Love Quotes in The Selection

America's relationship with Aspen is pretty serious, if you can't tell by this romance-novel-ready passage. Ah—there's nothing quite like some teenage puppy love. Makes us want to listen to Katy Perry. Jokes aside, this love proves to be a huge barrier between America and all of the antics of the Selection.

There's one big problem with America and Aspen's relationship: Aspen is in a lower caste than she is. While it doesn't seem too uncommon for a woman to marry into a higher caste, it's all but unheard of for it to happen the other way around. We wonder why that is...

Aspen knows that America will have to sacrifice a lot if they actually get married, and it makes him sick with guilt. That's the main reason why he encourages her to take part in the Selection: he could never live with himself if he held her back from such a life-changing opportunity.

After some run-of-the-mill teenage drama, America is convinced that she and Aspen are done for good. How convenient that this happens right as she's about to take part in a royal reality show, don't you think? In fact, America begins to look at the Selection as a way to separate herself from Aspen, a way to heal her broken heart and move on.

America claims that she just wants to be friends with Maxon, but we're not usually that excited to find out that our friends are visiting us. Unless they have pizza, of course.

In other words, America finally realizes that she has feelings for Maxon. It's notable that this happens as Maxon rushes over under the assumption that something has happened to America's family: she falls in love with him when he shows that he truly cares for her.

America's relationship with Maxon is very different from her relationship with Aspen. Her relationship with Aspen is all fireworks—it's all passion and long make-out sessions and late night tree house rendezvous. Her relationship with Maxon is much more delicate by comparison, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

America expects her feelings towards Aspen to have lessened, especially given her growing bond with Maxon, but she finds them rekindled as soon as she sees him again—and especially after they've done some stuff that's a little more hands-on. No two ways about it, people: our girl America has one hunky mess on her hands (which, to be fair, isn't a bad type of mess).

And bam—there it is. If Maxon had a choice, he would have grabbed America and hopped on a plane to Vegas yesterday, but our dude has a duty as prince to see the Selection through to the end.

Ah, yes, we know exactly what you're saying, America. Hunger. That "unnamable feeling" is hunger. Er, right? Right? Or did we just write this 3,000-word-paper on the relationship between America's and Maxon's metabolisms for nothing?