Matched by Ally Condie

Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely 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.

The premise to this story is very interesting, and I really liked the way everything was set up. The Society controlling everything, making the citizens dependent on it, making changes and interfering as it sees fit, etc. I loved the way the story unfolded as well as the direction it took. The pacing was spot on, the characters were interesting, and I thought the voice was just perfect.

In fact, there was only one thing that gave me pause...but it was a big thing, and bothered me throughout the story. And that was why Cassia went in the direction she did. I wanted to see more of her thought process here. I wanted to feel her curiosity in a palpable way, because I’m sure she was feeling it. But I didn’t feel it, and so subsequent actions felt...off. I think that with just a tiny bit more, this could have been a story that blew me out of the water. Instead, it was just good. :)

Since it was still quite good, I give it two thumbs up. And, I’ll be giving away my ARC next month. So stop by if you’re interested!