Review: Elite by Rachel Van Dyken

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

When I won the annual Eagle Elite College Scholarship lottery, I was thrilled. After all, my grandma had just died and I wanted to take care of my aging grandpa -- he couldn't be a farmer in Wyoming forever. And graduating from Eagle Elite meant opportunity.

But I wasn't counting on meeting Nixon.

Nor was I counting on the rules of the Elect.

1. Do not touch The Elect.
2. Do not look at The Elect.
3. Do not speak to The Elect.

And worst of all? Don't discover the secret they hide, because in the end, you may just realize... it's about you.

My thoughts…

I really, really liked this one. The synopsis drew me in and I was hooked from page one. If I hadn’t started reading Elite so late in the day I could have easily read it in one sitting.

I liked the main characters for the most part. Tracey aka Trace was a bit naive. When she arrives at school she is immediately treated as a charity case. She was accepted into the Elite school after winning the schools lottery.

Nixon and his minions were a bit mean to Trace at first. I really didn’t care for them. Nixon seemed to have an interest in Trace, but wouldn’t show said interest in front of others. I found that he ran hot and cold a lot. It almost felt that he was conflicted most of the time. Wanting to be around her, but then quickly changing his mind.

Somewhere about 3/4’s within the book things sort of took a strange turn. It’s like a big secret was revealed and things quickly changed. People weren’t exactly who you thought they were. Or at least that’s what my impression was.

There is an insta-love element in this one. I’m not a big fan of this. I like it when there is a believable build up for characters to fall in love.

The sexual content is nearly non-existent, but didn’t take away from the story.

Elite ends with a pretty big cliffhanger. I found myself saying No, No, NO! I was unaware of there being another book before I read this one. I was sort of disappointed, but I’ll try to be patient and wait for the next book to come out. 🙂

When you reach the end you’ll get a little taste of the next book. It’s entitled Elect and the prologue is available at the end as a teaser. It left me hungry for more. I’ve heard it will be released sometime in December.

Overall, I really liked this one. If you’re a fan of New Adult I suggest giving Elite a try.