Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Publisher- Walker Books for Young Readers
Publication Date- December 28, 2008
Pages- 359

A fresh, urban twist on the classic tale of star-crossed lovers.

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created 'perfect' life is about to unravel before her eyes. She's forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for: her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. 

Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.

In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

Wow. I adored this book. I usually hate the typical "good girl likes bad boy" story. Yes, this book was a bit cliché, but for some reason I really enjoyed it. 

The characters were pretty realistic. Alex is the typical bad boy you'd expect. He's in a gang, but he diesn't exactly want to be. He does it for his own good. He's a good bad guy, if that makes sense. And Brittany has some problems with her home life. Her sister has cerebral palsy and her mother expects her to be perfect, to make up for her sister's disability. 

The plot was, as I said before, cliché, but really good. They start out hating each other because they're paired up for chemistry, but then they end up liking each other. 

I flew through this book in two days. I think I read 20% on Saturday, and I was sick yesterday (as I am today) so I just read all day. I finished it last night at around 9. I am really glad that I had a light read after reading some heavier book lately.

My Rating:

Read it, guys. Just read it. 

I am going to try to get Rules of Attraction very soon. So either that or The Book Thief will be my next review.

Crimson in the Very Wrong Fairy Tale by Liz Jasper

Publication Date- July 31, 2012
Pages- 279

From the award-winning author of the Underdead novels...

Crimson has a strategy for surviving high school. Blend in. Don't cause trouble.
It works pretty well—until her sixteenth birthday when her long-lost father shows up and all hell breaks loose.
Literally.
It turns out that he is a demon king, which makes Crimson…a princess. Of Darkness.

Her castle is a sulfur-reeking cavern underground. Her Princess Training has nothing to do with tea and crumpets. Prince Charming isn't rushing in to save her. And, to top it off, she still has to go to high school. 

She can't tell anyone the truth, not even her best friends. To survive, she will have to risk everything and use a cunning she didn't know she possessed. And even then there's no guarantee she or anyone she cares about will be alive tomorrow—for neither Hell nor high school comes with a manual.

I received this book in the Read to Review program in the Young Adult Reads group on Goodreads. I am not being paid or compensated in any way to review this, it was my choice completely. 

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was much better than I thought it would be.

The plot was very good. I really enjoyed seeing what we think of as "the dark side" of things. It was very fast paced from the beginning. It was very funny and pretty light up until the end, which surprised me, but I really liked the twist.

The characters were a bit under developed, but still likable, none the less. But sometimes they weren't incredibly believable. They didn't react the way I would expect a real person to. For instance, Crimson's cousin is the heartthrob to most of the girls in the book. I didn't exactly see why. We get a very small description of him in the first part of the book, and he is extremely dumb. Yet girls fall all over him. 

But anyways, I really liked this book overall.

My Rating: 

I think the plot and ending made up for the characters, in my opinion. 

Perfect Chemistry will most likely be the ext book I review. 

Book Haul!

Hey guys! I have 6 books to tell you about today! 4 I got today, 1 from a Goodreads giveaway, and 1 from Target, which I got the day after my last haul! So yeah.

Today:

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

I have been wanting to read this series for a while now, but I could never find the first book in the series, until today! I was really excited to find this!

City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

I still haven't read City of Bones, but I saw this for a really good price so I just went ahead and bought it! Funny thing is that there were about 4 copies of this and this one was the cheapest, despite it being in the best condition.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson

I have heard amazing things about this book. I saw the movie a while ago and I really liked it (despite Kristen Stewart being in it). 

Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison

When I went into this book store I was so excited to see that there was an entire shelf for this author's books. (Again, I saw the movie and I loved it!) But after looking through it multiple times, I didn't see this book, as it is the first in the series! I then browsed around the rest of the store, and luckily I found this in the adult contemporary romance section of the store! Yay!

Goodreads:

The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann

I enter a lot of Goodreads giveaways. But I have to admit some books I want more than others. This is one that I was dying to have. I needed this book, there was just something about it calling me, and what do you know? I won it! I was (and am) so excited to win this! I'm not sure when I will read it, but it will hopefully be by the end of this year!

Target:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Okay, anyone who is anybody in the reading world has heard of this book. I have never heard a negative thing about it. And I hadn't been to Barnes and Noble in a while, and I didn't know where else to find this (besides the internet). So I was ecstatic when I saw this in Target! I am just a little ways into this book so far, but I can already tell it's going to be one of my favorites ever.

So that's my book haul! If you want me to read and review a particular book, please tell me! 

"Perks" Movie

Just a quick little post to let you guys know about this thing I found. (I swear, this isn't Spam!)

On Tumblr, somebody posted this, it's Logan Lerman reading Charlie's last letter from The Perks Of Being A Wallflower movie. It is different from the one in the book, but it is absolutely beautiful! Click HERE to hear it!

I am going to try to see this movie, a bunch of my friends and I are planning on going. If I go (you never know what will happen), then I will review it on here.

*Notes*
I should have a book haul tomorrow night or Thursday evening, whenever I have time. I'm going to sell some of my old middle-grade type books at this wonderful used book store near where I live, they always have ah-mazing stuff.

Currently reading: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles, The Crucible by Arthur Miller (for school), The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, and Crimson in the Very Wrong Fairy Tale by Liz Jasper (ARC). I wil; be reviewing all of these except The Crucible. 

Delirium by Lauren Oliver Mini-Review

I'm not going to post the entire book description from Goodreads. I'll just give it to you in a nutshell.
Girl lives in society where when you turn 18, you get an operation to sort of remove love from your mind. Just before her operation, she falls in love.

The reason I say this is a mini-review is because I didn't finish it. It was just soooooo booorrriiinnnnggg!!! Ugh! I got about 100 pages in and I just couldn't continue! The author kept going off on these pointless tangents about stuff that had happened in the character's life earlier on, and this stuff didn't even matter! One I remember was something like the guys hair reminding her of hot maple syrup on pancakes, and then there would be a whole page talking about pancakes! It was so aggravating and slow, I just couldn't finish it! I always feel really bad when I don't finish something.

Also, I had heard a lot about something happening in the last 2 pages, so I read those. (I never do this in a book I finish, just the ones I don't plan on finishing) And yeah. Now I really don't want to try to read it ever again. Or the sequels. Nothing. Ever. (Just so you know, I read those last two pages after I decided to not continue on).

I think the concept was really good, but Lauren Oliver was not the one to write it. I'm really sorry, I know a lot of people loved it, but I didn't. And I'm not going to rate it, because I don't rate books I don't finish.