Review of Perfect Chemistry

My review of Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles is based on a paperback copy that I purchased for myself via Amazon. The following review is my honest opinion of the work.

Goodreads Summary: "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. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and 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 soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.

In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart."

This is one of those books that I'm late on the bandwagon for, EVERYONE has read this before me. And proceeded to lecture me about how I need to read it immediately because it was just that good. Yet still it ended up buried in my TBR pile, purposely none the less. I was so afraid that this book was going to be riddled with stereotypes and because of such ruin the entire novel for me despite however brilliant the writing might have been. But new friends finally convinced me to give it a try, so I dug it out and dove in. I'm happy to announce that Perfect Chemistry was in no way what I expected.

The love story developing between bad boy Alex and innocent Brittany rang true for me, none of that instant romance that is becoming so prevalent. You could see things gradually developing between them, there was actually a foundation laid than built on. I absolutely loved watching the relationship develop between the two of them, there is nothing like a good love/hate relationship. Delicious "foreplay" and by that I mean the interactions leading up to the actual realization that they had feelings for one another was incredible.

For those of you that read my Tiara Talk on my favorite guilty pleasure reads you know that I'm a sucker for a good drama. For me to enjoy drama I have to find myself invested one hundred percent, I have to be able to laugh and/or cry right along with the characters. Perfect Chemistry came through for me on this count. I was giggling at parts, bawling my eyes out at others, and wanting to generally throttle the characters over the misunderstandings that upset them.

Alex was everything I ever wanted in a bad boy and than some. Now I am not going to do a write-up on the many reasons why I want Alex as my fictional boyfriend, though they are numerous and it would be easy, otherwise this entire review would end up dedicated to him...okay so it almost was and I was only just barely convinced otherwise. Suffice to say he is the bad boy with the heart of gold, the guy that despite all of the odds a girl could lose herself in thinking that she could be the one to save him. And yes, he is positively YUMMY.

Brittany was a girl that I could relate to, maybe not one hundred percent, but I found myself comfortably slipping my own feet into her shoes. The popular girl with the troubled home life barely able to keep it together. Her "perfect" life is all a facade, her popularity a shield from her troubled life at home. One thing that thrilled me about her plotline is that the problems at home actually stemmed from a reason, it wasn't just child versus parental unit drama. There was a reason why there were issues at home and this reason was addressed. As a character I really liked Brittany and I could see myself making similar decisions to her and even those we differed on I could see why she chose to do things that way, and most importantly they made sense for her character.

As for the rest of the cast of characters in this novel they were perfect and everything they needed to be. Every character in the novel became real to me and I cared about the outcome of their own individual storylines, I wanted the best for all of them and was disappointed when I would discover that it wasn't in the cards.

I'm giving Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles a five out of five stars review. Had I known what this novel would be like, and not so easily given into my doubts, I would have devoured it so much sooner. As it was I managed to read it in a few mere hours and was completely unable to put it down for even a second. On that note I'm eagerly awaiting the time when I can pick up the second novel in the series, I'm already desperate for a fix!