Author: Shelley Coriell
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
ISBN-13: 978-1419701917
320 pp.
ARC from publisher via Netgalley
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When I chose Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe, I thought it
would a fun piece of fluff about a girl who worked at her high school radio
station. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the novel is so much more
than that.
Chloe is a gregarious, popular girl at her school and her
humorous voice comes through the narration in pitch-perfect style. But Chloe
isn’t having a good time right now.
Her two BFFs have turned their backs on her for a perceived slight and
they’ve gone so far as to spread a terrible rumor about her. Her junior year
project has been rejected and she’s forced to help the struggling radio station
with promotions. And Chloe’s family life is a war zone as her independent
grandmother refuses any help, even though her Parkinson’s disease is getting
worse.
This is why I love Chloe as a character. She takes all this
drama and as she says, turns rotten tomatoes into salsa. She has moments where
she feels alone and sad and scared, but not for long. She’s optimistic enough
to throw all her energy into saving the radio station, where she meets cute boy
Duncan.
And that’s another thing I love about this novel. Duncan is
definitely cute boy material, but Chloe doesn’t instantly fall for him just
because he is a cute boy. She gets to know him. He gets to know her. They build
a believable relationship together.
And what I really love about the novel is that there are
ISSUES in the novel, but they come organically from the characters and are
handled deftly. When Duncan reveals that his mother has a meth addiction, we’ve
seen Chloe change from a girl who cracks jokes to a girl who can listen when
she needs to. There are other issues, too, like growing apart from friends and
learning to accept the decline of a beloved grandparent. But the novel earns
these moments as Chloe matures without ever betraying who she is as a person.
There’s a great cast of well-developed supporting characters
in the novel, who are at turns funny and tragic. The one thing that bumped me
was that a school-related arson is wrapped up too quickly and deus ex
machina-like. One false step in a book that is otherwise bursting from the
seams with believability.
No book trailer as of yet, but check out Shelley Coriell's website.
I would recommend this book to readers who enjoyed The
Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things by Carolyn Mackler or Stoner &
Spaz by Ronald Koertge.
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