Utopia is the new hot like the oh-so-2-years-ago vampire genre was

Long weekends are for reading, and this 5-day break gave me the opportunity to read Matched by Ally Condie.  And this whole Utopia genre is the new hot like the oh-so-2-years-ago vampire genre was.

This book is Uglies meets Hunger Games meets The Giver and now meets Matched.

Same premise...main character goes most of her life OK with the society's choice for her.  She goes through the matching ceremony and gets "matched" to her life-long friend.  Yay.  But then the conflict starts and like any great Utopian society book, the main character starts to think about how things will go if he/she makes some choices on her/his own.  And her choices begin with her match.

And that's where the issues start.  This book weaves in a really strong love story with twists and turns.  I could hardly put it down.  Thankfully, a 9-hour drive home helped me out.

Matched will give you 21 Reading Counts points.  The sequel, Crossed, just came out.  I can hardly wait to check it out.  I hear it's coming to the WMS library really soon.

Thanksgiving weekend makes me realize that I'm thankful for good books.  Which one are you reading right now that you can't put down?

The Chosen One

Finally gave up on the Uglies series so I would read again.  I picked up The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams after trying to "sell" it to several 6th period students.  Nobody would take it, so I checked it out myself.

I finished it in three days!  What a book.  It's about a girl who is part of a religious cult that lives on a compound as part of a polygamous community.  She has one dad and several mothers and the family follows Apostles and a big mean Prophet.  She is 14 and learns randomly one evening that the Prophet spoke directly to God and she is to marry her 60-year-old uncle in 4 weeks.  Ewwww.

I love watching Sister Wives on TLC.  I'm just fascinated to see how they all work together to make a lifestyle choice work for their family.  This book is more of the same and follows Kyra's struggle with trying to fit in with her community while having "unwholesome" or sinful thoughts...which are just normal 14 year old emotions.  The author tucks in a real love story in here too.  Nice.

A real page turner, this quick read is captivating and gets you 12 Reading Counts points.  It won't disappoint.

What to read next?  Hmmmmm.  Help!  Need another good book.  Or several.  Thanksgiving is a long road trip.  Gotta stock up!