Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

This third, and final, book of the Perfect Chemistry series was well worth the wait! I was interested to see how Luis would turn out to be compared to his older, reckless brothers, and I wasn't disappointed.

One thing that I really loved about this book was that the author changed the scenery back to Illinois. I'm biased since I live in IL, but when the characters reflected about the weather and the formation of land in IL, I was definitely able to relate to it and it made the story more "real" for me.

Luis Fuentes is the younger brother of 3 boys, which the other 2 brothers have been associated with gangs and had a hard time going through high school with the rivalry gangs, etc. Luis was, fortunately, able to stay away from that scene since he moved away from the high school his brothers went to, and was looked at as the "good" brother - the one who didn't get into trouble.

However, Luis's family moved back to IL and everything started to spiral from there. Luis had straight A's, a goal for a college and a career aspiration - so his next 10 years were already planned out. He didn't expect to fall in love with a Mexican girl, who is more American than Mexican having grown up on the "high society" life with white people, or getting initiated into the gang that his older brother, Alex, was a part of while in school.

Dealing with all of these situations that occurred, Luis has to decide what to do with his life - should he stick to his 10 year plan, or should he join the Latino Blood gang to gain additional "family"?

I liked this book. It wasn't the best out of the series (which, in my opinion, is Perfect Chemistry!) but it was nice to get Luis's viewpoint and know his attitude of life after living with Alex and Carlos. Also, I got the feeling that Luis was more badass than the girl in the book, Nikki. The reviews of the book I've read stated that Nikki was the bad girl in the story, but overall, I think it was the opposite. It might just be me, but with the situations that occurred in the story, I feel that Luis was definitely the "bad boy". And I'm okay with the bad boy instead of the bad girl!

These are the actors who played the Fuentes brothers in the
booktrailers. Order from left to right: Alex, Carlos, and Luis.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone, I would just say that I think everyone should read the books in order to fully understand the characters in this book. It can be a stand alone, but the reader will fully appreciate the family scenes between the 3 brothers if the other 2 were read beforehand.

Return to Paradise

I just flew through this sequel to Leaving Paradise and I couldn't put it down! I'm not going to say too much about it because it will spoil the first book, but I will say that watching Caleb and Maggie get through the barriers that they found themselves in was amazing.

I really love Simone Elkeles books (Ruined series and Perfect Chemistry series) because she writes about topics that can be related to life: gangs, jail, drunk driving, war. Most of these topics are not brought up in young adult literature, so reading about the situations that arise with these topics and how the teens involved get past the problems is really eye opening.

Another thing I love about Simone's books is that they are all set in Illinois :) Since I'm from IL, it makes it even more amazing and I recognize a lot of the landmarks that are mentioned throughout the novels.

But, seriously? Read her books. The topics are real life and show a teenager what could happen if they joined a gang, if they drove drunk, if they start dating a person who decides to enlist in the military. These topics are provided in a love story, which makes it a fun read, but teens are learning about hard situations at the same time.

Leaving Paradise

One year ago, Maggie and Caleb - neighbors who grew up together and always hungout with one another - found their lives upside down. Maggie was a victim in a hit and run incident. Caleb was the driver. For one year, Caleb went to juvenile detention and Maggie went to physical therapy and surgeries to try and get her leg better.

Maggie hated Caleb for what he had done. She loved him before the accident, but now she was ready to leave Paradise, her hometown, to escape being around him. Caleb was able to get out of the Illinois Department of Corrections-Juvenile (DOC) 6 months early, ruining Maggie's plan to escape to Spain so she could avoid him.

Now, the two are stuck together reliving that awful day a year ago, but also finding themselves in the same place trying to survive until the end of the school year. However, they are starting to connect with one another, knowing how much the other is an outcast at school and in society. The person that they hate the most might actually be the only person that can remotely understand what the other is going through during this time.

This was an amazing book and I'm very glad that I don't have to wait for the sequel and conclusion of this series Return to Paradise because the suspense would have been too much! I'm going to go start that book right now!

Perfect Chemistry

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles. New York: Walker & Company, 2009. 357 pages.

     1. A succinct evaluative annotation. Plot: [Conflict] Brittany gives off this vision that she has a perfect life: she lives in a big house, has a lot of money, the perfect boyfriend, captain of the cheerleading team, and going to have a “perfect” senior year. Alex is just trying to graduate high school since he’s in a Mexican gang, taking care of his family, and trying to live another year. However, both Alex and Brittany’s dreams were crushed when they were assigned as chemistry partners. [Rising Action] Brittany and Alex don’t get along: they are from two different households and put stereotypes to one another, automatically hating one another. [Climax] After being together for their project, both Alex and Brittany realize that they misjudged one another and fall in love, against all of the differences. [Falling Action] Alex gets out of the gang because he wants to be with Brittany without having that past following him the rest of his life. [Resolution] In the end, many years later, Alex and Brittany get married and live in the town they grew up, where their children were raised with no as much stereotypes as their parents went through. Theme: The themes in this novel include romance, stereotypes, gangs, identity, love, and discrimination. Tone: The tone of this story was very romantic but also serious. This story dealt with a lot of gang related scenes, making the story very serious for Alex when he had to do business with the leader of his gang. Style: The author’s writing style was very good: she wrote alternating chapters from Brittany and Alex’s viewpoint, letting the reader see what Alex and Brittany were both thinking throughout the entire story. Characterizations: Brittany was supposed to be this perfect blonde, white girl, but she was very generous, open hearted to everyone because her older sister was mentally disabled and she had to take care of her. Brittany was the only one that understood her sister, Shellby. Alex was perceived as a tough, bad boy who didn’t care about anything when really he just wanted his family to be safe and not have to worry about what might happen because he was in the gang. Readability: This was very easy to read – I flew through it and wished that the story never ended. Simone Elkeles did a wonderful job writing this novel to capture her readers into her story.

2. My reactions to the book. I loved this book! It was a Romeo & Juliet story where the characters were actually able to get a happy ending, even if it was a rough journey to get to the end. I think that the best strength of this book is that both teenage girls and boys can read this. There is gang related topics and half of the book is through a male’s perspective which I think many teenage boys can relate to. This wasn’t based on a true story, but I think some of the content might be accurate, depending on what Elkeles looked up before writing her novel.

3. Comment on the cover art. The cover art might be what throws off teenage boys from reading this book. Many males won’t want to read a book where it looks like it will be full of romance. The cover definitely shows what the book is about, but at the same time there is more to the book than just romance and I think the cover isn’t revealing all of the contents that it could to get a bigger audience. I’m not sure how the cover might be changed, maybe in a Romeo & Juliet scene and have Alex’s motorcycle with his gang or something to that effect – I think then more teenage boys will be willing to pick up the book and read it.