I am such a dreamer and I've always dream of living the Upper East Side kind of life - Gossip Girl fanatic will surely understand what I'm trying to say. Anyway, for the benefit of those who are not a fan of Blair, Serena, Chuck, and Nate - Upper East Side life is basically what we all know as living the life to the fullest wherein one party hard, shops a lot, dine at the most expensive restaurant, travel the world using a limousine or own plane, and other fancy stuff. I know Upper East Side kind of life is not the most practical life one should be dreaming of but really who doesn't want to live like that especially if you don't need to hold back in terms of monetary. Hey! A dreamer can dream, right? But really, if you are going to ask me I'm tired of dreaming and instead really want all those fancy stuff to happen.

Honestly, I always think positive because that's what I've learned from watching the movie version of Rhonda Byrne's The Secret. All those positive thinking is still kind of exhausting especially if you are just thinking and not doing anything to support whatever your dream is. Despite the lack of monetary fund, I still keep on dreaming that someday I shall have all the dreams that I've been dreaming.

Date Read: September 3 - 6, 2012

Title: Matched
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Genres: Young Adult Novel
Rating: 4.5 / 5

Cassia has always trusted the Society to make the right choices for her: what to read, what to watch, what to believe. So when Xander's face appears on-screen at her Matching ceremony, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is her ideal mate... until she sees Ky Markham's face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black.

The Society tells her it's a glitch, a rare malfunction, and that she should focus on the happy life she's destined to lead with Xander. But Cassia can't stop thinking about Ky, and as they slowly fall in love, Cassia begins to doubt the Society's infallibility and is faced with an impossible choice: between Xander and Ky, between the only life she's known and a path that no one else has dared to follow. ~ Goodreads

Matched is another YA novel just like The Perks Of Being A Wallflower but the story is kind of similar with that of The Hunger Games which I will write a book review soon. The only difference is that in Matched the world where Cassia Maria Reyes, aka Cassia, is as perfect as anyone could ever imagine and that is because everything is controlled and determined by the Society, the government running the country. All Cassia and the others need to do is to follow the rules set by the Society and in return of being obedient, they are rewarded with guaranteed long, healthy, and reasonable happy life without any hardships. But the Society control everything even the smallest details such as what food to eat, what movies to watch, what movies to watch, what kind of work to do and not to do, who to marry, how many kids to have, and a lot more.

Yes, every single details are already planned out for the citizens which means that they don't have to worry about anything. All they just need to do is follow what the Society will tell them to do. In short, the Society is sort of the God - who takes away the citizens' free will to decide from themselves which for me is both good and bad. Good because it makes everyone's life easy because everything is right under their noses and that includes knowing when your death will come. Bad because you simply can't make your own decisions and it looks like you are being held captive together with your senses making you a robot.

The Society being such a control-freak is the main focus in Matched because one of the rules of the Society is once a teenager reaches the age of seventeen, they will attend their own Match Banquet, where their matched will be announced to them. Yes, the Society also plays matchmakers and according to them the goal of Matching is "to provide the healthiest possible future citizens for our Society and provide the best chance for interested citizens to experience successful Family Life." In short, the matching is what we know as fixed marriage.

At first Cassia was more than happy with what the Society is doing even the Matching part. After all, she believed in everything that the Society says because she grows up doing so. She was matched with Xander, who she already know because they live in the same Borough as well as they were friends since they are a little kids. Not to forget that Cassia and Xander are the very best friend.

Cassia suddenly questioned and doubted the Society when a glitch in the system showed her someone else's face before seeing her actual Match. Just like any other dystopian world, there is always someone watching over our hero thus making things a little complicated.

I will say that Matched is full of its own twists but they are easily seen but they are interesting enough. The twist are not cliché but they were actually pretty brave and totally brought conflict to the story making a whole new level of story.

Just like in real life where the Government in the Society while we are the heroes that needs to follow each rules set in front of us. And if we don't follow the rules then there will be a corresponding sanction that we need to face. Although in real life, we are still given our own free will but it is always up to us if we are going to abusively use our free will.

I admit despite being YA type story, I really did enjoyed it because I learned a lot from it such as unconditional love, trust, respect and of course the lesson of a give-and-take relationship.

I totally recommend this book and I can't wait to read Crossed and  Reached. Yes! It is a trilogy.

Date Read: August 15 - 19, 2012

Title: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky
Publisher: MTV Books / Pocket Books
Genres: Young Adult Novel / Epistolary Novel
Rating: 3.5 / 5

"Charlie is a freshman, and while he's not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. Sky, introspective, intelligent beyond his years yet socially awkward, he is a wallflower. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it. Charlie is attempting to navigate his way through uncharted territory: the world of first dates and mix tapes, family dramas and new friends; the world of sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite. But Charlie can't stay on the sideline forever. Standing on the fringes of life offers a unique perspective, but there comes a time to see what it looks like from the dance floor." ~ A Case For Books

The story is told through a series of letters that "Charlie", a pseudonym, sends to an anonymous person who, according to his classmates, is a great listener and would truly understand whatever he is currently going through. For a high school freshmen, Charlie is being exposed to a lot of awful "issue" - homosexuality, bullying, sex, drugs, domestic abuse, teenage pregnancy, abortion, and rape just to name a few.

What I like about the story is how Charlie and his family are close which is really a good point since a lot of teenagers nowadays enjoys the company of their friends more over their family. But then again, the closeness of Charlie's family only comes out when there are big events such as football game and graduation.Why did I say so? Because if they are really close enough then Charlie would not be talking or rather than writing a letter to someone he doesn't even know. Also, he wouldn't do things - smoking, drugs, overnight parties, lying - if he and his family are really that close. Maybe I am only being a Filipino but I do wish you do get my point.

Another thing that I like is how true the story is, I mean in real life a lot of teenagers really do experience such life issues. If teenagers will read this book, I do wish they'll get the lesson behind it like how Charlie felt when he got drunk and did drugs instead of doing the same thing that Charlie did.

On the contrary, I just didn't like how the story was delivered or it was my first time to read a book in such tone that I did not appreciate it that much. Also, I do wish that Chbosky wrote something about the person whom Charlie is writing the letters to or something related to the letters because I would love to at least know if there is really a person reading all of Charlie's letters. Aside from that, I really hate how Chbosky did not made the older ones responsible enough like giving curfews or something like that since Charlie is still in his Freshmen years and still needs the guidance of someone older than him.

Overall, I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5 despite the lack of some details I still find it good enough to read especially if you are an open-minded type of person.



PS. This is my first blog review and I do wish I pretty much did a good one. Constructive criticisms are very much welcome as to improved my way of reviewing books because I do have a plan on sharing more book reviews.