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| Simone Elkeles via Goodreads |
Who’s Simone, you ask? I’m talking about New York Times bestselling author, Simone Elkeles. There aren’t enough words and exclamation points in the world to tell you how thrilled I am that Simone is going to be making a trip to the high school I work at on Friday. She’ll be doing a presentation for 400 students who are even more excited than I am.
One of my past students, who is a longtime fan of Simone’s books, came to visit me last week and I told her about the event. Her face went blank and she shouted, “Shut the $#@% up!” She quickly retracted what she said as soon as it dawned on her that she said that to a teacher. I cracked up because I probably would have said the same thing. Lol. Needless to say, she will probably be sitting in the front row on Friday.
T.G.F.T.! Thank God for Twitter. I usually have a lot of fun on Twitter cyberstalking my favorite authors, actors, musicians, football players. I post a lot of goofy stuff as well, and my readers enjoy my #TeaserTuesday posts. But Twitter finally paid off for my students and I when I responded to a tweet from @SimoneElkeles. She tweeted something about a contest for high school teachers or librarians. The lucky winner of the contest would get a visit from Simone to their school. I quickly replied, “Yay! My students were @ my door lined up 4 Chain Reaction. Imagine if I tld thm u were coming 4 a visit #Teacheroftheyear:)” And that’s how it all started. We tweeted back and forth and I got in touch with her assistant, Melissa. Everything just worked out perfectly. Now, Friday can’t get here fast enough.
In the meantime, Simone sent us some posters to advertise her visit. One word people: HOT! I’m pretty sure I blushed when I unrolled the posters. I’d seen the picture of the Fuentes brothers before, but not in a 24×36 inch poster. Lol. There was a mad rush to my desk and all the girls were dying to have one. I have a feeling I’m going to be the favorite teacher once words gets out about the giant glossies featuring Alex, Carlos, and Luis. If this poster doesn’t make our girls want to read, then I’m not sure what will.
Before I go on, I must first say a big THANK YOU to my mother for recommending that I read Perfect Chemistry. She picked it up at Barnes and Noble and fell in love with it. She told me I had to read it and share it with my students. Once I read it, I knew it would be a hit. I put it on my wishlist in the school library and then they started carrying it. I also got a ton of copies for my classroom, and my colleagues did as well. We can’t keep them on the shelves. They are all THAT good.
As a fan of the Perfect Chemistry series, I’ve had many discussions with other readers and it always comes back to the same question: Which Fuentes brother is your favorite? I know who mine is. And I even came to this conclusion before I saw who was casted to play him. 😀
So, who is your favorite Fuentes brother?
Is it Alex?
Misunderstood bad boy with the kindest heart.
Is it Carlos?
Ultimate bad ass you just can’t help falling in love with.
Is it Luis?
Risk-taking baby brother with a family secret that makes you ache for him.
I’ll tell you mine, if you tell me yours.
My favorite Fuentes Brother is Carlos. He made me laugh, he made me cry, he made me want to pull my hair out. His relationship with Kiara was adorable. He was such a pain at first, a total smart ass–but I couldn’t help but love him.
For those of you who have read the Perfect Chemistry series and are going through withdrawals, I’d highly recommend you read, Leaving Paradise. I’m going to let you in on a little secret, I loved this duet even more–if you can believe that.
Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to Simone Elkeles for creating lifelong readers with her amazing novels. Perfect Chemistry is the first book that many teens have ever read cover to cover. It only takes one good book to get a person hooked on reading. And for many, a Simone Elkeles book is that one.
