Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe

by Shelley Coriell

Overview

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.

Praise for Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe
Spring 2012 Indie Next List Children Selection

"Debut novelist Coriell shows sparkling wit and great skill in creating complex characters with memorable personalities. Chloe’s emotional growth is believable, and her attraction to a quiet, mysterious boy at the radio station adds spice and tension to the story."
—Publishers Weekly

“This debut novel is more than it seems. Tough issues are addressed here, and the information is ladled out deftly.”—VOYA
“This is fun, lighthearted chick-lit that touches on drug abuse and tough family issues. Romance, personal growth, and friendships are central to the story line. A quick, enjoyable read.”—School Library Journal
“Looking for a fun, inspiring read? Then check out Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe. Entertaining and full of heartrending moments, and the author has created interesting and unique characters. Even though this is more of a sparkling and humorous read, Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe delves into some tough topics such as drug addiction and bullying. 5 stars”—North Valley Magazine
“It’s kinda like Mean Girls but with more shoes.”—Ashbury Park Sunday Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781613123157
Publisher:	Abrams
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	836,894
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Shelley Coriell is the author of Welcome, Caller, This Is Chloe. She has worked as a newspaper reporter, an award-winning magazine editor, and an association executive. She is a six-time finalist for the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Prize. She lives in Tempe, Arizona. Visit her online at shelleycoriell.com.

Editorial Reviews

Soon after being crowned queen of the Mistletoe Ball, high school junior Chloe Camden is snubbed by her fellow A-listers due to rumors spread by her ex–best friend. But that isn’t Chloe’s only problem. Fights between her mother and independent-minded grandmother have escalated, and Chloe’s school counselor wants her to join the staff of KDRS, the school’s flailing radio station. Instead of wallowing in her misery, outspoken, energetic Chloe goes into high gear, frantically trying to mend the broken parts of her life. She throws her heart into saving the radio station, and when she learns to “shut up and listen” as the host of a new radio talk show, she gains significant insight into her own shortcomings and the struggles of her peers, whose lives are just as complicated and painful as her own. Debut novelist Coriell shows sparkling wit and great skill in creating complex characters with memorable personalities. Chloe’s emotional growth is believable, and her attraction to a quiet, mysterious boy at the radio station adds spice and tension to the story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jill Corcoran, the Herman Agency. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 8 Up—Chloe Camden is an outgoing junior with a penchant for vintage shoes. Her humor shines from the very first scene, where readers are introduced to her as she dances around in a burrito costume to advertise a Mexican restaurant in her southern California home. She loves the attention that the silly outfit gets her. Chloe has lost her two best friends of many years (they think that she's too self-centered), her new guidance counselor tells her to design a better independent student project (JIAP) or else, and her mother and grandmother are engaged in World War III. Okay, she deals with being friendless, but she is opposed to working for the school radio station, which is on the verge of going off air, for her JISP. However, eventually she finds a new group of friends at the station, including dragonlike Clem and a possible romantic interest, Duncan, and she is encouraged to use her outgoing personality for an on-air talk show, Chloe, Queen of the Universe. This is fun, lighthearted chick-lit that touches on drug abuse and tough family issues. Coriell uses Chloe's sunny outlook to show how the teen perseveres through difficulties. ("I couldn't imagine a life without laughter and friends and fun.") Romance, personal growth, and friendships are central to the story line. A quick, enjoyable read.—Elizabeth Kahn, Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy, Jefferson, LA

School Library Journal

In an upbeat, by-the-book romance, a popular girl shunned by her two best friends finds a home among the misfits at the school's radio station. Just after Chloe's best friends stop speaking to her, A. Lundgren, guidance counselor, calls loud, big-hearted Chloe into her office to discuss her JISP--junior independent study project. A combination of mishaps and negligence on Chloe's part leads Lundgren to assign Chloe a JISP topic. Chloe finds herself in a portable classroom with shy freshmen Frick and Frack, hostile Clementine, music-obsessed Taysom, pregnant Haley and unexpectedly cute Duncan. Her mission: promote the school's underfunded radio station or fail junior year. Using marketing skills learned from her work at Dos Hermanas Mexican Cantina and her natural gift for gab, Chloe turns the radio station around by hosting a call-in advice show. The story hits a few false notes: The rumors Brie spreads are particularly vicious but evaporate quickly; the radio show takes off a bit too suddenly to be believed; and could one teenager really own that many pairs of glam vintage shoes? But the lighthearted tone, familiar plot and occasional poignant moments between Chloe and her similarly headstrong grandmother will carry readers through. Formulaic fluff with a winning personality. (Fiction. 12 & up)

Kirkus Reviews