Title: Chasing Brooklyn
Author: Lisa Schroeder
Genre: Young Adult
Source: library
Published: December 14, 2009 by Simon Pulse
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.
My Thoughts:
Brooklyn’s boyfriend, Lucca, died a year ago in an accident. She’s still grieving and unable to move on. Then their friend Gabe dies from an overdose. Gabe starts haunting Brooklyn in her dreams. She doesn’t understand why he is and why it’s not Lucca visiting her in her dreams.
Nico is Lucca’s brother. Nico has turned to running to try to escape his grief and sorrow from his brother’s death. After Gabe’s death, Nico starts receiving messages from Lucca, telling him to help Brooklyn. But Nico doesn’t understand how he’s supposed to help her.
Nico comes around and talks Brooklyn into signing up for a triathlon. They train together just about every single day. It helps Brooklyn keep her mind off Lucca but it doesn’t heal the wound. In the end, Nico ends up helping his dead brother, Brooklyn and himself all at the same time.
Chasing Brooklyn is a story about finding one’s self again after losing someone you love. It’s a bit emotional but not too overbearing. I felt a strong connection with Brooklyn and Nico . Schroeder possesses a natural ability to give the reader a well-developed character.
Chasing Brooklyn features ghosts as secondary characters. I don’t usually find myself reading stories about ghosts but there’s something about the way Schroeder writes them that appeals to me. The ghosts are not overwhelming. Instead they compliment the storyline.
I read I Heart You, You Haunt Me first so I was used to the idea of reading in verse when I started Chasing Brooklyn. And let me tell you, Schroeder has done it again! She nailed it right on the head with her style of verse writing. She encompasses a unique way of lyrically telling a story so that the story just flows fluidly and never misses a beat.
Brianna’s Rating:
Wonderful! I love your review of this one...such an amazing author - I cant wait to read more!
ReplyDeleteHer books just seem to get better and better. I can't wait to read this one. :]
ReplyDeleteAwesome review! I love Shroeder's writing. She got me into reading in verse.
ReplyDeleteWow you enjoyed this one more, I love I heart you.... so I will definitely read this also.
ReplyDeleteI'm really looking forward to reading this! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteJenn - Lisa is an amazing author. I can't wait to read Far From You.
ReplyDeleteRobby - I highly recommend that you do! This is my favorite book of hers to date.
Jami - Do you know of another author who writes in verse? I didn't even know this style existed until I read I Heart You, You Haunt Me.
MarceJ - I did enjoy this one a bit more than IHYYHM. I felt that CB's story was more in-depth. I got closure at the end, whereas in IHYYHM it was more open-ended.