Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe by Shelley Coriell

Chloe Camden is just a girl with a big personality and a big heart. So what if she likes to talk a lot? Better to express herself than keep it all bottled inside. And so what if she sometimes pays more attention to vintage shoes than the sucky parts of her life? Every girl needs a pick-me-up once in a while. Chloe’s just living her life the only way she knows when everything starts to fall apart: one of her best friends trashes her reputation, her new school counselor rejects her previously approved junior independent study project, and the fights between her mother and Grams are only escalating. And that leaves Chloe basically friendless and in hostile territory—both old and new. In addition to struggling to keep the peace at home, Chloe finds herself doing promotional work at her school’s radio station, with people who can’t seem to stand her very existence. But no matter how hard things get, Chloe won’t give up on anything—on her Grams, on the radio station, or on being herself.

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe is a wonderful and utterly sweet story. I was drawn to this book because I’ve always been a fan of stories where the protagonist is forced into a different social sphere, because these stories always so perfectly capture the awkward painfulness and simultaneous bittersweet joy of high school. I am pleased to say that this novel met and quite exceeded my expectations. Chloe is one of those girls whose natural exuberance for life is a little overwhelming in real life, but her unique voice and personality is sure to capture the attention of readers and win them over. Coriell’s development of Chloe’s character felt very natural so that Chloe feels completely realistic throughout the whole story. There is a lot going on in this story, from friendship spats and nasty rumors to Parkinson’s disease and drug abuse. Chloe is really the glue that holds it all together and makes it work so smoothly because, well, this is her story, and life sometimes really is that messy. I found this debut novel to be completely enjoyable; Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe is really a perfectly cute and fun contemporary read.

Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe will be enjoyed by fans of Into the Wild Nerd Yonder by Julie Halpern, The ABCs of Kissing Boys by Tina Ferraro, and Same Difference by Siobhan Vivian.

Rating: 4.5

Review copy from NetGalley