Perfect Chemistry
by Simone Elkeles
(Perfect Chemistry # 1)
Brittany Ellis is perfect. She has the perfect boyfriend, the perfect house, the perfect appearance, perfect everything. Or atleast that what she makes people believe but with a disabled sister at home that only she seems to care about, a boyfriend who only seems to want to get in her panties and constant criticism from her parents, she doesn't feel so perfect on the inside, and things start to crumble when she is assigned to be lab partners in Chemistry with Alex Fuentes. Alex Fuentes doesn't try and hide his imperfections, with a scary reputation and part of the Latino Blood gang everyone thinks he is a thug, but with his mother and two younger brothers to take care of he does what he has to so they can do what they want. As Alex and Brittany see beneath the masks they present to the world the attraction grows, but will it be enough or are their worlds just too different?
I have heard a lot of good things about this book and this series and although I am not a fan of YA, especially when romance is involved, I decided to give this book a go. Maybe it was all the hype and expectations I had, but when reading I kept thinking "what's all the fuss about?" because although I thought it was okay, I don't think I would ever rhapsodise about it.
But I did enjoy it and I think it had some really great and heart wrenching moments in it. I liked Alex, he had the smouldering bad boy with a heart of gold thing going on; he tries to do right by his family and those he loves with the limited choices he has. Brittany...sometimes I would like her, the moments between her and her sister were really beautiful other times she just annoyed the crap out of me. Together...I just never saw the "perfect chemistry" Brittany always seemed to be trying to change him by manipulating him, some of which I understand, he was in a gang after all, and Alex seemed more concerned with how amazing her body was, again I understand he was an 18 year old guy after all! But, I still didn't feel it.
This review is coming out a bit more negatively then I meant it to, but it just didn't click for me it was a but cliche, the characters although interesting and did have real depth, just didn't seem to fit as perfectly as I expected and it was all tied up a little too neatly at the end.
I have heard a lot of good things about this book and this series and although I am not a fan of YA, especially when romance is involved, I decided to give this book a go. Maybe it was all the hype and expectations I had, but when reading I kept thinking "what's all the fuss about?" because although I thought it was okay, I don't think I would ever rhapsodise about it.
But I did enjoy it and I think it had some really great and heart wrenching moments in it. I liked Alex, he had the smouldering bad boy with a heart of gold thing going on; he tries to do right by his family and those he loves with the limited choices he has. Brittany...sometimes I would like her, the moments between her and her sister were really beautiful other times she just annoyed the crap out of me. Together...I just never saw the "perfect chemistry" Brittany always seemed to be trying to change him by manipulating him, some of which I understand, he was in a gang after all, and Alex seemed more concerned with how amazing her body was, again I understand he was an 18 year old guy after all! But, I still didn't feel it.
This review is coming out a bit more negatively then I meant it to, but it just didn't click for me it was a but cliche, the characters although interesting and did have real depth, just didn't seem to fit as perfectly as I expected and it was all tied up a little too neatly at the end.
I just finished this one too, and I agree with your review. I also gave it 3 stars, because I enjoyed it but it failed to wow me. I don't think there was enough build up in the romance, or enough of the romance at all to make me care about them. And I didn't really like Brittany all that much either.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is why I don't read much if any YA at all - I think it's because I've grown past that age period and what I want in a romance now is much more growth and maturity....lol
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