Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed by Ally Condie
Dutton Juvenile (November 1, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0525423656
ISBN-13: 978-0525423652
367 pages
Ages 12+
Buy Here for $12.18
My Rating: 1/5
Summary from GoodReads: Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by the Society to his sure death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life and the enthralling promise of a rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices every thing to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game once again.
Narrated from both Cassia's and Ky's point of view, this hotly anticipated sequel to Matched will take them both to the edge of Society, where nothing is as expected and crosses and double crosses make their path more twisted than ever.

The Verdict: 42 pages. That's how far I was able to make it through Crossed before I just put it down for good. One part of me is curious, wants to know what happens. Especially considering how much I enjoyed Matched. But something has changed with this book.

I don't know if it's the writing itself or if it's me. If in some way I have grown in the last year since reading the first book, that I just don't give a care about this story any longer. I think that might be a part of it, because from the very first chapter, I was so done with the love triangle between Ky and Cassia and Xander. I'm sorry YA writers but love triangles always drag and are the worst trope that seems to be brought out in almost every book now days.

It really blows my mind how when we are little girls it's all about "one true love" and finding your soul mate. That's what every single fairy tale comes down to. And then we become teenagers and it seems that every single book throws the love triangle at us. That every girl has 2 equally amazing eternally devoted matches (quite literally in this series) and it's just so hard for her to choose. This plot continues to perpetuate a mentality of indecision and uncertainty in relationships that leads us right into womanhood. Where contemporary adult fiction promotes that a woman shouldn't be shakled down to a monogamous relationship. That she needs to be free to discover herself (I'm looking at you Eat Pray Love).

And I'm just done with all that. I am breaking this cycle! I am done with droning on and on and on about "I love him!" "Wait, No I love him!" "Wait I love them both equally but differently and how can I decide?" And that is literally what the entire first 42 pages of Crossed consisted of. That is except for the chapters from Ky's POV which was just so broody and cynical. I'm sorry but I have yet to meet a guy that spends so much time analyzing every single minute detail that he could question and then reminiscing over all his dear memories and analyzing those for more minute details that he might have missed. Ugh!

So there you have it... I couldn't finish it and I'm not afraid to say so. Props to anyone who can get through this drivel. Let me guess, there really is zero plot development because we have to leave room for Book 3.