Review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
Series: Perfect Chemistry #2
on April 27, 2010
Pages: 326
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
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More sparks will fly in the sequel to Simone Elkeles' s breakout book Perfect Chemistry.

When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn' t want any part of the life his older brother Alex has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado. Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path -- just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn' t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos' wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she' s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.

STOP!
This review contains spoilers regarding Perfect Chemistry, Book One.
If you haven’t yet read Perfect Chemistry you may not want to continue reading.

My thoughts…

Rules of Attraction is the second book in the “Perfect Chemistry” series by author Simone Elkeles. While I enjoyed this story, I felt it was lacking a bit. I had a hard time getting into it at first. That’s not to say that I didn’t enjoy it because I did. I just think my expectations were set really high because Perfect Chemistry was such an amazing read.

I really liked Kiara’s character from the very beginning. She’s a bit naive and inexperienced but she’s also a little bit of a rebel. When she makes Carlos double chocolate chip cookies I laughed so hard. What she did was really clever.
It took me a little bit to warm up to Carlos. He’s like his brother Alex in some ways but not in others. I found myself wondering what he wanted for his future. Did he want marriage and kids? To go to college to better himself? I just couldn’t figure it out at first.

Once Carlos and Kiara come together things start to heat up nicely. I’ve not a real big fan of high school age characters having sex but Ms Elkeles wrote the scene in such a way that it wasn’t overly explicit.

What I didn’t like about the story is the relationship between Kiara and Carlos seemed rushed. I don’t think there was enough character development for these two to fall in love with each other so quickly.

Also I wasn’t fond of the fact that the author put Alex and Brittany’s relationship in the mix with this story. At the end of Perfect Chemistry they get their HEA and it didn’t seem right to have them break up during this book regardless of whether they end up getting back together or not because at the end of Perfect Chemistry the epilogue is set several years into the future so it was sort of a pointless element.

The cover for Rules of Attraction is perfect and spot on. I don’t think they could have designed a more perfect cover for this story.

Overall I enjoyed Rules of Attraction. I’m looking forward to reading Chain Reaction, the third and final book in this series.