Double Review: Leaving Paradise & Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles

Leaving Paradise & Return to Paradise by Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Flux
Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance
Source: BEA 2014
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Description for Leaving Paradise: 

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.
After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.
Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Because I read the two books back-to-back and because my feelings about Leaving Paradise and Return to Paradise are pretty much the same (and because I'm lazy), I'm just going to review both of them in one post. I loved Simone Elkeles's Perfect Chemistry series, so I was really excited to read these two books. And even though I didn't like Leaving Paradise and Return to Paradise quite as much as the Perfect Chemistry series because of some smaller issues with the plot and characters, I did really enjoy this series!

Leaving Paradise starts out with an intriguing set-up, and I really liked the plot. Both Caleb and Maggie got on my nerves in the beginning, but once you find out the truth about what happened, their thoughts are a lot more justified, and both of their situations are fascinating to think about. I do think that their relationship developed a little too fast in the beginning - they seemed to kind of just randomly start liking each other - but the development of their relationship later on is realistic and fun to read about. There are parts of their relationship that were too cheesy for me, but that was to be expected. All of this pretty much goes for Return to Paradise as well: the plots of the two novels are very similar and the conflicts remain the same, making the two books together a little drawn out.

The secondary characters are not nearly as good as our narrators. Throughout both novels, there are hints at the stories of Caleb and Maggie's friends and families, but none of them are explored in any depth. This makes all of the secondary characters flat personifications of just one characteristic each. I wish we had gotten some more insight into both Caleb and Maggie's relationships with other people, but the novels solely focus on their relationship with each other, neglecting to develop any depth for the secondary characters. Especially Leah's character, I think, should have definitely been explored more, because that would have made the plot a lot more believable.

I would also like to point out that, just like in the Perfect Chemistry books, logic does not seem to be the strong suit of Simone Elkeles's writing.There's various examples, and one that bothered me the most is that Maggie is supposed to go to Spain for a semester in high school, but once she opts out of that, she goes abroad for her freshman year of college instead, with the same program. These are two completely separate things, so having it be the same program just doesn't make sense. (Not to mention that going abroad for all of your freshman year of college isn't really a thing that happens, either.) While I'm no expert on the American justice system, Simone Elkeles seems to have taken some creative liberty with that as well: I find it highly unlikely that Caleb's transition counselor from juvie can just decide that, instead of having to go to jail, Caleb can just participate in this random summer trip with him. (The whole idea of the trip seemed very arbitrary to me.) I know that some people can just see past things like that, but it bothers me when authors just manipulate the way life works and sacrifice logic to justify their plots.

I know my review sounds really negative, but I didn't not like these books. There were various issues I had with the novels, but overall, they're still enjoyable reads. If you're looking for depth, look elsewhere, but I can definitely recommend Leaving Paradise and Return to Paradise if you're looking for some fun, quick reads with some cute romance!

Review: Wild Cards by Simone Elkeles

Title: Wild Cards (Wild Cards #1)
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Release date: October 1st 2013
Pages: 352
Genre: Young Adult contemporary romance
Source: BEA - I received a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks!
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After getting kicked out of boarding school, bad boy Derek Fitzpatrick has no choice but to live with his ditzy stepmother while his military dad is deployed. Things quickly go from bad to worse when he finds out she plans to move them back to her childhood home in Illinois. Derek’s counting the days before he can be on his own, and the last thing he needs is to get involved with someone else’s family drama.
Ashtyn Parker knows one thing for certain--people you care about leave without a backward glance. A football scholarship would finally give her the chance to leave. So she pours everything into winning a state championship, until her boyfriend and star quarterback betrays them all by joining their rival team. Ashtyn needs a new game plan, but it requires trusting Derek—someone she barely knows, someone born to break the rules. Is she willing to put her heart on the line to try and win it all?

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I loved the Perfect Chemistry series, so I was really excited when I heard Simone Elkeles would be starting another Young Adult romance series. The set-up of the story is great. It's another love/hate story, exactly what Simone Elkeles does best. Sadly, though, I found the execution to be lacking, and I didn't like Wild Cards as much as the Perfect Chemistry books: it's an enjoyable read, but there were quite a few things about Wild Cards that didn't work for me.

Ashtyn and Derek are okay characters, but nothing special. I wish there'd been more showing and less telling: we're told Derek is a bad boy, but he never does more than play a relatively harmless prank. We're told Ashtyn is a football star, but we never actually get to see her play. We're told they have issues, but they never seem to struggle with anything other than their own stubbornness. 

The relationship between Ashtyn and Derek is, in a word, frustrating. I get that their fighting and going back and forth between hating and loving each other is the point, but it just got annoying after a while. Their feelings are so melodramatic: I wanted to tell them both to make up their minds and get over themselves. And it also bugged me that it's never even mentioned that their relationship is somewhat incestuous. They're not actually related, so this shouldn't have stopped them from doing anything. But I still found it strange how Ashtyn being Derek's step-aunt is never even mentioned in relation to them going out. That just seemed weird to me.

Other than romance, there really isn't much to the story. Both Ashtyn's and Derek's family storylines had potential but were never really elaborated on, which I found especially disappointing because these could have provided a better background for the issues in their relationship. 

Despite the melodrama and cliches, Wild Cards is an entertaining read. Simone Elkeles's style reads quickly, even when the story is underdeveloped. Wild Cards is a fun read, but it can't compare to the Perfect Chemistry series. I'm not sure whether I will be reading the rest of this series.

Review: Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry #2) by Simone Elkeles

Title: Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry #2)
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Pages: 324
Release date: April 13th 2010
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon ; Goodreads

Goodreads description:

When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.

First sentence:

I want to live life on my own terms.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I loved Perfect Chemistry (review), but I wasn't sure whether I'd enjoy Rules of Attraction, since it's pretty much the same story. But Simone Elkeles managed to make these characters different, so I ended up really liking Rules of Attraction, too!

I thouhgt it would be hard to make Carlos different from Alex and Kiara different from Brittany, but that was not a problem - they both work as independent characters. At first I didn't like Carlos and was annoyed by his huge ego, but I grew to understand and love him. His cockyness is pretty funny, actually. When he got into trouble, I got frustrated with him and how he didn't want to let anyone help, but overall I liked him and think he's a good and entertaining character. Kiara, I loved from the start. She's different from the type of characters I usually relate to. She's athletic, loves hiking, knows how to repair cars, and is just generally a tomboy, which isn't me at all. But she's also shy and quiet and stutters, and that part of her made me really feel for her and like her.

Carlos and Kiara's relationship is great. Yes, it's predictable, but I loved how Carlos and Kiara interacted. Their fighting in the beginning is hilarious. I think the switch between hating each other and developing feelings for one another happened too quickly, but after that the ups and downs of their relationship are realistic again. The way they treat each other is just so much fun to read about.

The secondary characters are great too. I loved Kiara's family - Brandon is adorable, and Westford is the perfect dad, definitely the type of parent I'd like to see more of in YA. Tuck is a fun character, too - I loved every scene that included him. And then, of course, there's Brittany and Alex. I liked seeing what happened to them, and I really enjoyed reading about Carlos and Alex's relationship. Their fights are hilarious, but the way they care for one another is sweet. I especially liked seeing how Carlos and Alex influenced one another in their relationships with Kiara and Brittany.

My main problem is the same one I had with Perfect Chemistry - the way Simone Elkeles uses Spanish. It doesn't seem authentic, more like the author wanted to use some Spanish but was too focussed on making the reader understand it - she either said something in Spanish and immediately repeated it in English, or she said words everyone knows in Spanish but the rest in English. While I understand that she wanted to let everyone understand what the characters are saying, that just doesn't seem realistic to me - why would anyone in real life speak like that? I think I would have preferred it if either the whole sentence had been in Spanish (you can probably get what they're talking about from the context even if you don't know any Spanish), or if she'd written the sentence entirely in English and then written something like "...," Carlos said in Spanish. That lack of authenticity just really annoyed me.

Another thing I disliked is the ending - it seemed rushed and somewhat unrealistic, and I just generally hate epilogues.

While I think I still liked Perfect Chemistry better than Rules of Attraction - simply because the idea was new, and I liked Alex a little better than Carlos - Rules of Attraction is a great companion novel, and I'm excited for Luis's story, Chain Reaction!

Review: Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

Title: Perfect Chemistry
Author: Simone Elkeles
Publisher: Walker Books for Young Readers
Pages: 360
Release date: April 21st 2010
Genre: Contemporary YA; romance
Source: Bought
Find out more: Amazon ; Goodreads

Goodreads description:

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.

First sentence:

Everyone knows I'm perfect.

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I'm pretty much the last person to read Perfect Chemistry, so writing this review is kind of pointless, but I'm going to do so anyway. I'd heard so, so many great things about this book, so I had pretty high expectations. While I did have some problems with this novel, I loved Perfect Chemistry - it's a hot romance novel!

Honestly, the story sounds really clichéd - the typical good girl/bad boy love story. And while their differences do play an important role, Perfect Chemistry is so much more than that cliché. Alex and Brittany are no clichés - they're fully-developed, complex characters, and I loved both of them. Alex is the poor Mexican gang member, but he's also sensitive, thoughtful, and, well, kind of adorable. Brittany is the spoiled rich girl, but she has problems, too - she needs to take care of Shelly, her sister who has cerebral palsy, and try to convince her parents not to send Shelly to some kind of institution.

I loved these two characters so much, and I could relate to both of them easily. Perfect Chemistry is written from alternating perspectives, and both Brittany's and Alex's voices are great. In my opinion, alternating points of view often don't work out because the voices are too similar, but that's definitely not the case in Perfect Chemistry - the voices are destinct and portray the characters perfectly.

Even more than the characters themselves, though, I enjoyed the relationship between Brittany and Alex - their chemistry is amazing. I love how they're so different on the outside but still have so much in common and are actually really similar. In the beginning, though, I thought the way the romance developed was kind of forced. Alex and Brittany hadn't gotten to know each other yet, so what happened in chemistry shouldn't have been that big of a deal. The focus on chem class is too extreme in my opinion - several times, both of them complain about how strict their teacher is and how terrible the class is, even though (to me) it seemed completely normal. Later on, though, once Alex and Brittany get to know each other, I loved their relationship and how it develops.

What's lacking in this novel, in my opinion, is the writing. It's okay, but there's nothing special or beautiful about it. In particular, I was annoyed by how the author used Spanish in Perfect Chemistry. I don't mind that she used Spanish - it makes sense, since Alex is Mexican - but I disliked the way she used it. It doesn't seem authentic, more like the author wanted to use some Spanish but was too focussed on making the reader understand it - she either said something in Spanish and immediately repeated it in English, or she used sentences like "Sí, everything's bien," "He's got nada to brag about," and "La policía are looking for us," saying words everyone knows in Spanish but the rest in English. While I understand that she wanted to let everyone understand what the characters are saying, that just doesn't seem realistic to me - why would anyone in real life speak like that? I think I would have preferred it if either the whole sentence had been in Spanish (you can probably get what they're talking about from the context even if you don't know any Spanish), or if she'd written the sentence entirely in English and then written something like "...," Alex said in Spanish. Maybe it's just me, but Spanish used like it is in this book (and lots of other books) really annoys me.

Despite my dislike of the writing, Perfect Chemistry is a great romance novel with fully-developed characters. I'm planning on reading Rules of Attraction, the companion novel, soon - even though I'm not sure whether I'm going to enjoy it, since it sounds really similar to Perfect Chemistry...