leaninglights: About Me

Hello! I'm Shannon. If you've stumbled upon this page than you are probably wanting to know more about me! I'm 29 years old, a mom to four rambunctious kiddos and wife to my other half. I work as a social worker specializing in families and children. I've been through a lot, lived a lot and grown a lot in my (almost) 30 years of life. If you need to know more, just ask!

For the Love of books!

I've always loved reading. From the time I was a little girl and my parents read me to sleep every night, to the days of learning to read and being buried under my Bernstein Bear and Dr. Seuss books -- reading has always been a passion.

What I Read

I read a large variety of things. I am very open to trying new books, genres and mediums. My best guess is that I read about 70% young adult literature, including everything from fantasy, science fiction, dystopian, historical fiction to contemporary. I also enjoy adult contemporary romance, chick-lit, historical fiction and mystery/thrillers. I'm always looking to trying new things and broadening my horizons.

BookTube & Book Blogging

I've been active in various platforms of the book community for about two years.

I've been so blessed to find so many new friends online and in-real-life through this book vlogging/blogging journey. I look forward to meeting more of you as you trickle over here from YouTube, Goodreads and wherever else you find me!

What is 'leaninglights'?

I thought I'd dedicate a small section to this question because I get asked it a lot. 'leaninglights' is a play on words that looks aesthetically pleasing to me.

There is a 2002 Pierce Brosnan movie called "Evelyn" that I watched as a teenager and fell in love with -- it's essentially about a father who is fighting for his children in very tough circumstances. In the movie, there is reference to "angel rays," which is described as the sun rays that come through the clouds. This became a "thing" for my family, as we lived in the mountains and saw many of these rays of light, and the name always stuck.

Then in 2010, one of my brothers died. And then in late 2013, my other brother died as well (if you are interested in learning about/donating to research for Huntington's Disease, you can do so here).

We happen to be a family of faith and so whenever I saw the "angel rays" in the sky, I was comforted. So when it came time to create an online username for my social media sites in late 2013, when I decided to join the book community, I wanted to find a name that would mean something to me and always be a remind me to stay humble and grounded.

If you look at angel rays, they always appear to be leaning at an angle... and of course it's light shining through the clouds, so naturally after a few different options, I stumbled upon LEANINGLIGHTS to represent this idea that has come to mean a lot to me and my family.

I know it's not directly book related, but it's become home for me. At times I've questioned changing it to something more obviously connected to books, but ultimately I love it too much to change and at the end of the day, that's what matters! I hope you guys enjoyed reading about how it came to be :)