Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Summary/Cover Image from Publisher's Website:

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.

Review:

Behind Ellen Hopkin's excellent verse novels, it's given to know that Lisa Schroeder is the person to go to after that for one heart-wrenching, emotional-ridden book that takes your breath away with every page. And Chasing Brooklyn? It was no different, of course. Actually, it was perhaps my favorite Schroeder book to date.

From the first page the reader is thrown into the lives of Nico and Brooklyn one year after the death of Lucca, Nico's brother and best friend and Brooklyn's boyfriend; the guy both always felt would be there forever. Both are dealing with it in there own ways; Brooklyn writes letters to him everyday and attempts to appear okay on the outside, while on the inside a different story is told; Nico, on the other hand, throws himself into training for a triathlon, which is the only time he feels like everything is okay. Soon enough both are thrown together after a string of events, and discover there's more than meets the eye to each.

Through the way Chasing Brooklyn is told, the reader always feels like they are right there with Nico and Brooklyn as they go through each day, since whether it's the verse or Schroeder's writing, there's a way it always manages to feel like Lisa digs in deep to her characters, giving the reader such a personal look into a person. One of the most enjoyable and interesting aspects of Chasing Brooklyn was seeing how Nico and Brooklyn's relationship turned from nothing but a link to a dead person to something a lot more, something that both couldn't live without. Adding to this, it was fun to see a follow up to a past character from Schroeder's I Heart You, You Haunt Me, because it gives the message that no matter what drastic event occurs, there's always a second chance to still go back to normal while still remembering.

The plot of this moved quite fast, and when added with the way Chasing Brooklyn is told, this is one story that can easily be read in one sitting  needs to read in one sitting. Also, I'm not sure about others, but I always love the way Schroeder adds in ghosts to the story and how she makes them come in to play, since it gives this novel something most don't have.

In all, Chasing Brooklyn is one gem of a novel, one that I can't hep but want everyone to pick up, along with Schroeder's previous novels becasue they are just that fantastic.

Grade: B+

Chasing Brooklyn is now out!

Source: 1 ARC Tours