Title: Rules of Attraction
Author: Simone Elkeles
Published: April 27th 2010 by Walker & Company
Series: Book #2 in Perfect Chemistry Trilogy (companion novel not a squeal)
Rating: 3 and half hearts
goodreads summary:
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.
Racquel's Thoughts:
So before I was going to start Chain Reaction I decided to reread Rules of Attraction for the sake of getting into the spirit of the Fuentes brothers (I didn't reread Perfect Chemistry because I have that book memorized backwards frontwards right and left and whatever direction a person can read a book) and when I was going to post my review for Chain Reaction (which I still haven't read yet) I was going to do like a mini-review on how I felt about Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction before I get into Chain Reaction.
If you know me or talked to me before, you will probably know that Perfect Chemistry is my favorite book ever hands down. I don't even need to take a millisecond to think about it because I know there is a special place in my heart carved out for Perfect Chemistry. So when I found out there was going to be a story for both Carlos and Luis that was the happiest day of my life. I pre-order Rules of Attraction, the day it was supposed to arrive I was waiting on my front door for the UPS man and when it arrived it was literally a hallelujah moment. I ran to my brother's room and kissed him for paying for it then I ran to my room and opened it up and started reading.
I was disappointed.
Like I'm-going-to-cry-why-did-it-turn-out-this-way-I-hate-my-life disappointment. To be honest I tried to get through the first part then once I started skimming I couldn't stop then I just skipped the entire middle part and just read the last two chapters and the epilogue (actually I skimmed through those too) BUT my second time reading I actually enjoyed it A LOT and by A LOT I do mean A LOT more! and I think I figured out why I didn't like it so much the first time and that's because one I was too excited. I could hardly sit there and read one page from how excited I was, I just wanted to consume the book and shove it in my brain you? so I was rushing from excitement and two to an extent I wanted Alex and Brittany. I was more excited to read about them in the book then Carlos but hello, this is Carlos story Racquel! So those were my mistakes .
My second time reading Rules of Attraction it was definitely way better. I noticed the funny cockiness to Carlos a whole lot more and I actually grew to love him, Kiara and her family (and i got over the fact that unfortunately this is not a continuation to my dear Alex and Brittany)
But still I couldn't get over the fact that through all that Rules of Attraction cannot even measure on the same scale as Perfect Chemistry because:
1. Kiara got cheated on some parts of the book and here is my evidence exhibit:
As you can see, sometimes we barely got a page in Kiara's chapters while Carlos always had 5+ pages and while I do prefer Carlos to Kiara one page? come on! what is the point of having her POV if it's not going to be as well done as Carlos's and it's definitely half assed?
2. Because of the fact that poor Kiara didn't get what she is worth I couldn't connect with her and I connected a whole lot more with Carlos so I was anxious to get her part over with so I can read Carlos's thoughts.
3. This also deals with 1 + 2 and it's the pacing. It's not fun to read from Carlos's POV then switch abruptly to Kiara's for only a little bit before switching right back to Carlos's it made the pacing so annoying and not that great.
4. I didn't understand how Carlos and Kiara fell in love. Sure she challenged him and wasn't like other girls but why did Kiara fall head over heels for Carlos. He treated her like a male genital at the beginning and if a guy was as much an ass to me as Carlos was to her I would have kicked him so hard in the balls they would still be hurting right now. I guess this also pertains to the fact that Kiara's chapters weren't that long so I really didn't her feelings 100%
Now that I listed the bad things there were definitely goof things!! Elkeles definitely knows how to make me laugh, her writing can be really witty and humorous throughout the seriousness of the situation and despite Kiara's short chapters her characters ROCK! And boy does she know how to write steamy scenes! When Kiara and Carlos were at the lake house after homecoming and the things they were doing... I was burning up feeling their heat! It didn't help that I was reading that particular scene in English class and I was grinning like an idiot and my friend next to me is asking me what's up and I'm like:
"SHUT UP, THEY'RE GETTING TO THE BEST PART!!!"
So while this id definitely not Perfect Chemistry it does stand it’s ground and I would recommend it to fans of Elkeles and regardless of some of my doubts, a great romance in the end (even though it's super cheesy at times)!! I definitely enjoyed it and I can see myself reading it in the future.
Cover comments: while I do hate the cover because I think who ever did just searched up a picture on google and put one with the size 50X50 but he enlarged it and made it look pixelated and tacky I LOVE how the event in the picture actually happens!!
My rating:
And without further ado, here is Carlos himself;D
No comments:
Post a Comment