Title: ATTRACTION (Elements of Chemistry #1)
Author: Penny Reid (Website | Twitter)
Publication Date: April 6, 2015
One week.
Private beach.
Invisible girl.
Jerk-faced bully.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Kaitlyn Parker has no problem being the invisible girl, which is why she finds herself hiding in various cabinets and closets all over her college campus. Despite her best efforts, she can’t escape the notice of Martin Sandeke—bad boy, jerkface bully, and the universe’s hottest, wealthiest, and most unobtainable bachelor—who also happens to be Kaitlyn’s chemistry lab partner.
Kaitlyn might be the only girl who isn’t interested in exploiting his stunning rower’s build, chiseled features, and family's billionaire fortune. Kaitlyn wants Martin for his brain, specifically to tabulate findings of trace elements in surface water.
When Kaitlyn saves Martin from a nefarious plot, Martin uses the opportunity to push Kaitlyn out of her comfort zone: spring break, one week, house parties, bathing suits, and suntan lotion. Can she overcome her aversion to being noticed? Will he be able grow beyond his self-centered nature? Or, despite their obvious chemistry, will Martin be the one to drive Kaitlyn into the science cabinet of obscurity for good?
I wrote this review last April 14th and forgot to post it. My bad.
This book was totally off of my
radar until last week. I only came across Attraction when I was blog stalking
one of my favourites, Vilma’s Book Blog, and saw the very eye-catching book
cover and read its intriguing blurb. I have to go back and talk about its book
cover first, I never thought I would love such a loud and bold colour on a book
cover but Attraction made me love it. I adore the bloody red coloured
background, black illustration of a man and the intricate details of the
chemistry symbols and elements in it. In a way, the cover design was relevant to the
characters, the story and how the narrative is written. In addition to that, it’s not one of those
cheesy book covers that we see a lot at present which makes me so happy with
how Attraction was treated. As to the blurb, I was sold to reading Attraction
when I read…
“One week.
Private beach.
Invisible girl.
Jerk-faced bully.
What’s the worst that could happen?”
Private beach.
Invisible girl.
Jerk-faced bully.
What’s the worst that could happen?”
Ha,
I certainly wouldn’t pass up to read some amusing material.
Attraction is actually the
first book that I’ve read coming from Penny Reid and I’m quite glad with what I
read in here. I’m amazed with Reid’s writing style. Chemistry isn’t one of my favourite
subjects back when I was in high school and definitely didn’t changed while I
was in college but Reid did something here that made me enjoy Chemistry. Reid
incorporated and tied up Chemistry (the
science) with how she wrote Attraction. She used chemistry-related terminologies
in narrating the story and the thoughts of her characters. It was certainly a
unique approach in delivering and capturing the vibe of the story. Kaitlyn and
Martin are both intelligent characters and with the various chemistry-references
they used all over this book, it just feels natural. The narration was very
true to what a person with Kaitlyn’s and Martin’s mind would say or do. I
think, the writing style was what hooked me in into reading this book.
From the moment that I’ve
started reading Attraction, I was immediately whisked into Kaitlyn and Martin’s chemistry and Bunsen burner-filled world. We have two equally different characters.
On the one hand, we have Kaitlyn who’s rational, prefers to be invisible and inexperienced
yet isn’t totally naïve and on the other hand, we have Martin who’s quite the
opposite of Kaitlyn.
“You’ll have to read the book,
and don’t interrupt me. It’s distracting enough looking at you. You’ve already
derailed my brain train with your face several times.”
What do we get when that
happens? Well, we find Kaitlyn and Martin in totally hilarious, all kinds of
awkwardness and scorching hot situations. I have to give Reid a hand for those
awkward yet steamy scenes. You know I could’ve finished this book in one
sitting, with having only twelve chapters in it, but then I kept on stalling
because I don’t want to finish it yet. It was quite an entertaining read.
Entertaining. I was
entertained. Huge check mark.
But content wise, I didn’t find
that much of a story in here. Attraction was just basically an introduction. It
introduced the characters of Kaitlyn and Martin (uh not that much) to the readers and gave a glimpse of how they
are figuring out and building their relationship. That means more things will
be revealed, discussed and probably more
drama will go down in the second book.
I just have to comment and give
my thoughts about both of our main characters. I find Kaitlyn to be somewhat of
a weak character. Girl, please don’t let your thoughts be clouded just because
Martin is all over you. In more than one occasion in this book, Kaitlyn agreed
to Martin’s whims during a make out session when her mind is non-existent and
her hormones are taking over her body. I’m
happy for her since she’s coming out of her shell already but then I’m just
bothered that it happened repeatedly to her. Though, I like it when she stands
up for herself and when she doesn’t follow through with what Martin wants to
happen.
Someone’s asking me about
Martin. Well, Martin is nice and kind to Kaitlyn and sometimes to his rowing
team members. I couldn’t tell much about him because his (their) interaction
with other people is very limited since the setting for this book took place in
a secluded island and during spring break.
“He’s kind of crazy about you,
Kaitlyn.”
But yeah, he’s quite good and
sweet towards Kaitlyn. He is actually genuinely into her. Apparently,
Attraction is set in Martin’s post-sowing his wild oats period. I won’t expound
more about their characters because that’s something you would want to discover
while reading this book. And since it’s very short, I wouldn’t want to take
away more from your reading experience.
Attraction ends with a
cliffhanger. Not surprising though, since this book is a set-up for the next
installment. The ending was quite explosive with a clichéd type of drama and it's something that would definitely trigger the "I need the next book" feel out of you. Oh I also felt that making this as a series wasn’t that necessary and it could’ve been just
a good standalone novel.
Still, I’m looking forward to read the next two parts
of the series and know what happens next to Kaitlyn and Martin.
“Even though you don’t feel
calm doesn’t mean you can’t be calm.”
RATING
 |
| 3.5 stars |
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