How to Be Alive by Mary Chris Escobar

So, I’m not hosting a blog tour today, but I do want to talk about a book I read recently. It’s called How to Be Alive by Mary Chris Escobar, and it is fabulous! If it’s not already on your TBR list, it should be. So here’s the details:

 Blurb: College sweethearts, Jen and Tanner, have big plans laid out for themselves. World travel and the next great American novel are surely just within their reach, as soon as they escape Parktown College and its small town life. Their engagement, as graduation looms, seems like the perfect end to their college career and the start of their adventure together.

Fast forward eight years and everyone is achieving their dreams, except Jen. Still unmarried and stuck in the same small town, the only thing she’s writing is course recommendations for the students she advises at her alma mater. As Tanner toils away in the family business, their old dreams fade.

With all remnants of the old plan stripped away, Jen is forced to figure out exactly what she wants in life and how to move forward. Through a series of unexpected turns and old flames reignited, Jen finally learns the one thing they didn’t teach her at Parktown…

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Add it to your Goodreads TBR list HERE!

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Mary Chris was kind enough to agree to answer a few questions for me about How to Be Alive, so here’s that interview:

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions today, Mary Chris. I enjoyed How to Be Alive so much, and I especially loved the little twist at the end. Where did the idea for the story come from?

How to be Alive was a complete novel, titled Mile Zero, that I had decided was not working at all. I set it aside and moved on to write other things and focus on my blog.  Believe it or not, way back when I started the original story the inspiration came from my love of the 90′s television show Felicity.  I had this flicker of an idea that I wanted to write a story about characters that met in college, specifically about a character who dated her Resident Assistant.  It snowballed from there.  When I decided to take another pass at the story and see if I could salvage it, the plot really started to take shape. That’s when the idea for the twist at the end came.

I think the reason I enjoyed the story so much is because Jen is really just like a lot of us – we go through life with all these big plans but then, life happens and we look up years later and nothing looks exactly the way we planned it. Have you ever had a similar experience in your life or in your writing career?

I do think this idea of “best laid plans” that never come to fruition is a universal truth for most of us at some point in our lives. While I can’t say that I have ever had a plan as detailed as Jen and Tanner’s in How to be Alive, there are certainly many, many twists and turns that my life has taken that I never would have guessed it would.

One big one that comes to mind was my decision to return to graduate school nearly eight years after I finished my undergraduate degree. I had vehemently declared that I was done with school when I finished college.  However when presented with a career change that required another degree, I found myself back in the classroom.  Similarly, years ago when I wrote that first chapter in a writing class, I was just doing it for fun, I had no idea I was going to go on to write another novel and a novella.

I have a favorite part of How to Be Alive, but I don’t want to mention it because I don’t believe in giving away spoilers. But do you have a favorite part of the story, or maybe a part that was more fun or more difficult to write?

Now I’m really curious — you’ll have to tell me what your favorite part is after this interview!  The beginning of this story was really tough to get right. I had a hard time figuring out where to start.  I think there were like 15 versions of the first chapter.  Then randomly, one night, I looked up at the emergency assistance button in the car and the beginning came to me.  For those who haven’t read the book, this will make more sense if I explain that the novel begins with: “S.O.S in glowing red letters on the cars console. One touch assistance in case of an emergency.  I wondered what would happen if I pushed it and screamed.”

Conversely, some of my favorite scenes to write were the the travel scenes in Italy and Key West.  I’ve been to both places and it was fun to mentally re-visit them.

What’s next on the horizon for you? Any current or future works in progress you’re working on?

I am toying with writing a novella featuring Jen’s friends Zach and Sarah. Zach is a the lead signer of a band that is just gaining popularity on the national scene and Sarah is a tenured professor at a large university.  There are so many interesting dynamics here to explore: the fact that they spend a great deal of time apart, the idea that for many years she was the primary breadwinner, the concept of a working musician who makes his living through music but isn’t a “big name.”  I’ve had some interest in this story line from early readers, and I loved writing the characters so I may give it a go.

I love the Books and Brews segment that you do on your blog sometimes, and I had great fun when you featured one of my books there, so I’m curious … what brew would you pair with How to Be Alive?

What an awesome question!  I think I would pair How to be Alive with Dogfish Head Brewery’s Raison D’Etre.  The first reason for this pairing is super literal.  The name of the beer is a French phrase which translates to “reason to be.”  Obviously this is a perfect tie in to the title of my novel.  My second reason for choosing this beer is because it is brewed with raisins — clearly not something you typically think of adding to beer. It deviates for the “norm” (or plan, per se) and deliciously carves out it’s own unique niche.

So here’s My Two Cents:

I loved this author’s first novel, Neverending Beginnings and was so excited for this one. It did not disappoint! Mary Chris Escobar is quickly becoming one of my favorites!

Ok, so I want to jump right in and tell you about the twist in this book, but as a firm believer in spoiler-free reviews I will never do that. BUT … let me just say there is a twist at the end that had me shouting out loud, “Are you kidding me?!” But don’t worry, it’s a twist you’re going to love!

How to Be Alive is a sweet tale of one woman’s journey to that place we all search for – that world we all want to build for ourselves where we’re happy and fulfilled, both in our professional and our personal lives. Jen is so very relatable because she is me. She is you. We have all been there, we’ve all been at those crossroads wondering which way we should turn and wanting desperately to avoid making a wrong decision. And when fate steps in and gives Jen a small nudge in the right direction, you won’t be able to put this book down. You will laugh out loud, you will cry, and as usual when reading a Mary Chris Escobar novel, you will get hungry! In fact, you might want to make sure you have the ingredients for your favorite lasagne recipe in your kitchen and ready to go before you start reading.

How to Be Alive is an amazing story with truly likable characters. You can’t help but root for Jen and Andrew, but you also really want to learn more about their best friends, Sarah and Zach. Here’s hoping we get a book about their relationship in the future (that’s a big old hint, in case you missed it, Mary Chris!). Loved this story!

You can find Mary Chris here:

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