass announced another book following "The  Heir", "The Crown", which was released on 3 May 2016. On August 20, 2015, Kiera Cass announced that her originally self-published book The Siren would be rewritten and rereleased on January 26, 2016. On October 7, 2019, Kiera Cass announced that her novel The Betrothed would be released on May 5, 2020. It followed Hollis Brite, a daughter of nobility, who was courted by King Jameson of Coroa to be his queen. Hollis fell in love with an Isolten commoner named Silas, and she had to choose between two paths. The book became a #1 New York Times bestseller . The sequel to the Betrothed, titled The Betrayed, was released on June 29, 2021. Kiera is currently editing her next novel, a stand-alone titled "A Thousand Heartbeats". It will be her longest book, and is set to be released on July 5, 2022. Section::::"The Selection". The Selection series, which is what Cass is best known for, is a series of five young adult novels set in the fictional country of Illéa, formally North and Central America. The books are about a competition known as The Selection, where citizens of Illéa compete for the current king's heir in marriage . The first three books are from the point of view of America Singer, joining the selection after bribery from her mother, who doesn't know she is in love with Aspen, who is a caste lower than her. The two sequels, The Heir and The Crown are written from the point of view of Princess Eadlyn, the firstborn daughter of Prince Maxon and Lady America Singer. Plot and setting. America Singer is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives in the country of Illéa, which was once the United States. Their society is divided into eight castes, the lowest and  poorest being Eight and royalty One. America is a Five and is in a secret relationship with a Six named Aspen Leger, which they kept hidden by sneaking out at night for dates in her backyard tree house. When America and Aspen grow apart because Aspen feels like he will never be able to provide for her, he tells her to join the Selection, a competition designed to pick a woman to become the future wife of Prince Maxon and take on the role of Queen of Illea. Although America is indifferent to the Prince and the Selection, she is  pushed by her mother and Aspen's words to apply. Miraculously, she gets in and is sent to the palace, where she slowly falls for the prince and begins to learn that there are rebels who want change in the country. Aspen is drafted for the army and sent to be a guard at the palace which confuses America as her relationship with Maxon develops. Her friendship with Maxon slowly grows into affection until one day when one of the Selected girls, a friend of America, is caned and thrown out publicly for being found kissing one of the guards . America becomes enraged at the way things are run and realises what being the princess would entail, and takes it out on Maxon, becoming distant from him. As other girls are slowly eliminated from the Selection, America and Maxon slowly get closer again and apologize to each other during a rebel attack at the palace while in hiding together. Their relationship goes through many ups and downs, until Maxon sends everyone in the Selection home except for America and another girl named Kriss. Maxon tells America he loves her but finds out about her previous relationship to Aspen which she  had been hiding from him. He becomes angry and takes back the known engagement. The next morning a rebel attack happens. Maxon is shot and apologizes to America, saying he does not care if she breaks his heart a thousand times, he still wants her and no one else. The King and Queen are killed by the rebels, leaving Maxon to become the King. He proposes to America and he reveals he will eliminate the castes. The next two books occur twenty years later, where Maxon and America now have four children, the oldest of which is Princess Eadlyn, the  current heir to the throne. The castes have been slowly phased out, but there are still constant uprisings. To quell the public, Maxon decides to organize another Selection. Reception. "The A.V. Club" commented that the first book in the series "is something of a "Hunger Games" rip-off, but at least it's an entertaining one". On 4 February 2015 "The Guardian" posted a review about Kiera Cass, saying, "Cass makes it a suspenseful read with dramatic events and romantic moments and you never know what is coming up in the next chapter". On 24 October 2015, "The Guardian" added , "The story is also excellent for gripping people who don't generally enjoy reading". Section::::"The Siren". Cass is also the author of "The Siren". This book is about Kahlen, a girl who lost her family on cruise ship overturned then she was chosen to become a siren and needs to serve the Ocean for a hundred years. Her voice is deadly for humans. Then one day she meets the Akinli, boy of her dreams, and wants to be with him but she can't. She struggles with her emotions for a while as her "sisters" try to talk her out  of him. Kiera originally self-published "The Siren" online in 2009. On January 26, 2016, it was released by HarperCollins after Cass rewrote it into an updated version. Controversy. On 12 January 2012 a one-star review of Cass' book, "The Selection", was posted on the book reviewing site Goodreads, and on the reviewer's blog. Later on the same day, Kiera Cass' literary agent, Elana Roth, posted a series of derogatory tweets on the social networking site Twitter. In a conversation that Cass and Roth believed was private—but was, in fact, public—Roth called the reviewer names and  both Roth and Cass discussed how best to bump the negative review down and boost positive reviews by manipulating the ranking system themselves. The controversy sparked an article by "Publishers Weekly" speaking out against this practice and raised an outcry from multiple reviewers, bloggers, and publications against the cyber-bullying of non-professional reviewers by authors and agents.