Perfect Chemistry

Perfect Chemistry,written by Simone Elkeles, is a love story about Alex Fuentes and Brittany Ellis. Alex is a high school senior who is known for being a bad boy, while Brittany is a a girl who is a known by her peers as the model of teenage perfection. Despite their reputations, there is much more to each of these characters. Both are riddled with flaws and admirable traits. And both have deep-seated reasons for being the way that they are.

Alex is seen as the traditional bad boy, but there is more to his story than meets the eye. Alex's Mexican heritage plays a strong role throughout book as he is pressured to accept a place in a gang known as the Latino Bloods. Despite being told this was where he belonged, Alex avoids this gang any way he can. His reluctance to join stems largely from his pas. His real name is Alejandro junior, but he goes by Alex so he does not follow the footsteps of his father, Alejandro senior, who was killed in a gang related event. Alex is the oldest of three brothers and given his father's death he had to step and fill his father's shoes. He did not want any more problems for his single mother.

Brittany, on the other hand, seems like the perfect girl. She always looks beautiful, navigates the high school social ladder with ease, and seemingly has the perfect jock boyfriend. As with it was with Alex, not all what it seems to be with Brittany. She struggles daily to keep her grades up while simultaneously taking care of her sister, Shelley, who is disabled. To everyone else, she has to be "perfect" and she cannot be anything less than that. She has been maintaining this appearance since elementary school and had no idea what to do if she let it all fall apart.

Love started to occur on the first day of chemistry in Mrs. Peterson's class. Brittany was afraid of Alex but something about him made her wonder about him and she started developing feelings for him. The two main characters are tested when Alex bets that he can get involve with Brittany with any effort. With a confident attitude Alex pursues the bet, but soon realizes that looks can be deceiving. The main characters will learn that two worlds that seem entirely different have the same amount of problems.