Chloe had a plan: work hard, get good grades, attend a top-tier college. But after she collapses during cross-country practice and is told she needs a new heart, all her careful preparations are laid to waste.
Gracie Byrne lives big, but only in her stories.
In her real life, everything sucks…
until she finds an old journal of her grandmother’s
that gives her the power to rewrite reality.
About Shannon
Shannon Takaoka wrote her first book at age 12, when she blatantly ripped off C.S. Lewis with an epic fantasy inspired by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (Well, maybe it wasn’t that epic — do 10 pages count?) Madeleine L’Engle, Judy Blume, Charlotte Brontë, Neil Gaiman and a host of other authors inspired her lifelong love of reading, and she’s especially into all things gothic, weird and nerdy. If a story involves time travel, strange happenings or alternate realities, she’s in.
Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Shannon now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, where she also works as a business writer and editor. Her debut novel, Everything I Thought I Knew, was a Top Pick for the 2021 Kansas NEA Reading Circle Recommended Titles list and a 2022 Texas Library Association TAYSHAS reading list selection. Her second novel, The Totally True Story of Gracie Byrne was released on October 31, 2023. She promises that both are a little weird — but in a good way.
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