Matched by Ally Condie

Matched
Ally Condie
Published November 30, 2011 by Dutton Juvenile 

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate . . . until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. 

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. - Goodreads

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A world where all your decisions are laid out before you. Who you will marry. Where you will work. Even when you will die. A strictly regimented Society where everything that you have ever done and ever will do is predicted by the Officials and their computers. Almost everything from the past is destroyed. Only one hundred poems, songs, and movies that were chosen long ago, remain as a window to the creative minds that once were. This is where we meet Cassia on the day she is to be Matched.

At the beginning, this book was really slow going for me. Even though I felt it was quite predictable, it took its sweet time getting to the good stuff. At first, I felt the love triangle was just another overused ploy, but then I started to actually get to know (and love) all the characters. Cassia, the dreamer, was Matched to her best friend Xander. It is very unusual occurrence to be matched with someone in your own province, so she is both surprised and thrilled that she gets to spend forever with Xander. Oh Xander, how I love that name. I can only think of Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and even though the descriptions don't fit, I go with it anyway. Xander is a great guy; exuberant, lovable, sweet, all things that a girl would want. Then Ky comes into the picture (quite literally) and surprises Cassia with his deep, introspective ways. He holds so many secrets and Cassia can't help but find out what lies behind his eyes.

I was so angry at Cassia. How could you do this to Xander!! He's so great. But I suppose if she did just settle then what kind of story would that make? So then I got to know Ky along with Cassia and I think I can see why she fell for him. You can't help but wonder. And that is a main theme throughout this book. What if?

The only problem that I really had with the book was the writing style. It was filled with short, non-descript sentences that just fell flat. I enjoy adjectives now and again. The author also seems to flip flop in writing style. Sometimes I need more of a description of something. For example, I wanted to know more about the school, her neighborhood, etc. I felt like I really got no good details about Cassia's surroundings, so that made it difficult to picture being there, which I like to do. Other times she describes unimportant events too much which makes me impatient and bored. Overall, I enjoyed Matched, and I am thoroughly glad that I stuck it out through the rather stagnant first half of the book. It ends on a somewhat cliffhanger. I'm not throwing things around the room in aggravation or anything, but I'm certainly wanting to know what happens next in Crossed.

★★★★