Book review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Summary from Goodreads:

When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.

Rules of Attraction is a sequel to Perfect Chemistry (you can read Mari's review here). Even though you don't really have to read the first book before this one I would recomend it.

My thoughts:

After struggling a bit with the books I've been reading lately I decided to take a break and read something I, after reading the first book by Elkeles, expected to be a light but good and very entertaining read. I have to say I was not dissapointed because I really enjoyed Rules of Attraction even more than Perfect Chemistry. Even though I wasn't as excited as Mari about the first book I liked it a lot. It's been at least couple of years since I read that one but I think I can say for sure that the stories have a lot of similarities and they are indeed a bit predictable as many of these love stories tend to be. I still have to say that Simone Elkeles language makes it all flow very easy and natural. Especially the dialogues between the characters seems very natural to me. Another thing that makes this a good read are the characters, I really believe in them and connect with them. One of the reasons I think I like this book better than the last one is that I prefer Kiara to Brittany. I find her more interesting and sympathetic and she actually reminds me a little of Jordan from Catching Jordan by Miranda Kennealy.

The romance in this book is very cute and hot actually and if you're a teenager yourself you can probably relate and if you're no longer a teenager like me, you can remember your first love or maybe the one that got away;-) The book is also funny and exciting in many ways but if you're not a fan of a good YA-romance you should stay far away from this book.

Source:
Checked out at the school library where I work


My review:

Book review: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

My summary:
Brittany is from a wealthy family, on the outside her life seems perfect but in reality Brittany struggles to keep up apparences. In chemistryclass the teachr announces that they're having a project and Britney gets partered up with Alex Fuentes, a mexican student who also happens to be a gangmember. Everyone knows that the wealthy cacuation inhabitants of the city and the mexicans doesn't intermingle and for Brittany's family this is a disaster. What would their neighbours think if they saw a gangmember knocking on their door? It gets worse.. Brittany falls head over heels for Alex.

My thoughts:
Perfect Chemistry was a beautiful love story. I carried the book with me everywhere and read whenever I had a second to spare. The story reminded me of a modern mix between Westside Story and Romeo & Juliet. Westside Story is the first movie I have a really strong memory of watching actually, I was quite young the first time I saw it. I remember I could cry just thinking of the story for days later.

I instantly connected with Brittany as a character, not that I'm like her but her world feels so real and I felt myself empathizing with her. As for Alex he was one likable bad boy, he really wasn't all that bad he was just looking out for his loved ones, I think I fell for him just as hard as Brittany did. He might be up there on my fictional boyfriend list along with Jane Austens Captain Wenthworth.

Author Simone Elkeles has taken inspiration from a town near Lake Michigan, where the Caucasian and the Mexican inhabitants in a very little degree interact with each other. Elkeles does something wonderful with her story, she reminds the reader that everything might not be what it appears on the outside. It's not uncommon for young adults to build an image that isn't true to who they really are as a person on the inside.

I recommend this book for girls up to 100 years ++

Book trailer:

The cover:

Kind of sexy romantic :) Just like the relationship in the novel.

My rating of this book:

5 stars out of 5

Want a second opinion? Check out these reviews written by some of my book blogging friends:
i.eat.words.
Marie loves books

Want to know more?
Add Perfect Chemistry on your Goodreads wishlist
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Visit Simone Elkeles homepage
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Perfect Chemistry by Siomone Elkeles

Published: 2010
Pages(paperback): 360
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
ISBN: 0802798225 (ISBN13: 9780802798220)
Full disclosure: My copy was provided by the Norwegian publisher for an honest review. 

This book can be purchased from a number of local retailers and on-line book stores such as Amazon or The Book Depository (I'm not an affiliate of either). The latter store does by the way have free shipping to about 100 countries.