Chasing Eveline by Leslie Hauser Pages: 300
Published by Pen Name Publishing on July 11, 2017
Genres: Young Adult, contemporary
Source: eARC from Publisher
Sixteen-year-old Ivy Higgins is the only student at Carmel Heights High School who listens to cassettes. And her binder is the only one decorated with album artwork by 80s band Chasing Eveline. Despite being broken-up since 1989, this rock band out of Ireland means everything to Ivy. They’re a reminder of her mom, who abandoned Ivy and her dad two years ago. Now the music of her mom’s favorite band is the only connection she has left.
Even though Ivy wavers between anger and a yearning to reconnect, she’s one-hundred percent certain she’s not ready to lose her mom forever. But the only surefire way to locate her would be at a Chasing Eveline concert. So with help from her lone friend Matt—an equally abandoned soul and indie music enthusiast—Ivy hatches a plan to reunite the band.
The road to Ireland won’t be easy, though. And not just because there is no road. Along the way they’ll have to win over their Lady Gaga-loving peers, tangle with some frisky meerkats, and oh yeah, somehow find and persuade the four members to play a reunion gig. It’s a near-impossible task, but Ivy has to try. If she can’t let go of the past, she’ll never be able to find joy in the present.
Chasing Eveline is a young adult contemporary by Leslie Hauser. This book felt so different than the books I normally read. It was like a breath of fresh air for me. Overall, I relaly enjoyed this book. It started out as a bit of a surprise for me because it was much more somber and melancholy in its’ tone than I was expecting, but I quickly fell into the groove of the story and I really came to like to characters and their journey.
Ivy is the main character of the story. She is going through a tough time after her mom left her and the only thing that makes her feel close to her mother is the band Chasing Eveline. Her mom used to love the band and Ivy has become obsessed with it. I loved that it was a non-mainstream indie rock band that was the focus of the story. Now, I will be the first to admit that I know little to nothing about indie rock, but I really enjoyed how authentic all of the music elements in the story felt. It was very 80s throwback and Ivy and Matt seemed to know what they were talking about, so it was really easy for me to default to them as the authorities. I loved that they embarked on this journey to reunite the band.
They each had their own reasons for doing so but I loved watching them and their journey. It was at times funny, at times kooky and at times sad. Matt and Ivy are both very realistic portrayals of teenagers. In fact, that was what I loved the most about the story. Everything felt so authentic to me. My only issue with the story was that it did feel a little slow in parts. But the story line itself more than made up for that fact.
Bottom line: Chasing Eveline was a read that I really enjoyed. If you are a fan of inide rock, you will love all the references in this book. But even if you are not I would try Chasing Eveline out. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a fun read, even though it did have fun parts, but it was a read that I related to and I very much enjoyed. If you are looking for something a little different, something utterly realistic and something with great characters with their own inner strength, I would recommend checking out Chasing Eveline.
To enter, fill out the rafflecopter below to win 1 of 3 finished copies of Chasing Eveline (US only)
Note: Book Briefs Contest Policy applies. All of the prizes, terms and conditions of the giveaway should be contained in the rafflecopter below. No Purchase necessary to enter. Void where prohibited by law.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
7/17/2017- Novel Novice– Excerpt
7/18/2017- Rants and Raves of a Bibliophile– Review
7/19/2017- BookHounds YA– Guest Post
7/20/2017- Book Princess Reviews– Review
7/21/2017- Bibliobibuli YA– Interview
Week Two:
7/24/2017- Bibliobakes– Review
7/25/2017- Wandering Bark Books– Excerpt
7/26/2017- The Pages In-Between– Review
7/27/2017- YA and Wine– Interview
7/28/2017- Book Briefs– Review
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
Thank you for joining the Chasing Eveline blog tour.
Leslie
This sounds so interesting. I’ll have to check it out
This sounds like an adorable read. Thanks for putting this on my radar.
The cover of this book is very pretty. I’m startijng a collection of books with blue covers and this book will fit right in!