Rules of Attraction review

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From goodreads:

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.


My review:

I wish I knew how to speak Mexican so that right now I could say-'Oh man!...I am so completely in LOVE!!!'Rules of Attraction, book two in the series of perfect chemistry, is as perfect as book one, perfect chemistry and is based on Alex's younger brother, Carlos Fuentes.

Carlos has got the same good looks of his brother and is all for following his brother's gang banging footsteps. Also for the same reason he was sent off to stay with his brother in America.Alex had been a gang member, been in fights and had done bad things, the same things that Carlos wants to do.The only difference in his and Alex's opinion is that Alex wants to get away from them and Carlos wants to go in deep to earn real money.

Alex sets up a 'good' and 'clean' life for Carlos in a high school in Colorado.But it doesn't take Carlos too long to get involved with the wrong crowd and also eventually, being set up for drug possession.Alex finds Carlos a better option than being held in jail-putting Carlos under the guardian ship of a retired military psychologist, Richard Westford and his family.Carlos acts all i-am-a-jerk and tries to be a badass to get kicked out of the house but soon realizes that it was not going to work.Mr. Westford's daughter, Kiara is used to her father taking in people in need of help, but Carlos just sets her off.

Kiara prefers wearing baggy clothes and enjoys working on her car, more than strolling through a mall or checking out boys.She is also the one for hiking and has stuttering problem which makes her a shy and quiet girl.Knowing Carlos, obviously he tries to rattle her but Kiara outsmarts him and shook him off, mostly.In a period of time they realize that they both are growing on each other and try to deny it.But love always has it's ways, doesn't it? :)

In book two, Simone Elkeles keeps up the story of Brittaney and Alex going too,making some arguments and disputes between them part of the plot of rules of attraction.And of course also love, it always has it's part. Brittaney tries to reach out and help Carlos through, but he is rude and bitter to her, taking his anger out at her and blaming her for all the changes in his brother.Not that it isn't true, but in a good way. But Carlos doesn't understand that.

Carlos is pissed off, guarded impossible and holding on to his control.The growing attraction between him and Kiara and also a little bit of Brittaney's influence, though he would certainly deny it, lowers his walls a little, and he sees the world in different colors and patterns that were not as tangled and messed up as he thought they were. He finds out that he is capable of a lot of other things, including loving someone to the depths.He knows he is no Alex, but in the end he is faced with the same choice his brother had to face before, the choice between going in deep or fighting it off.

Simone Elkeles' Epilogue style is different and I love it!The epilogue is not on the immediate future but is zapped into the far ahead future, lets say 22 years after, give or take some years. It gives readers the idea about how the characters stay together in long term.I was surprised and really happy when I read the epilogue of both the books- perfect chemistry and rules of attraction, because I have always wondered what the characters' lives were after a long time, maybe when they were...40 or 53 or something.It was always difficult to change an image of our 17 year old character into a 53 old person.I never could get it right. But Simone Elkeles changed that, giving me a far clearer idea.

Rules of Attraction is captivating, intriguing, and a must read! I can’t wait for Chain Reaction, book 3 in the Perfect Chemistry series which is going to come out somewhere in May, this year and is based on the youngest Fuentes brother, Luis Fuentes.Oh, I am dying for the book already!!


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