Matched: Crossed

Matched "In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die." Matched, by Ally Condie, could quite possible be the future of America. Without freedom or decisions, citizens must survive on the governments terms. Matched if full of conflicting feelings, mysterious happenings, and touching moments. Matched is one of the best teen romance novels out on the shelves right now. It doesn't have ooey gooey and melodramatic, unreal love like The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Nor does it have the unrealistic characters and events like Twilight by Stephenie Meyers. Matched takes place in a future American utopia. In this futuristic society your perfect mate is chosen by the government based on your DNA compatibility at age 17. Throughout the novel, the main character, Cassia Reyes, questions her match to her best friend Xander and her growing feelings for Ky Markham, which could destroy her future and Ky's.  Matched consists of a love triangle where you want both guys to get the girl. The plot is unsuspecting and makes Matched a page turner. Matched captures the thoughts of a girl in love, and under pressure by society, very well. Cassia is easy to relate to, even though her problems are not necessarily common to teens in our day and age. The character development is different. The reader gets to experience the development of the characters of Ky and Cassia, but thats it. None of the other characters really play a big role. Hopefully in the later installments of this trilogy, Condie will introduce more about the other characters, like Xander. There would have been a heightened appeal of the love triangle if Condie had described more about how deep Xander and Cassia’s relationship really went. The plot pace starts off slow, but quickens as Cassia starts to break the rules of The Society and the secrets about Ky are revealed.  Matched makes you ask, can there be freedom without choice? I would suggest this book to anyone who loved Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, The Scorch Trials by James Dashner, and Divergent by Veronica Roth.