April 5, 2009

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Alex is Latino Blood who lives on the wrong side of the tracks. He is trying to keep control of his life by keeping up his grades, maintain his friendships and protect his family from the neighborhood. Brittany lives a so called glamorous life. However, she is trying also trying to stay in control of her life. She must maintain appearances that her life is perfect even though her sister has sever Cerebral Palsy, her father is never around and her mom blows up anytime Brittany does not maintain her perfect appearances. Now, Brittany and Alex are forced to be chemistry partners and complete a year long project together. They never expected the chemistry they would create together. The book is written with alternating narrators of Brittany and Alex exposing the reader to both first person points of view. While overall a fun read the perfect happy ending was a bit forced. in addition, I did not feel the book was thoroughly research in the way of gangs or cerebral palsy. Most people would not notice these issues but those in the know may have issues with the book. This is a great beach read, but would not be something I would recommend to everyone.

Posted by Lisa at April 5, 2009 8:19 PM