Chain Reaction

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles 2011 (Perfect Chemistry trilogy #3)
Walker & Company/Bloomsbury Publishing

Rating: 2/5

IQ "If I touch him, I could lose my nerve and let him explain away" Nikki, pg. 225

This is the final book in the Perfect Chemistryy trilogy and my review is spoiler-free (not just for this book but also for the previous 2 books in the series). Luis is the youngest of the 3 Fuentes brothers and unlike Alex and Carlos he has lived a relatively gang-free life. Until he moves back to Fairfield, Illinois the suburb rife with Latino Blood gang members who want him to join and be a leader like his brother Alex used to be. Nikki Cruz is the girl who has captivated Luis, mostly because she won't talk to him or allow him to get close to her. She's suspicious of his Latino Blood associations, she refuses to date LB gang members. Luis doesn't know if he wants to join the LB or no and Nikki doesn't know what will happen if she allows Luis to get close to her

 I picked the quote I did not because its majorly inspiring but because I think it captures a key moment in relationships, when you know that the person you're with messed up but that you will forgive them as soon as they 'say the right things' and touch you or hold you a certain way. When really that person needs to forget about 'the right words' and be honest.

 Anyway, I love this series and this is the book I was most looking forward to it but it doesn't compare to the first book. Or the second. Its my least favorite in the trilogy and there are a lot of elements about it that I really didn't like. I hated the ending. Not the epilogue, the LB violent ending (and no I didn't not like it because of the violence but because of who ended the violence). I also hated the family revelation. I thought it was a cheap way of shocking the reader and took away some of the appeal of the series. Granted the brothers handled it sweetly but still, it was a completely unnecessary family surprise. Also there wasn't much time spent with the beginning stages of Nikki & Luis' relationship. I totally understand lust-at-first-sight but it didn't stay that way and I wish the author had shown us how they grew to be so close.

 I did appreciate the fact that this book is so much different from its predecessors, in ways both good and bad. On the positive end, it was nice to see the girl portrayed realistically as always but also fairly un-Saintlike. The book did maintain its steamy, well-written romance scenes for teens, which are its strong suit. Along with the well-written characters ranging from Nikki & Luis to even minor characters such as Marco, Officer Cesar Reyes and the strong plot and setting of the story. Both Nikki & Luis are extremely headstrong and sometimes this stubbornness causes them to make foolish, prideful decisions. And then they have to deal with the fallout. It does all clean up tidily in the end, but its process and watching the characters try to pick themselves back up and make up for their poor decisions is rewarding and realistic and always refreshing to see.

Chain Reaction had almost all the right elements of being a good story but ultimately for me, two big plot twists ruined the rest of the book. While Chain Reaction bordered on the ridiculous at certain points, I was glad to read about the  youngest Fuentes brother and the people in his life, including the fiery-but-not-in-a-stereotypical-way Nikki. I loved that Nikki felt out of place amongst Mexicans even though she's Mexican American, she expressed feelings I definitely emphasized with and recognized. I would still highly recommend this series, the books are fun, hot, a great representation of teenage life (especially in Chicagoland suburbs) and there's never a dull moment.

Disclosure: Received from Lyn. Thank you so much!

Rules of Attraction

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles 2010 ARC
#2 in Perfect Chemistry Trilogy

Release Date: Today!

Rating: 4/5

IQ "When he does, she [Mildred] closes her eyes and reaches out to touch his face, this time more slowly, almost tracing it with her fingers. Carlos is still, letting her fantasize about going back to a happier time and pretend for the moment that she's touching her husband's face instead of Carlos's. {...} Carlos nods in silent understanding at the gift he just gave her." pg. 167

The IQ is from one of my favorite scenes. For those of you who've read, it's the scene in the retirement home, where Kiara helps out. So cute. We start to learn more about the characters and they learn more about each other.

Rules of Attraction properly introduces Carlos, Alex's younger brother from Perfect Chemistry. You don't need to have read Perfect Chemistry (though it's my favorite and I highly recommend you read it) to follow Rules of Attraction. We met Carlos when he was in middle school, now he's sixteen. Carlos Fuentes does not want to reform, he enjoys being a rebel and wants to spend his life living on the edge. Carlos' mom is worried about him so she sends him to Colorado to live with Alex. However, Carlos' ties to a Mexican gang make him a valuable asset to a drug lord who sets him up. Alex realizes he can't control Carlos so he sends him to live with his former professor and his family. The daughter of the former professor, Kiara, is different from all the other girls, Carlos has ever met. Carlos can't fully escape the danger around him and Kiara can't help him if he won't let her. "he's shocked to discover that it's this seemingly All-American family who can save him." (last line from ARC back cover)

My one and only problem with Rules of Attraction is that it's too similar to Perfect Chemistry for my tastes. I was really hoping that it would be different. After only one book, I'm tired of the star-crossed lovers being a white girl and a Mexican guy. I'm tired of the Mexican guy being all tough and the white girl being all naive and caring and still fitting into a stereotype. It's going to be a trilogy, since there are three Fuentes brothers. I hope Luis (the youngest) falls in love with someone different. A girl who is not white, or who is overweight, or disabled or not a virgin. Something different. With gender role reversals. Kiara doesn't see herself as skinny, but she didn't sound curvy or overweight either. She seemed to be more on the athletic side (she's a runner! And Carlos describes her body as "to kill for"). I'm ready for Luis to be the sweet, caring guy and for the girl to be unwilling to be loved. I may be tired of all this because I'm not really a romance fan. A minor thing, that I'm sure will be fixed, is some grammatical errors in Spanish. For example Carlos tells his brother, Alex "usted es estupido". It should be tu (with an accent). Tu means you, usted means you, but it's formal. You wouldn't use usted with your older brother. I haven't read a finished copy so the errors may have been caught. Or I could be wrong, usted is very confusing.

What I did like about Rules of Attraction was that there was less action, which I wasn't sure I would like at first, but it gave the readers a better chance to really get to know the characters. Carlos, Kiara, Mr. Westford (Kiara's dad), Brandon (Kiara's cute little brother), Tuck (Kiara's gay best friend) and others. The minor characters are more than stock figures and once again, Simone Elkeles has captured the voices of teenagers. I loved almost all the characters. Even though Kiara is the stereotypical slender and smart, she is different from other girls because she loves cars. She drives a vintage car and loves working on it to fix it up. Also she has a stutter and I sympathized with her as she struggled to deal with that. I'm not really a fan of bad boys, so Carlos' behavior made me laugh, but I also wanted him to be nicer! However, I wouldn't want him to change. I also enjoyed reading about Alex and Brittany. They make re-appearances that don't overshadow the main characters, but they don't fade into the background either. The story moves quickly and the romance is definitely one of the best parts.

Rules of Attraction avoids being the same ol' star-crossed lovers story by having realistic characters, some action in the plot and a sweet/hot romance :) I don't think a sequel to Perfect Chemistry was necessary (I feel like this review is repetitive), and neither was the epilogue. The ending is rather clear on its own. This is my 2nd book by Simone Elkeles and I really admire how well she's done in writing about Mexican culture and language, along with gangs and life in high school. I found all those aspects to be authentic and she writes some really great romance scenes as well! (The cover is awesome). High school and up (some mature sexual situations, nothing you wouldn't see in high school).

Disclosure: Received from Lyn to review for the Multicultural Review (MCR).

Perfect Chemistry

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Rating: 5/5

IQ "'No matter how much you want her in your life, she doesn't belong. A triangle can't fit into a square. Now I'll shut up.' Isa
'Gracias'. I don't point out that if it's a big enough square, a small triangle can fit inside perfectly. All you have to do is make a few adjustments in the equation." Alex pg. 121

This novel has the perfect romance! Well, since there' s no such thing as perfect, it's as close to a perfect romance as you can get. Perfect Chemistry lives up its title, the chemistry between Alex Fuentes and Brittany Ellis is sizzling ;) Seriously this novel turned a non-Romance lover (before Perfect Shot, I wouldn't have even touched a novel solely about romance, so I was slowly changing my mind) into someone who will no longer turn up their nose automatically if a romance novel is recommended to them. I read this novel twice in three days! I started reading it right before I went to sleep, thinking I would be able to put it down. Nuh-uh. I stayed up from midnight till about two in the morning reading this novel. Then I read it again the next day because the romance was beyond adorable, I needed to find some good quotes and I wanted to be sure I hadn't missed a single detail of the story. It's also the ONLY book to ever make me say 'OMG!' out-loud (I died a little inside, don't judge me).

It's a classic Romeo and Juliet story with a modern day twist. Set in Fairfield (a fictional suburb of Chicago) the new Romeo is Latino Blood (a gang) member Alex Fuentes and Juliet is the wealthy, white Brittany Ellis. Alex is poor and from the southside. It's whispered that he comes strapped to class, comes to school high and has been arrested countless times. Brittany is rich, captain of the cheerleading squad, dating the captain of the football team, is from the northside and has a seemingly perfect life. Alex and Brittany are forced to be partners all senior year in chemistry class (and now I have to quote the back cover) "the results are bound to be explosive. But neither teen is prepared for the most surprising chemical reaction of all-love." However, everyone is rooting against their relationship (including their friends), they are just too different and Alex can never give Brittany what she wants. His lifestyle is dangerous and hers is all about reputation, safety and perfection.

Within the first few pages, you are drawn into the story by the witty one-liners, sarcasm and bantering between Alex and Brittany. They've never even talked till senior year and Brittany almost runs Alex over with her car while he is on his motorcycle which is a result of some very playful innuendos and jokes throughout the rest of the year (actually a lot of events in the book involved a car or car keys). Unlike other YA novels where the two main characters are supposed to be love interests but have no chemistry between them, this novel has a ton of it. The air is fraught with sexual tension for most of the book, but there are some really sweet, funny and heartbreaking moments as well. The romance between Brittany and Alex is hard to describe because all I can think of is AWESOME. It's a realistic relationship; they go through low lows and high highs. Half the fun is reading their flirty dialogue that they disguise as contempt for each other. The novel doesn't focus on sex and there is nothing too graphic. Also too my immense relief there is no huge misunderstanding that tears the two main characters apart. Those are annoying and played out (make no mistake, there are a lot of issues they have to work through). When you finish Perfect Chemistry, you are going to want your own Alex Fuentes (or Brittany Ellis). Personally, Alex is my current favorite YA love interest (sorry Paul and Jace) of all-time. He's the best bad boy and he has a motorcycle. And he speaks Spanish! This is a bit random, but something I really liked about the novel was there is no Spanish-English glossary in the back. I'm glad! If readers want to know what's being said they have to work a little and look it up online and perhaps they will learn a little more of the Spanish language :)

The story is told in alternating points of view in each chapter from Brittany and Alex. It was the best way to go for this novel so that we don't get all of one perspective and get to see both sides. The reader knows immediately that Brittany's life can't possibly be perfect and the author doesn't try to make it some big dramatic secret, which is nice. Readers are let in on Brittany's life right away. I especially applaud the author on having different family drama (it's not typically seen in YA novels, at least not the ones I've read), it's not predictable at all and it was very eye-opening. The relationship between Brittany and her older sister Shelley is a beautiful one and Brittany definitely wins the 'best younger sister in YA award'. Brittany's parents are almost cliches, but then they surprise you. They start out as typical; workaholic father, mother who only cares about the family's reputation and image (think of the neighbors!) but we learn more about the mother. The father did however remain a bit of cliche, but the mother was original.

The author also created an authentic high school. There were no mean girls and obnoxious cliques. There were cliques, but they were more low-key and there wasn't much time spent on them and there are some annoying, obnoxious characters, but they only play a small part in the story (this is true in real life too, the cliques and mean girls are there but they aren't a big deal, they don't dominate high school). There are definitely cliques formed based on location (and so they become racial cliques. In Chicago the SouthSide is mostly African Americans, the Northside is whites and the Westside is Latinos, but since Fairfield is fictional this doesn't apply) and the author explores that theme here. As Alex says "diversity breeds knowledge. But I've also seen it breed hatred and ignorance." and one of the best examples of that is high school. Also, when Alex and Brittany start dating (no that's not a spoiler, you must have seen that coming!And if you didn't, oh well) their friends aren't all kumbuyah, let's all hold hands. They are stubborn and unwilling to accept it. Slowly people come around, but it's a small number and not everyone does. That's a realistic portrayal. Most of the characters of the novel are genuine and well-rounded. Even characters only briefly mentioned add to the story and provide some sort of depth. I sort of wish I had their chemistry teacher, Mrs. Peterson. She's a hard grader and strict, but she really believes in her students, "If you think you can't change the world, then go on and follow he path already carved out for you. But there are other roads to choose, they're just harder to trudge through. Changing the world isn't easy, but I sure as hell am going to keep trying. Are you?"

I know some people think the ending was melodramatic, but based on what I know about gangs (Chicago is one of the main cities with the most gang violence and teens killing teens so I've read/heard enough) I wouldn't say it was melodramatic at all. It was realistic. That stuff happens, it's no picnic being in a gang, the feeling of family is often false and most people join gangs to protect their families, not necessarily themselves. I think Simone Elkeles captured that element of gang life perfectly. And yes the ultimate ending might have been a bit cheesy but really, did you want it any other way?

What makes this novel special is not the fact that it's fairly predictable, because yes it is (although there were some parts were I almost cried and there are plenty of twists and dramatic moments). What makes Perfect Chemistry special is that it provides an authentic, heart-warming, sad, humorous look into romance and high school life with a great cast of characters that you will be able to relate to. High school and up

PS You Must Watch the hilarious book trailer for Perfect Chemistry here (If I only I knew how to embed videos into this post). The uncut version isn't inappropriate or anything, I recommend you watch that one.

PPSS I'm SO EXCITED for the sequel Rules of Attraction (it will be WoWd soon)

Have a Happy New Year!