I rated this book 4 stars. The cover is gorgeous but the story line seemed predictable but it was good.

I simply loved this one! While the pacing occasionally got slow for me in the middle sections, the excitement never waned, and my love for the book remain high until the final page. Fans of fantasy and adventure will fall in love with Monroe! can't wait to read more from this author!

3.5* Rounded Up

This is an interesting mix between The Hunger Games and The Selection and I enjoyed this fight to be queen with magic powers. It had some pacing issues and the romance overtook the plot a bit in the middle which made it a bit slow. The fast paced action parts in beginning and end were so exciting and the overall themes and magic system were interesting. While it had some flaws and was predictable at times it was an entertaining and fun read.

This book had me in it's frigging grip and would not let go!!! The world building was fantastic but super easy to follow, I loved the opening "creation" story so much and hope she dives into it more in the next books! Monroe was a great FMC, I've seen a lot of reviews calling her weak and honestly could not agree with that even a little. I don't think she was cowardly for not wanting to participate in the trials or wanting to survive! I really loved her relationship with her trainers, Uri, and Nadia! But of course, the romance was my fave! Cohen is just so sweet and swoon-worthy, I loved their blooming relationship and the end just broke me!!! This is definitely a brutal story, the evil queen is insane and brutal, and she was not the only horrible one! I like that the author didn't hold back on the cruelty of some of these ladies!

Holy moly, was I invested in this book! Monroe is one of my favorite characters of the year. She was tough, smart, and just generally badass. She is one of ten Goddess touched girls to be rounded up and sent to the capital to take part in a fight to the death to see who will be the next queen of the kingdom. It is a wild ride through the entire process and I could not put it down! It was almost Hunger Games-esque, with people being required to, (and some excited to) watch the girls as they were forced to kill each other in the arena. There is so much drama and action in this book that will keep you hooked for the entire book. I cannot recommend it more, you must read it!

If you love Hunger Games, you'll love this book! The storyline is unique and captivating from the very first sentence. The author manages to play on your emotions every single chapter.

The book resonates with "The Selection," but with a twist—instead of girls being sent home, they are randomly chosen to compete in an arena until only one survives. Ten goddess-touched girls must battle to the death, vying for the chance to marry the prince and become queen.

However, amidst the competition, there are hidden secrets, a formidable queen reluctant to surrender her throne, and whispers of rebellion in the background. The only downside is the cliffhanger ending, leaving readers eagerly awaiting the next installment. Nonetheless, it's a captivating read that shouldn't be missed.

Ever wondered what The Selection would be like if it was mixed with The Hunger Games? Well girlies, now we have it! Add in some magical abilities and this is the book for you. I devoured this book! There was so much action, betrayals and twists. And that ending!!! Pick this one up… you will not be disappointed!

This was an amazing book that I wished that I could give a 5 plus to. The main characters and the plot fascinated me. It reminds me of the book Selection but it still had it's unique spin that made it an intriguing and exciting book to read. I love competition books and I highly recommend this book.

Although the story line wasn't particularly unique, fans of YA fantasy, especially the Selection series will enjoy this story. I appreciated that the book didn't end on a complete cliff hanger!

This was spectacular! I loved every second of it and I can't wait for the second book. That ending 😩 don't do that to mee. It's paced pretty well, the plot is great, the characters are easy to get attached too. I don't want to say too much and give away anything! I like going in to books blind.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc.

<b><i>The Selection</i> but make it stabby</b>

I would definitely recommend this for fans of <i>The Selection</i> because a lot of the elements are the same: a competition to marry a prince, rebels who want to take down the monarchy; the main character is very much an underdog, etc. The big difference is that this is has a violent aspect that was missing with the selection. Basically, there are 10 girls vying to marry the prince, but they need to defeat each other in a series of one on one battles and the last survivor marries the prince.

I really enjoyed the fighting aspects. It was unexpectedly violent in spots which definitely made the story more interesting and made the stakes feel much higher.


However, I didn’t like the romance as much as the fighting aspects. I appreciated that the book made it seem like there was no instalove (at least on his end) but I still found myself enjoying the fighting sequences more.


The writing was pretty good and the story was pretty quick and easy to read. While not a favorite fantasy of mine, I still enjoyed it quite a bit.


And that cover is absolutely stunning! I love the color scheme!!!

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

With aspects reminiscing of The Hunger Games and The Selection, this read dives into an exciting world, where magic and royalty mix with death and blood.

Monroe was born as a goddess-touched, meaning she might be one of the ten possible heirs to the throne. Like the other nine girls, she carries a magical ability, and is required to take part in a competition called the Culling to see who will marry the crowned prince to become the next queen. Gifted with the ability to command fire, Monroe's chances at winning aren't bad...if she wanted to compete. Not only is she uninterested in the throne, but she doesn't see any good in killing nine other girls to get there. In an attempt to keep her alive and away from the trials, her family has always claimed her as a son and have let her rarely be seen even in their small town on the outskirts of the kingdom. But the Culling has come, and the kingdom is in unrest thanks to starvation and a threatening war. While Monroe hopes to escape, fate has other plans...and it will take a miracle for her to survive. Not only are the other girls powerful and dangerous, but the palace harbors secrets more deadly than any of them.

While this read take a definite dystopian direction, the world holds some unique twists. There are armies with swords, palaces with secret passageways, magic, and ballrooms, which give a midieval, fantasy flair, but at the same time, there are cars (although only for the elite) and guns, which by no means make it 'modern' but add an odd embrace. The world building is never heavy but adds enough to set it up as the action takes over. It's a faster paced with plenty of fight scenes, more than a few deadly moments, some gore, quite a bit of tension, and more than a little dark intrigue.

The characters are easy to like or hate. Monroe and her friends are given depth and purpose. Their decisions are, for the most part, understandable, and the emotional moments hit enough to keep the pages turning. The enemies could use a bit more substance, but there are quite a few characters in this book, and their lack of background doesn't make the tale less entertaining. It's just a lighter, more entertaining read. There is romance, which was nicely paced, although it took over the plot more than needed, at times, as YA tends to do. But the pair is one to root for.

I did read this in one sitting, and while there were sections I found myself quick-skimming over (I'm an action girl and get bored quickly), never did I have the urge to lay it down. There are some open questions concerning the war and the Culling's purpose, which never were addressed, and there are other untied ends, which should be finding their answers in the upcoming books. This one does end on a 'to be continued' note, but book two's release isn't far off, so the wait is short. I am looking forward to diving into the second book because I do want to see what happens next.

If you are a fan of the Hunger Games, I highly recommend this book! Hunger Games is one of my favorite series and this book gave me some of those same feelings.

The story is really good and I loved the world building. This book is full of action, romance, and political intrigued and it had me hooked from the beginning! Monroe was my favorite but I do wish we got to see more of her powers. Cant wait to see where the story goes in book 2!

Brianna was a brand new author to me and I was really excited to jump into this. This was reminiscent of early 2010 YA novels with a dystopian vibe to me. There were some pretty obvious references such as Hunger Games and The Selection being two of the main ones. I thought this was a fun and easy read, but this ultimately didn't really bring anything new to the YA genre. I think a lot of people will like this, but I was hoping for more originality overall.

I would like to preface that I read this book all in one go because it was just that enjoyable for me. This book is described by reviews as The Selection meets the Hunger Games and they are not lying. It's a perfect mix of those 2 books and ends up getting you glued to your seat because you just have to know how it ends. The story deals with Monroe, one of the goddess-touched girls and her destiny is to pretty much participate in the Culling, a competition to determine the next queen of Erydia. She's gone under the radar for seventeen years, no one knowing that she has the power of fire. But circumstances lead to her deciding she no longer wants to hide and that she’ll enter the culling. There's 10 girls and if she wants to survive she has to outlive them all since it is a fight to the death. She also meets the dreamy sounding prince Cohen ( who I love so much ) and his sister Uri who is such an amazing character.
Monroe’s development throughout this book was slow at first but once she was in the castle was perfect. The only thing I wish we got to see more was her powers develop. I feel that was left out a lot since she was so used to hiding her powers but I do hope that's something we get to see in book two. I also enjoyed the romance between Monroe and Cohen. It does seem to go a little fast and then abruptly stop due to circumstances but I loved every second of it and I’m excited to see where they go. I wasn’t expecting the plot twists that were presented to me in this book either, I mean for half of the book I was trying to figure out who could be poisoning the girls and the twist of who it was was AMAZING. And all that bloodshed at the end was totally unexpected. I’m excited for book two.
Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad WEBTOON book Group for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Monroe has spent her entire life hiding. Her fire magic means she's marked for the Culling - a death match to crown the next queen. When the prince comes of age and the announcement is made, she tries to flee into a neighboring kingdom only to march into the arms of the crown. Can Monroe reconcile who she is and who she needs to be to survive?

I have mixed feelings about this one. I like Monroe and some of the other characters, but prince Cohen didn't work for me. The villains were over the top - clearly sociopaths and prone to violence - yet Monroe's actions are seen as a "betrayal" The book has pretty good pacing and the ending leaves most of the plot shattered. Other than some suspicious character choices, this is a decent hunger-games style fantasy adventure.

<b>Your choice is to die running from it or die fighting for it.</b>

This was a wild ride packed full of secrets, plotting, revenge and perseverance.

Our FMC, Monroe, is a goddess-touched (meaning she holds supernatural powers), that was called to participate in a Culling (cue Hunger Games vibes), to determine the next Queen of Erydia. Each goddess-touched girl is expected to fight with their power and strength until there is only one left standing.

Monroe, spending her life hiding her gifts, gets caught trying to escape with one of her brothers, and is thrown into the palace to compete in the Culling. There she meets Rebels, the Culled, who need her help to overthrow the Kingdom and right the Kingdom’s wrongs all over the world, once and for all. There’s a major problem though, she meets the prince, Cohen, and her growing affection towards him presents a challenge in trying to free Erydia of their terrible ruling.

The first book in the series—it features solid world building and character development. Even the side characters I have grown to either adore or hate simply by the writing provoking emotions.

This book contains friendships, deceits, betrayals…all in the name of freedom from the world suffering under the current rulers. It’s a wild ride, that I will tell you, and I don’t want to give too much away so just pick the darn book up.

Off to venture into book 2!

Thank you to NetGalley, Wattpad Publishing and author Brianna Crump for the ARC copy to read and review. I absolutely devoured it.

This book was absolutely phenomenal and completely took me by surprise. Set in a dystopian country, ten girls grow up across the nation with special powers, thought of as “goddess touched.” When the prince of Erydia comes of age, the girls are sent to compete in “The Culling,” a series of trials where they must fight to the death (a bit reminiscent of The Hunter Games and The Selection). Main character Monroe Benson grew up in the outskirts hiding her power of fire, but is caught trying to escape as the trials are beginning and forced to compete. She forms an unlikely relationship with Prince Cohen, his sister Uri, another goddess touched girl, and her trainers, amidst lots of palace politics and the impending trials.

This sucked me in completely. The world building was spot on: not too complicated to understand and just intriguing enough to keep the pages turning. I was on the edge of my seat every step of the way. The pacing for the first half was a little bit slow as weeks took place between trials, but it allowed for more development of all the relationships. There were also only a select few actual trials. By 70% of the book, I believe only two had taken place (and some girls kept mysteriously dying) and I wished there had been a bit more time spent in the arena, or at the very least emphasis on each girl’s respective gift. Other than that, I truly loved Monroe’s empathy and tenacity. I felt like I was truly experiencing everything along with her. I loved how her relationship with Cohen progressed and her internal turmoil between her feelings for him and her urges to fight for the rebellion. She was an incredible main character.

I can’t wait to read the second book and eventually the third - I’m officially hooked! I hope this series gets the recognition it deserves.