A Dream Within A Dream: Shannon Lee Alexander

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Welcome to my stop on the LIFE AFTER JULIET blog tour! Today I have a great guest post by the author to share with you - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! To follow the rest of the tour, click on the banner above to see the schedule.

Life After Juliet
Author: Shannon Lee Alexander
Genre: YA Contemporary
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Publisher: Entangled Teen

Description:

Becca Hanson was never able to make sense of the real world. When her best friend Charlotte died, she gave up on it altogether. Fortunately, Becca can count on her books to escape—to other times, other places, other people...

Until she meets Max Herrera. He’s experienced loss, too, and his gorgeous, dark eyes see Becca the way no one else in school can.

As it turns out, kissing is a lot better in real life than on a page. But love and life are a lot more complicated in the real world...and happy endings aren't always guaranteed.

The companion novel to Love and Other Unknown Variables is an exploration of loss and regret, of kissing and love, and most importantly, a celebration of hope and discovering a life worth living again.

Top 10 Favorite Books

Here are my top ten favorite books in chronological order.

1. The Monster at the End of this Book: Starring Loveable, Furry Old Grover by Jon Stone

Oh my gosh! You guys! This book was my ultimate favorite as a kid. Poor Grover was freaking out the whole time about a scary monster at the end of the book, and every time you turned the page he’d freak some more. I used to laugh and laugh. I love books that can make you laugh. I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read it, yet, but just know that the ending is epic!

2. The Rabbits’ Wedding by Garth Williams

My dad loved to read to my sister and me when we were little. He had this amazing voice and he’d make all these funny comments along the way, and generally made every storybook ten times better when he read it aloud. The Rabbits’ Wedding was one of my favorite books because I had a soft spot for bunnies (see next entry). My dad traveled a lot, so to make up for missing out on reading to us, he’d record himself reading our favorite books. I wore out the tape of him reading The Rabbits’ Wedding! I wish I still had that tape (and a tape player to listen to it).

3. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

When I was a teeny baby, a friend of my parents gave me a fuzzy, pink and blue stuffed bunny. We called it Bobby Hare (which, I think, if I’m remembering the story right, was a nickname or something for the guy who gave adorable baby Shannon the bunny). So obviously, as a kid, I connected in a deep way to the story of The Velveteen Rabbit because I knew without a doubt that my bunny was Real and that my love had made him Real. I still have Bobby Hare. He keeps me company in my office, watching over me from the bookshelf with all my favorite books.

4. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

So this book killed me! This book was the first book to give me an honest to goodness book hangover. I was in third grade when we were assigned to read it for school. I had to be excused from class on the day I finished reading it because I was too messed up from the ending to stop crying, and by crying I mean sobbing uncontrollably in a loud and horribly obnoxious sort of way). Ugh! Even now when I think about Big Dan and Little Ann…pass me a tissue!

5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I first read To Kill a Mockingbird in the ninth grade. It changed me. I read this book about once a year for the next two decades, and then I wrote Love and Other Unknown Variables in homage to my deep love of Atticus, Scout, Jem, Calpurnia, Mrs. Dubose, Tom Robinson, and all the others in that story. This book!

I haven’t read To Set a Watchman, and honestly, I have no intention of reading it. No one’s been able to convince me that Ms. Lee knew exactly what was going on with the publication of that book. And I’d never want to read something she wasn’t fully prepared to share. She was such a private person. I’d feel like I was violating her memory.

6. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

I read The Chocolate War in a young adult literature course in college. I credit both that course and this book (along with many Chris Crutcher books) with inspiring me, even though I didn’t realize until a decade later, to be a young adult writer. The honesty and gritty realism with which this book was written was eye opening for me. I became a YA junkie from that moment on.

7. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

There’s no way I can fully express my love and gratitude for this book series. I can’t. I’m getting a little teary just thinking about it. My tombstone will read: Here lies Shannon Lee Alexander. Devoted wife, mother, friend, and Potterhead.

8. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

There are so many things right about this book that I don’t know where to start. First, the choice of narrator was brilliant. Death became a compatriot with the reader, living the lives of these characters with you the reader, cherishing them just as much as you, and mourning them, too. Brilliant. And how is it possible that at the end of a book narrated by Death, I can feel so much hope and happiness? That’s some kind of storytelling magic!

9. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

I have probably sold more copies of this book than any other book. I’ve probably sold more copies than Amazon! I recommend this book consistently to everyone who’s looking for something awesome to read. I also hand it out like candy when people don’t understand me. Read about Cath. I am Cath.

Also, this book features my one and only book boyfriend, Levi. Ah, Levi.

10. I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

In my long history of reading, I have only finished a book and then immediately NEEDED to read it again once. When I finished reading the last word of I’ll Give You the Sun, I sobbed, a happy-sad-this-is-perfect kind of sobbing. After about ten minutes, I was able to calm down. I flipped to the beginning and began the journey again, desperate to not have to leave the beautiful world of Noah and Jude.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing you top ten favorite books with us today, Shannon!

Shannon Lee Alexander is a wife and mother (of two kids and one yellow terrier named Harriet Potter). She is passionate about coffee, books, and cancer research. She spent most of her time in high school hiding out in the theater with the drammies and techies. Math still makes her break out in a sweat. She currently lives in Indianapolis with her family.

Author Links:
Website: http://www.shannonleealexander.com
Twitter: @shanlalexander/https://twitter.com/shanlalexander
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shanlalexander/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/shannonleealexander Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/09Igj

Buy Links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Life-After-Juliet-Shannon-Alexander/dp/1633753239 B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/life-after-juliet-shannon-alexander/1122537767 iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/life-after-juliet/id1065470169
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/life-after-juliet
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-After-Juliet-Shannon-Alexander/dp/1633753239
Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/Life-After-Juliet-Shannon-Alexander/dp/1633753239 Entangled Publishing: http://www.entangledpublishing.com/life-after-juliet/

Open internationally, but prize packs ship only to US. International winners will receive Amazon gift cards (listed below).* Ends July 27, 2016.

* Grand prize: Hyperboles are the best EVER! tote bag, a 4oz. Novelly Yours Antique Books candle, Toe-meo and Juliet Shakespearean socks, Life after Juliet poison and dagger necklace, Velveteen Rabbit note card, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate*

* 1st Runner Up: Hyperboles are the best EVER! tote bag, a 4 oz. Novelly Yours Antique Books candle, Toe-meo and Juliet Shakespearean socks, Life after Juliet dagger earrings, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate*

* 2nd Runner Up: 2oz. Novelly Yours Antique Books candle, Life after Juliet dagger earrings, Velveteen Rabbit note card, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate*

* 3rd Runner Up: 2oz. Novelly Yours Antique Books candle, Life after Juliet dagger earrings, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate*

*All contests are open internationally, but international winners will receive the following:
* Grand prize: $25 Amazon gift card, signed signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate
* 1st Runner Up: $20 Amazon gift card, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate
* 2nd runner up: $15 Amazon gift card, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate
* 3rd runner up: $10 Amazon gift card, signed Life after Juliet bookmark and bookplate

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Life After Juliet

Author: Shannon Lee Alexander

Release Date: July 5, 2016

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Summary:

Becca Hanson is a reader-a voracious reader. And with all those fictional friends, she never had time for real ones. Plus real ones come with uncontrollable quirks, like constantly filling a room with song, drawing on any available surface, and worst of all, dying. Real friends are more trouble than they're worth. Since her best-and only-real friend Charlotte's death six months before, Becca has returned to a life of books in order to distance herself from heartache and constant loneliness as her junior year at Sandstone High begins.

When a class project forces her into the Drama Club, she attracts the attention of not one, but TWO guys involved in the production, onstage and off. Meanwhile, she's still dealing with the grief of Charlotte's death--the fact that Charlie is away at MIT--and that she finally has to build a life for herself on her own terms. Ultimately she learns more about who she is, what she wants, how she feels--and how to find what she's looking for. (And while she isn't sure what comes next, she's pretty sure there'll be more kissing involved.)

Buy Links:

Amazon│Barnes & Noble│iTunes│Kobo│Amazon UK│Amazon CA│The BookDepository│Books a Million

Shannon Lee Alexander was compelled to write this story after the death of her best friend to ovarian cancer. She is a member of SCBWI and She Writes, and works as a copy editor for Sucker Literary, a showcase for new and undiscovered writers of young adult literature. She recently completed her seventh Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure in Washington D.C., and is an active supporter of cancer research.