Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry, #1)

by Simone Elkeles

[cornerfolds]

After reading seemingly endless reviews singing praises for Perfect Chemistry, I decided to see what all the hype was about. In all honesty, I normally do like whatever books are the current "thing" (Twilight, The Hunger Games, etc), and I LOVE YA books in general. I feel that the stories are just better since they cannot rely on an abundance of sex and violence to make the story readable. I opted to listen to this as an audiobook on my way to and from work and school. I truly wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, I thought it was just okay.

My initial feelings about this book were on the fence. In Elkeles defense, the first problem I had was with the performers of the audiobook, not the book itself. The voice of Alex (a character so unmemorable I just had to ponder what his name was for several seconds) reminded me of Stephen Hawking. Don't get me wrong, I love Stephen Hawking! His work is amazing and I've spent hours attempting to understand his books. However, Stephen Hawking is in no way sexy, and I'm pretty sure that Alex is supposed to be just that. I grew up in the south and have known many people from Mexico. Trust me, none of them sound like computers.

Robotic voices aside, I immediately noticed other issues with this story. The cussing (which I normally have no problem with) was out of place and seemed like it was just there in order to have the highest number of cuss words possible in the book. They mostly just sounded awkward.

The main characters, Brittany and Alex, were not memorable or likable, in my opinion. Brittany was annoying and whiney. Honestly, what teenager cares that much what her parents think? She was extremely wishy-washy and got emotional at really strange moments. And Alex... Well, Alex just wasn't memorable. I can't quite put my finger on what my problem with him was. The relationship, while it did seem to progress naturally, was also awkward and frustrating.

My last problem with this book was the epilogue. Why was it even there? Isn't there another part to this story? I might have picked up her second book just to see what happens after the last chapter, but then it's ruined with a horribly cheesy epilogue.

Overall, the book wasn't horrible. It made my commute more entertaining, at least. Perhaps this book would be more appropriate for a teenager or someone with lower expectations.