This is a rather short read - one afternoon. I hesitate to call it a novel because it's one of those things that ends kind of in the middle of something. I enjoyed it because it hit all the buttons it should. It works in the way a romance is supposed to be. That made it a subjectively fun read (I read the first sequel immediately after). But all the button pushing and romance cannot obscure the fact that this works only because of the button pushing. It's not a particularly great concept, indeed I find the whole setup extremely contrived and if it was anything but a romance ... it wouldn't work. But romance tends to work despite everything else. It really doesn't matter, as long as there's some back-and-forth between the female protagonist and her love interest.

So the setup is that somehow the US turned into a kingdom two world-wars into the future. And there's a system of numbered castes from the royal family who are Ones to the homeless and cast-outs who are Eights. Of course everyone but the highest castes is poor and oppressed.

But now the crown-prince is coming of age, and tradition holds that there's a lottery in which young women are selected - hence the title - and paraded into his palace where he can take his time and choose a wife from the Selected. (I never saw the Bachelor but it's supposed to be like the show). Of course, the heroine - America Singer, caste Five - is already in love with someone other than the prince when she enters the palace ...

My biggest peeve with this book is that it ends kind of in the middle of everything. Nope the Selection process is not over by the end of the book. If you want to know if America is going to be the princess, you'll be disappointed. And I am deliberately not marking this as a spoiler. Because ... this feels like the one book was cut into multiple parts just because that way it'll make more money.

Still if you want some easy romance with a hint of a dystopian future, I can recommend this, but beware this has four parts, and the second (that's how far I am) doesn't provide closure either.