Book Review: Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Title: Chain Reaction

Author: Simone Elkeles
Series: Perfect Chemistry, #3
Pages: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Books
Date of Publication: July 5th 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Like his brothers, Luis Fuentes is a risk taker; whether he's scaling the Rocky Mountains or dreaming of a future as an astronaut, Luis is always looking for the next thrill. Nikki Cruz lives her life by certain rules -, don't trust a boy who says "I love you", boys lie to get their own way and never date a boy from the south side of Fairfield. Then she meets Luis at his brother Alex's wedding and suddenly she's tempted to break all her rules. Getting Nikki to give him a chance is Luis's biggest challenge, until he finds himself targeted by the head of the gang that nearly destroyed his brothers' lives. Will Luis's feelings for Nikki be enough to stop him from entering a dark and violent world that could prove to be the ultimate risk?

My Thoughts:
As I've come to expect from Perfect Chemistry books, Chain Reaction was awesome. It's the third in the series, each book focusing on one of the Fuentes brothers. This one is about Luis, the youngest brother, and his relationship with a girl called Nikki Cruz.

It had everything in it to make the perfect YA romance novel, and a little bit extra, just as the other two Perfect Chemistry books have had. I was worried that it may feel as if I were just reading the same book for a second time, just with different character names, but I'm happy to report that it didn't feel *too* samey to the previous books. However, because both the previous books and this one were SO good, I could overlook that slight samey-ness.

I really liked Luis. I liked that he had goals and plans that had nothing to do with being in the Latino Blood gang like his brothers and father. I liked that he wanted to be an aeronautical engineer (or something - I can't remember exactly what it was!) and that he was able to talk to Nikki's brother about video games... He was a little bit nerdy! Gah, I loved it... What? I like the nerdy boys best :D Anyway, I digress, it was awesome that he had ambitions to actually do something amazing with his life. And then he goes and nearly throws it all away so flippantly. I get why he does it, but he didn't even try to put up a fight... Anyway, despite that flaw (and honestly, all the best characters have flaws), he was pretty freaking awesome.

However, Nikki and Luis had a LOT of relationship problems, and it was SO frustrating! Why couldn't they just admit to each other that they liked each other? GAH it was obvious to everyone, and they both knew it, but neither would confess and it was so annoying... But it wasn't entirely a bad thing, because it kept me glued to the pages, waiting for them to finally admit it and do something about it.

Alex and Carlos and their girlfriends have quite big parts in this book, and it was great to see how they've grown up and progressed from the delinquents they were at the beginning of their books. It was cool to see Alex take on an almost proper father role, and I really liked seeing him look after Luis and try to make sure that he didn't get into too much trouble, even if he did end up being a little bit unsuccessful. We also got to see the whole Fuentes family (and the girlfriends/wives (I know, WIVES)) interacting with each other and playing games and that family aspect was new and awesome.

My one complaint, is the epilogue. EURGH. I HATE epilogues like that. Remember the epilogue to Deathly Hallows? It's like that. And, I don't know how you felt about that but I hated it. I don't get it - I'd much prefer to leave my series open so that the readers could imagine their own future for their characters, if I were the author... Am I the only who hates these kind of epilogues? Please don't say yes ;P Whatever, I didn't like it at all and didn't think it was necessary, is all I'm saying.

Overall though, Chain Reaction was a great end to an amazing series. Apart from the epilogue, I loved every page and I'm super excited to start reading everything else that Simone Elkeles has written. If you haven't read the Perfect Chemistry series and you're a fan of teen romance, you seriously, absolutely, must, VERY soon. You won't be disappointed because these books are incredible.