Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder

Chasing Brooklyn by Lisa Schroeder
"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."- summary from Amazon

Schroeder's latest verse offering is a companion novel of sorts to her debut I Heart You, You Haunt Me, set in the same high school, which has again been marred by two other tragedies. Instead of focusing on the romantic relationship like with Ava and Jackson, Schroder focuses on friendships and brotherhood; Brooklyn's ghost haunting her is not that of her former lover Lucca but her friend Gabe, who makes the book very creepy and nightmarish. I enjoyed the back and forth between Nico and Brooklyn's perspective, though in the beginning, it made it hard to connect with the characters since we only got a single poem from one before moving on to the other, and then back again. I got more used to it as the book went on. I think this might be my favorite of Schroder's three verse novels. The characterization was great and I loved seeing both perspectives of the story as Brooklyn and Nico's paths cross. It's a wonderful, emotional ride and very atmospheric; just a great book. I also really enjoyed Ava's brief appearance in the book too; it worked well and didn't feel like she was just put in for no real reason. Definitely give this one a shot, and you won't be disappointed.

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