Heat
by Penny ReidHypothesis #2
Publication Date: April 30, 2015
Genres: Contemporary, Humor, Romance
Elements of Chemistry: HEAT is part 2 of a 3 part series (65k word novel) and ends in a cliffhanger.
**Blurb contains spoilers if you haven’t read Elements of Chemistry: ATTRACTION**
Four days left.
Private beach (…and boat).
Not so invisible girl.
And maybe less of a jerk-faced bully than originally thought.
What’s the worst (or the best) that could happen?
Kaitlyn is finding life outside of the science cabinet of obscurity to be quite illuminating …and so are her pants.
When things heat up between Kaitlyn Parker and Martin—previously known as the jerk-faced bully—Sandeke, she places her trust in the one person she never thought capable of earning it, let alone keeping it safe. Fortunately or unfortunately for Kaitlyn, where she gives her trust she can’t help but also give her heart.
But how will the world beyond the sanctuary of their newfound connection react to their relationship? Soon senators, chinless billionaires, and elements beyond Martin and Kaitlyn’s control want to weigh in on the young couple’s future.
Navigating the chaotic inferno of new love might be more than Kaitlyn bargained for, and much, much more than her trust—or her heart—can handle.
About Penny Reid
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.
Review:
My Initial Reaction:
FLIP!
Oooooh no!!NO NO NO!
So was I saying this was more cute and fluffy that the usual Reid? Well scratch that! Not only did this get way deeper - shit just got serious
And Reid casually went and ripped out my heart (And I am throwing another temper tantrum cause I got weeks until I get the next book .. Add ugly crying as well )
I am going to have a cup of coffee try and calm down, gather my thoughts and be back with some more coherent phrases and hopefully proper sentences.
"Again Proving my point, jerk- face.""Kaitlyn, you are so irritating""Feeling is mutual, jerk- face.""Especially when you are right.""Well, you can.."I paused, blinked at him and his shocking words. "Wait, what?"
Review:
This kinda threw me out, quite badly actually. Well, wait that's not right. Let me rephrase this, because this is actually a good thing. So after reading Attraction, which I enjoyed immensely, I had chalked this of as a cute & fluffy.
And then Reid totally changed the ball game. I seriously didn't expect this. AT ALL.
Now I am actually not talking about the storyline. While I still enjoyed the plot, thoroughly, it's your cute & fluffy. There are quite fun twists and turns, but none of them really surprised me to be honest. It's a fun ride for sure.
And frankly Reid's writing is so exquisite I would have been totally happy if this were a super fluffy romance, which I thought this was...I kinda expected this was what Elements of Chemistry would be.
An extremely well written, funny and yet immensely clever, cute & uber-fluffy romance.
Well that's what Attraction was after all. And Heat has all those elements. BUT Reid changed the ball game. She totally threw me in the deep end. Because while Heat is ,just like all her books, well written, the plot is cute & fluffy, Reid utterly outdone herself in the character building.
I was not a huge fan of Martin after the last instalment. The attraction between Kaitlyn and Martin was purely physical in my opinion. Heat changed all of that. Suddenly their bond feels deeper, their relationship makes sense and I get Kaitlyn's attraction to Martin. And well, Martin is suddenly totally desirable. He isn't the jock anymore, nope, not at all. I see his insecurities, am totally invested in their relationship and I feel like I got to know the support cast as well. I feel like I get what makes the group tick....
And as we all know, I am a sucker for character driven novels. So this was a definite hell yes for me. But while I really love the MCs, I got some issues with the villains. They a bit too over the top for me. I mean the parentals are way out there, which kinda took away some of the greatness of this for me.
On the other hand, I was just amazed how Reid took a super cute&fluffy and made me think about rather deep and important issues.
Are we just the sum of our parents deeds? Do we really have a choice of what path to choose? How much do we owe other?
Which is really the most amazing thing about this. I found myself devastated by the cliffy. And yes there is another cliffy!! But more so I was furious with both of them, annoyed with quite a bit of the characters and heartbroken by the seemingly inevitability of the situation.
And somewhere in all this Reid struck a cord in me. Something that is dear and important to my heart. I suddenly saw my own life journey, thought about my choices in life.... and well felt like clubbing a few characters over their heads....
Okay so if you haven't read the novel yet: All I can say. This is one of my favorite writing of Reid, it's thought provoking, enticing, captivating, amusing and surprisingly deep. And it end's with a cliffy....
An absolute MUST READ!
Now I will do some ranting, cause well, I just got to- but it has minor spoilers... SO WARNING don't read the next paragraph if you wanna avoid them
I am totally infuriated with Martin and Kaitlyn. Look here is a deal, Kaitlyn feels entitled that Martin must give up all he has worked for and his goal, while she doesn't back down a bit. Since her mother's demands are for the so-called greater good. But see I feel it's a bit hypocritical. Well, I don't think Martin is on a great path. But he must give it all up if he loves her? Uhm. I find that unfair. And for that I wanted to shank Kaitlyn over her head. Martin's refusal to find a compromise was annoying as well. But my real ire... it's on the parentals. Seriously. The mother is cold hearted carrier driven and expects sacrifices. I was so taken aback by that. My mother would have happily given up anything for us. The entire world, whatever it takes. We would have found a compromise. Nope that's not what was set out there. And not one of the friends was even suggesting one. I felt like shaking the friends too!
Does doing something for the greater good justify that one expects a total sacrifice of a loved one?
And again, do our parents lay out our future? Are we the sum of our ancestors? Are we in the end able to make free choices?
All questions Reid left me with, and a shattered heart. Because Kaitlyn doesn't even see that she was totally disrespected and disregarded. Martin, though knowing he is broken, can't get out of the web he has been entangled in by his horrible parents
It's so devastating. And while the situation is a tad fantastical, we all at some point or another face the reality that we are to a part who our parents made us, we are where our ancestors brought us. But to another part we have to find our own path.
***End of spoilers***
"I like you because you are Kaitlyn- genuine, beautiful, brilliant, amazing Kaitlyn- not because you are Kailyn Parker. And I'm in love with you because I can't help myself"
And here I am again.Desperately waiting for the next instalment. But this time around my heart has been ripped out, I feel utterly devastated yet full of hope and utterly in awe of Reid's writing.
Rating: 
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