Booty Tuesday --Simone Elkeles' Perfect Chemistry

Carrying home booty

As you know, I returned from the RWA National Conference last August with Booty!

But this is not a book from RWA National.

This is a book from COFW, 

which is the Central Ohio Fiction Writers where I was over the weekend giving a loooong talk to everybody about POV and a shorter but still, to some, interminable, talk about plotting.

(I am going to recommend the COFW conference to everyone.  It was great fun and right sized and the workshops looked scrumptious.) 

Anyhow.  This week we get to the first of the books I snagged at COFW.  Next week, the other.

Did I mention they are signed?

This week you may win Simone Elkeles YA Romance, Perfect Chemistry.

Let me just say, this book is not for the faint of heart.  

It is gritty.  And tough.  And full of ... High School Students.

(You think vampires are scary?  You have seen, like, nothing.)

From the book:

"Miss Ellis?" Mrs. Peterson says. "It's your turn. Introduce Alex to the class."

"This is Alejandro Fuentes. When he wasn't hanging out on street corners and harassing innocent people this summer, he toured the inside of jails around the city, if you know what I mean. His secret desire is to go to college and become a chemistry teacher, like you, Mrs. Peterson"

Brittany flashes me a triumphant smile, thinking she's won this round.  Guess again, gringa.

"This is Brittany Ellis," I say, all eyes now focused on me. "This summer she went to the mall, bought new clothes so she could expand her wardrobe, and spent her daddy's money on plastic surgery to enhance her, ahem, assets. Her secret desire is to date a Mexicano before she graduates."

Game on . . .

This book has 1592 ratings on B&N, which I didn't even know you could DO.  This means roughly everyone in the world has read it and given it a five-star rating, except possibly you.

This is your chance. 

 To be eligible to win Perfect Chemistry, write and post a poem in the comment thread of this post. 

Use one of the following words from the cover:

Simone, perfect, chemistry, chemical, rules, attraction, reaction, high, school, Chicago, south, north, side, exactly, compatible, element, head, cheerleader, Brittany, Alex, lab, partner, class, explosion, result, teen, love.

Your poem can be a 
Limerick
Haiku 
(traditional or non-traditional)
Rhymed couplet
Quatrain  
blank verse
or any other rhyme or poetry form you fancy.  I am not particular.

I'll pick one lucky commenter (US only, sorry) from the comment trail on Friday.