Author: Shelley Coriell
Publication date: May 1st 2012
Publisher: Amulet
Age group: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Cover rating: 4/5
Content rating: 5/5
Buy: Amazon
Description:
Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chloe is forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass, and so she joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t find her too queenly. Ostracized by her former BFs and struggling with her beloved Grams’s mental deterioration, lonely Chloe ends up hosting a call-in show that gets the station much-needed publicity and, in the end, trouble.
She also befriends radio techie and loner Duncan Moore, a quiet soul with a romantic heart. On and off the air, Chloe faces her loneliness and helps others find the fun and joy in everyday life. Readers will fall in love with Chloe as she falls in love with the radio station and the misfits who call it home.
My thoughts:
Welcome Caller, This is Chloe is the first book I've given five stars to this year and it earned every one of those stars! I was first drawn to this book by the interesting colours used on the cover and I just had to know more. The description sounded so unique and unlike anything I'd read before- I'm always on the look out for an idea that is different to everything I've read before and this book certainly delivered on that!
I will admit that I was not totally impressed by the first few chapters. I found them slow going and I really wasn't liking the main character, Chloe! However, things really really turned around at about chapter four and after that, I literally could not put the book out of my hands. I do not give out five stars lightly- they only go to books that I really hated to set down and this is one of those books. I was completely drawn into Chloe's world and felt just as frustrated with her life as she did!
On the outside, Chloe may look like she has it all. The perfect family, the perfect personality, the perfect friend. But this year, things have started to take a turn for the worse for Chloe and she's struggling to cope. Her best friends suddenly turn against her for a reason she was oblivious to and her family life isn't as great as it once was. She's terrified about her grandmother's illness and having a tough time trying to deal with the conflict between her mother and grandmother. To top it all off, her counselor has decided her independent study project isn't good enough- and that she has to start all over again!
While Chloe's problems may not be as huge as other peoples', they are very real to her and definitely shaking her up. But what I loved was how Chloe handled it all. Not for one second did she let it get her down and she never gave up. Instead, she throws herself head first into her project- reviving the school's radio station. Here, Chloe meets some very interesting characters and finds herself a whole bunch of new friends.
Chloe is a strong character who believes in herself and her abilities. I find it is rare to find female characters with so much confidence and guts and I definitely liked that about this book! I loved the whole story and hung on Chloe's every word. It's an easy and somewhat light read but it still deals with many darker issues and the characters all develop well throughout the book. I liked it a lot and I'm very interested to see what Coriell has to offer in the future!
My blogmate Kaitlin has this book to read and it sounds like a great book!
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