Author: Shelley Coriell
Series: Stand Alone
Genres: Realistic, Contemporary, Young Adult
Publisher: Amulet Books
Released: 1 May 2012
Summary: courtesy of goodreads.com 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 Review: I have
never met a protagonist quite like Chloe before. Part of me loves her dearly, like a sister;
but another part of me totally understands why her friends ditched her in the
first place. Clementine (a character in
the novel) uses the phrase “roller skating through life” and I definitely think
that this perfectly describes Chloe.
There is kind of a disconnect between her reality and actual reality in
this novel that makes it a little hard to sympathize with her. She is so incredibly over dramatic about everything
which is typical to her age, but not typical to the Young Adult genre.
Chloe however, in my opinion, didn’t hold a candle to the
supporting characters in this novel, the staff at 88.8 and Duncan. Oh, swoony Duncan
with his pent up emotions and brooding stares.
The boy who likes to fix everything and works two jobs, yep that’s Duncan. Definitely an excellent character to
juxtapose Chloe’s over dramatic flair.
I admit that I LOVED reading such an honest voice, although
maybe Chloe doesn’t connect really well with reality, I felt like she knew that
as a character, and that the author knows that as well. Chloe’s voice is quite clear: here I am, are
you ready world? She is so resonating on
the page. High school is hard, and Chloe
understands that, but she also gets a rude wake up call in her friends trying
to talk her off of her singular happy cloud.
In all honesty, because of the quirky characters, the subject matter,
and the dialogue, this felt like a much lighter version of Sarah Dessen’s Just
Listen to me. Both novels are just similar enough to each
other that I definitely felt the connection there, whether it was meant to be
or not.
I’ve missed the happy go lucky heroine, or maybe I just don’t
come across them that often, that in the end, although Chloe isn’t really in
touch with any sort of actual reality and is a massive drama queen, she
definitely won me over.
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