Review: Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

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.

This is the companion to I Heart You, You Haunt Me and let me just say that I loved it. I don't think you have to read the first book to be able to read this one but one of the characters does cross over and both stories take place in the same town and school.

I have read a few novels in verse and while I liked them, this one was by far my favorite. Some people say that the problem they have with novels in verse is that they don't become emotionally attached to the characters and that the story isn't developed enough. But this was the exception. The characters might as well have been my personal friends because I was torn every time something happened to them. There were times where I just wanted to pull them in for a hug and let them know things would turn out okay.

The story itself was so captivating. When Lucca passes away everyone that had been deeply touched by him sort of fell into this state of separation where they went through the motions of life without really being there. When it came to their group of friends, Lucca was the one who held them together. Without him they all grew apart and this leads to one of Brooklyn's friends, Gabe, overdosing. This kicks the world on it's axis again. No one understands how this can be happening all over again.

We first meet Brooklyn we find out that her boyfriend, Lucca, passed away a year ago. She is going through a difficult time but is somehow able to keep moving forward. Her character was strong but at the same time she needed someone to help her pull through. That's where Nico comes in. He was Lucca's older brother but just by a year, making the two of them very close.  As soon as Nico starts getting messages from Lucca asking him to help Brooklyn he gets to it. He doesn't want to give up on her even when she makes things difficult by pushing him away. Nico always finds his way back. I loved that he really cared about Brooklyn, not just because his brother told him to.

The writing is beautiful. Every page is just flowing with emotion. There are lines that tore my heart out and others that had me clenching to the book. The writing is so poetic and each page is like a piece of art with the words carefully arranged to create even more emotion. If you are having your doubts about reading verse novels then you should start with this one. I highly recommend it if you are looking for a book drenched in emotion.

5 stars