Review Detail

Ellen Wittlinger tells the story of Chloes summer before college entirely through emails, letters, postcard, and instant messaging chatlogs in Heart On My Sleeve. At first, I was skeptical of this idea. How can a comprehensive story be written by simply using emails and letters? But Wittlinger incorporates communication between all major characters so smoothly, that you really feel like you are getting the full story.

Chloe is just finishing up her senior year of high school, and she cant wait to go away to college. She loves writing songs, singing and acting, and she looks forward to meeting all of the kids at her college who share her interests. On her weekend college visit, she meets Julian, the man of her dreams, and now they are constantly emailing each other as they count down the days before they can see each other again. In her emails to her older sister, Veev, Chloe recounts her wonderful weekend and gushes about how great Julian is. But in order to avoid she tries to keep Julian a secret from her other high school friends, especially Eli, her boyfriend. She doesnt feel bad about meeting Julian though. After all, shell be leaving in a few months for college; its not like she and Eli will be able to stay together. But soon, the secret gets out and Chloe is forced to rethink what it really means to leave all of her friends behind for college.

The relationship between Chloe and Julian blossoms over email, and they both feel like theyve found their soulmate. In August, Julian plans to come visit Chloe as he competes for a scholarship in a singing competition. The two spend so much time talking to each other online and via letters that they feel they really know each other well. But when Julian finally comes to visit, they are both in for a big surprise!

Many subplots are woven into the story so that all the characters are involved. I feel like I am logged onto somebody elses computer and reading all of their emails! A list of characters and their screen names at the beginning of the book comes in handy, but the format is never confusing to follow. Wittlinger does a wonderful job of showing Chloes life, from her perspective and the perspective of her friends without judging any of her characters.