Post #10 Book Review

“Brittany flashes me a triumphant smile, thinking she’s won this round. Guess again gringa. Game on”. Simone Elkeles knows how to make your blood boil and make you feel like a hopeless romantic in the book Perfect Chemistry, you meet two very different people Alex and Brittany. They both go to Fairfield high school in Illinois a school were two very different towns and groups of people meet, and Alex and Brittany come from different sides. Brittany lives in the “nicer” part of town she leads everyone on to believing she lives a perfect life with a perfect family, but none of that is true she has a judge mental, strict mother who watches her every move and a disabled sister and a father who is consumed by work. Alex on the other had lives in the run down side of things, him his mom and two brothers live in a very small house, though they don’t have much they still love each other and are like a actual family. Alex is in a gang the Latino bloods, after watching his father get killed right in front of him at the age of 6 he has no choice, being in the gang is the only way to protect his family even if he doesn’t want to be in it and he actually wants to make something of himself go to college do something and meeting Brittany could change all of that.

 

Although when people hear the word romance as the genre for the book they turn away that should be the case here. Though the book is mainly romance but it has a little bit of everything, to interest everyone. Unlike most romance books with the slow begging of people meeting then getting to know each other it’s not the case here she adds in little sparks here and there even if it just last for a second it keeps it interesting and intriguing making you want to keep reading and find out what else is going to happen. Even though the story line is a little predictable the good girl wants the bad boy, she makes you hate that you like Alex so much he’s so nice and cares for Brittany that you just can’t help but it the same for Brittany and little does she know that she’s turning him into a better person even if her parents can’t get pass the fact that he’s in a gang, they are good for each other

 

Elkeles takes a twist in her writing that I have never seen before by each chapter changing it from either Brittany’s to Alex’s perspective on things and sometimes over lapping   so you can get each side of the story and how they are feeling about it.  Just like as they go through a break up Alex’s chapter ends with a “That will definitely be my undoing. “Yeah it does” I say with tears forming in my eye’s I drive off.” But, then Brittany’s following chapter starts with “After I used two boxes of tissues, Sierra gave up on trying to cheer me up and let me cry myself to sleep.”  It was a different way to read a book, it wasn’t good or bad just different you really start to like how you can see what feeling then switch and see what the other person is too. You get to almost get inside their heads in a way then