Review: Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Released: January 5th, 2010
Published by: Simon & Schuster
Series: Stand Alone Novel
Star Rating: 3 out of 5
Source: Chapters
Page Amount: 412
School Rating: C (63%)
Age Group: Young Adult Fiction

Summary

Restless souls and empty hearts

Brooklyn can't sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca, died only a year ago, and now her friend Gabe has just died of an overdose. Every time she closes her eyes, Gabe's ghost is there waiting for her. She has no idea what he wants or why it isn't Lucca visiting her dreams.

Nico can't stop. He's always running, trying to escape the pain of losing his brother, Lucca. But when Lucca's ghost begins leaving messages, telling Nico to help Brooklyn, emotions come crashing to the surface.

As the nightmares escalate and the messages become relentless, Nico reaches out to Brooklyn. But neither of them can admit that they're being haunted. Until they learn to let each other in, not one soul will be able to rest.

First Line

One year ago today I lost my boyfriend, Lucca.

Review

I read this book in a online book club with my online buddy, Felicia, who I have talked about in previous reviews. We decided on reading this book for the month of September. I had read I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME (which I really enjoyed) by Lisa Schroeder before I read this one, so I had high expectations going into this novel. Let’s just say this novel wasn’t as good as I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME.

I felt like Brooklyn was missing something as a character. I felt as though there was a big hole in her personality, and as a person herself. I can’t totally put my finger on what she was missing for me. I also felt as though she was constantly sad, crying, or whining about what was happening. That got annoying really fast. Nico was an awesome character, though. I really did love him. What I didn’t like about the characters was that the story only talked about Brooklyn, Nico, Lucca, and Gabe. I felt as though there were no supporting characters in this novel. Very rarely were any other characters mentioned.

I felt as though this book was too fast. The story and the problem all felt rushed, and I don’t feel as though Lisa gave the book enough time to fully develop. I think the book should have been longer, and filled with a bit more character dialogue with other characters other than Brooklyn, Nico, Lucca, and Gabe.

This book is written in verse, a writing style that I have come to conclusion to that I love. I love the poetic feel to it, especially since I suck at writing poetry.

Overall, this book was only okay. Nothing amazing, but nothing awful either.

Cover Comments

I think the cover is very beautiful. I love all the blue tones, and I think it really represents the tone of the story. I love how the hand is representing something in the story.

Love,

Sierra