Review: Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

Title: Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe
Author: Shelley Coriell
Publisher: Amulet Books
Publication Date: May 1, 2012
Links: Amazon | Goodreads
Source: NetGalley

Chloe Camden has a big heart and an even bigger collection of vintage shoes. Life is good…until her best friend turns the entire school against her and her counselor axes her junior independent study project. Forced to take on a meaningful project in order to pass her Junior year, Chloe joins her school’s struggling radio station, where the other students don’t always appreciate her unique style. 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 tackles love, loneliness, and painful life lessons as she gives her big heart to the radio station and the misfits who call it home.

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe is a gem of a book that deals with adversity in sweet and optimistic ways. And Chloe is like that spoonful of sugar that Mary Poppins sang about. The characters in this book deal with some pretty serious life issues, and Chloe handles it all with heart, personality, an optimistic attitude, and plenty of stylish vintage shoes. She's a fun, happy, confident girl who likes being the center of attention. And when her world is turned upside down, that confidence and happiness falter. So she fakes it. Her inner strength and desire to continue on as she always has makes her appealing as a character. Duncan is sweet and hard-working, and he has plenty of his own adversity to overcome. But Duncan's approach to survival is much different than Chloe's positive attitude and determination to have fun. This obviously gives her an opportunity to bring something good into his life.

The plot centers around Chloe - her work at the radio station as part of her junior project, dealing with the problems regarding her grandmother, dealing with being ostracized and slandered by her peers, and her attempts to carry on and be happy despite these things. The pacing is well-balanced, and Chloe is so much fun that I couldn't help but to finish the book in one day.

Despite the book's lighthearted tone, it covers some serious issues without making light of them. Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe takes these issues that can seriously impact people's lives, and handles them with grace, showing readers a couple of teenagers who take the problems and adversity that are thrust upon them and deal with it in constructive and positive ways, making the best of it. If you're looking for a book to help cheer you up when you're in a bad mood or are just looking for a fun and sassy main character with amazing shoes, then this is a good one to choose.