The Book Barbies: Review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Title: Chain Reaction
Author: Simone Elkeles
Published: August 16th 2011 by Walker Books for Young Readers

Goodreads Summary:

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?

Racquel's thoughts:

After the way Rules of Attraction turned out for me, I tried my best to throw all expectations and excitement out the window before starting Chain Reaction so I won’t end up feeling so disappointed I would want to kill myself and it worked!

I love the Fuentes brothers (who doesn’t?!) and Luis along with his brothers have a special place in my heart<3 At first I was wary about my feelings for Luis because what tops Alex and Carlos’s characters but if Simone Elkeles has anything down to perfection, it’s without a doubt creating THE best male characters EVER. She should win a noble prize for her male characters, seriously!

Yes, at the beginning Chain Reaction was too cliché for my liking and yes it even read a little too much like Perfect Chemistry then I would have liked but I loved the family aspect of this too much to care. My favorite scenes are all the one’s with the entire Fuentes family and their significant others and I’m so glad there are plenty of those scenes in this book♥

Nikki wasn’t as a strong voice and character as Luis is. She did get a better deal the Kiara in Rules of Attraction but I still I didn’t care for her chapters as I did for Luis’s. Another thing that Elkeles redeemed from Rules of Attraction in this one is the pacing. It was great, the book flowed as perfect as it should but the end was a little too rushed except but then again, epilogue was too good to make that little glitch in the pacing at the end a deal breaker for me.

The ‘climax’ of the book is

something I never saw coming so the GASP! factor of this book was a plus but then again because of that Luis did make a couple of decisions that bothered me for the reason that he contradicted himself in an unjustifiable way (he said he will never do something and then goes ahead and does it but while doing that thing he still believes it’s wrong and he will never do it… yeah bipolar much?) << I’m not giving anything away but yeah that thing that really knocked the book down from 4 to 3 stars for me (KEEP IN MIND 3 STARS TO ME = A GOOD, ENJOYABLE READ!!!!!) otherwise Elkeles delivers her typical magic with this one: loveable (and not so loveable) characters, the best humor and wit, balanced drama and romance to tie up one of my favorite series (is the there a plural form to series? lol) I definitely cannot wait to see what Elkeles will publish next because it’s definitely going on pre-order and I HIGHLYYYYYYYYY RECOMMEND YOU READ THIS SERIES! IT’S AMAZING♥