Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Title: Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry #2)

Author: Simone Elkeles

Publisher: Walker Books

Release Date: April 13, 2010

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Carlos Fuentes idolized his older brother, Alex, when he was a member of the Latino Blood. So when Alex chose to get jumped out of the gang for a chance at a future with his gringa girlfriend, Brittany, Carlos felt shocked and betrayed. Even worse, Alex forced Carlos to come back from Mexico to join him on the straight and narrow path. Trouble is, Carlos just wants to keep living on the edge. And ties to his Mexican gang aren’t easy to break, even hundreds of miles away in Colorado.

In Boulder, Carlos has to live with one of Alex’s professors—and he 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.

Oh how I love the Fuentes brothers. If I could, I would just spend all my time reading about them and their lives. There is just something about the way Simone Elkeles writes that has me completely hooked on to every single word she writes. That happened with Perfect Chemistry and Leaving Paradise and now it happened again when I read Rules of Attraction. I just couldn’t put the book down, despite the fact that people were sick of me reading when they were trying to talk to me. What can I say, I just couldn’t put the book down.

Carlos was perfectly content with the life he had in Mexico but then his brother, Alex, decides that he should come to Colorado so he can have a proper education and maybe even have the hope of a future. Regardless, Carlos comes to live with his brother in Colorado but gets into trouble right off the bat. He then has to go live with one of Alex’s college professors and his daughter Kiara. Carlos never expected to feel anything for Kiara, but to his surprise she begins to turn his world upside down. But unfortunately for him, Kiara isn’t the only one who seems to want to have a future with Carlos.

Like I said before, the Fuentes brothers are currently topping my list of favorite male characters. I don’t really know why but I just love them...I may just be developing a tendency to fall for the “bad boy” type. Carlos was great. I was a bit apprehensive before starting the book, thinking that Carlos would be just like Alex was in Perfect Chemistry or the story would be the same. Sure there were some similarities but in the end Alex and Carlos were two completely different people. I’m repeating myself, but I really liked Carlos, the way he was with Kiara and her little brother, Brandon, how on the outside he seemed to only care about himself but in reality he cared a lot more than he cared to show. Let’s just say that if Carlos were a real person I would definitely fall for him. Heck, I’ve already fallen for him and he’s just a fictional character.

Kiara was pretty awesome too. I think I liked her better than I did Brittany. I liked that she didn’t really care what people thought of her (except maybe when it came to her stutter) and that she wasn’t afraid to go for what she wanted. I especially liked that she didn’t try to fight her attraction to Carlos. Sure she wasn’t always willing to admit to others that she had feelings for Carlos but at least she was able to admit them to herself. I wouldn’t have minded the book being longer just so I could read more about Kiara and see what she has to say about different things.

I said this in my review for Perfect Chemistry and I’ll say it again about Rules of Attraction: though it may appear to be a story about a love that wasn’t meant to be, it doesn’t feel like a cliché or like it’s been done so many times before. Personally, I’m a sucker for that kind of story so I may be slightly biased in my opinion but it wasn’t like a story that I’d read before. It wasn’t even like Perfect Chemistry, which I was scared it might be.

I would be ready to pick up the book and read it all over again, even if I read just only over a week ago. That’s how much I enjoyed it. I’m really looking forward to everything coming from Simone Elkeles in the future, especially the third Perfect Chemistry novel which is coming out in 2011.