Chain Reaction review

Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From Goodreads:

Luis Fuentes has always been sheltered from the gang violence that nearly destroyed his brothers’ lives. But that didn’t stop him from taking risks—whether he’s scaling a mountain in the Rockies or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis can’t stop looking for the next thrill.

Nikki Cruz lives her life by three rules—boys lie to get their way, don’t trust a boy who says “I love you,” and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Her parents may be from Mexico, but as a doctor’s daughter, she has more in common with her north-side neighbors than the Latino Blood at her school. Then she meets Luis at Alex’s wedding, and suddenly, she’s tempted to break all her rules.

Getting Nikki to take a chance on a southsider is Luis’s biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by Chuy Soto, the new head of the Latino Blood. When Chuy reveals a disturbing secret about Luis’s family, the youngest Fuentes finds himself questioning everything he’s ever believed to be true. Will his feelings for Nikki be enough to stop Luis from entering a dark and violent world and permanently living on the edge?

My Review:

After I read the last word of the book I turned over to the epilogue and read the whole thing again. After that I just sat there, with the book in front of me thinking – this is it. No more Fuentes brothers, no more of that hot, passionate romance, no more of Simone Elkeles’ beautiful trilogy, Perfect Chemistry. And then I almost teared up. I mean Oh My God! Chain Reaction was such a beautiful, captivating and heart wrenching book. And the ending was so so so sweet that I was almost at the brink bawling in the end. I kind of get mixed feelings for the last books in the series. I love them because finally the protagonists can live happily ever after with their loved ones but I also hate them because after the last book I would no longer be able to…I don’t know…be with them or something like that, especially for such special books like this one.

Now that I am writing this review I am getting to know that how hard it is for me to let my favorite Fuentes brothers go and how much I love them. Also how much I am going to miss them. Simone Elkeles surely knows how to create awesome characters and how to construct such complicated yet somehow normal and everyday (for some) lives. She is the best. This is definitely one of those books that even after finishing them I would take them out and flip over to my favorite parts and read them over again to revive those beautiful scenes and memory of reading them the first time. And this book, Chain Reaction…it totally took my breath away. The characters had depth, all of them, from not so important ones to the most important ones. The story was as always magnificently crafted and beautifully written, in a straightforward and breathy manner.

At the beginning when I started reading the book I couldn’t wait to finish it, to get to know what happens in the end (after all, the best thing I love about Simone Elkeles’ books are their Epilogues) but now that I finished the book I try to recall why exactly had I wanted to finish this book so soon, knowing that this was the last one. Because, boy, did I finish it fast. (To be exact, one and a half days.) Perfect Chemistry was simply…perfect and so was Rules of Attraction. And now as I write this review for the third book Chain Reaction, I can officially declare that Perfect Chemistry trilogy was easily the best realistic fiction series I’ve ever read, hell, the best realistic fiction series anyone could ever read.

I will not comment on my rating which is of course 5 stars, because the above three paragraphs totally justifies whatever they have to. So…this is my final goodbye to the Fuentes family (I am getting all teary eyes…again!) and I also pray to The God of books that whoever had caused them pain in the past may rot in the worst hellish scenario any author has been able to conjure up till now.

Oh I miss them like crazy already.

Oh…did I mention that Simon Elkeles is the best?

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Cover Crazy 6!

Cover Crazy is a weekly meme hosted by Tawni over at the Bookworms (www.bookworms.com). In this meme you get to tell which book cover you liked the best this week and post your views on it.

The book cover which held my interest this week is the cover of Hereafter by Tara Hudson.

 

As I have already read the book, I know what the water body shown in the cover signifies and even the translucent dress the girl in wearing.The cover is kind of sad, the girl’s ghost standing where she had died, her hair blowing in the wind over her hunched shoulders and her arms stuck at her sides as if she was all alone. The scenery in front of the girl, the river flowing in front of her, being seen through her translucent body shows that the girl in the picture is a ghostly figure and the cover has done a very clever and equally beautiful job in showing the viewer/reader that. The shimmering water, clear blue sky and the dark and mysterious woods shown in the cover really gives off a kind of haunting and a little scary vibe.The font is simple and I don’t know why but the more simple the text is the more I like it. It does’nt mean though, that I absolutely do not like those beautiful twirly kind of fonts too.(I really like the title font of Evernight series of Claudia Grey.)

The story inside this attractive cover is also very enchanting and beautiful. I really enjoyed reading the book as much as I enjoyed having this cover in front of my eyes and taking in it’s details like I do with every book’s cover. The book is based on a romantic love story with a magical ghostly twist to it.

If you haven’t read this book yet, then read it ASAP. You wouldn’t want to miss this story – both for the sake of the new and different in a good way plot and also for its gorgeous cover.

Crush Control review

Crush Control by Jennifer Jabaley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From Goodreads.

Willow has spent most of her life as her mother's sidekick in a popular Las Vegas hypnotism show. So when she and her mom move back to their sleepy southern hometown to start over, she thinks she's in for a life of quiet normalcy. Except that her new life turns out to be anything but, when she kinda sorta hypnotizes Quinton, the hottest guy on the football team, to fall ma...Willow Willow has spent most of her life as her mother's sidekick in a popular Las Vegas hypnotism show. So when she and her mom move back to their sleepy southern hometown to start over, she thinks she's in for a life of quiet normalcy. Except that her new life turns out to be anything but, when she kinda sorta hypnotizes Quinton, the hottest guy on the football team, to fall madly, deeply, head over heels in love with her. But what started out as an innocent way to make her best friend, Max, jealous soon gets way out of hand, and Willow begins to wonder if the mind - and more importantly, the heart - is something you can really control.

My Review: 

 

Crush Control was a sweet, funny, dream-like and totally lovable book.

Seventeen years old Willow Grey returns to her hometown Georgia, Worthington, after living in Vegas for nine years with her beautiful mother. There her mother’s work included hypnotizing people and was known as the “Hip Hypnotist”. So naturally, after being with it for nine years Willow knew how to do it too. When she returned to Georgia, she also returned to her best friend Max, who she had fallen in love with during one of their long distance phone calls.

On her first day back home, she meets a gorgeous boy Quinton, thanks to her crazy dog, Oompa’s equally crazy act. That part was so funny, my sides still hurt from all the laughing. Then after she finally meets Max, she feels all round sparks flying. Until she finds out that Max has a girlfriend, Minnie. Then all she feels are the tears running down her cheeks. There she meets her crazy new friend Georgia, who helps her through all the heartbroken mess and the new school system.

When the news about her knowing how to hypnotize people got out, she was invited to a party by none other than the gorgeous Quinton, who later was found out to be the star football player. Who can decline an invitation like that? So Willow goes and on the request from others, also performs a show of hypnotizing people (also I must add, totally against her mother’s rule). Soon she finds herself being asked by the queen bee of the school for help over her fears and then lovely boy Quinton joins the line later on. That is when she gets a crazy idea which would make Max jealous and realize his feeling for her (according to Willow). From there things just spiral out of control.

One of the best books, ever. I LOVED IT! It was such a beautiful story with all the right amount seriousness, romance, funny parts and confusion. Especially the funny parts. As I mentioned earlier that all the Oompa scenes were so hilarious, my sides still hurt from laughing. Even now, as I think about it I just feel like cracking up and howling with laughter. Crazy, crazy dog. Just read the part where Oompa meets Quinton and you will know what I am talking about.

Willow’s character was good, but the best I liked was Georgia. She was cool, supporting and funny. I think that in between the book just stretched on little more than necessary but that flaw was quickly overshadowed by everything else, (good) in the book. I never once thought that maybe I am wasting my time reading this book. It didn’t even give me a chance to form those words in my head. The story was beautifully crafted and well written.

The ending of the book was really sweet. Crush Control is totally worth all the five stars, which is what I’ve rated this book with. I kind of wish that there was a whole series of this book because I want this story to go on further and for its character's to stay with me a little longer. But on the other hand I think that it is better that it is a single book otherwise it would have lost its charm and the satisfaction it gave to the reader (me) that –Ah! Now they are going to have a happily ever after without any more complications. Yay!

All in all, one of the best books I have ever read. I am going to try out Jennifer Jabaley's debut novel Lipstick Apologies to find out whether it is as good as Crush Control. I really hope it is.


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