Book review-Matched

From the inside flap-In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die.Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s hardly any price to pay for a long 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.

Okay this book is right up my alley but I stayed away for a long time for one reason- it was written by an LDS author. I have read many books by LDS authors, some have been geared towards an LDS audience and others towards a broader audience. I read some of Ally Condie's early work and didn't really enjoy it. I found it formulaic and boring. This is why I approached Matched with some trepidation. I wish I hadn't waited.

I really liked this book. Though it shares many similar traits with books like The Handmaid's Tale, The Giver, and other dystopian books out there I still found it to be fresh and unique. Like Cassia you are torn between this near perfect society but then you watch it change and realize that it is not as perfect as you thought it was. I like that the story is plain and simple. The limited liberties that Cassia and her family have are slowly and unexpectedly taken away and though you know it will happen each one reverberates with a slight shock.

I even liked the love triangle. Usually I abhor them, I have never been a fan of this set up. I didn't understand the Edward-Jacob-Bella thing or the Katniss-Peeta-Gale one either. This one though I like all three characters. I think Cassia is a good female role model and she has a tough choice between both boys and she realizes that. I like how she knows she could be happy either way. One is not better than another they are just different. I don't find myself on "Team Ky" or "Team Xander" I think that both are wonderful and though I can guess where she is taking the story I do have a favorite.

I enjoyed this book, my only regret is that I read it before all three books were out. I guess I will just have to wait at least book two just came out.