Simone Elkeles (born April 24, 1970) 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 A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

author. Simone has won the 2010 RITA Award for Best Young Adult Romance from the

Romance Writers of America Romance Writers of America (RWA) is an American non-profit writers' association founded in 1980. Its mission is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by incr ...

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

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

Best Sellers List and

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

Best Sellers List.

Early years

Simone Elkeles was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 24, 1970. Her family later moved to Glenview, Illinois, up until her freshman year of high school, when they moved to

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a north shore suburb of Chicago in Lake County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion extending into Cook County, Illinois. The population was 19,196 at the 2020 census. Deerfield is home to the headquarters of Walgreens Boo ...

, a suburb of Chicago. She attended Deerfield High School and graduated in 1988. She then attended

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

, but graduated from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, earning a Bachelor of Science in psychology. She later earned her Master of Science degree in industrial relations from

Loyola University-Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic Church, Catholic univers ...

. While working for manufacturing company creating diversity programs for their employees, she continued her education at

, where she received her Master of Science degree in industrial relations. After finishing her education she went to work at her father's manufacturing company. When he died, she—at 24 years old—became the CEO. She learned about marketing and about business, instead of teaching her about writing. She has one son and one daughter. In 2014, Elkeles was divorced from her husband.

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 10 works of young adult fiction.Simone Elkeles: List of Works @goodreads.com
/ref> ;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 ''Perfect Chemistry'' is the first novel in the trilogy written by author Simone Elkeles and published by Walker Books for Young Readers in 2009 and also made it on ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list. ''Perfect Chemistry'' is a part of the ...

'' (2008) * ''Rules of Attraction'' (2010) *''Chain Reaction'' (2011) ; Wild cards/crush * ''Wild Cards'' (2013) * ''Wild Crush'' (2015)

Standalone novels

* ''Crossing the Line'' (2018) * ''American Princess Warrior'' (2022)

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 for Best Young Adult Romance for ''Perfect Chemistry'' *

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. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

for ''Rules of Attraction'' and ''Return to Paradise'' *

Best Sellers List

References

External links

Simone Elkeles's Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elkeles, Simone Living people 1970 births Writers from Chicago Purdue University alumni University of Illinois alumni Loyola University Chicago alumni 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 21st-century American women writers RITA Award winners Women romantic fiction writers Novelists from Illinois