Skip to main content

Bibliocrack Review: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles



I decided I had to read Perfect Chemistry based on Trisha's awesome review. In her words:

Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry is a teen romance full of cliches, melodrama, an unrealistic denouement, and a completely over the top epilogue. And I freaking loved it. Ate it up with a spoon like it was an ice cream sundae.
Rock on, Trisha. I love it when reviewers are honest about how much they loved a book. I'll add to her description The Cover. Every time I sat down next to DH to read he'd say, "You still reading the The Cover?" And I'd smile like the cat who ate the canary and say, "Yeah." In my best what's it to ya voice. 

Brittany Ellis and Alejandro Fuentes go to Fairfield High on the outskirts of Chicago. And that is the one and only thing they have in common. She is the captain of the pom squad. He is a member of a local gang. On the whole, they could be categorized as Less Than Thrilled to be made lab partners in chemistry for the entirety of their senior year. What follows is a fair bit of verbal sparring, a healthy dose of teenage angst, and a whole helluva lot of sexual tension. Forced to spend time together outside of school working on their final project, Alex and Brittany discover more about each other than they ever wanted to know. Soon they are forced to decide just what they will do with their newfound knowledge. I, for one, couldn't wait to find out. Okay, so I knew from the moment they met exactly what they would do with it. But, honestly, I was enjoying myself way too much to care. 

So, yeah. This thing is the real deal. It's star crossed lovers against the world. It's passionate pleas and rising music. It's West Side Story sans the whole love at first sight bit. In fact, these two kids despise each other. They're both smart, sexy, and very very troubled. And they have several sizeable barriers to cross before they can even begin to take each other seriously. Is it sappy and predictable and overwrought? Yes. Did I love it? Oh, yeah. Why? Because, quite simply, Simone Elkeles made me believe in these two. I wanted so much for them. And, even though I knew it would, I could not stop reading until I was sure things came out all right for them in the end. Suddenly I was fourteen years old again and falling in love with Romeo & Juliet for the first time. There's nothing like that feeling and it was nice to have it back for just a little while.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Anonymous3:57 AM

    Thanks!

    And I agree about The Cover. It's...yeah. I wouldn't say call it spectacular or truly a "Wow!" cover, but, boy does it do its job well.

    Is it sappy and predictable and overwrought? Yes. Did I love it? Oh, yeah.

    Yup.

    Trisha

    ReplyDelete
  2. MySharonAnne2:43 PM

    Nice review! I really cannot wait to read this one!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Angiegirl3:23 PM

    Trisha, you're absolutely right. It really does its job well. I'll confess to catching myself staring at it several times while reading. Thanks again!

    Sharonanne, thank you! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:49 AM

    I just read this one and loved every word of it! And your review was spot on. Looks like I'll be bringing my copy back to the library, and heading to the bookstore for one for keeps.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Angiegirl11:23 PM

    Chelle, yay! So glad you loved it. I can totally see this being a comfort read when I need just that kind of a love story. *grin*

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

You Might Also Like

Review | The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Vols. 1 & 2 by Beth Brower

I feel a bit giddy finally talking to you all about this series. If you'll remember, I fell madly in love with The Q  when it came out a few years ago. Now, Beth Brower is writing The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion — a series of novellas set in London in 1883. Each volume is an excerpt from the incorrigible Emma's journals, and the first two volumes are already available with the third on the way soon. I think they'd make rather perfect pandemic reading. Humorous and charming down to their bones, they're just what the doctor ordered to lift your spirits in this uncertain time that just proves to be too much some days. If you're experiencing one of those days, I suggest giving Volume 1   a go (it's only 99 cents on Kindle, $4.99 for a trade paperback copy). It will surprise exactly none of you that I own print and digital editions of both volumes.  Miss Emma M. Lion has waited long enough. Come hell or high water (and really, given her track record,  both a...
4 comments
Read more

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

I know this is an almost unpardonably early review. But honestly, I waited on it as long as I possibly could before the effort of holding it in caused me some sort of bodily harm. I've been anxiously looking forward to For Darkness Shows the Stars  for going on two years now, and the day an ARC showed up on my doorstep was just a very good day indeed . When a book you've been dying to read finally falls into your lap, do you ever just hold onto it and savor the possibilities? I do. I did with this one for a little while. Don't get me wrong, sometimes I just tear into it immediately. But sometimes I don't. Because sometimes dreaming about it while you're actually holding it in your hands is special, too. So I savored and I dreamt and I started reading and . . . I was gone. My first reaction to finishing it was a sense of complete satisfaction mingled with sadness that it was over. My second was thinking that I cannot wait to see  For Darkness Shows the Stars  work ...
46 comments
Read more

Angie's 2026 Must Be Mine

As ever, begin as you mean to go on. And so here are my most anticipated titles of 2026: And no covers on these yet, but I'm just as excited for each one: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 9 by Beth Brower Finest Kind of Fate by J.J. Mulder My Kind of Guy by Sarina Bowen Ravenous by Kresley Cole Mastermind by Sarah MacLean Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long Grim Tidings by B.K. Borison Villain Edit by Rosie Danan What titles are on your list?
2 comments
Read more