Simone Elkeles is an American author known for the teen romance Perfect Chemistry Trilogy and How To Ruin Trilogy. She is a New York Times Bestselling young adult author. Simone has won the 2010 RITA Award

RITA Award

The RITA Award is the most prominent award given throughout the genre of romance novel and some other romantic fiction. It is presented by Romance Writers of America . It is named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. It signifies excellence in one of 13 categories of romantic fiction.-...

 for Best Young Adult Romance from the Romance Writers of America

Romance Writers of America

Romance Writers of America is a national non-profit genre writers association. It provides networking and support to individuals seriously pursuing a career in romance fiction and supports top authors such as Nora Roberts and Judith McNaught.-History:...

 for her book Perfect Chemistry. The sequel to Perfect Chemistry, Rules of Attraction, appeared on USA Today

USA Today

USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...

 Best Sellers List and The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 Best Sellers List.

Early years

Simone Elkeles was born in Chicago, Illinois on April 24, 1970 . Her family later moved to Glenview, Illinois

Glenview, Illinois

There are at least two locations in Illinois called Glenview:*Glenview, Cook County, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago*Glenview, St. Clair County, Illinois, an eastern suburb of St. Louis...

 up until her freshman year of high school when they moved to Deerfield, Illinois

Deerfield, Illinois

Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States and is located approximately 25 miles north of Chicago, Illinois. A portion of the village is in Cook County, Illinois, United States...

, a suburb of Chicago. She attended Deerfield High School

Deerfield High School (Illinois)

Deerfield High School, or DHS, is a public four-year high school in Deerfield, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. It is part of Township High School District 113, which also includes Highland Park High School....

 and graduated in 1988. She then attended Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

, but graduated from the University of Illinois earning a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She later earned her Master's of Science degree in Industrial Relations from Loyola University-Chicago

Loyola University Chicago

Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...

.

Author

Simone starting writing in 2000, but she did not sign right away. After she completed How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, Elkeles began sending her book to agents. After 5 years of searching, Elkeles finally found an agent, Nadia Cornier, who loved How to Ruin a Summer Vacation and would be willing to sign her. Her agent sold Simone's first three books before Elkeles split from her agent and found her current agent, Kristin Nelson, who was able to take Simone to “the next level”. She has since won many awards and recognition for her works including being named Author of the Year by the Illinois Association of Teachers of English.

Works

Simone Elkeles currently has 9 works of Young Adult Fiction.

How to Ruin Trilogy

• How to Ruin a Summer Vacation (2006)
• How to Ruin My Teenage Life (2007)
• How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation (2009)
• Ruined (2010) (How to Ruin Trilogy: #1-3)

Leaving Paradise/ Return to Paradise

• Leaving Paradise (2007)
• Return to Paradise (2010)

Perfect Chemistry Trilogy

• Perfect Chemistry (2008)
• Rules of Attraction (2010)
• Chain Reaction (2011)

Reception

Perfect Chemistry received mixed to generally positive reviews. RT Book Reviews gave it 4 stars stating,

Kirkus reviews says of Perfect Chemistry,


For Leaving Paradise RT Book Reviews nominated it 2010 Young Adult novel and gives it a Top Pick rating of 4 stars saying,

Awards and recognition

• 2008 Author of the Year by the IL Association of Teachers of English
• 2010 RITA Award
  RITA Award
  The RITA Award is the most prominent award given throughout the genre of romance novel and some other romantic fiction. It is presented by Romance Writers of America . It is named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada. It signifies excellence in one of 13 categories of romantic fiction.-...
  
   for Best Young Adult Romance for Perfect Chemistry
• New York Times Best Seller List
  New York Times Best Seller list
  The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
  
   for Rules of Attraction and Return to Paradise
• USA Today
  USA Today
  USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
  
   Best Sellers List

External links

• Simone Elkeles's Official Website
• Perfect Chemistry Series Official Website