This is a bug fix.
When a character selection is created, the cursor is supposed to be on one side of the selection the pivot point MUST be on the other side of the selection to be a standard selection. The previous bug was that the pivot and the cursor were on the same side which is wacky and not surprisingly causes problems.
I do see one problem though, you should be able to configure the mini find to place the cursor at the end and the pivot at the beginning. However, that option is currently only available in the big find tool window. We will try to add support for that to the mini-find since it really should be there. If you used an option to place the cursor at the end, you could hit Ctrl+Shift+Left twice to get what you want.