This was a fantastic read, a tragic love story that continues onto a second book which is released later on in the year (2011). This book made me smile, weep and cry out in anger, it's a wonderful book that is descriptive but not in an overbearing way. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the Hunger Games series, Divergent and Clockwork Angel. A truly stunning story!

Reviewer from: http://onceuponabooknerd.blogspot.com/ A dystopian love story, which follows the same kind of plot line of every other dystopian I have read. Yet for me Matched stand out much more, it isn't based just on taking down a society which is wrong, but instead focuses on the love triangle, featured in this story. I can tell that the sequel: Crossed is going to be the same high standard as Matched, and perhaps better, even at the early stage in the series, I can tell straight away that Ally Condie has some big plans for the books ahead. The book is more for female reader's, yet would be appealing to all ages and gender's. Despite, the love dominating storyline, there is something for everyone and a very exciting read. It was not at all predictable and constantly left you feeling like you were literally hanging on the cliff, with all the cliffhanger's, featured within the book, some solved in Matched and other's will be solved later in the series. This dystopian, in different to other's I have read and seems to be slightly more civilised than other's, and Ally Condie has made such an amazing effort of making the society relatable to what we live in today, yet still of changed to the point of making it a 'dysopian'. In this book we still hear about the old 'society' as it was not that long ago, and you still see aspects of everything being changed by the Officals. The character's for me were the best yet. Cassia, manages to hold the same strength as a character as other female protagonists in Dystopians do, yet she is different. We witness a much larger change within her, and it was great seeing the change from Cassia at the beginning of the book, to tactical and strong Cassia it closed on. She is very relatable and holds the same emotions females hold today. She get's excited for her Match banquet, where she will find out who her partner will be for rest of her life, and even gets excited after finding it out. Ky, one of two male protagonist's, and the guy she realises she has feeling's for, has became my new fictional crush. He is quite a broken and different boy, to other's we come across in the book, and has this type of bad boy edge, which makes him very appealing. Though at times he seems quite adorable, and what is better than a cute bad boy. Like Cassia, we also see him change throughout the book, though less as the person he is from the begging of the book, but instead stand out much more, and gain what could be seen as 'book confidence'. Xander, the other male protagonist in the book, is quite a love hate character. I really liked him at the beginning of the book and thought he was going to be my new fictional crush, but slowly he became one of these characters who I couldn't stand. This is a must-read Dystopian, which you are bound to love, the same I do.

This book is full of imagination and is so different from anything I have ever read before. The love story is built up slowly (as they can only meet when they are hiking) but it's also very sweet. An enjoyable read!!!

In a society where all decisions are made for you, or predicted at best, and you're actions are monitored for deviation, can you be free? On the surface, the Society provides everything you could ever need - health, companionship, efficiency. But it doesn't necessarily give you what you want. When Cassia is Matched to the perfect boy by the Society, can she accept it? Should she? A compelling love story and a desperate struggle against the confines of society, Matched is a must read for teens and adults alike. Perfect for fans of Malorie Blackman (Noughts and Crosses) and Suzanne Collins (The Hunger Games)

I loved this book! It really is a sweet romantic and heart warming book (': !!! GO READ!!! I finished it in 2 days and now I can't wait until the next book comes out!!!