Rules of Attraction
By Simone Elkeles
I got this book on Friday at 3:30pm and finished it at 6:30ish Saturday and no, I’m not a speed reader.
I read Perfect Chemistry by Ms. Elkeles and liked it so much I read it two more times and when I saw this book, I bought it without reading the plot synopsis. But, in the back of my mind I wondered, “Can she do it again? Will I love this book? Will it have the same love story with believably flawed and endearing characters?” The answer is ‘YES!’ I think I like this book even more than Perfect Chemistry.
Carlos is a dangerously attractive hero and Kiara (kind of a lame name that I’m not sure how to pronounce, after the third chapter I decided to think of her as Kara) is an amazingly quirky heroine. Naturally, I could empathize with a heroine who is trying to make a place for herself at High School (I’m a dork).
Kara wants her senior year to be different, fun and wonderful. However, she has a hurdle to overcome, Kiara/Kara stutters. I don’t feel bad letting anyone know about this plot point, it’s revealed early on in the book and it’s a major part of the story. You feel Kara’s yearning to be more than that girl with the speech impediment at school. She’s worked hard to overcome the stutter and she’s ready to speak up in class and participate.
Carlos is angry. Angry that he’s in Colorado. Angry that his brother Alex has change into someone he doesn’t understand. Angry that his mother moved him to Mexico and then shipped him back to the states, all without asking his opinion. His is the seething rage of a teen on the verge of manhood who wont be dictated to anymore. His observations about the people around him are hysterical, I giggled so hard I almost fell off the treadmill at the gym causing a couple of my fellow gym patrons to look at me with alarm. Note to self, don’t read on the treadmill anymore, it is very dangerous.
Now onto the romance between Carlos and Kara, I can’t say too much about it without revealing major stuff. Kara distinguishes herself to Carlos by being different. She looks and acts different than the girls Carlos usually goes for, she’s smarter, forthright and doesn’t let him get away with anything. He finds this irritating and does his best to make her dislike him. Yet her stubbornness is strangely endearing. Carlos isn’t at all like the kind of guy Kara would ever go for and he’s set on a course of self destruction to boot, yet there is something about him that she likes, not at first. At first Carlos is a real ass!
But after time, they come to appreciate each other.
Okay, I am still a little swoon-y about the book, it really was that good and totally made up for the fact that I wasted several hours on a semi-crappy time travel book.
Buy this book if you like romance, believable characters and a hero and heroine that has an exciting and bumpy road to love. Reviewed by D. Wegner
