Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry, #1) in Multiculturalism in YA,Fantasy, Sci FI,Paranormal and fun books ;p

Feb 28, 2012 The FountainPenDiva, Old school geek chick and lover of teddy bears rated it did not like it

Shelves: wtf-books-to-roast-smores-to, genre-ya-fiction, wtf-character-fail, wtf-hugely-epic-fail, please-save-me-from-the-bad-tropes, theme-family-relations, wtf-epic-race-fail, smack-hero-with-clue-bat, smack-heroine-with-clue-bat, wtf-was-i-reading-the-same-boo

My niece was reading this book and asked me what I thought of it. I read it last year and was so incensed at how horrible it was, this review (which has undergone several revisions from the original pissed-off rant) has been sitting in My Documents until now when the discussion of Perfect Chemistry came up again. I somehow managed to survive this EPIC RACEFAIL/GENDERFAIL of a book. Seriously, I wondered if the author ever met a stereotype she didn't internalize in some fashion. To say that she h My niece was reading this book and asked me what I thought of it. I read it last year and was so incensed at how horrible it was, this review (which has undergone several revisions from the original pissed-off rant) has been sitting in My Documents until now when the discussion of Perfect Chemistry came up again. I somehow managed to survive this EPIC RACEFAIL/GENDERFAIL of a book. Seriously, I wondered if the author ever met a stereotype she didn't internalize in some fashion. To say that she has become an automatic never-buy-or-read-even-if-she-were-the-last-book-on-earth is an understatement.

I never set out to just hate a book sight unseen and even though I had the feeling Perfect Chemistry was going to be a perfect disaster, I gave it a chance because some of my Goodreads friends recommended it since they know I love interracial romance. Yes Virginia, I absolutely, positively HATED this book and it's only the second book I've ever read where I wished I believed in book burning because this one would be roasting hot dogs by now.

Did I mention how stereotype-laden this dreck thinly disguised as a YA romance was? Okay, try Mexican teenage boy who's poor and is in a gang meets pretty, White and rich teenage girl and they fall in love much to the consternation of the people around them. Really? Mexican teenage boy in a gang? Whoa. Just as good as Mexican boy as gardener? Or Mexican teenage boy as car wash attendant? I guess Mexican teenage boy as geeky science student from a stable and loving family wouldn't have worked, right? Don't tell me, readers wouldn't have bought it. I get it, this is supposedly a "Romeo and Juliet" type plot, but in that play both tragic characters are in the same socio-economic status, just from different families. So Alex could have been wealthy AND Mexican and this story would have still worked. Or both Alex and Brittany could have been working class.

Worse still are her descriptions of "gang life" which read like they came straight from the film 'American Me' or from the docu-series on A&E, 'Gangland'. It's basically over-the-top gratuitous based on a little google research and some television shows which is all that's needed to portray 'realistic' gang life sans nuance. The first thing I thought while reading about Alex was, why did he have to be in a gang? The story would have been just fine if he was just from the wrong side of the tracks, a poor kid with smarts trying to make good. And what was with the random high school-esque Spanish thrown in when Alex was talking with his family and his friends?

Next on the chopping block, Brittany. There are few female characters I've had the urge to slap silly, and she's right at the top of the list. Puddles have more depth than this girl. Oh yes, she struggles to be perfect, but everything's about her looks. We're constantly told how she's this Barbie Doll brought to life with her perfect hair, skin, body, makeup, boyfriend, etc. Where's the rest of her? I'm sure she's smart but I never got that impression. I got the impression of a spoiled, self-centered little rich girl who tossed this Mexican gangbanger-gone-good named Alex at her upper-crust parents in order to piss them off. I just didn't see any indication that she really cared for Alex, nor he for her (since she was part of a bet over a car). Maybe it was the writing, which was just painfully bad.

Unlike some readers, the sex and drugs aspect was probably the most accurate part of the book. Whether we want to deal with it or not, some teens are engaging in this behavior and we have to start dealing with it in an honest fashion. If there was any romance involved, I had a hard time seeing it because of all the rest of the FAIL.

The sad fact that this book won so many awards is just mindboggling at best but also shows these groups need a serious shot of actual #ownvoices on their panels. There's no way a book this racially insulting should be winning anything save a Razzie, if they had them for books. The sad thing is, there's a dearth of well-written YA interracial romances out there. We need more of them featuring well-rounded characters doing typical YA things and written by BIPoC authors. ...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Jen marked it as nope

Shelves: racefail, problematic-content

Oh, okay so the author wrote this because "Latino books are a hot market" (http://www.yasminephoenix.com/writing...)?

BYE.
...more

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Nov 01, 2011 Francielle De Oliveira rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-favorites, guys-i-fell-in-love, love-stories

Perfect Chemistry...
Alex e Brittany. Duas pessoas muito diferentes, e ao mesmo tempo muito parecidas. Ambos de famílias traumatizadas. Ambos tentam se encaixar em um estereótipo que pensam poder melhorar a vida de suas famílias e protegê-las. Mas fazendo isso, acabam se sentindo cada vez mais pressionados e sufocados com a imagem que tentam criar. Alex não é o imigrante criminoso de gangue que as pessoas pensam que ele é, e Brittany é não é a linda loira com a vida perfeita.

“I want to tell her h Perfect Chemistry...
Alex e Brittany. Duas pessoas muito diferentes, e ao mesmo tempo muito parecidas. Ambos de famílias traumatizadas. Ambos tentam se encaixar em um estereótipo que pensam poder melhorar a vida de suas famílias e protegê-las. Mas fazendo isso, acabam se sentindo cada vez mais pressionados e sufocados com a imagem que tentam criar. Alex não é o imigrante criminoso de gangue que as pessoas pensam que ele é, e Brittany é não é a linda loira com a vida perfeita.

“I want to tell her how much she's become the center of my being. But I can't. The words won't come.”

Brittany e Alex são parceiros na aula de química (apesar das várias tentativas de Brittany de mudar isso). Como consequência começam a se aproximar, por mais que Alex não queira realmente "se envolver", ele se sente cada vez mais atraído por Brittany, e é recíproco.

“If there's one thing I learned, it's that nobody is here forever. You have to live for the moment, each and every day . . . the here, the now.”

Eu AMEEEEEEI esse livro! É tão lindo, e apesar do que algumas pessoas podem pensar, não é o tipo de história superficial, não é a Barbie Malibu e o Ken. É um romance. YA! Os capítulos são alternados entre Alex e Brittany, o que eu amei pois assim realmente conhecemos os protagonistas. Diferente de "Leaving Paradise", os personagens começam a se relacionar no começo da história, mas a narrativa de Simone ainda não te deixa soltar o livro até você terminar de ler. O ponto alto do livro, como já disse, é o romance (mas nada meloso e chato como certos vampiros brilhantes por aí...). Alex é muito fofo, tem um Patch-way-of-life que eu adoro, e tem personalidade.

“We're actors in our lives, pretendin' to be who we want people to think we are.”

Nota: 5/5 ♥

OBS: "Perfect Chemistry" é o 1º livro de uma série. Alguns chamam de "Fuentes Brothers" outros de "Perfect Chemistry". Particularmente prefiro a 2ª. São 3 livros e cada um conta a história de um dos irmãos.

Love always,
Francielle

http://theserialreader.blogspot.com.b... ...more

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