History YMMV / TheSelection

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: the abused usually become abusers. While it's never explicitly stated whether King Clarkson was abused, it's probably likely considering his parents' problems: his father was implied to almost hit his mother, his mother is constantly drunk, and culminating those two things together probably resulted in quite a lot of emotional and perhaps physical turmoil. That shaped him to be Maxon's abuser, but thankfully the cycle stopped with him.
** Life will throw rocks at you, but you will get up and heal and become stronger. Natalie loses her sister in a rebel invasion, and completely breaks down and leaves the Selection. Her parents are so shocked and broken that they want to divorce, but Natalie reminds them that her sister would never want that to happen to them. She eventually becomes a very successful businesswoman.
** Sometimes your first love won't work out, and that's okay. Kriss was pretty upset over Maxon marrying America, faking smiles throughout their wedding. She eventually meets a man she loves and marries him.

** Maxon is show to be controlled by and abused by his father to he point where he prepared himself to fight back should the day come. Yet he seems pretty well-adjusted.
** Likewise he doesn’t seem all that bothered when his parents (or at least his mother) is killed at the end of The One. America’s more torn up over it.

* AssPull: Aspen falling for Lucy in The One. There was little build-up besides Lucy developing feelings for him and some slightly ShipTease in the novella The Guard. As Aspen spends the better part of three books, plus the novella pinning for America, it ends up coming across as a forced and clunky way of settling the LoveTriangle.

** America. While some find her to a fiery and passionate girl who is a SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan, she can come off as unempathetic and can sometimes have deep contempt for girls who dare want to have more than just the simple life. And [[SarcasmMode wow, she's so cool for not wanting to live luxuriously and not being like most girls in the Selection.]] It doesn't help her character in The Elite when she's so indecisive in her LoveTriangle, shifting from Maxon to Aspen the minute there's a slight problem in one relationship.

** Towards the end of the second book America discovers in Illea’s diary that he [[spoiler: forced his daughter to marry a foreign prince in order to make himself royal, thus king of his own country.]] The problem is the reader already knew this. Illea’s princesses marry foreign royals to secure alliances. The girl’s even have a history lesson discussing this. However, it’s revealed that [[spoiler: Illea’s daughter didn’t have a choice in the matter… Which still isn’t all that surprising given the aforementioned detail about Illea’s princesses. America even describes them as being ‘sold off’ within the first few pages of the first book.]] The reader really doesn’t learn anything new.

* LesYay: Celeste really grows attached to America after their talk in The One.

* StrangledByTheRedString: Aspen and Lucy had very little build up. While Lucy is heavily hinted to be attracted to him by The Elite and she does get a bit of ShipTease with him in The Guard. However, Aspen spends most of that time pining for America. It’s rather jarring to see Aspen spend the better part of three books all but begging her to take him back to Aspen flat out telling America that he doesn’t love her anymore.

** During the Selection, America tells Maxon that she needs time. But then gets upset when Maxon starts seeing Kris. The thing is, Maxon flat out told America that the Selection was also a show of his decisiveness, that it will look bad if he makes the wrong choice, can’t make a choice, or lets the Selection drag on for too long. He even tells America that if she’s not 100% into this, then he can’t waste time on her.
** Aspen can be forgiven for not wanting to make America a Six upon marriage, a servant who’s generally worse off than Fives, and breaking up with her when it really hit him. But what brought this about? America made him [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking dinner money she earned.]] Because he’s a man and he’s supposed to be the one providing for her. But then we learn that he was waiting to be drafted, which instantly makes him a Two and could marry America in four years. So, really, he only broke up with her in the first place because America wounded his [[SarcasmMode precious pride.]]

** Neither Marlee nor Carter seem to have been affected by their public caining.
* AssPull: Aspen falling for Lucy in The One. There was little build-up besides Lucy developing feeling for him and some slightly ShipTease in the novella The Guard. As Aspen spends the better part of three books, plus the novella pinning for America, it ends up coming across as a forced and clunky way of settling the LoveTriangle.

** Aspen can be forgiven for not wanting to make America a Six upon marriage, a servant who’s generally worse off than Fives, and breaking up with her when it really hit him. But what brought this about? America made him [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking dinner.]] Because he’s a man and he’s supposed to be the one providing for her. But then we learn that he was waiting to be drafted, which instantly makes him a Two and could marry America in four years. So, really, he only broke up with her in the first place because America wounded his [[SarcasmMode precious pride.]]

* AngstWhatAngst: Both Maxon and Marlee have gone through a rather traumatic and humiliating experience [[spoiler: An abusive father in Maxon’s case who regularly whips his son. And a public caning for Marlee.]] But neither seem very bothered by the experience. In the third book [[spoiler: Maxon doesn’t seem that broken up over the fact that his parents (or at least his mother) just died.]]
* AssPull: [[spoiler: Aspen falling for Lucy in ''the One.'']] In ''the Elite'' it’s heavily implied that Lucy develops feeling for him. [[spoiler: However, from Aspen’s end, it comes out of nowhere. He spends the majority of the three books and his novella ''the Guard'' pining for America. While towards the latter half of ''the One'' we are given about of ShipTease for him and Lucy having him tell America that he doesn’t love her anymore at the end is still a sudden shift from the way ''the Elite'' and ''the Guard'' ends. It ends up as being a forced and clunky way of settling the love triangle.]]

** Aspen to some extent. While some love him, other’s find him whiny, a jerk to America, someone who would put America in danger just because he wanted to love her, or simply [[DieForOurShip not Maxon.]]
** America. While some find her to a fiery and passionate girl who is a SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan, she can come off as unempathetic and can sometimes have deep contempt for girls who dare want to have more than just the simple life. And [[SarcasmMode wow, she's so cool for not wanting to live luxuriously and not being like most girls in the Selection.]] It doesn't help her character in The Elite when she's so indecisive in her LoveTriangle, shifting from Maxon to Aspen the minute there's a slight problem in one relationship.

* IdiotBall: America, more often than not. Revealing existence [[spoiler: Gregory Illea's diaries]] to her father, and national TV [[spoiler:(and it was only ''pure frigging luck'' the former works out)]]. Wearing the button of Aspen's ''guard uniform'' as a bracelet. Still seeing Aspen after seeing what happened to [[spoiler: Marlee and Carter]]. See's Maxon with Celeste, throws a fit and decides she's leaving the Selection with a bang, revealing the [[spoiler: aforementioned diaries]]. Especially when she, herself, sneaks around with Aspen.
** Eadlyn, the future queen, needs Arhen to spell it out to her that she can negotiate the terms of her Selection with Maxon.

* StrangledByTheRedString: [[spoiler: Aspen and Lucy]] had very little build up. [[spoiler: Lucy was heavily hinted to be attracted to him, but Aspen spends most of that time pining for America and is inexplicably in love with her a little more than halfway through ''The One.'']] This is especially jarring since [[spoiler: Aspen]] spent most of the first three books all but begging [[spoiler:America]] to take him back.

** Many reader’s found it all too easy to feel for Jose Woodwork. Her biggest crime is being fifteen. An as Kile spells out to Eadlyn, she’s grown up under her shadow. While it is annoying for Josie to be stealing Eadlyn's things, she doesn't deserve what Eadlyn gives her. [[BaseBreakingCharacter Eadlyn]] ends up being needlessly cruel and rude, calling her a commoner, and putting her down for having a crush on Ahren and other celebrities.
** While no doubt a jerk, if Celeste’s treatment of America for being a Five is a common occurrence, then it’s little wonder Kota ended up being how he is.

** America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even Kota) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life. Her NotLikeOtherGirls attitude seems to come off as irritating to some readers as well.
** It’s hard to feel bad for America when Maxon starts seeing Kris when America’s shown to be unable to keep secrets and refuses to talk things over with Maxon when things happen between them. It’s hard to feel bad when Maxon is fooling around with Celeste when America herself is seeing Aspen behind Maxon’s back. And it’s hard to believe her assertion that she would be a better queen then Celeste when she puts off her philanthropy project when everyone around her is saying it should be easy for her.
** [[SpoiledBrat Eadlyn,]] [[LackofEmpathy Eadlyn,]] [[ItsAllAboutMe Eadlyn]]...
** Aspen can be forgiven for not wanting to make America a Six, a servant who's generally worse off than Fives, and breaking up with her because of it. But what brought this about? America made him dinner and hurt is [[SarcasmMode oh-so-precious pride.]] And then we learn he was waiting to be drafted, which makes him a Two and in about four years could have married America, then any reason Aspen has for breaking up with her in the first place is kind of lost.
** Aspen’s assertion that “(He’s) a Six” falls short when he has absolutely no problem reaping the benefits of a Two.

** With how often rebels from either side get into the palace and how no steps are taken to amp up security, it’s a wonder it took three books for that final bloodbath to happen. Aspen’s novella, ''The Guard'' does little to help the matter at all saying that if you act like you know what you're doing, other’s will listen despite being new, indicating that they have little discipline. ''The Queen'' may indicate that shutters might have been installed since Amberly’s time in the Selection, but it’s never made clear. And the narration makes it pretty clear that thing only worked out as well as it did at the end of ''The One'' was because of the Northern Rebels working with the Italian royals.
** Maxon specifically asked America to keep the existence of Illea’s diary, and by extension the room they got it from, secret. She fails. Twice. Once with her dad with pretty flimsy justification and the second time on national TV. And she still has the gall to be surprised when Clarkson is furious at Maxon for it.
** Eadlyn and Maxon apparently learn the goings on in Illea through ''newspapers''.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Eadlyn is a pretty controversial lead. Some disliked her selfish attitude and felt her novels were {{Sequelitis}}. Others liked that she had a different personality from previous lead America and that the story was about her CharacterDevelopment from selfish to selfless.

* FridgeLogic: China invaded America because America wouldn't pay back its debt. Not only would that never happen, no country around the world would just stand back as China destroys a country for the petty reason they haven't been seeing their Renminbi.

** America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even Kota) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life. Her I'mNotLikeOtherGirls attitude seems to come off as irritating to some readers as well.

* FlatCharacter: Celeste. She spends the first two books being a RichBitch and is just there to try to sabotage America. We then get her HiddenDepths, but then she's killed off before she can be developed further.

* InsaneTrollLogic: China invaded America because America wouldn't pay back its debt. Not only would that never happen, no country around the world would just stand back as China destroys a country for the petty reason they haven't been seeing their Renminbi.
* JerkassHasAPoint: While King Clarkson is a philandering husband and abusive father, he may not have been too in the wrong when it comes to America being queen. When her task is too hard, she simply puts it aside instead of working through it. She reveals Illea's diary, even though Maxon told her to keep it secret, and did it without thinking much about the repercussions. The King is a total douchebag, but if America acts this hotheaded, impulsive, and dismissive, it's no wonder he doesn't see her fit to be queen.

** It’s hard to feel bad for America when Maxon starts seeing Kris, when America’s shown to be unable to keep secrets and refuses to talk things over with Maxon when things happen between them. It’s hard to feel bad when Maxon is fooling around with Celeste when America herself is seeing Aspen behind Maxon’s back. And it’s hard to believe her assertion that she would be a better queen then Celeste when she puts off her philanthropy project, when everyone around her is saying it should be easy for her.

** While King Clarkson is a philandering husband and abusive father, he may not have been too in the wrong when it comes to America being queen. When her task is too hard, she simply puts it aside instead of working through it. She reveals Illea's diary, even though Maxon told her to keep it secret, and did it without thinking much about the repercussions. The King is a total douchebag, but if America acts this hotheaded, impulsive, and dismissive, it's no wonder he doesn't see her fit to be queen.
** America. While some find her to a fiery and passionate girl who is a SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan, she can come off as unempathetic and can sometimes have deep contempt for girls who dare want to have more than just the simple life. And [[SarcasmMode wow, she's so cool for not wanting to live luxuriously and not being like most girls in the Selection.]] It doesn't help her character in The Elite when she's so indecisive in her LoveTriangle, shifting from Maxon to Aspen the minute there's a slight problem in one relationship.

** America. While some find her to a fiery and passionate girl who is a SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan, she can come off as unempathetic and can sometimes have deep contempt for girls who dare want to have more than just the simple life. And [[ SarcasmMode wow, she's so cool for not wanting to live luxuriously and not being like most girls in the Selection.]] It doesn't help her character in The Elite when she's so indecisive in her LoveTriangle, shifting from Maxon to Aspen the minute there's a slight problem in one relationship.

** America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even Kota) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life. Her *I'mNotLikeOtherGirls attitude seems to come off as irritating to some readers as well.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Eadlyn in the end of ''The Heir''. Did she finally agree to take the Selection seriously and seriously consider a husband because she realized the value of love and companionship, or is she really looking for someone to leech onto after [[spoiler: Arhen eloped?]]** Are Aspen's claims that he won't stop fighting for America even when she expresses no interest in continuing a relationship romantic, or creepy considering that he won't back down.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Eadlyn in the end of ''The Heir''. Did she finally agree to take the Selection seriously and seriously consider a husband because she realized the value of love and companionship, or is she really looking for someone to leech onto after [[spoiler: Arhen eloped?]]

* AssPull: [[spoiler: Aspen falling for Lucy in ''the One.'']] In ''the Elite'' it’s heavily implied that Lucy develops feeling for him. [[spoiler: However, from Aspen’s end, it comes out of nowhere. He spends the majority of the three books and his novella ''the Guard'' pining for America. While towards the latter half of ''the One'' we are given a bout of ShipTease for him and Lucy having him tell America that he doesn’t love her anymore at the end is still a sudden shift from the way ''the Elite'' and ''the Guard'' ends. It ends up as being a forced and clunky way of settling the love triangle.]]

** Aspen to some extent. While some love him, other’s find him whinny, a jerk to America, or simply [[DieForOurShip not Maxon.]]

** Many reader’s found it all too easy to feel for Jose Woodwork. Her biggest crime is being fifteen. An as Kile spells out to Eadlyn, she’s grown up under her shadow. [[BaseBreakingCharacter Eadlyn]] ends up being needlessly cruel and rude, calling her a commoner, and putting her down for having a crush on Ahren and other celebrities.

** America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even Kota) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life.

* FollowTheLeader: ''The Selection'' was one of the many books published following the massive success of Literature/TheHungerGames. Because of that, many people have taken to calling it a THG ripoff, although there aren't that many similarities (at least no more than any other recently published dystopian book).
** The CW pilot was trying to play this up. It frames the Selection as a distraction to keep the lower castes from uprising, as well as having a rebel group attempt to kidnap America and make her a symbol of their cause.
*** Amusingly, America [[spoiler:does end up helping the Northern rebels, which ends up saving her life (along with the lives of several others).]]

* AssPull: [[spoiler: Aspen falling for Lucy in ''the One.'']] We get ''very'' strong hints that [[spoiler: Lucy]] develops feelings for him over the course of the books, but [[spoiler: Aspen spends a majority of the three books ''and'' his novella pining for America.]] Towards the end, we're given a tiny little moment where [[spoiler: Aspen notices Lucy.]] But by the end of the book he [[spoiler: tells America that he doesn't love her anymore, and he's with Lucy with little explanation.]] This is somewhat justified as Cass was apparently planning on [[spoiler: [[WordOfGod Aspen/America being endgame.]]]] However, after two and a-half books of [[spoiler: "Aspen endlessly loving America," to Aspen telling America, point blank, that he doesn't love her anymore]] it comes across as a forced and clunky way of [[spoiler: settling the love triangle.]]

** It’s hard to feel bad for America when Maxon starts seeing Kris, because Maxon has far more on the line. The books even explain that if the Selection goes on for too long it will not look good on Maxon. He even outright says that if America isn’t in it then he can’t afford to waste time on her.
** Eadlyn ''IS'' this trope.

** It’s kind of hard to feel for Aspen’s assertions that “(He's) a Six” in ''The Guard'' when he has no problem reaping the benefits of a Two.
* WhatAnIdiot: Yeah America, it's probably not a good idea to [[spoiler: declare you should abolish the caste system, and reveal the existence of super secret information]] on national TV. Can't say she doesn't take after her namesake.
** The palace is regularly attacked, no one thinks to install security cameras? With what America and Aspen get away with, [[spoiler: and the fact that it was a ''TV camera'', not a security camera, that caught Marlee and Carter,]] one must assume there aren't any. No wonder rebels get in so frequently.

* CaptainObviousReveal: Was anyone really surprised that [[spoiler: Josie filled out Kile's application?]]
** In ''The Elite'' America learns that [[spoiler: Illea's founder forced his daughter to marry a prince so he could become king of the newly formed country.]] The problem is that Illea's princesses are married off to prince's for alliances, America ''herself'' describes it as them being "sold off" ''in the beginning first book.'' The Selected even have a history lesson about it, they know [[spoiler: the founders' daughter was married off to a prince.]] The reader already knows this, and America should very well know this, but it's still treated as a groundbreaking revelation. The only "shocking" thing is that [[spoiler: Illea ''forced'' his daughter into marriage]] but given that princesses are more or less in [[ArrangedMarriage arranged marriages]] it's still not ''that'' surprising.

** Many reader’s found it all to easy to feel for Jose Woodwork. Her biggest crime is being fifteen. An as Kile spells out to Eadlyn, she’s grown up under her shadow. [[BaseBreakingCharacter Eadlyn]] ends up being needlessly cruel and rude, calling her a commoner, and putting her down for having a crush on Ahren and other celebrities.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even Kota) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life.

** Aspen can be forgiven for not wanting to make America a Six, a servant who's generally worse off than Fives, and breaking up with her because of it. But what brought this about? America made him dinner and hurt is [[SarcasmMode oh-so precious pride.]] And then we learn he was waiting to be drafted, which makes him a Two and in about four years could have married America, then any reason Aspen has for breaking up with her in the first place is kind of lost.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: America does not seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. Early in the first book, she asks why her mother isn’t happy or content with her life. However, it becomes pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. And if Celeste’s attitude towards Fives is not uncommon, then it’s really not that hard to understand why Magda (and even [[Jerkass: Kota]]) would want something better if the opportunity came. America ends up coming across as less of a girl who wants the simple things in life and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: America doesn’t seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. She asks why her mother isn’t happy or content, but it’s pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. If you have to choose between sitting in the cold and feeding your family who wouldn’t want something better than what they were given if opportunity came? So America comes across as less of a girl who the simple things and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life.
** In a similar vein, America goes on and on about how she needs time to sort out her feelings while ignoring that Maxon is on a bit of a deadline. That the Selection is as much a show off his abilities as a ruler as much as it is a chance for him to find his wife, and it made clear that it will not look good on him and the royal family if he takes too long to choose or make the wrong choice. It's kind of hard to feel bad for America when Maxon starts seeing Kris more because America needed time.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Eadlyn in the end of ''The Heir''. Did she finally agree to find a husband because she realized the value of love and companionship, or is she really looking for someone to leech onto after [[spoiler: Arhen eloped?]]

* AssPull: [[spoiler: Aspen falling for Lucy in ''the One.'']] We get ''very'' strong hints that Lucy develops feelings for him over the course of the books, but [[spoiler: Aspen spends a majority of the three books ''and'' his novella pining for America.]] Towards the end we're given a tiny little moment where [[spoiler: Aspen notices Lucy.]] But by the end of the book he [[spoiler: tells America that he doesn't love her anymore, and he's with Lucy with little explanation.]] This is somewhat justified as Cass was apparently planning on [[spoiler: [[WordOfGod Aspen/America being endgame.]]]] However, after two and a-half books of [[spoiler: "Aspen endlessly loving America," to Aspen telling America, point blank, that he doesn't love her anymore]] it comes across as a forced and clunky way of [[spoiler: settling the love triangle.]]
* BaseBreaker: Eadlyn is a pretty controversial lead. Some disliked her selfish attitude and felt her novels were {{Sequelitis}}. Others liked that she had a different personality from previous lead America and that the story was about her CharacterDevelopment from selfish to selfless.

** In ''The Elite'' America learns that [[spoiler: Illea's founder forced his daughter to marry a prince so he could become king of the newly formed country.]] The problem is that Illea's princesses are married off to prince's for alliances, America ''herself'' describes it as them being "sold off" ''in the beginning first book.'' The Selected even have a history lesson about it, they know [[spoiler: the founders daughter was married off to a prince.]] The reader already knows this, and America should very well know this, but it's still treated as a groundbreaking revelation. The only "shocking" thing is that [[spoiler: Illea ''forced'' his daughter into marriage]] but given that princesses are more or less in [[ArrangedMarriage arranged marriages]] it's still not ''that'' surprising.

** Eadlyn, future queen, needs Arhen to spell it out to her that she can negotiate the terms of her Selection with Maxon.
* {{Sequelitis}}: ''The Heir'' and ''The Crown''. While reader’s did enjoy it, some wondered why [[SpinOffspring Eadlyn’s]] story had to be told when ''The One'' wrapped things up pretty wel. It doesn’t help that Eadlyn was such a BaseBreakingCharacter.
** Arguably the original trilogy too. It wasn't unheard of to hear the belief that the story could have been told in one book. ''Maybe'' two, but it didn’t need to be three. ''The'' Elite was seen as the weakest of the three, with many readers none too happy with America blatantly waffling back and forth between Maxon and Aspen.
* StrangledByTheRedString: [[spoiler: Aspen and Lucy]] had very little build up. [[spoiler: Lucy was heavily hinted to be attracted to him, but Aspen spends most of that time pining for America and is inexplicably in love with her a little more than half-way through ''The One.'']] This is specially jarring since Aspen spent most of the first three books all but begging America to take him back.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: America doesn’t seem to understand that just because she was content as a Five doesn’t mean others are. She asks why her mother isn’t happy or content, but it’s pretty obvious why when America recounts a time when the Singers had to sacrifice lighting and heat in order to feed the family and went without presents one Christmas. If you have to choose between sitting in the cold and feeding your family who wouldn’t want something better than what they were given if opportunity came? So America comes across as less of a girl who wants what she wants and more of a petulant brat who cares for little outside of her own love life.
** In a similar vein, America goes on and on about how she needs time to sort out her feelings, while ignoring that Maxon is on a bit of a deadline. That the Selection is as much a show off his abilities as a ruler as much as it is a chance for him to find his wife. It's kind of hard to feel bad for America when Maxon starts seeing Kris more because America needed time.

Well when computers are non-existent in this dystopian world-I highly doubt there are security cameras. And since rebels are able to easily disalarm the alarm systems. I guess alarm systems are pre-history style

* TheScrappy: [[spoiler:Eadlyn]] Many fans of the first three books found her selfish attitude to be unlikable.

** Eadlyn ''IS'' this trope. There are pages upon pages of Eadlyn whining about how she doesn’t want to be queen, how it’s sooo hard to be a female political figure, how no one understands… But she clearly ''LIKES'' the perks of being a royal, the luxuries and parties and whatnot. [[SarcasmMode Clearly she has it so hard, right?]] Eadlyn clearly thinks of herself as above everyone and everything else for her title alone. She constantly whines about how much she scarifies for the people… but she hasn’t sacrificed anything but three months of her time for the Selection, and even then Eadlyn doesn’t even ''try''. There’s one tiny bit of awkwardness during a date and Eadlyn decides it’s a disaster. One tiny little thing goes wrong with her day and she decides she can’t deal with it (something she says often). When protesters pelt her with food all she can think about is how it's ''improper behavior,'' it doesn’t occur to her that they’re trying to ''say'' something, which gives off the idea that she doesn’t really care about the people. She even outright says that she always thought she was adorned when she realized the people really don’t like her. It’s hard to empathize with what could be legitimate struggles when Eadlyn clearly likes being a princess but wants none of the responsibility that comes with it. She's [[SpoiledBrat very spoiled,]] [[AlphaBitch very snobbish, and]] [[ItsAllAboutMe VERY self-centered.]]