As described, a modern day retelling of Romeo & Juliet, i.e. boy meets girl from the wrong side of the city and love blossoms.
An easy summer read I guess, but maybe aimed at a younger audience.

While the characters were interesting, the worldbuilding needed more in the first half of the book, and I did not gel with the writing style which led me to grow increasingly frustrated and DNFed at 40%.

Probably too ambitious a pick for me given my normal genre taste. The premise intrigued me plus the promise of romance is one I am always here for. Sadly, it didn't keep my attention and was added to the list of DNFs.

I found Select to be a true page-turner. I usually read at night just before bed, and I had to limit myself to one chapter a night to prevent sleep deprivation! As an avid reader of both adult and young adult fiction, I think that Select will appeal to teens and adults alike. The plot twists and interesting character development keep things humming. A key premise of the book is the separation of groups based on special talents/gifts. Without sharing too much detail, I think the tension between these groups is fascinating and symbolic of other groups that form in reality, making the plot relatable for everyone. I'm excited to read the sequel!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to go through with this. I might come back someday.

I would like to thank the publisher and netgalley for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not for me
The drawn-out style of writing is not the style of writing I like to read. Therefore, I’m not the right reviewer for this book. There are others, I’m sure, who will appreciate this style of writing - just not me.

This book wasn't for me...

I wanted magic and instead I got romance for the entire width of the book. I wanted to know everything about the abilities and Julia’s background but instead I only received small hints here and there to keep me engaged. Honestly, I think even blurb says more about the paranormal side of the book than the actual story.

While the overall concept was good and the cover was gorgeous, this still read like a debut novel for me. The pacing was a bit uneven. Although I liked the idea of the characters, I wanted some more complexity or dimension in them. There is definite potential here, but I don't know if I'll be the one to see that come to fruition.

Select was a good book with a few twists which I loved. I don’t normally read this genre but the blurb pulled me in. , I’ll definitely read another by this author

I have conflicting opinions about Select. Though it was interesting enough to keep me turning the pages but I also felt it bored me for nearly 40% of the book in the beginning. The premise is quite original as it talks about fitting in a population where you are more evolved than others. And the book ending definitely left me longing for the next book in the series.

The characters were just okay and I wish they were more developed. I can see this book was more of a plot-driven. Julia is smart and strong, but she feels completely out of place both in her own family and in her community. I like her together with John though it made things even harder for John to get to know her. Liv was an okay character and I completely hated their parents Victoria and Novak. They were so creepy. I felt that the romance included a bit a love triangle which I hate so much.

I really hope the second book is better than this one and focuses more on character development.

I wish I'd been able to get into this, but somehow I kept getting distracted. I will probably try and pick it up again in future.

The words supernatural instantly put me off this book, overall it was ok-ish. I prefer something tangible, in terms of a mystery, not supernatural.

A fast-paced read! I enjoyed the characters and the premise was an interesting one. It is definitely unique and worth a read if you're even a little bit intrigued by the synopsis.

I finished this really quick, couldn't put it down! Loved the characters and the story! Easily one of my favorite books of the year.

*I received a free copy of this ebook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

1.5. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read.

Meh. That’s how I feel about this book. It started out confusing (Julia’s narration seemed to assume we knew a lot of stuff already, like all the names she threw at us at the beginning), and then I got bored. And there were a lot of f words. They were thrown about like confetti. If I hadn’t felt obligated to review the book, I wouldn’t have finished it.

Overall, I think the characters were selfish and/or lacking in self preservation. I didn’t particularly like any of them.

The writing was so-so, neither terrible nor amazing. Sometimes it jumped around, leaving me with a “huh?” feeling. Sometimes events or conversations felt quite contrived—rather than feeling natural, it was as if the author forced it to happen.

Note: Swearing, including lots of f words. Off-page sex.

Enjoyable novel that I would recommend for a younger audience. I found myself frustrated with Julia at times but she is a young character. It did keep me wandering what would happen next, I was definitely intrigued!

Seventeen-year-old Julia Jaynes is part of a group of highly evolved humans with special abilities. They use their abilities to hide from modern-day America in plain sight, as billionaires living in a big city. But even in her advanced group, Julia has never quite fit in. A horrible mistake forces her father to alienate her from the others by moving her from her private school with the others to a public high school for her senior year. It's terrible, until she discovers that she can read the attractive John Ford's mind.

Select was kind of an interesting novel. It focuses on the star-crossed romance between Julia and John. Since Julia is of a different race of humans than John, her controlling father would never let them be together. So she has to hide her relationship with him even while promising to hide all her abilities and do everything right so that she is not banished from her tribe. On top of that, there is a guy from her tribe that she has been crushing on for a long time but who just started dating Julia's sister. In other words, there is a love quadrangle going on even though it is clear that Julia's heart rests with John. It is kind of a typical story, but the abilities and tribe background make it a little more intriguing.

Julia and the other advanced humans are supposed to have come from a tribe in South America who, alienated from the rest of the world for centuries, evolved to have better abilities as a group. They can do things like hold their breaths for a long time, manipulate matter and energy, and survive more dangerous things. Kind of cool, but more difficult to hide than you might think. So Julia's father is planning to move them all a secret area where they'll be safe - Julia's romance with John is not only forbidden but on a time limit.

I thought I would make note of two things: First, the book description makes it seem like Julia is manipulating John. That's not quite true; she's changing things in his life (like making him win a tennis match he would have lost) but she's not altering his mind or forcing him to do things he doesn't want to. Second, this book is a little more romantically explicit than I am comfortable with. There's also swearing and under-age drinking and smoking, just so you're aware.

I enjoyed reading Select, but it was a little dark and more "romantic" than I would wish. I'm not sure I'll be reading the second book even as curious as I am to see what comes next. If you enjoy YA urban fantasy, perhaps you will enjoy this book more than I did.

I received a complementary copy of this book. All opinions are my own, and I did not receive compensation for sharing them.

This is not a bad book so much as to say that's not great. The premise is interesting (albeit a bit overdone perhaps), the characters are okay and while plot was missing for the first half of the book it turned up later on. I didn't hate every minute of reading Select but I can easily pick it apart to some degree. There are three major things I didn't like about Select that heavily influenced my three star rating:
1) The Info Dump
2) Where's the Plot
3) Specialist of all Special Snowflakes

Let's chat about these three things:

1) The Info Dump
I often wonder how some authors manage to bring readers into complex, magical fantasy realms without the 'info dump'. Sometimes it seems that dialogue about situations going on helps, other times it's a first person musing in a characters mind, and other times I'm baffled that I learned so much for a non-info dump start. It's clearly a talent and one that, unfortunately, Marit Wiesenberg has not yet mastered.
I wish I could provide solid advice on what to change here or how to get away from the info dump; all I know is really great books don't do this.

2) Where's the Plot
I feel like a broken record on this point. If you believe Twilight has plot before the 300 page mark then you have failed to understand what plot is. As this is a continuing issue in stories lately let's talk about what is not plot.
Plot IS NOT:
- two people liking each other
- someone moving somewhere
- an existence of a world
What Plot IS:
- a mystery to be solved
- a situation to be resolved
- a catalyst of some sort (and the catalyst cannot be lust/love!)
The difference is that plot is a tangible thing. Unfortunately, Select has no plot until we get to at least halfway and realize that there is something afoot with our lead gal's father's "relocation plan". Prior to that we just have our lead gal lusting after a boy (insta-love warning!), her struggling to attend school everyday, her whining, etc. All things but not things that equal plot.

3) Specialist of all Special Snowflakes
So once we get some plot going (halfway point at best) we realize that perhaps part of the plot is that there is a search happening for a certain 'type' of person. Our lead gal and her family are members of a 'Select' group of people already. Okay cool. However to then infer that your lead character may be even more special is like adding too much icing on a cake. There is such a thing! Maybe I'm just tired of the specialist of all snowflake stories but this grated my nerves and felt like a cheap ploy to keep me reading (yes it worked but that doesn't mean I liked it).

Overall
Once you reach the point at which there is a mystery or issue to be resolved in Select it gets much better. Unfortunately it's too little too late for me. I finished the book if only because the writing was pretty good and I liked the characters (despite their annoying insta-love connection and 'selectness'). I will probably read the second book because the ending of Select sets up a very interesting circumstance I'm intrigued by. There's a lot going for Select it's just that Wiesenberg happened to hit on some of my major irritations with YA fiction lately.
Be forewarned (like all YA books lately...) this is not a stand-alone book and you may be frustrated by the ending as it's a resolution of sorts; but certainly not an ending. I've already put book 2 on hold at my library (as I was declined for an ARC, sad face).
My final note is that Wiesenberg probably has a successful career ahead of her if she can work on a few aspects of her stories. Writing is solid and characters are well developed. Just some tweaks here and there plus some plot and she is likely to be someone you will be hearing about in the future.

I am sad to say that this was a DNT for me. I tried my very best to complete this book as the blurb really called out to me but I couldn't connect to the characters and the story. I don't know if it was because of where I was in my life when I first picked it up as my concentration was on other things. Maybe I will give it another go sometime in the future and my opinions will change. Sadly, it just wasn't for me at the time.

This book just didn't do it for me. It was a paranomal ya star crossed love story with some sci fi. It was just okay. It was confusing and the writting style really wasn't for me. It took about 5 chapters for some things to make a little sense but then another element would be added. Almost like "but wait, there's more!" The ending leaves room for a sequel but if there is a follow up I probably won't be reading it.