MATCHED

Author: Ally Condie

Release Date: November 30, 2010

Summary: Society matched them, but love set them free.

In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It's barely any price to pay for a log life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one...until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now Cassia is faced with impossible choices: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path no one else has ever dared follow--between perfection and passion.

Review: Lately, it seems like dystopian novels are very popular. I don't usually like those types of stories, because they take longer to play out. I became interested in this one because of the fact that love was at the center. The cover is also gorgeous! I really like the color green, so it definately caught my attention because of that too.

The main character is a believable one. She doesn't start out hating the government or wanting to overthrow it or anything. Everything in her life was perfect and all the choices were made for her. She didn't feel suffocated by the rules of the Society and she didn't see her freedom as false. It was until the rules got in her way that she even took notice of them.

Although the Society matched her parents, she felt that they were choosing the wrong person for her. Xander was her best friend and Cassia was very happy to be matched to him. Until she started falling for Ky Markham that is. Cassia felt that their love story wasn't a summer fling. She loved him like she didn't love Xander. Cassia's parents were a testomonial to the fact that the Matching system worked, but she also felt in her core that it would not work for her.

Like most dystopian societies, the government deserves to be destroyed. There are some very bad things that they do that no one can accept. Even though the inhabitants live happy and fulfilling lives, they would question the authority if they knew that they were puppets in a play.

The book was pretty good and while the pace slowed in parts, the romance between Cassia and Ky is enough to make you keep reading. They are sweet and realistic.

Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Explanation: It was a good story and the protagonist was likable, but there were a few slow parts. I can't give it a five because a five to me means that the book is impossible to put down. It was a good book, but not a five. I would say that it is worth buying even so. A great plus is that the cover is so lovely!

Other Books You Might Like:
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner