Crossed by Ally Condie

Crossed is book #2 in the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie.  In the first book, Cassia is "matched" (given her spouse by society) to her best friend Xander and everything is going well until Ky's face comes up on her matched screen.  She's told it's an error but she soon starts falling in love with Ky.  This goes against society's wishes since Ky is an abberation and they threaten both Cassia and Ky with consequences if they continue their relationship.  At the end of the book, Cassia has chosen Ky but he is taken away by the officials for a new job posting in the Outer Provinces, and she is determined to find him.

In Crossed, Ky has been placed as a decoy warrior in the outer provinces.  They promise a return to society with citizen status at the end of the assignment, but no one has lived through the assignment yet.  They are given guns with blanks and live in the provinces in order to draw the enemy out, and then they are attacked.  Meanwhile, Cassia is given an assignment and is also in the outer provinces.  She soon gets transferred to the province where Ky is, only to find out that he has ran off into the canyons.  She follows to find him with her friend Indie in the treacherous canyons.  Cassia not only wants to find Ky, but find the Rising, a rebellion group trying to undermine society.  During their trek, she learns that Xander has a secret.  Both Ky and Indie know what it is, but they can't tell Cassia.  Ky is afraid if Cassia knows, she will choose Xander over himself.

The second book was good, but not as good as the first.  The majority of the book is just stories of them hiking through the canyons.  The first 25% was good and the last 25% was good, but the middle 50% just drag on a little bit.  I won't say much about the end due to spoilers, but it did make me excited to finish the trilogy.  There's not much to say about this book, because like most #2 books in a trilogy, it's simply a bridge between the first and third books.  Nothing outstanding about this book on its own, but it serves as a necessary part of the story since we learn more about the Rising, which will be important for book #3.  While this isn't one of the favorite trilogies I've read, I'm still excited to see how it all ends.

<3, jacq