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
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?
EOC Attraction is the best kind of distraction. It provides escapism (a week in a tropical paradise), a blast from the past (memories from college days gone by), and fantasy (in the form of Martin Sandeke).
Knowing that this was part one of three books, I knew there would be a cliffhanger. I liken book series to playing with a jack in the box. You keep turning pages and when you least expect it, the cliffy pops up and startles you. When the next part comes out, you have to decide if you are going to start turning the crank again. Fortunately, I received all three parts and read them to glorious completion.
I loved Kaitlyn. She was smart, shy, and a bit socially awkward. She took her responsibilities seriously and worked hard for positive outcomes for anything she took on. Having to shoulder the lion’s share of the burden in her Chemistry class was something she accepted as she preferred not to confront her partner about his lack of participation in certain areas of their work.
But when she became privy to some pretty serious information that could affect him negatively, she stepped up, went outside her comfort zone and made sure he got the message loud and clear, thus saving him from harm. It was this action that acted as the catalyst to start their more than lab partner relationship.
Kaitlyn’s thoughts on feminism, family and friendship were quite provoking. After being deemed a “marriage girl” vs. the casual hook up girl, she wasn’t really sure how she felt about it. Wasn’t it possible to be both? On a responsible basis of course, but more importantly on her terms?
This story just made me think. Think back to how things were when I was that age. Think how I would handle them now if I found myself in a similar situation. Think about how far women have come in so many areas but that double standards still exist in many more.
Elements of Chemistry – Attraction was a great jump off the starting block for this wonderful trilogy and I urge you to pick up your copy today.
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.
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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Penny I love your writing and your humor! Your day job is pretty impressive too!