ON-AIR: #RomanceClass Podcast, Part 4

March 13, 2016 No Comments

Right, so I kinda slacked off for a few weeks and forgot to put up this update, sorry! It’s here now–the next two episodes of the #romanceclass podcast featuring The Boyfriend Backtrack by Dawn Lanuza and Finding X by Miles Tan.

Incidentally, both episodes were recorded live from the live reading session held during last year’s Filipino Reader Con at De La Salle University, Manila. If you want to have your own #romanceclass live reading experience, it’s your lucky day! #AprilFEELSDay is on April 17, 2016 at Pegi Waffle (San Juan Manila) and, you guessed it, we’re having another live reading sesh! More about that exciting event in the following days, but do save the date!

Anyway, here are this week’s episodes:

The Boyfriend Backtrack by Dawn Lanuza

SYNOPSIS

If they say that life flashes right before your eyes when you die, do you also get a flashback of your exes when your perfect boyfriend is proposing to you? At least that’s the case for Regina Cortez. There’s her dramatic high school boyfriend, her first college crush, the irresistible heart breaker, and the ever elusive one. By backtracking to her past, will Regina make it to ‘I Do’? Or will she just keep running away?

Dawn Lanuza’s The Boyfriend Backtrack on Amazon and at National Bookstore branches nationwide. You may also order the book straight from the author.

My review of The Boyfriend Backtrack is found here.

Click on the Read More button for Miles Tan’s Finding X.

Interviews, The Writing Community

BLOG TOUR: #FatefulTurns Author Interview | Chi Yu Rodriguez

March 8, 2016 No Comments

Hello and welcome to my stop for this week’s blog tour featuring the #StrangeLit bundle, #FatefulTurns! For this round, I’ve chosen to interview Chi Yu Rodriguez, author of Sparks of Circumstance.

At eighteen, Jana Cross begins to dream.

Sometimes, her dreams are of a cafe that sells a different kind of coffee. Here, espresso shots are focus and discipline, sugars and syrups are encouragement, tea and milk are calm, and whipped cream is joy.

Sometimes, she dreams of another realm, an enchanted forest with different creatures doing her bidding and her subjects calling her by a different name. She dreams of power, of striking fear. She dreams of things that aren’t real.

Or are they?

When danger finds Jana, she begins to follow her dreams. Will they lead her to her death? Or will they finally lead her to the truth?

This is the beginning of her story.

Get the #FatefulTurns bundle (ONLY P45 this week!) on Buqo to read this story.
Add the bundle on Goodreads

I wanted to try something different for this interview, so I prepared small note cards on which I wrote a few keywords I got from reading Sparks of Circumstance. I asked the author to pick cards (which were presented face down) and she answered questions based on the keywords on the cards she picked.

This is the very first Keyword Q&A I’ve done, and I intend to do more of it in the future, but for now, here’s Chi Yu Rodriguez talking about her favorite thing about the book, a bit about her writing process for SoC, and a brief introduction on what’s to come.

Click on the Read More button to read the interview.

Backlist Revival, The Writing Community

Dream Cast: In Over Her Head by Anne Plaza

February 22, 2016 2 Comments

Hello and welcome to the Backlist Revival Tour, where we aim to make noise for indie-published Filipino romance books released before 2015. This is my first time participating in this tour, and for this round, I am featuring Anne Plaza’s In Over Her Head.

In Over Her Head
by Anne Plaza

All she wants is to get even…

Erika Apostol’s quiet and unassuming life gets disrupted when she learns that Richard Javier, the very same person who broke her heart many years ago, is now back in the country. Her world is turned upside down as old feelings she thought were buried resurface to haunt her once more.

Determined to give Richard a dose of his own medicine, Erika finds herself involved in an outrageous plan devised by her friends. They enlist the help of Jerome Gonzales, an attractive and charismatic DJ (with a playboy reputation), to pose as her significant other.

As the plan goes in full swing, Erika discovers Richard’s jealous side, and that there’s something more to Jerome than meets the eye. Will this grand charade work out the way it should, or will she be left with nothing in the end?

Buy it on Amazon | Smashwords | iBooks
Add it on Goodreads

Click on the Read More button to get to know author Anne Plaza’s dream cast for In Over Her Head.

The Writing Community, Videos

ON-AIR: #RomanceClass Podcast, Part 3

February 3, 2016 No Comments

Two more #romanceclass podcast episodes are out, featuring Chris Mariano’s Cover (Story) Girl and Six de los Reyes’ Just for the Record. We are now more than halfway through the first season of the podcast, but it’s never too late to subscribe to our channel for updates or purchase the entire first season on Gumroad!

And so without further ado, here is

Cover (Story) Girl by Chris Mariano

SYNOPSIS

1) She has amnesia.
2) She’s on the run from her father’s creditors.
3) She’s enjoying her last days on earth.

Ever since Jang Min Hee walked into Gio’s small museum, she’s given him one excuse after another about why she’s vacationing at scenic Boracay Island. Rarely has Gio’s neat and organized world been shaken like this. Soon he finds himself scrambling over rocks, hiding in dressing rooms, and dragging her out of bars. But how can Gio tell what’s true from what isn’t? Their worlds are getting unraveled — one story at a time.

Cover (Story) Girl is available on Amazon in digital and print versions. You may also find the Visprint edition of this book at local bookstores, or order directly from the publisher.

Click on the Read More button for an excerpt of Six de los Reyes’ Just for the Record.

The Writing Community, Videos

ON-AIR: #RomanceClass Podcast, Part 2

January 12, 2016 No Comments

Get ready for the feels again! The #romanceclass podcast has two new episodes up, and it features Kristel S. Villar’s Blast from Two Pasts, and Jay E. Tria’s Songs of Our Breakup. Just like the previous episodes, the excerpts are interpreted by theatre actors Gio Gahol and Rachel Coates.

Blast from Two Pasts by Kristel S. Villar

SYNOPSIS

Fate’s been playing tricks on Cara Nicolas lately. She agrees to go on a blind date with her best friend’s fiancé’s cousin, only to discover that the guy is her first love from high school, Lucas Lobregat. Now that would have been a charming story, except that the date turns out to be one of the worst ever. And they can’t even pretend it never happened, because they’re both suddenly part of the wedding preparations.

Just as she is starting to get to know more about the boy she used to love, Oliver Sta. Maria, an old flame who owes her some closure, surprisingly shows up. With two pasts resurfacing, which will Cara choose to rekindle? Or can she have the chance to choose at all?

Blast from Two Pasts is available on Amazon, and print copies may be ordered directly through the author.

Click on the Read More button for episode #4 and links to subscribe and purchase the entire first season of this podcast. Warning: Episode #4 has rain, wet shirts, and abs. 😛