I really enjoy Kiera Cass’s books. They are kind of a guilty pleasure to me. They always put me in the best of moods and I have a lot of fun reading them. I thought this book was an amazing addition to The Selection series. This is the second time reading this book in a very long time.

I loved to see the story from others’ POVs, and they seemed so genuine. They fitted perfectly in the story. The main part of the book is divided into 4 novellas and I will talk about each of these.

The Queen
The Queen was the first novella and the one I most wanted to read. I always wanted to see Amberly’s side of the story, although I can’t really agree with her about Clarkson. I was already terribly calculative back then and sure he didn’t have the best of parents but he was still a lot worse as one. But at least he wasn’t that bad with Amberly.

The Prince
The Prince was probably the one I most enjoyed. It reminds me of The Heir. But because he is a guy and has very different parents it was really interesting. I was already expecting a lot of the moments in this novella, but it was so nice to read them! Especially how anxious he was about the Selection… He is adorable!

The Guard
This one was okay. I mainly liked the part about him and Lucy. Although it was a bit sad… I already didn’t like some of Aspen’s attitudes but this one made me feel them even more. He almost lost her because of that and I feel sorry for Lucy… But at least it all worked out in the end.

The Favorite
I really enjoyed this one! It was great to find out how Marlee and Carter met and what happened to them after their public humiliation…. They are so sweet together! And I loved to see how she stayed with America in the end.

Three Scenes from Celeste’s POV

I’m not gonna lie. I hated Celeste in the beginning. Which is easy to do, because we only see her actions and nothing more. But by the end of the series, she turned into one of the most awesome characters! So this was a must read! It was emotional, I loved it and I miss her!

The Maid – Lucy’s Chapters
I always liked Lucy. I mean, who wouldn’t?! She is extremely sweet! And I do like her with Aspen even though she didn’t deserve some of those attitudes from him, but in the end, I think he is the right person for her.

After The One
I loved it! It was so sweet and emotional and ahh I love them together! And she changed a lot her posture but she is still herself. It was just the perfect ending!

Where are they now?
This was a follow-up of Natalie, Kriss, and Elise and it was a really nice addition. I loved how different their reactions were and their lives after the selection ended.

Also, the part where they tell about the war in New Asia thing made me hate Clarkson even more. He is so evil! I wonder if the queen knew about it…

The illustrations
The illustrations were freaking amazing! Simple, but detailed and just plain beautiful! I loved that the author decided to add them!

If you’ve read the Selection series, I would definitely recommend reading this one!

General BookReview:

Happily Ever After by Kiera Cass

Book: Happily Ever After
Author: Kiera Cass
Published by: HarperTeen
Publication date: 8th October 2015
ISBN: 9780062426888
Page (s): 413
Price: 720 BDT

I have always been a huge fan of The Selection series, though I haven’t read all. But when I realized there was a book of novellas about the series, I couldn’t be more excited. This book tells the popular stories from the series through the eyes of characters such as Amberly, Maxon, Aspen, Marlee, Celeste, and even Lucy.

What I liked most about this book is that you learn things about the characters through their own eyes — things that weren’t specifically brought up in the series when it was told from America or even Eadlyn’s POV. The book opens up with Amberly and her own Selection, and you get to see the drunk, horrid abuse that the previous Queen instilled on everybody, and you got to see the rough childhood that Clarkson grew up with that isn’t really explained in the original series. You also get to see little moments that weren’t picked out in the original stories since the original stories are in America’s POV (and therefore the things that America didn’t see or know, we didn’t either). For example, Aspen witnesses several instances where Clarkson orders any work or changes Maxon has done during his workday to be erased as if they never happened. In the original stories, we don’t see those things happening.

One of my favorite novella’s was Maxon’s, specifically the scene in the garden where he meets America for the first time. I loved that scene in the original book because it was sweet and hysterical at the same time, so getting to read about it again and know exactly what Maxon is thinking when he first lays eyes on America, and several moments after that. It’s totally adorable and heartwarming and funny and my geeky little fangirl heart was beating wildly the entire time.

Another part I really enjoyed was being able to read Aspen’s thoughts throughout several key scenes in the story, and also finding out exactly what happened to Marlee and Carter after their caning. Overall, this novella gives you an extensive view of several key scenes throughout the series from different perspectives to give it a more diverse and comprehensive feel, and it’s really fulfilling as a reader. It was great to revisit scenes I was familiar with, but to see them through a new set of eyes. I thought I’d be bored rereading the same story I already knew, but seeing it from the point of view of another character completely changes the scene and makes it so much more special and different.

The only thing that I didn’t like all that much was that the stories were so short! Granted, the book is a compilation of novellas, so they aren’t going to be long stories. But each story drew me in and made me want to know more and more about the character, so I was pretty bummed when I would turn the page and that character’s novella would be over and it would be onto the next one! (Of course, then I started reading the next one, and getting caught up in that character’s story, and so on and so forth in a constant cycle…) This wasn’t the sort of thing I took stars off for, just a frustrating thing because I was so in love which each and every story that I never wanted it to end!

Overall, I very much enjoyed Happily Ever After. It was great to see the stories I’ve already read about from the point of view of the other characters, and also backstories to characters that hadn’t been explored before, such as Amberly. If you read the entire Selection series and are craving more, I definitely recommend picking up this book and getting a little more of a fix in. And don’t forget to check out my reviews of The Selection, The Elite, The One, The Heir, and The Crown!

I’m always a huge Kiera Cass fan. I can’t wait to read more of her work!

Summary: The contents of Happily Ever After are as follows:The Prince (with the two bonus chapters), Maxon’s novella, The Guard, Aspen’s novella, The Queen, Amberly’s novella, The Favorite, Marlee’s novella, Three scenes from Celeste’s POV, Lucy’s scene (bonus scene from The One), The bonus epilogue, Where are they now?, A map, Various illustrations

So My rating is 3.8 out of 5. I’ve enjoyed it so damn much. This book really stuck me into one place saying, “let’s know the finishing”. That was my second time reading this book. Anyway happy reading

Adios!

Note: that cover in the thumbnail is not my book. It’s my cousin’s