For this week’s reading, I did a little searching for a diverse book. I stumbled across one called Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles! It just so happened to also fall into my teenage love story category as well. Two birds with one stone.
Brittany Ellis has a seemingly perfect life. She has money, a nice car, cheerleading, the football boyfriend, the whole nine yards. Alex Fuentes is the bad boy, motorcycle riding, gang member from the bad side of town. The two of them are forced to be chemistry partners in class and they are both miserable.
Being forced to spend so much time together, they begin to get to know each other really well and eventually can no longer deny that they have feelings for each other, but Brittany has a reputation to uphold and Alex lives a dangerous life due to his gang activity. The two of them try to be together, but everything keeps pulling them apart, especially their backgrounds.
I really liked this book. I remember a lot of the girls reading it in high school, but I never looked at it twice. Simone Elkeles incorporated a lot of Mexican heritage and tradition into the book as well as what life is really like for kids who are forced to be part of a gang to protect their families. This was really eye opening as well as intriguing. I literally could not put the book down. It was a great read and I highly recommend it. Oh! and it is part of a series!!
jaydenelizabeth13 
This was SUCH a popular book in my classroom library. I never got around to reading it–partly because it was always checked out!
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I can see why this was so popular, the girl gets the bad guy to fall in love! That what every girl dreams of! haha. It was a really well written book and it was extremely believable and relatable. Im sure more relatable for some more than others that can identify with those kinds of life style!
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Perfect Chemistry sounds like a book my 8th grade girls would like to read!
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Junior High girls would be a sucker for this book. It does discuss the loss of innocence though, so keep that in mind. I am not one to tell someone that they should read something, but if some of the girls may not be at a stage where they can handle that, heads up!
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I think teen romance type books are usually so corny, but I’m almost always a sucker for them. They’re just a fun read. Do you know what year this book was published?
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I am the biggest sucker for these kinds of books even though I hate to admit it! I refuse Nick Sparks though. I think this book came out in 2008.
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I think this book sounds interesting almost like a modern day Romeo and Juliet. I have had a few students read this book so I may have to add it to my list.
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Kind of, only they don’t kill themselves at the end, that would have made me mad ha. But it was similar in the way that their lifestyles and backgrounds were keeping them apart!
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I love this book! A friend of mine in high school came in one morning and gave me the book and said read it. I now own it myself. Elkeles’ also has two other books following Alex’s brothers stories and are just as good as the first one.
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I saw that there were sequels and I have been reading them! They are pretty great!
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I have never heard of this book before, but it almost reminds me of some other books I’ve read that have similar plot lines. I think it would be interesting to read this book because of the different heritage incorporated in it.
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I think this storyline could be retold a thousand times and still be good!
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