Book Review: The Betrothed by Kiera Cass | Amie

Spoiler Free Review!

The Betrothed by Kiera Cass is a book that the four of us, Meilun, Sarah, Tonia & myself, read during our Book Club. We are all avid fans of Kiera Cass’ YA fantasy fiction series, The Selection, and were really looking forward to reading her next novel, The Betrothed. To say the least, we were quite disappointed. Perhaps we had a high expectation for the book, after reading The Selection series and loving it, but we weren’t satisfied with the execution and plot in general.

In our book club, we had split the book into two parts, and after reading the first, I wasn’t really interested in finishing the rest of the novel. The Betrothed didn’t hold my attention, and I think I am speaking for all of us that The Betrothed was just disappointing on many levels, and not what we had expected of Kiera Cass (based on how much we loved The Selection). Now don’t get me wrong, Kiera Cass is a talented writer, which is evident in The Selection series, but I did not really enjoy this novel.

So here is my review on The Betrothed by Kiera Cass. Hold onto your hats folks, things are going to get a little bumpy from here on out.

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Genres: YA Romance, Fantasy-Fiction (supposedly, I’m not too sure about that though)

Content: Death, Cheating, Assassination, Arranged Marriages, Slight Mention of Miscarriages

Page Count: 320

**Sorry if this review is vague; although we read it only two months ago, none of it really stuck with us (I guess it wasn’t significant enough to be committed into memory ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

The Betrothed by Kiera Cass is a YA Romantic Fiction novel that follows 16-year-old Hollis Brite. The story takes place in a 15th century-inspired setting, in a fictional world that features two main kingdoms, Coroa and Isolte. Hollis has lived all her life in Keresken Castle of Coroa, where most young ladies share the same goal — capture the attention of the young King Jameson and become Queen. So when King Jameson declares his love for Lady Hollis, she gets swept into a fairy-tail like romance. But Hollis soon realizes that marrying Jameson and becoming queen may not be the happily ever after that she thought it would be, especially after meeting the mysterious Isolten commoner who can somehow see right through her heart. Hollis becomes conflicted in deciding for her future, as she gets deeper into a royal tangle of romance.

I will say this straight away; The Betrothed is definitely not a significant, page-turning, “I can’t put this down” novel. It was exactly the opposite; “I want to stop wasting my time on this.” Forgive me for being harsh, but I had seriously considered giving up the novel half way through because this story lacked a decent, well, everything. The plot was a straight line, one so thin it almost seemed non-existent. The characters were static and flat, especially the main characters. The story was dull and uninteresting in the first half, and then so many things came flying at you during the second half that there wasn’t enough time to process. Since there is a lot to talk about, mostly criticizing, here is a breakdown of each element of the story.

The Characters

All of the characters (maybe Delia Grace, the main secondary character, is an exception) are completely flat and one-sided. They lack dynamic character traits whatsoever, which makes the story very prone to making readers lose interest, as the characters all seem very fixed and rigid. In other words, the characters lacked character. It made the reading experience less enjoyable. I also feel like the book is full of insignificant characters who only exist for one purpose in the story. Like Hollis’ parents, for example. They only exist to barge into Hollis’ room every few chapters to pick at her flaws and bicker with her. Heck even Silas is quite insignificant.

Lady Hollis Brite

First of all, I want to talk about the protagonist Hollis. Hollis is one of the most bland character I have ever read about. EVER. And not only her, all of the characters were bland. This has ought to be the most flat and static novel I have ever read. When I first started reading the novel, I was a little disappointed with Hollis’ character. She seemed to have no drive, no ambition or goal. She just spent her days lounging around and having ‘fun’, being totally unproductive. It was almost as if she was taking time itself for granted. She also seemed oblivious to responsibility and her position as the future queen of Coroa. In my opinion, she is completely immature and isn’t fit to be queen — a job that comes with a very large amount of responsibility. The only evident reason she was a “candidate” was because she was “pretty like the golden sun” and made Jameson laugh.

I am typically open-minded and, at first, I didn’t really mind that Hollis lacked desirable personality traits. But what threw me off was the lack of character development, in which the characters stayed bland the entire novel. I was extremely disappointed by the lack of character improvement, which is a major factor in which I look for in each chapter. During our first meeting in which we discussed the first half of the novel, we all agreed that Hollis was “quirky” and that was all. Novels that feature quirky protagonists are usually interesting as it usually represents that nobody is perfect, but Hollis was just quirky. Nothing else. And her quirkiness and lack of personality would’ve made for a great foundation for character development. Just saying.

Delia Grace, Lady-in-waiting

Delia Grace is a very interesting character. In our book meeting, the four of us decided that the story would’ve been much more interesting with Delia Grace as the protagonist. I think I can speak for us all when I say we liked Delia Grace more than Hollis. Even if the ways she took to achieve her goals may not have been the most just, at least she had goals. Unlike Hollis, Delia Grace is smart and cares about her future. Also, Delia Grace seems to have been mentioned much more than the supposed love interests throughout the story. And everything Hollis did revolved around Delia Grace, hence the conclusion that Hollis depends way too much on Delia Grace.

The Love Interests — King Jameson & Silas

I don’t hate on love triangles or love at first sight, as long as they are well executed. But this was not it. Just like the characters, the romance was very immature. I don’t believe there was any real love throughout this story, despite the claims of ‘true love’ and ‘soulmates’.

King Jameson — I don’t feel anything towards this character. The writing and the way this character was portrayed didn’t make me believe he was one of the male leads in the novel. But this is his façade, I suppose. I caught a few glimpses of the real side of him several times during the book, and I do not like what I see. This kind of male main character doesn’t leave a good taste in my mouth, especially if they were to get a “happily ever after”. The reason I dislike Jameson is because he treats everyone like a tool. He also says the corniest things to Hollis, like “You are the rising sun,” or “I do have some beautiful things, though there is one gem in all of Coroa that I am aching to call my own.” I mean in some context these could be really romantic, but it’s just weird, since I don’t even think Jameson truly loves her.

Silas, “mysterious commoner” — Another fault in the book, the character descriptions. You don’t know how anyone looks except Hollis, Jameson and Silas. The reason I am bringing it up here is because I am particularly peeved about Silas’ description. Whenever he walks into a room or is mentioned at all, there is always something about his “piercing blue eyes.” Hollis is always obsessing over his blue eyes. It got boring really quick.

Also, the supposed romance (if there even was any) was terrible. I look for romantic interactions that make me feel warm inside and make my heart flutter. Like the kind that exudes warm and fuzzy feelings through the screen or pages. Nothing in this book made me feel warm. Reading it was like a chore; I did it for the sake of the club. (；⌣̀_⌣́)

Queen Valentina of Isolte

I think everyone who read The Betrothed can agree that Valentina was the only character we liked. And this is because she actually has character. Although she is around the same age as Hollis, she is actually mature and fit to be queen. She is probably the only character in the whole novel who isn’t obviously one-sided and flat. And when she trusted Hollis with her secret later on in the novel Hollis didn’t even really hesitate before spilling the beans to Silas. REALLY HOLLIS? Valentina is literally the only character that makes me feel something real. Apart from being mature and responsible (unlike Hollis), she is also what I believe to be the most realistic character in the novel. I feel like a book about Valentina would’ve been much better.

The Plot & Story Development

Besides not having an interesting story line, The Betrothed was not very well written. Although the author explained the history of Coroa very well, it wasn’t all that relevant to the story. The author also makes it seem like the protagonist is always right and the others are wrong. Because she is the main character, Hollis was placed under a light that made it look like she is never at fault. Perhaps this is because the story was written from her point of view and she is petty like a child. I don’t know if you see it too, but Hollis displays immature behavior, hence the “I’m always right and you’re always wrong” behavior.

In the beginning, Hollis was basking under the glow of the King’s attention. And then Silas walked in the room and all of a sudden his “mysterious blue eyes” was all that mattered. Most of the story revolved around how Hollis and Silas are soulmates, but it wasn’t carried out well at all, as it only took a few insignificant meetings for them to realize they were “meant to be”. I also saw this point brought up in another review, and I thought it was quite important to include; Silas knew that Hollis was practically engaged to the King, and he still chose to advance on her. And when she pushed him away for fear of her reputation being ruined, he had the audacity to feel hurt.

I never really realized this while reading, but did Silas not care for the consequences of being caught enamoring with the King’s lady?!?! And even if this bond Silas so strongly believed in was enough to make him advance on Hollis the way he did, disregarding his reputation, did he not fear for what they would do to Hollis for cheating on the KING? I think that if he really loved her he wouldn’t put her in the way of danger or even risk her getting hurt. And how did they determine they were soulmates anyway? Did his mysterious blue eyes speak to her in the back of her mind? In her sleep? There was no relationship development. Absolutely ridiculous.

Also, besides the toxic-faux love situation, there wasn’t really any no romance involved. Does possibly getting married to the King count? I don’t think so. Maybe there were like 3 kiss scenes in the whole novel? But the novel was basically hitching on the fact that Hollis and Silas are supposedly soulmates, and was somehow labelled as a “steamy YA Romance?”

Rating & Recommendation

Overall, I think this book deserves a 1.5 or 2 star rating out of 5. The novel had zero plot and the characters were dull and unexciting. There was also no development whatsoever, be it character development or relationship development. Nada.

And no. I don’t really recommend this book. At first when I finished the book, I thought of it as a spineless romance novel that would probably suit the younger, naïve and oblivious me who just wanted a quick love story. I thought that this would be a suitable read for me when I was more immature, because the book is kinda immature. But then my friend Meilun pointed out during our book meeting that if you look closer, the relationships depicted and content labelled “love” was not love at all and the relationships portrayed were pretty toxic too.

So yes, I concur. This book would suit someone with the same level of maturity as the characters, but not for young readers**. If a younger reader was to read this novel (one who was oblivious to real love, a first-time romance reader for example), they may get wrong ideas regarding love, as what was depicted in this novel isn’t necessarily what young people should expect from love. Also, the toxic relationships that younger readers encounter may become the ideal of what a friendship or a true relationship may look like.

**Young Readers being pre-teens (or people who can’t really differentiate toxic relationships from healthy ones). Maybe this is why it is labelled “YA”; you need to be able to differentiate the good books from the bad to know you probably wasted your time … ╮(￣ω￣;)╭

Would I read the next book? Maybe. Just to see where Kiera Cass takes this. (If you didn’t know, The Betrothed is the first installment in a new duology). If you've read Kiera Cass' The Betrothed, comment down below what you thought!

Books mentioned in this post:

The Betrothed by Kiera Cass

The Selection (#1 of The Selection Series) by Kiera Cass