Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's (1 April 2010)
• ISBN-10: 1847388051
• ISBN-13: 978-1847388056

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created "perfect" life is about to unravel before her eyes. Forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, Brittany finds herself having to protect everything she's worked so hard for - her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend and, most importantly, the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But the closer Alex and Brittany get to each other the more they realise that sometimes appearances can be deceptive and that you have to look beneath the surface to discover the truth.


I loved the sound of this book so much that it actually pulled me away from just reading the paranormal genre and actually being interested in normal contemporary YA fiction again.


Cover:  A well suited cover for the content of this book - a romantic cover for a romance story, but what is so good about this cover, and why I like it so much is that the boy and the girl on it are perfectly suited to the 2 main characters and are exactly how I imagined them to be.  Plus the guy is HOT!


Plot:  Ok the plot is basically 2 people that don't like each other are stuck together for a school assignment but of course start to like each other- the old opposites attract storyline but it really works.


Characters:  


Brittany- Brittany has everything...rich parents, nice house, BMW...the perfect life.  Except her life isn't perfect but she doesn't want people to know that.  She wants her senior year to go without a hitch and everyone to carry on thinking her life is perfect.  She should be a shallow blonde bimbo but she's not and of course Alex gets under skin and sees deeper than that.


Alex- Gang member, Mexican heritage, father died in a gang related incident and getting partnered with Brittany is his idea of hell.  A bet is made with friends that he can sleep with her...but after a while it's more than trying to win a bet.  Secretly Alex wants better than to be a gang member and has a flare for chemistry.


The result is a truly beautiful relationship between the two that progresses well and isn't without it's troubles but you really feel that Alex and Brittany love each other.


Writing Style:  Simone Elkeles has a great writing style, it's paced so well and is an amazingly fast read, I read it in a day.  A great feature of the book is that chapters alternate in perspectives of Alex and Brittany allowing the reader to not only know the thoughts and feelings of both protagonists but also a balance of the series of events.


Rating: 5/5 stars overall I loved everything about this book and I couldn't put it down and even after I finished I was thinking about it and couldn't wait to get my hands on the second in the trilogy Rules of Attraction and I can't wait until Chain Reaction is released as well as checking out Simone Elkeles's other books.


I would recommend this book for fans of the YA contemporary genre of anybody that loves a good romance or a nice light read.