Bad Blood

The Naturals series is seriously disturbing. In Bad Blood, Cassie and the other young, "natural" profilers are on the trail of the cult of serial killers from previous books. Though not overly descriptive, the book is graphic and upsetting. As Ally Carter said, it's like "Criminal Minds for the YA world." I don't know how comfortable I'd be with my young adults watching Criminal Minds or reading Bad Blood, but I certainly enjoyed the thriller.

The Selection

I read Kiera Cass’s The Selection at the recommendation of my 16-year-old niece. The Selection is a Bachelor-type process that the Prince of ‎Illéa goes through to find his new bride. America Singer has been selected and decides to participate in order to raise herself and her family from ‎Illéa’s strong caste system. Though her heart is elsewhere, America learns to like Prince Maxon.

The Selection is truly a Hunger Games meets The Bachelor hybrid. It is typical of dystopian novels, but America lacks the character to truly make me care. She is unaccountably emotional and rude to Prince Maxon at times, but inexplicably he finds her unstable personality charming.

The Selection is also the first of a trilogy and Cass leaves her readers hanging. I appreciate series where each book could stand alone, and The Selection does not. Rather than invest in the last two novels, though, I just read a summary online and am glad I didn’t waste my time on the other two books.