Released: April 27th, 2010
Publisher Walker & Company
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 324
Overall:
Recommend Level: High
Summary: 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.
Review: This book is a companion novel to Perfect Chemistry which follows the journey of Alex Fuentes, Carlos's older brother. Though they do follow each other in chronological order, you do not have to read them in that order. You won't miss much. You actually get a little bit of a refresher of what happened with Alex and Brittany in this book.
I did not want to read this book because I thought How much different can this story be? I don't care about Alex's little brother. More Carlos. More Brittany. But it turns out, I like this story more than the first one. It felt more real. And there wasn't much room for you to doubt anything.
Carlos is sent back to America to stay with his older brother Alex, but things never go as planned for the Fuentes brothers. So Carlos ends up living with the outdoorsy and outspoken pain in his butt, Kiara.
I loved Kiara, she is real. She's nothing like Brittany & I still don't care too much for her. Kiara is a stuttering outsider with a gay (and hilarious) best friend, Tuck. She's into fixing her old car, hiking in the mountains, and graduating high school. Not getting into trouble or going to parties. Which is Carlos.
Though Carlos wants out of the gang he was once in in Mexico, he wants a good party. And at first it seems that popular Madison is what he wants. She gives him the attention he wants and shows him how to have "fun" at Flat Iron high. But he just can't stop thinking about Kiara.
It's so much easier to nit pick on the bad parts in books. I can't think of how to word how I felt about this book.
There wasn't an exact moment when Carlos and Kiara first seemed to "fit" together. It was like they both fell for each other at separate times. And because Kiara was the first to fall in love, I felt bad for her, I felt like she was throwing herself at Carlos and though he too liked her, he wasn't ready to delve into his feelings just yet. Even though, subconsciously they were already there.
Even though the book was 324 pages, I felt like we didn't get much, like she gave us the after of everything that happens but not the during.
The one part of the book I did not like was the encounter with the gang. I hate gangs, drugs, cigarettes, anything like that, and so anytime that's brought up in a book I cringe inwardly. And when one of the characters in the book join in, I want to stop the book right then. I know, I know...teens do it all the time. But not all teens. And I feel like there needs to be more books about not doing it at all rather than doing it, learning you don't like it and not doing it....but I digress.
Even though the cover is a scene from the book, I'm just not a fan of it.
This is one of those times where you love every single main character in the book: Carlos, Kiara, Alex, Brittany and Tuck. Oh, Tuck. :-P
Memorable quote: "Yo, yo, wassup homie!" - Tuck
Memorable quote: "I want to make sure Kiara's got a boyfriend who has more to offer than a hot bod and a face that could make angels weep." - Carlos
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