Rules of Attraction

Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles (April 13^th 2010—Walker)

Grade: 3 stars out of 5

Source: Borrowing from Gail.

Summary: “Carlos Fuentes doesn't want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him in Boulder, Colorado. He wants to keep living on the edge, and carve his own path?just like Alex did. Unfortunately, his ties to a Mexican gang aren't easy to break, and he soon finds himself being set up by a drug lord.

When Alex arranges for Carlos to live with his former professor and his family to keep him from being sent to jail, Carlos feels completely out of place. He's even more thrown by his strong feelings for the professor's daughter, Kiara, who is nothing like the girls he's usually drawn to. But Carlos and Kiara soon discover that in matters of the heart, the rules of attraction overpower the social differences that conspire to keep them apart.

As the danger grows for Carlos, he's shocked to discover that it's this seemingly All-American family who can save him. But is he willing to endanger their safety for a chance at the kind of life he's never even dreamed possible?”

Review: Rules of Attraction oh long I’ve waited for this moment. When the news of a sequel to the coveted Perfect Chemistry reached the ears of the blogging world it was sheer mayhem. Which was what?—like 2 to 3 months ago? Now I finally had a copy of this sucker in my grubby hands and it crumbled. It was just…so scandalous! Take the romance what you know from Perfect Chemistry and amplify that to the tenth power and add raging teenage hormones.

It’s been several months since I last skimmed Perfect Chemistry so forgive me if this was prominent in there as well as I did not warn you (but I believe it wasn’t so in-your-face). Rules of Attraction had a heavy heaping of sexual tensions, two almost sex scenes, and one actual sex scene thing. Before anyone says anything there was no mention of the P-word or the V-word or any of that sorts. Rules of Attraction is for older teens or just really mature teens, comprende? Fans of romance will rejoice, but this takes away from the actual storyline to me.

Carlos Fuentes is trying to change his life after some…incidents…occur. Kiara is just what he needs; she’s a strong minded female that won’t swoon to the likes of him (very much that is). The relationship between these two is a bundle of joy. They balance each other out and give readers plenty to laugh at. With the addition of Tuck, Kiara’s (gay) best friend, there are scenes that are laugh out loud funny. (And if you’ve read it already did you think the Ultimate Frisbee was funny?).

As for Kiara’s family, well they are in their own categories. Elkeles seems to also craft her secondary characters wonderfully just as with Paco from Perfect Chemistry. Alex and Brittany also make quite a reappearance that gives previous readers still something to smile about.

Overall: The reason why the grade is fairly average to low was because I’ve seen most of this before...in Perfect Chemistry.

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