"Matched" by Ally Condie

     
 Ally Condie created the perfect dystopian love story. I'm not usually very big on the whole romantic aspect of books, but this book and it's sequels definitely held my attention. One of my favorite things about Matched was the writing style. It's from a first person perspective so I get to read it as myself. I sincerely love books written in a first person perspective because it makes it that much easier to really put yourself into book & connect with the characters. 

Teenage Cassia Reyes believes she lives in the perfect society. You never have to feel the weight of being pressured by anything because the officials choose everything for you. EVERYTHING. They choose when you eat, what you eat, how much you eat, where you work, when your free time is, what music you can listen too, who you get to fall in love with, and when you should die. What's not to love right? Assuming you get to love at all, they might just nominate you to be a Single. Forever Alone. The match system is perfect. The officials match you once you turn seventeen. You get a big banquet, then they pair you off with someone you've never met. You get a microcard to study up on your match. Matched at seventeen, marriage contracts at 21, and you can have two kids as long as you have them before 30, and you die on your 80th birthday. It's all based on genes & common interests. Don't get to many citations though, they may just write you up as an aberration or worse! An anomaly. Luckily for Cassia she knows her match. They're best friends actually, grew up in the same borough even. Very rare. A couple to be jealous of for sure. Everything was just perfect until there was a mishap with her microcard. When she plugged it in, her match didn't come up. Another boy did. The irony is that Cassia realizes she knows this boy too. She knows the microcard was an accident, but she still can't help, but be curious. She sets off on a path of forbidden interests, only to discover how unperfect the society really is, and the dark secrets it harbors. 


 In my opinion Matched is a must read, it's not as gory and gruesome as other dystopian novels such as The Hunger Games Trilogy or The Maze Runner Trilogy , but it's still plenty action packed. It has a good subliminal message & it's one of the cutest love stories.
                                                      
                                                                                Rating 4 out of 5.