Review (29): Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe

by Shelley Coriell

Series: None

Other Reviewed Titles: None

Release Date: May 1, 2012

Publisher: Amulet Books / Abrams

Pages: 320

Source: NetGalley

Challenge: None

Author Website

Book Website

My Review:

Chloe Camden seems to have it all; a loving family, amazing best friends, popularity and not a care in the world. But after the Mistletoe Ball and Winter Break everything starts to change. Due to her grandmothers deteriorating health, she is caught in the middle of a fight between her mother and her beloved Grams, her best friends start to shun her and spread hateful rumors that get the rest of the school to whisper behind her back, and, on top of all of that, she has to worry about not failing her JISP. With no friends to turn to she focuses all her energy on her JISP which involves working at the school’s student run radio station. There she finds a new place among the misfits who call it home.

Chloe is constantly described as the “funny friend”, the one that is there to make you laugh even when all you want to do is cry. And she continues to be just that even when things in her own life are not going well. This need to make everyone around her smile and laugh was my favorite thing about her. I also loved that she handles everything that is flung at her with maturity and her head held high. She talks a little too much sometimes, but by the end of the book she learns that sometimes what people need isn’t laughter, that instead they just want someone who will listen. 

The rest of the radio staffers are also really great characters. They are all completely different from one another. There is Clementine who loves the radio station as if it were her child and who does not welcome Chloe as easily as all the others. Their back and forth banter was very fun to read. There is Haley, a pregnant classmate who finds comfort in the radio station and in her DVDs. There are Frick, Frack, and Taysom who all find a voice through radio. And then there is Duncan who is the definition of strong and silent. He has difficulty expressing himself verbally which is something that Chloe slowly helps teach him. They could not possibly be any different, but that is what makes their relationship work. After all, opposites attract.

My dad actually works in a radio station part-time, but I had never realized exactly how much planning and work it takes to put together a radio show. It was great reading about all of it and I learned quite a few things. I almost wish my school had a student run station because it sounds really cool to be a part of.

This cover is perfect for the book. Just by looking at the cover you can tell exactly what the book is going to be about; a radio show. Also, the colors are bright and bold just like Chloe and the model is very character appropriate. 

If Shelley Coriell continues to write books with such an amazing cast of characters I will definitely be picking up another one!

                                                       Rating: * * * * 1/2