Matched by Ally Condie

I have just finished this one.
First, I've got to say I was hoocked just by looking at it. I found the German version of this lying around at my bestie's and got curious. After I've read the blurb I could not resist but to read the first few pages just right then.

Blurb:
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.

My thoughts:
I was really excited to start reading Matched. I instantly fell in love with the idea of the story.
The book starts right at the Matching ceremony - one part I was really excited about - and we get intoduced to the Society and their rules right away. Along the first few pages we meet Cassia's family, her best friend Xander as well as the rest of her social enviroment. As we follow Cassia, and quickly grow fond of her and everyone else, the huge influence that the Society has gets revealed.
Part of me had a hard time getting my head around the thought of other people contolling lives so strictly and... successful. But this just increased my sympathy for Cassia and the road she chooses to take.
As her view of the Society and everything she's ever known is starting to crack up, we get sucked into the hurricane of events, decisions and emotions Cassia has to come across.
Some parts are so easily to relate to, as we have faced them as well or know we will have to at some point. Losing a loved one, falling in love, letting go...
Other parts appeal to our imagination, letting us be a part of this whole new idea of living a life led by predictions and calculations.

I can only recommend this book, it had me crying and shivering of excitement and empathy. Although I had huge expectations towards Matched, it did not disappoint me and I have already started Crossed (the second book of this triology), because I can not wait to see what happens next.