Attraction by Penny Reid
Hypothesis #1
Publication Date: April 9, 2015
Also in this series: Elements of Chemistry: Attraction, Heat, Capture
Genres: Contemporary, Humor, New Adult, Romance
Elements of Chemistry: ATTRACTION is the first part in a three part series; it is 45k words; and it ends with a cliffhanger.
Part 1 (ATTRACTION) will be released April 9, 2015
Part 2 (HEAT) will be released April 30, 2015.
Part 3 (CAPTURE) will be released May 16, 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?
Review
I love every heroine that Penny Reid creates, but there’s something extra special about Kaitlyn. I love her honesty, her life rules, her over thinking, and I absolutely adore her obsession with synonyms – it’s the English teacher in me what can I say;) She is 100% real, and while this whole experience with Martin may be foreign and completely new to her, it still doesn’t change who she is nor does it stop her from being what Martin needs.
But how does a 19 year old woman who is socially awkward and oblivious to how attractive she truly is interact with the Herculean, jerk faced manwhore who has never given any indication that he was interested in her? Kaitlyn may be starved for physical intimacy, but she won’t give into her attraction to Martin because they don’t fit together…their connection can never be a cohesive bond because they’re too different – they’re on completely different playing fields, and Kaitlyn would much rather hide in a closet that expose herself to the pain that Martin could cause her.
Like most of Reid’s heroes, based on the heroine’s assumptions and perspectives, Martin is more than the sum of his parts…more than how Kaitlyn typecasts him in order to maintain her distance from the one guy who affects all of her heat levels. Due partly to Kaitlyn’s preconceived notions, Martin is still a bit of a mystery, but I’m sure as the series continues, readers will learn why he is the way he is and why Kaitlyn Parker is a game changer for him – the BOOM he needed to give him perspective and make him want to be different.
Penny Reid continues to impress me with her lyrical writing style and the way she creates and molds her characters, allowing readers to understand who they are at their core. Kaitlyn and Martin’s relationship is a slow burn all throughout Attraction. Martin makes it clear what he wants from her, but Kaitlyn refuses to acknowledge the chemistry that exists between them or the way her body yearns for her to give into him. But with what’s to come in Heat and Capture, the titles that continue Kaitlyn and Martin’s story, the sizzling attraction between these two chemistry lab partners is bound to heat up until Martin final gets his hands of her.
A complimentary copy was provided in exchange for an honest review.
5 poison apples
Excerpt
Parties?” I may have curled my lip in a miniature sneer.
“Yeah, on the island, at some of the other houses, friends of mine. You know, the usual college scene stuff.”
Usual college scene… just a bunch of billionaires’ kids and their friends. It sounded delightful.
“Yeah, no thanks.” I pulled my eyes from his, inspected the rocks. “I don’t like parties. But don’t let that stop you from going.”
“Parker.”
I sighed, then met his gaze.
“I want you to come.”
“No thank you.”
He ground his teeth. “Kaitlyn, you promised you were going to give this a try.”
“I will…”
Once again he was giving me the severe stare down, likely because my weakly delivered I will didn’t even sound convincing to me.
Managing to swallow around the sudden thickness in my throat, I squared my shoulders so that I was facing him. “Here’s the thing, Sandeke. I am. I am going to give this a try. Despite my worries-”
“What worries?” He sounded exasperated.
I ignored his question, “Despite my worries and reservations, I’m going to give this the good college try. But I don’t even know how to dance. I can tango like a pro, but I don’t do the body wiggle weird thing. And isn’t that what the kids do these days at parties? Dance?”
He lifted an eyebrow at my excuse—obviously unimpressed—and with two fluid strokes moved to join me.
I stiffened, my eyes wide, and backed up a step at his advance. “What- what are you doing?”
“I’m going to teach you how to dance,” he said simply, already on me, reaching for my body.
I stiffened further, feeling unaccountably breathless as his big hands slipped around my waist and settled on my hips and lower back.
“But there- but we- but-”
“Shhh…” he said, pulling me closer. “Relax.”
“Create cold fusion,” I murmured in response, unable to relax and placing my hands nowhere, because placing them anywhere on Martin felt perilous to my wellbeing.
He glanced down at me, his eyebrows in a perplexed V. “What does cold fusion have to do with anything.”
“You tell me to relax, which is impossible. I tell you to create cold fusion, which is impossible.”
His answering smile was crooked. “You can’t relax?”
“No.”
“Why not.”
“You know why not.”
“Well, it might help if you touched me.”
“That will not help.”
“It might.”
“It won’t.”
“Touch me.”
I scowled at his chest, my hands still in the air at my sides. Stupid perfect chest.
“Parker, if we’re going to dance you have to touch me.” He sounded amused and his fingers flexed on my bare skin. I felt the roughened calluses of his palms just before he released my body to grab my hands. He brought them to his shoulders, pressed them there, then returned his own to my hips. I didn’t miss the fact that his hand-placement was now a bit more daring than it had been a moment ago, lower, closer to my bottom.
I swallowed thickly, glaring at my fingers where they touched his perfectly sculpted shoulder.
“Don’t you want to touch me?” he asked, his inflection daring, teasing, but also something else. Something hesitant and uncertain.
I lifted my eyes to his; they were guarded, his smile looked bracing, almost like a grimace, like he was preparing himself for bad news.
I sighed and I knew I sounded resigned and a little pitiful, “Yes…”
His gaze thawed as it dropped to my lips. “Then you should… because I want you to.”
SEX! It all started with sex, between my parents. Personally I don’t like thinking about it, but whatever works for you is a-ok with me. No judgment. The sex happened in California and much of my life also occurred in that state until I moved from the land of nuts (almonds), wine, silicon… boobs, and heavy traffic to the southeast US. Like most writers I like to write, but let’s get back to sex. Eventually I married and gave birth to 2 small people-children (boy-6, girl-4 as of this writing).
By day I’m a biomedical researcher with focus on rare diseases. By night I’m a knitter, sewer, lino block carver, fabric printer, soap maker, and general crafter. By the wee hours of the morning or when I’m intoxicated I love to listen to the voices in my head and let them tell me stories. I hope you enjoy their stories.
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