Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Summary:

Restless souls and empty hearts.

Brooklyn can’t sleep. Her boyfriend, Lucca died a year ago, and now their friend Gabe has 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 chasing her through her dreams.

Nico can’t stop. He’s always running, trying so hard not to feel the pain of missing Lucca. But when he begins receiving messages from his dead brother, telling him 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. (from Goodreads)

Review:

Whenever I hear this title, I simultaneously think of the movie Chasing Liberty and Brooklyn, the town. For most the book, I was imagining Brooklyn walking around Brooklyn, until I realized that the title refers to her name, and only her name. So there was some confusion with that, but overall I liked Chasing Brooklyn. I didn't think it was amazing, but it was a pretty decent novel. Like the rest of Lisa Schroeder's work, Chasing Brooklyn is written in verse, which I think works well. One, because Lisa Schroeder is actually good at writing verse, and two, because the format works with the overall theme, that is - lost love and the supernatural. I liked that this was a ghost story without falling into the horror genre. I like scary things, but this actually seemed real, like it could happen to someone. The ghostly encounters were subtle, but still very spooky. I thought the ending was a tad corny, but it was cute and wrapped up nicely. I liked watching Brooklyn evolve and develop throughout the story and the fact that Nico helped her with it. He's a really good guy, that Nico. Whenever I read good verse, I'm always amazed that so much could happen using so few words. It takes a great writer to do that. Even though Chasing Brooklyn wasn't my favorite novel ever, it was still a good read and it was nice to see some well-written verse.

7 out of 10.

FTC: I borrowed this from my library.

2010/Simon Pulse/432 pages

Far From You by Lisa Schroeder

Alice has been hurting since her mother died of cancer a few years back. Her father is now remarried and has a new baby daughter, making her feel more alone than ever. To cope, Alice writes music, plays guitar for her church with her best friend, and spends time with her boyfriend, Blaze. She's tried to distance herself from her new family, but her attempts are futile when they drive to California to visit her stepmother's parents. On the way home, Alice, her baby sister, and stepmother, Victoria get lost in a snowstorm. Food and water are running out, and seems like there's no way for the three to survive. As the hours turn to days, Alice seems to think there is someone looking out for her after all.

I actually liked this book a lot. I'm not really a fan of poetry, so I was a little skeptic to read Far From You since it's written in verse. But the poetic flow of the novel worked. I could never write like this so I was amazed at Lisa Schroeder's ability to create vivid images out of so few words. I would have like to see a little more detail to the plot and the characters, but it was still beautifully written. This is a very fast read, since each page only has a few lines. I read it in less than a day, it's 300+ pages feeling like 100. And like I said before, I felt the part where Alice and her family are stuck in the car could have been elaborated on, to feel like they were out in the cold for four days instead of a few hours (which is what it felt like since I read it so fast). Even though it took a crisis, I'm glad Alice finally accepted her stepmother and new baby sister. It was good to see her grow and change, because it doesn't seem like much fun to feel unwanted in your own home. And this book is perfect for the current weather conditions outside because it's snowing and I even had off from school today because of the weather. Makes me glad I'm in my warm house.

8 out of 10.