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Chasing Trains
Kaitlyn's life has been stuck in neutral- a lonely girl trying her best not to stand out. But by not standing out, she never really fit in. When an impulsive decision leads her to the local wild child and her quirky group of perfectly imperfect friends, she's immersed in a world she never knew existed. In this summer before college, she learns about friendship, falling in love, heartbreak, and how sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith in order to soar. Through unlikely friendships, she'll finally find the spark to chase her dreams and to live life, not just survive it.
224 pages, Paperback
First published April 27, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 7, 2014
The kind of book that makes you think about lost time, lost friends and how life could have been different if you made just one bold decision. It's about friendship, love and loss. Vibrant writing, well developed characters and a story that will lift you up and break your heart. One of the best additions to the young adult genre this year. You will be drawn in to this group of friends and feel like you are part of their group. An excellent debut novel from who I am sure will be someone to watch!
May 30, 2014
Kaitlyn's life has been stuck in neutral- a lonely girl trying her best not to stand out. But by not standing out, she never really fit in. When an impulsive decision leads her to the local wild child and her quirky group of perfectly imperfect friends, she's immersed in a world she never knew existed.
In this summer before college, she learns about friendship, falling in love, heartbreak, and how sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith in order to soar.
Through unlikely friendships, she'll finally find the spark to chase her dreams, and to live life, not just survive it. GR description
This is a good story of high school friendships the summer after high school graduation. The author does a great job of building the characters and is very descriptive in her writing. Words seem to just flow onto the page. You can visualize each scene.
In this summer before college, she learns about friendship, falling in love, heartbreak, and how sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith in order to soar.
Through unlikely friendships, she'll finally find the spark to chase her dreams, and to live life, not just survive it. GR description
This is a good story of high school friendships the summer after high school graduation. The author does a great job of building the characters and is very descriptive in her writing. Words seem to just flow onto the page. You can visualize each scene.
April 1, 2018
Let me start by saying this book was not easy to get ahold of. It is no longer available in mainstream bookstores -- at least not the ones I have checked -- but something in me insisted that I needed to read it, anyway. I ended up ordering it from a small book sellers website, and could not be more thrilled that I did. I usually do not purchase books, I just rent them from the library, but I am so glad that I bought Chasing Trains. I am seldom impressed by young adult or new adult novels these days, as the writing tends to be lackluster at best, and the characters tend to be one-dimensional or stereotypical. This novel is an exception for the gorgeous detail, heartbreaking story, and multifaceted characters. I literally could not put this book down, reading until the early hours of the morning. What's more impressive is that this writer wrote the book while she was in college, and the writing is still far better than some adult writers who have made bestseller lists. I do hope that Mackenzie will go on to write more novels like this one, because her writing and her characters rival those of John Green's, Sarah Ockler's, and Daniel Handler's.
If you love gorgeously written, smart young adult fiction, this book is a must-read.
If you love gorgeously written, smart young adult fiction, this book is a must-read.
August 30, 2014
Kaitlyn's life has been stuck in neutral- a lonely girl trying her best not to stand out. But by not standing out, she never really fit in. When an impulsive decision leads her to the local wild child and her quirky group of perfectly imperfect friends, she's immersed in a world she never knew existed. In this summer before college, she learns about friendship, falling in love, heartbreak, and how sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith in order to soar. Through unlikely friendships, she'll finally find the spark to chase her dreams and to live life, not just survive it.
I enjoyed this book. Was it my favorite? No. Would I read it again? Possibly. More importantly, would I recommend it to a friend? Yes.
After reading the book, I would say the synopsis for the book is excellent. Kaitlyn is everyone's friend yet no one's friend. She is the girl you remember from high school as a person who was nice but that is all anyone really knew about her. Kaitlyn realizes this about herself during high school graduation and spontaneously decides to take a chance. We follow Kaitlyn further down the rabbit hole as she leaves some of her passive ways behind and embraces change. You get the feeling from the very beginning that each of Kaitlyn's new friends has his or her own story to tell. Mackenzie Herbert has created a cast of characters with enough range to them that each one could easily each have his or her own book. Each time there was a glimpse into another character's back story, I found myself interested in learning more.
During the first half of the book, I felt a little disconnected at times from Kaitlyn. Every time I thought I was starting to connect with her, the style of writing would push me back away again. That might not be the case for other readers. I have found that I have a hard time connecting with books that use a lot of descriptive words. For example,
"We wandered into a hazy basement, where beams of syrupy light shone on sweaty bodies, swaying against each other. The music played loudly through the walls and the hallway. People were crammed against each other in the corners of the room, possessed by the music. I could feel it, too. The music and the mood snaked its way down my throat and into my veins. It was all so dreamlike, beautiful, and distorted."
This style of writing for me is like a delicious dessert that ended up being so oversweet that I could no longer fully enjoy it. I think for this reason, I wasn't completely drawn into the story until the second half of the book but when that happened, I was hooked. There was a little more dialogue between characters and fewer descriptive phrases, which helped me invest more fully in the characters. The second half of the story is where the author uncovers more of the other characters’ backstories. I think I also started to become more used to the author’s style of writing and started to skim some of the descriptive phrases to get to the heart of the story.
This is a quick read, being only 212 pages, but don't let the length fool you. Mackenzie Herbert manages to create a story with a lot of depth in a short number of pages--enough depth that I think this book would be a great addition to any book club or classroom.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. As I stated in the beginning of my review, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by Mackenzie Herbert.
I enjoyed this book. Was it my favorite? No. Would I read it again? Possibly. More importantly, would I recommend it to a friend? Yes.
After reading the book, I would say the synopsis for the book is excellent. Kaitlyn is everyone's friend yet no one's friend. She is the girl you remember from high school as a person who was nice but that is all anyone really knew about her. Kaitlyn realizes this about herself during high school graduation and spontaneously decides to take a chance. We follow Kaitlyn further down the rabbit hole as she leaves some of her passive ways behind and embraces change. You get the feeling from the very beginning that each of Kaitlyn's new friends has his or her own story to tell. Mackenzie Herbert has created a cast of characters with enough range to them that each one could easily each have his or her own book. Each time there was a glimpse into another character's back story, I found myself interested in learning more.
During the first half of the book, I felt a little disconnected at times from Kaitlyn. Every time I thought I was starting to connect with her, the style of writing would push me back away again. That might not be the case for other readers. I have found that I have a hard time connecting with books that use a lot of descriptive words. For example,
"We wandered into a hazy basement, where beams of syrupy light shone on sweaty bodies, swaying against each other. The music played loudly through the walls and the hallway. People were crammed against each other in the corners of the room, possessed by the music. I could feel it, too. The music and the mood snaked its way down my throat and into my veins. It was all so dreamlike, beautiful, and distorted."
This style of writing for me is like a delicious dessert that ended up being so oversweet that I could no longer fully enjoy it. I think for this reason, I wasn't completely drawn into the story until the second half of the book but when that happened, I was hooked. There was a little more dialogue between characters and fewer descriptive phrases, which helped me invest more fully in the characters. The second half of the story is where the author uncovers more of the other characters’ backstories. I think I also started to become more used to the author’s style of writing and started to skim some of the descriptive phrases to get to the heart of the story.
This is a quick read, being only 212 pages, but don't let the length fool you. Mackenzie Herbert manages to create a story with a lot of depth in a short number of pages--enough depth that I think this book would be a great addition to any book club or classroom.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. As I stated in the beginning of my review, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more by Mackenzie Herbert.
September 14, 2014
"...and that's when I realized that smiles have a sound."
First of all, thank you, Mackenzie Herbert, for sending me this book through a Goodreads Giveaway and personalizing it with a sweet message. :) I'm sorry it took me so long to write this review.
I'll admit that the novel has a few grammatical errors, and some of the characters have similar "voices," but.. the writing is beautiful. I fell in love with not just the main character but her friends. I found Kaitlyn relatable-eerily relatable, really.
Something I despise: predictable plotlines. Those didn't pop up often in "Chasing Trains," and I enjoyed being happily surprised.
First of all, thank you, Mackenzie Herbert, for sending me this book through a Goodreads Giveaway and personalizing it with a sweet message. :) I'm sorry it took me so long to write this review.
I'll admit that the novel has a few grammatical errors, and some of the characters have similar "voices," but.. the writing is beautiful. I fell in love with not just the main character but her friends. I found Kaitlyn relatable-eerily relatable, really.
Something I despise: predictable plotlines. Those didn't pop up often in "Chasing Trains," and I enjoyed being happily surprised.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews