Review: Heat & Capture by Penny Reid

I just recently finished the 2nd and 3rd installments of The Elements of Chemistry/Hypothesis Series.  This follows main characters Kaitlyn Parker and Martin Sandeke on a whirlwind romance during spring break and through their breakup and 2nd chance at romance through a serial series.  The first installment is titled Attraction.  There is alot of angst, miscommunication, drama, steamy romance, and push and pull by the main characters.  Overall I really enjoyed the series on audio, and I'm looking forward to re-reading in in print in the future.


Heat by Penny Reid
Narrated by: Cris Dukehart 
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This picks up immediately where Attraction leaves off, with Katy seeing Martin in a compromising position with another girl. In typical Kaitlyn fashion she jumps to conclusions and finds a place to hide for the evening, leaving Martin to seek her out and explain. So after a huge cliffhanger in part 1, they resolve it relatively quickly and without much drama. The couple continues their paradise vacation as if nothing happened, until the next thing happens to disrupt their blissful trip.

Much like in the first installment, Martin continues to be overbearing and Katy has to put him in his place. We do actually get to learn more about Martin and his family and get to understand him a little more. This doesn't excuse his behavior most of the time, but it does explain some of it. It also explains why he needs Katy so much, she balances him out. He also challenges her in the places she is uncomfortable because they are foreign and uncharted. He pushes her to feel things. Then enter Martin's father to ruin everyone's happy vacation. Most of Martin's friends go back to school, and Martin and Katy take the remainder of their vacation onto a boat. We get plenty of steamy scenes in this installment as well as emotion and relationship development from both characters.

This installment ends on another cliffhanger, but this time both characters are broken and you know it is going to take more than 5 minutes to resolve. Both Katy and Martin have their reasons for splitting up, but neither of them really want to be apart. They do have a whirlwind romance, but it implodes just as soon as it starts. I'm anxious to see how it ends.

Capture by Penny Reid
Narrated by: Cris Dukehart 
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was definitely my favorite of the 3. It wraps up the series nicely, giving Kaitlyn and Martin's story the closure it deserves. This picks up a few months after the devastating break up between Martin and Kaitlyn. We get to see Kaitlyn got through the various stages of grief though she describes them in terms of matter, which I loved the scientific references throughout the book. Kaitlyn grows up quite a bit in this installment, but she never loses her quirkiness. She is still oblivious and kind of dense at times, so much so you want to reach through the book and shake her because what is happening is so obvious to everyone but her. I think that is meant to be a product of her being raised in such a logical environment and kind of the moral of the story. She is learning how to love and trust throughout the series, but this 3rd installment is where she really takes some of the things that Martin says to her in book 2 and actually does something about it. She pushes through her pain and angst caused by their breakup, and actually makes some major changes in her life. She realizes she doesn't want to go back to the way she was before, hiding all the time and not having passion for anything. She does a ton of growing, and I appreciated that she did it on her own.

I found Martin to be pretty redeeming in this installment. I didn't always like him in the past. In the past two he was pushy and domineering. As Katy points out, sometimes that's OK and she even liked it, but sometimes its annoying and irritating. Martin is always used to getting his way, and when Katy didn't rush back to him when they broke up, he didn't know what to do. It turns out he actually did some pretty decent things, but Katy was too hurt to find out what he had done.
He approaches her with the mindset to do the right thing and give her what she needs. He is softer in this one than he is in the first two, and you know immediately that he is using the ploy of friendship to win her back, but she misses it completely. This causes them both to fumble around each other for quite a while, when you both want them to just spit out their feelings. It is definitely a slow burn romance.

This is not a steamy romance, though there are some steamy scenes. This is more about character growth and relationship development. It is about how a miscommunication, or lack of communication can cause so many problems in a relationship whether platonic or romantic. Katy and Martin rebuild what they had and see if there is still something worth salvaging.

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