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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
Rating: 5 Stars.
Steam: 4 out of 10, hot makeouts scenes but fade to black in sex scene.
Triggers:
Love Triangle:
Cheating:
HEA:
I love this book, I read this for the first time 10+ years ago, the feelings are all here, i will be honest, I don't know if I would give this 5 stars if I was reading this for the first time today but I just love simone elkeles books, it's so amazing to me how she can make the touch of a hand seem more intimate and mean more than full blown sex scenes by other authors. This is what you get with her books, intimacy in the smallest things.
If you're looking for a YA romance that's not full of smut and insta love (although they do lust for each other earlier on but nothing happen besides thoughts).
Perfect chemistry walked so punk 57 could run, I said what I said
Steam: 4 out of 10, hot makeouts scenes but fade to black in sex scene.
Triggers:
Spoiler
ViolenceLove Triangle:
Spoiler
Yes but the other guy did had a shotCheating:
Spoiler
not between the main mcsHEA:
Spoiler
YesI love this book, I read this for the first time 10+ years ago, the feelings are all here, i will be honest, I don't know if I would give this 5 stars if I was reading this for the first time today but I just love simone elkeles books, it's so amazing to me how she can make the touch of a hand seem more intimate and mean more than full blown sex scenes by other authors. This is what you get with her books, intimacy in the smallest things.
If you're looking for a YA romance that's not full of smut and insta love (although they do lust for each other earlier on but nothing happen besides thoughts).
Perfect chemistry walked so punk 57 could run, I said what I said
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was in a book slump and this book helped me get out of it. I was getting mad Riverdale vibes at the start with the whole south side north side thing. Alex is hilarious and so is Brittany. I felt like I knew it was Hector all along who killed Alex's dad. I want more Shelly I was laughing when she distracted the mom so Brittany and Paco could talk. Poor Paco I'm gonna miss him. I love the whole 25 years into the future thing and how they called their son Paco and Omg Mrs. Petersons was still there. I feel like low key she knew what was going on. The parents of Brittany pissed me off. Overall this book is not the best written the language is simple and you will probably fly through it. But its just so enjoyable and fast pace. I could definitely understand why someone might not enjoy it but if you're looking for a quick easy read or if you're in a book slump then I totally recommend it.
I really thought I would hate this book, because of the cover. Yes, I judge a book its cover, sue me. What I liked about the book: The storyline, the characters, the interactions between the characters, the humor, the real issues it presents. What I disliked about the book: the stereotypes! >.> Gosh, a rich american blonde girl with blue eyes, what's her name? Britney (Really?) and a Bad Boy, GangBanger guy that just HAS to be Mexican. His name is Alejandro surprisingly. I was expecting his name to be Pedro. >.> It really irked me that the book made it seem like all Mexicans were Gang Bangers and Drug Dealers. Well, other than that, I have to say the Epilogue of the book made me smile like an idiot. I'm actually smiling as I write this, because it's just so God-darned adorable. I give this book 3.5 stars, which I'll just convert into 4.
I decided I’d like to read this one after hearing all the buzz about it. I have to say, the buzz is true and well deserved. I loved this book!
Alex Fuentes is from the South Side of town. He’s in the Latino Blood gang, and lives a dangerous life. When he gets paired up with North Sider, the rich and popular cheerleader, Brittany Ellis, as his chemistry lab partner, neither of them are too happy. They decidedly hate each other almost immediately. Then, Alex places a bet with his buddies that he can get Brittany to sleep with him by Thanksgiving. Soon, a romance ensues and each discovers that the other one is not who they thought they were. Each of them has problems the other one may be able to help with. They have secrets and emotions that surprise each other. Could they be falling in love, despite the world being against them?
I completely loved this book. It drew me in the entire time. The characters were extrmely realistic, well developed, and highly likeable. The chapters were told in alternating narratives between the two characters which I really liked. It was so interesting to see the story told from both perspectives. This story was also full of heart. Alex would do anything for his family and those he cares for. Meanwhile, Brittany diligently cares for and defends her sister with severe physical and mental disabilities. Deep down, each of them was so different than the image they portrayed, and they finally learned to be real . . . with each other, the unlikeliest candidate for each of them. I love the way their romance developed. It was both funny and touching. All in all, I can’t say enough about this book. If you haven’t yet, I’d urge you to read it!
The Bottom Line: Fantastic! Wonderful! A must read for any YA or romance fan. A new favorite of mine.
Alex Fuentes is from the South Side of town. He’s in the Latino Blood gang, and lives a dangerous life. When he gets paired up with North Sider, the rich and popular cheerleader, Brittany Ellis, as his chemistry lab partner, neither of them are too happy. They decidedly hate each other almost immediately. Then, Alex places a bet with his buddies that he can get Brittany to sleep with him by Thanksgiving. Soon, a romance ensues and each discovers that the other one is not who they thought they were. Each of them has problems the other one may be able to help with. They have secrets and emotions that surprise each other. Could they be falling in love, despite the world being against them?
I completely loved this book. It drew me in the entire time. The characters were extrmely realistic, well developed, and highly likeable. The chapters were told in alternating narratives between the two characters which I really liked. It was so interesting to see the story told from both perspectives. This story was also full of heart. Alex would do anything for his family and those he cares for. Meanwhile, Brittany diligently cares for and defends her sister with severe physical and mental disabilities. Deep down, each of them was so different than the image they portrayed, and they finally learned to be real . . . with each other, the unlikeliest candidate for each of them. I love the way their romance developed. It was both funny and touching. All in all, I can’t say enough about this book. If you haven’t yet, I’d urge you to read it!
The Bottom Line: Fantastic! Wonderful! A must read for any YA or romance fan. A new favorite of mine.
REREAD 10/9/24: Randomly thought of this series (first read in high school!) and decided to reread to see if I still agree with this rating—and I actually do!!! It's very cliche and unrealistic, has a lot of contrived dialogue, but it's a quick and easy read and the characters are more complex than they initially seem!
I have to admit, this book kept me turning the pages. In fact, it was the most interesting books out of the eight books I am currently reading. It had everything you would expect out of a common teenage book: drama, bad language...some other STUFF. But that's where a little bit of a problem laid. It was almost TOO teenagery. And it was full of bad stereotypes. I mean, here's this bad Hispanic boy, Alex. He's in a gang in a suburb on the southern outskirts of Chicago(REPRESENT). He has a reputation and all and every other word he's spitting out some Spanish word randomly or cursing. And I didn't have much of a problem with the cursing thing but the Spanish thing was a little too random to be considered realistic. And then there's that stupid girl Brittany. She's, you know, the stereotypical white cheerleader who's rich and all. And she has this big, bad football quarter back for a boyfriend. WHATEVER. So, basically Alex and Brittany get matched together in Chemistry class(obviously:note cover)and end up falling in love and blah blah. Not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. It kept me awake and it was a real page turner. And if it wasn't for all the darn stereotypes, I would probably give it five stars. Oh well.
That's the guy who plays Alex in the trailers :)
That's the guy who plays Alex in the trailers :)
A near perfect YA novel!
This book has everything I`ve ever wanted in young adults novel -
-charismatic characters, and I don't mean only the guy, SHE (Brittany) is refreshingly alive and vivid heroine, and that is a big deal for me, because of the snoozefest in YA general concerning main characters;
-stepping out of the 100% high school comfort zone with unusual setting. I believe it to be a better background for drama and action than those countless distopian stories or the wondrous world of werewolves and vampires. Exciting things are happening just outside your window, and real life is full of adventure, love and surprises, and yes, sad and unfair things sometimes happen, but we still live in this world, so why not read something out of this world, especially, if it is this good!
-displaying other themes than simply love love love. I believe the gang issue is far more deeper and complicated that shown in this book, but Elkeles does a great job in giving a fair introduction to the problem.
-sex! thank you for not leaving out sex! If an author is is writing a book about teenagers in love, and doesn't include a tiniest hint of those teenagers having sex, I consider the book a science fiction. fortunately, Simone Elkeles is far from science fiction and the book is as steamy as romantic, and not out of proportions with it!
pleasant style of writing - and by pleasant I mean uncomplicated enough yet not plain and simple - it is past paced, full of clever dialogue, maybe the Spanish bits are exhausting after a while, especially if you are not a Spanish speaker/reader, but it is a nice phrasebook for those enthusiastic enough to start learning Spanish.
the near perfect in this near perfect book for me are 1)the epilogue - could`ve lived without the knowledge of their future whereabouts - it seemed too cheesy for this otherwise non-cheesy book; and 2)I just don't know what to do with the remaining books about the other brothers... their introduction in this book was so poor, that it leaves me with a doubt that some stronger characteristic differences between them as completely different characters would emerge in second and third book, forcing me to think that they will be as good as Perfect Chemistry, yet less exciting... but I will think about it.
This book has everything I`ve ever wanted in young adults novel -
-charismatic characters, and I don't mean only the guy, SHE (Brittany) is refreshingly alive and vivid heroine, and that is a big deal for me, because of the snoozefest in YA general concerning main characters;
-stepping out of the 100% high school comfort zone with unusual setting. I believe it to be a better background for drama and action than those countless distopian stories or the wondrous world of werewolves and vampires. Exciting things are happening just outside your window, and real life is full of adventure, love and surprises, and yes, sad and unfair things sometimes happen, but we still live in this world, so why not read something out of this world, especially, if it is this good!
-displaying other themes than simply love love love. I believe the gang issue is far more deeper and complicated that shown in this book, but Elkeles does a great job in giving a fair introduction to the problem.
-sex! thank you for not leaving out sex! If an author is is writing a book about teenagers in love, and doesn't include a tiniest hint of those teenagers having sex, I consider the book a science fiction. fortunately, Simone Elkeles is far from science fiction and the book is as steamy as romantic, and not out of proportions with it!
pleasant style of writing - and by pleasant I mean uncomplicated enough yet not plain and simple - it is past paced, full of clever dialogue, maybe the Spanish bits are exhausting after a while, especially if you are not a Spanish speaker/reader, but it is a nice phrasebook for those enthusiastic enough to start learning Spanish.
the near perfect in this near perfect book for me are 1)the epilogue - could`ve lived without the knowledge of their future whereabouts - it seemed too cheesy for this otherwise non-cheesy book; and 2)I just don't know what to do with the remaining books about the other brothers... their introduction in this book was so poor, that it leaves me with a doubt that some stronger characteristic differences between them as completely different characters would emerge in second and third book, forcing me to think that they will be as good as Perfect Chemistry, yet less exciting... but I will think about it.
(As reviewed on my blog, Paper Riot.)
First thoughts
THE EPILOGUE WAS SO CHEESY! But I loved Brittany + Alex's chemistry (ha) and it was a great read for this sunny day.
More thoughts
Here's something you've probably never heard before: a good, rich girl who falls for a poor, bad boy. Yes, Perfect Chemistry was cliche that way. I can handle only so much cliches in a book, but surprisingly, they didn't both me in this one. I honestly hadn't expected was to be completely drawn into the story, to be unable to put it down and to fall completely in love with it. Because from the moment I started reading, I was sucked into the world of Brittany and Alex, two characters who were so well-written and alive, that I was experiencing their story rather than reading about it.
They both had their issues - I loved Brittany's relationship with her sister, and I was very invested in finding out more about the gang life - but when they were together, it just worked. They really did have great chemistry, and I had to fan myself a few times because things got pretty... intense. But it wasn't just the main characters who were great: the side characters were just as well-written and real. Paco and Isa were my favorites, but I also liked how both Brittany and Alex's families played a big part in this story.
Yes, this was just the book to read on my beautiful day outside, and I couldn't stop reading until I finished it. Perfect if you need a passionate love story and lots of kissy scenes. And even though I wanted to stab the ending (man, that was SO CHEESY), this was a real love story rather than a high school romance, and I loved it. Yes, it was kind of cliche. But I didn't mind it one bit.
First thoughts
THE EPILOGUE WAS SO CHEESY! But I loved Brittany + Alex's chemistry (ha) and it was a great read for this sunny day.
More thoughts
Here's something you've probably never heard before: a good, rich girl who falls for a poor, bad boy. Yes, Perfect Chemistry was cliche that way. I can handle only so much cliches in a book, but surprisingly, they didn't both me in this one. I honestly hadn't expected was to be completely drawn into the story, to be unable to put it down and to fall completely in love with it. Because from the moment I started reading, I was sucked into the world of Brittany and Alex, two characters who were so well-written and alive, that I was experiencing their story rather than reading about it.
They both had their issues - I loved Brittany's relationship with her sister, and I was very invested in finding out more about the gang life - but when they were together, it just worked. They really did have great chemistry, and I had to fan myself a few times because things got pretty... intense. But it wasn't just the main characters who were great: the side characters were just as well-written and real. Paco and Isa were my favorites, but I also liked how both Brittany and Alex's families played a big part in this story.
Yes, this was just the book to read on my beautiful day outside, and I couldn't stop reading until I finished it. Perfect if you need a passionate love story and lots of kissy scenes. And even though I wanted to stab the ending (man, that was SO CHEESY), this was a real love story rather than a high school romance, and I loved it. Yes, it was kind of cliche. But I didn't mind it one bit.