Matched By Ally Condie

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.

When the back cover referenced this as similar to Lois Lowry's The Giver, it was immedietly on my "to-read" list. The Giver was a story i will always remember and has a sentimental-sort of value to me.
That is why i liked this. Its pretty much the exact same. Except its based on a love story. From the beginning, i loved Xander, and i couldnt care for Ky at all. But like Cassia, i found myself falling for Ky more and more. And, in the end, like Cassia, i found my heart aching for Xander. However, i do have questions that im not sure were clarified or not in the book; what happens to Xander if he ends up without Cassia? Does he get matched with someone else, or does he become a Single?

 It was an enjoyable, engaging read, but it more often tends to be melodramatic and overwritten at times. Because the pacing is slow, It's a deliberate build, more introspective than action. However, I found it compulsively readable. I casually sailed through the first 2/3's and then the final third really comes into it's own. By then it felt like the story was into it's own completely addictive groove and by the time it ended, I was ready to pick up the next installment.