Book Review: Chasing Brooklyn

by - 8:00 PM


As some of you guys already know, I'm currently working on a couple verse novels. So, I've been reading a ton of books from authors familiar with writing in verse. Mainly, Ellen Hopkins and Lisa Schroeder.

Before starting my project, I hadn't heard of Lisa Schroeder's work before; however, after doing my research, it soon became clear that she was definitely an author that I needed to check out! So, what did I do? I made my way over to Amazon and ordered four of her verse novels: I Heart You, You Haunt MeFar From YouChasing Brooklyn, and The Day Before!

Synopsis:
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:
If you've read my previous book reviews of Lisa's work, Far From You and I Heart You, You Haunt Me, then you probably already know what I'm going to say!

I absolutely loved, and devoured, Lisa's two earlier books and I couldn't wait to get my hands on Chasing Brooklyn! And I'm glad that I did!

To begin with, I am a huge fan of the cover! Normally, I'm drawn to black covers, but there's just something about the blue-green hue to this one. The cover obviously reflects the storyline and I think that's exactly what a cover should do! And of course, it always helps to have a quote from a bestselling author :)

Unlike the other two books I've read from this author, this book actually comes to life by telling the story from two different character's points of view. Usually, this is something that many authors can't pull off, but I think that Lisa mastered it wonderfully!

In the attempt to show the uniqueness of both characters, Lisa not only made them sound different, but she wrote their parts differently too! For example, at the beginning of each poem, Brooklyn's titles are in a script font, while Nico's seems to be more of a handwritten font. Not only that, but each character uses different spacing on the page. While Brooklyn's lines are very close together, Nico's line height seems to be wider. And lastly, Brooklyn tends to speak longer than Nico and her writing is more poetic than his.

Ultimately, I think that Lisa did an amazing job with both her characters and the dual narration. I honestly can't think of anyone that's done as great a job as she has. I can only hope that my first multiple point of view novel is as good as hers!

To be honest, there isn't much that I didn't like about Chasing Brooklyn. I loved the characters, the plot, and the ending! The only thing I would change, and I've mentioned this before, is the girly font. At times it can be hard to read, but it doesn't affect the story too much!

Overall, I would 100% recommend this book! So far, I've loved everything from Lisa Schroeder and I'm not surprised that I loved this one too! It's a hauntingly poetic story of two grieving teens who not only find comfort in each other, but happiness too! I truly hope you get a chance to read it!

If you're interested in purchasing this book, you can find it here

Have you read Chasing Brooklyn? I would love to hear what you thought about it in the comments!

* This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive some type of commission. For more information, you can read our full disclosure here. *

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3 comments

  1. You should check out "Autobiography of Red" by Anne Carson. It's my favorite novel in verse. Another darn good verse novel is "Slave Moth" by Thylias Moss.

    Of course, before you go telling stories in verse you should read the great grandparents of tales told in verse (and arguably the grandparents of Western literature) "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey." Both terrific books told in verse. You can't go wrong in reacting to—or against—these classics of verse narrative.

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    1. Thank you! I will definitely have to check these out! And if you think of any other suggestions, definitely let me know!

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