novella

The Prince (The Selection #0.5) by Kiera Cass
Published May 5, 2013 by HarperTeen
Source: purchased

There is a rising trend of novellas in the YA genre and I have to say I love it! I think it is so wonderful that authors have the ability to give us a nugget story to tie us over between books while sometimes gaining a different view on certain scenes.

The Prince novella is about Maxon and takes place before and during the beginning of The Selection. I really enjoyed Maxon’s POV but I have to say this fell short for me compared to the full length novels. In the beginning we see Maxon’s interactions with a foreign royal his age who happens to be a girl. Living in the palace prevents Maxon from not only having friends his age but also interacting with girls. It was great to see some of The Selection from Maxon’s POV but this did not supply a large amount of important information where I felt it was necessary to read.

I would recommend picking this up if you loved The Selection and/or like Maxon otherwise this is not required to read before picking up The Elite.

Rating

Flat-Out Matt (Flat-Out Love #1.5) by Jessica Park
Published March 25, 2013
Source: purchased

Warning: contains spoilers of FLAT OUT LOVE

Matt is a junior at MIT. He’s geeky, he’s witty, he’s brilliant.

And he’s also very, very stupid.

When beautiful, cool, insightful Julie moves in with Matt’s family, why (oh why!) does he pretend to be his absent brother Finn for her alleged benefit? It seems harmless enough until her short-term stay becomes permanent. And until it snowballs into heart-squeezing insanity. And until he falls in love with Julie, and Julie falls in love with Finn.

But … Matt is the right one for her. If only he can make Julie see it. Without telling her the truth, without shattering them all. Particularly his fragile sister Celeste, who may need Julie the most.

I loved Matt’s POV and found it deepened the story. I really enjoyed reading about Matt and Julie from Julie’s POV but this just intenisfied things and made me love them! The only bone I have to pick with this is the fact that it isn’t the whole story from Matt’s POV but various chapters(but hey, it’s a “novella”). At first I was scared I was not going to be able to follow along but I was pleasantly surprised that I always knew what chapter/scene was happening (and I read FLAT-OUT LOVE back in the fall).

One of the best parts of this was the prequel chapter in the beginning that featured a scene with Matt and Finn before Finn’s death. This is the only time the readers actually get to see this notorious Finn alive. Until reading this I didn’t full understand how much Finn meant to Matt. You know from Flat-Out Love that Finn is greatly missed by everyone in the family but you get to see first hand how much Finn helped Matt.