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Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Dreamology Blog Tour: Guest Post, Excerpt, & Giveaway!




Dreamology
by Lucy Keating
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release Date: April 12th 2016
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Fantasy
My rating: 5/5 Stars
For as long as Alice can remember, she has dreamed of Max. Together they have traveled the world and fallen deliriously, hopelessly in love. Max is the boy of her dreams—and only her dreams. Because he doesn’t exist.

But when Alice walks into class on her first day at a new school, there he is. It turns out, though, that Real Max is nothing like Dream Max, and getting to know each other in reality isn’t as perfect as Alice always hoped.

When their dreams start to bleed dangerously into their waking hours, the pair realize that they might have to put an end to a lifetime of dreaming about each other. But when you fall in love in your dreams, can reality ever be enough?
 
I grew up in downtown Boston, and there wasn't always a ton to do on the weekends. I didn't have a yard. The Boston Common was as close to that as we got. This is probably where my imagination came from - I spent a lot of time playing alone in my room. When I was old enough to go out on my own, in middle school, my mom would let me walk downtown to Border's Books. This was my favorite thing to do. I'd walk to Downtown Crossing, pick up a book, walk home, and read it for the rest of the weekend.

On one visit I discovered a series called MAKING OUT (I know. Ridiculous!). It was about six teenagers who live on a commuter island off the coast of Maine, and take the ferry to high school on the mainland every day, their love lives, family drama, and an accident that happened a few years before that nobody knows the truth about. I really loved how each chapter was from a different perspective, and sometimes there were even journal entries from each of them, written in different handwriting. I became completely attached to these characters. I've always really had a thing for ensemble TV shows, particularly ones like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy, Felicity, where yes there is a ton of romance (my favorite!) but there are also characters who feel real, who you really grow to love, who you wanted to be around. A family you make, not one you were born into.

I really strive to do this in my own books with my characters, but also the family element is important too. Not just parents that are yelling at you to get off the phone. Parents who are human and flawed but trying their best, like Alice's Dad. The OC was the first time I'd seen this set up with parents. Caring about their lives, and how they interacted with their kids. I loved that. I went to boarding school, which is the definition of "making your own family," since you start living away from your real family at age 14. I really hope down the road to do a story at boarding school that shows that dynamic, as opposed to how boarding school is usually represented - a bunch of bad rich kids whose parents don't want to deal with them.

When I went to my first job interview out of college, at Alloy Entertainment, they asked me what books had influenced me as a kid. I said I imagined they wanted a more intellectual answer, but honestly it had been a series called Making Out. They were stunned, and said that was one of their book series! I'm pretty sure that helped me land the job, and now Alloy has collaborated with me on my first two books. Kind of amazing how it all comes full circle! If you'd told 12-year-old Lucy she'd be writing books with the company who created MAKING OUT, she would've laughed in your face.

Side note: I have an original copy of the first book in the Making Out series, called Zooey Fool's Around, on my bookshelf. And after YEARS of me begging, Alloy has repackaged it into a series called The Islanders. You should check it out!!


Read an excerpt here!
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Follow the Dreamology by Lucy Keating Blog Tour and don't miss anything! Click on the banner to see the tour schedule.




Lucy lives in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, attended Williams College in the Berkshires, and still misses the East Coast very much. 

When she's not writing, Lucy can usually be found obsessing over the latest music, inventing new flavors of ice cream, or having what she feels are perfectly acceptable conversations with her dog, Ernie.

You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy.keating, and Ernie The Dog @ernsboberns

6 comments:

  1. This one sure does look good! I love that cover as well. :D

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    1. This book is absolutely amazing and wonderful and AHHHHHH READ IT!

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  2. Lovely blog tour post Brittany :D So glad you loved this book a lot. Thank you for sharing about it :) I do think it looks pretty awesom. Maybe not for me, but yeah, I do like that cover :D Hope you are having the best week so far. <3

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    1. This book is for everyone! It's so freaking amazing, you need it, trust me!

      Thank you for stopping by!

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