Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

Summary Provided by Walker Books for Young Readers:

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?

My Thoughts:

Rules of Attraction is the companion novel to Perfect Chemistry. While Perfect Chemistry is about Alex and Brittany, the main characters in Rules of Attraction are Carlos (Alex’s little brother) and Kiara. You don’t have to read Perfect Chemistry to read Rules of Attraction, but I would recommend that you do. Both stories are amazing!! Simone Elkeles writing is addicting and she had me falling in love with all the characters.

I loved Carlos even more then I loved Alex, which I didn’t think was possible. I’m such a sucker for the bad-ass boy with a big heart. Carlos doesn’t allow anyone to see the real him, whose actually very sweet and thoughtful. He acts like an ass hole to push people away before they can leave him. Carlos is also the kind of guy that would rather look bad then ask someone for help, adding to his bad-boy image. This is a photo of Alex and Carlos (and the author) from the book trailer of Rules of Attraction and this exactly how I pictured both of them to be. Perfect casting! (Order: "Alex", Simone Elkeles, "Carlos")

 

I also enjoyed getting to know Kiara. I first thought that she was going to be a carbon copy of Brittany, but Kiara is what Brittany was when her guard was down. Kiara was overall a great person, and I think the perfect person to make Carlos feel that he is worth something and deserves better in his life.

It seemed that Kiara and Carlos’ relationship didn’t flow as well as Alex and Brittany’s did. For me, it was BAM-they are so in love and can never be apart. It almost seemed forced because it was getting towards the end of the novel and something had to happen. Other then that, I absolutely loved this book and I can’t wait to read it, as well as Perfect Chemistry all over again!

There was also another cheesy epilogue and I loved it!

Simone Elkeles third novel in the series, Chain Reaction, is due out in May 2011 and is about Luis (Alex and Carlos’ younger brother), and of course, I can not wait to read it! 

For those who are interested, here is the (really cheesy, but cute) book trailer for Rules of Attraction: 

Love, Kristina