When King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis Brite, Hollis is shocked—and thrilled. After all, she’s grown up at Keresken Castle, vying for the king’s attention alongside other daughters of the nobility. Capturing his heart is a dream come true.
But Hollis soon realizes that falling in love with a king and being crowned queen may not be the happily ever after she thought it would be. And when she meets a commoner with the mysterious power to see right into her heart, she finds that the future she really wants is one that she never thought to imagine.
The Betrothed Review
I first read The Selection series seven years ago, when I was 16 and I loved it.
When Kiera Cass announced her new duology “The Betrothed“, a book about royals, forbidden romance, a wonderful dress in the cover and “The Selection” vibes, I didn’t hesitate to pre-order it.
JUST LOOK AT THAT COVER!!!
But I must say that I’m very disappointed in The Betrothed.
After reading the summary it gave me reversed “The Selection” vibes. Instead of falling in love with the prince/king, she will end up falling in love with the commoner.
I was rooting for that.
However, I ended up wishing I hadn’t read The Betrothed.
Characters
Hollis Brite has never left Coroa and she’s currently living at the castle and courted by the King with other girls too. She really doesn’t think she has a chance at being queen but she’s determined to enjoy the ride while she can.
King Jameson has moved from girl to girl enjoying himself until he chooses to marry. But he’s captured by Hollis’ personality and beauty. She makes him laugh for the first time after the death of his parents when no one else could.
Silas Eastoffe and his family just moved to Coroa after running away from their kingdom’s King. Jameson grants them asylum in Coroa and a room in the castle to keep an eye on them.
Thoughts
There really isn’t a plot, maybe only at the end but I think it was too fast-paced and just put in there to add some action in the book and make sure to have a plot for the sequel, it just didn’t make sense.
The characters are just plain.
They don’t have any development during the whole book. No background story was given to any of them. She didn’t really describe the characters besides Hollis, Jameson, Silas and Silas’ family.
I actually don’t know what the rest of the side characters look like.
Kiera Cass was my goddess for romance when I was a teenager but The Betrothed let me down so bad.
I was cringing at their “romantic” scenes. Jameson and Silas said the most cringeworthy love lines and they actually shared one in particular.
When Jameson tells her “she was the Sun”, Hollis thinks she’s only a trophy for the King. But when Silas tells her “she was his Sun”, Hollis realizes he’s perfect for her and she is in love with him.
There’s an insta-love between Hollis and Silas after a week of meeting each other that just doesn’t make sense. It reminded me of Anna from Frozen when she meets Hans and wants to marry him that same day.
Final Thoughts
I think Cass wanted to write a book about following your heart and doing what you think is right for you instead of doing what is expected from you. But there was a lot of plot missing, characters weren’t developed in my opinion and the romance just wasn’t there AT ALL.
Looking for more book reviews?
Checked out our review of The Selection by Kiera Cass.