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Book Review of Chasing Shadows

Chasing Shadows
Chasing Shadows
Author: Swati Avasthi
Genre: Teen & Young Adult
Book Type: Hardcover
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Summary:
Holly, Corey, and Savitri (Sav) are racing around rooftops in Chicago. They own the city and are carefree. That is until Corey is shot and killed and Holly ends up in a coma. When Holly wakes up, she is obsessed with saving Corey from the shadowland and finding the particular killer. She is doing erratic things and seems to be spiraling with her obsession. Sav wants to stay with her friend and help her through this tragedy, but is struggling with her loss as well. With time moving by the two of them, will Holly lose everything including Sav? Will Sav move forward with her life or attempt to save her best friend?

My thoughts:
Told from alternating points of view interspersed with graphics, Holly and Sav tell their tales. Avasthi brings in beautiful prose that tug on all of your emotions. The beginning of the story is so freeing. The descriptions of Chicago make you feel as if you are there soaring with the three characters. When the gun shot rings out, your heart breaks. There were several times within this book that tissues were needed. As a reader, I felt pulled into the grief along with Sav and Holly. While I enjoyed Sav a little bit more (probably because I relate to her personally), both girls pull the reader into the narrative and take you through their actions. The search for the killer and the possibility of losing everything else is all encompassing to both the reader and the characters. The graphics are inserted to punctuate events. This is not a graphic novel! Expect some pictures but not a lot and they are not needed to tell the story as a graphic novel would requite.