by Simone Elkeles
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."
Perfect Chemistry had an interesting premise, with characters that ranged from the very typical high school beauty queen to the less conventional teenage boy caught up in a violent gang. The two protagonists of the story came from completely different worlds, and I expected their love story to bring novelty to YA romance.
Unfortunately, I found that I could not bring myself to enjoy the story at all. Brittany felt pressured to uphold the perfect image of a teenage girl, all while Alex was protecting his threatened family on a daily basis. I felt the concept of perfection, especially when placed in this context of contrast, was overdone and overdramatized.
Furthermore, certain phrases of the novel left me cringing - they were clearly meant to be meaningful, however I felt they were cheesy and missed the mark in attempting to finish each chapter effectively.
The strong point of Perfect Chemistry was its characters, and with it, two very different perspectives telling a single story. For me, that single positive factor was not enough to redeem the book overall.
2/5 stars.
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