Matched, the first book follows Cassia, a girl living in a Utopian/Dystopian society where everything is predicted and controlled by the government including who they will be mated with for life. Cassia's government mandated match is a lifelong friend of hers but when she plugs her data card in to see his information another face pops up on her screen. Cassia falls for Ky and starts to question the rules of her society.
Crossed is told in alternating voices between Ky and Cassia and follows the two as they escape from the society and search for each other and the resistance.
Although there is a bit of the dystopian society that was so creepy in the last book but for the most part this book turned into a voyage book that followed Cassia and Ky through the wilderness as they tried to find the resistance and learned about each other. I liked this book although it seemed to be a placeholder filling the spot of the second book in the series that pumps up the love triangle and has a lot of angst and at the end I did not feel like the two had really gotten anywhere or we had really learned anything new. With that said I did speed through the book, unable to put it down at points. I love the focus on poetry and art throughout the series.
Appropriateness: Age Appropriateness: This is a story that will be enjoyed by the entire YA audience. The story is complicated enough for older readers, yet the romance is set at a distance enough that younger readers will not be put off. The romance is the focus of the story (making this a girly book) along with the importance of poetry and creating things that are original. There is nothing in this novel that would disturb parents. The romance is G rated and there is no substance abuse or violence. The society is disturbing but in a thought provoking way as opposed to one that would give an easily influenced child nightmares. The lexile for the first book was 680 putting it around a fourth grade reading level making it a good book for reluctant readers.
