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.
Brooklyn lives alone with her single dad – her mom left with her twin brothers, leaving her behind. Mixed in with her grief over losing Lucca is her feeling of abandonment at being “left behind” by her mom. Brooklyn is struggling with a lot of emotions and a lot of confusion and doesn’t really have anyone to turn to. In her dreams, she is tormented by the death of Gabe, a fellow classmate and friend of Lucca’s, who recently committed suicide. She feels partly responsible because she felt that she should have done more to help him through the loss of Lucca.
Nico lives with his parents, the surviving child who lived under Lucca’s “perfect child” status. He thinks that his parents wished it were him who died rather than Lucca. He begins to start feeling and seeing Lucca’s presence around him, a presence telling him to go to Brooklyn, to help her, to save her. Nico is confused by this, but reaches out to Brooklyn. The two form a tentative friendship, bonding through their mutual loss of a boy named Lucca.
The characters in this story feel very real and genuine. They are relatable and honest. The author does not shy away from showing us their raw emotions, their insecurities, and their internal struggles. These characters will stay with you long after the book is finished.
Written in verse style, Chasing Brooklyn tells the story of Brooklyn and Nico, two teenagers who form a friendship after Lucca’s death. When a fellow classmate named Gabe commits suicide, Nico begins feeling Lucca’s presence, who instructs him to reach out to Brooklyn and help her.&nbs
p; Brooklyn feels responsible for Gabe’s death and begins having tormenting nightmares about him. She is terrified. Nico reaches out and asks Brooklyn to start training with him for his upcoming race and she reluctantly agrees. As they train together, they begin working through their emotions regarding Lucca’s death and Gabe’s suicide and, as a result, form a deep friendship.
Although this book is classified as young adult, there is so much more to it and if you typically shy away from YA books, I would recommend that you at least give this one a try. It is an incredible story with a very satisfying conclusion.
