Tara Tries To Write

{ Book Review } All’s Fair in Blog & War | Chrissie Peria

January 2, 2016 No Comments

Five Cuevas @fivetravels
Three guesses to where I’m going next. Starts with an M. Ends with a U. Has a lechon named after it. #travel

Twenty-something travel blogger Five thinks she has hit the jackpot when she gets invited to glittering Macau for an all-expense-paid bloggers tour. Think majestic old churches, sparkling casinos, exhilarating bungee jumps, and the world’s most unforgettable egg tarts. The trip is practically perfect, except for one little glitch. She gets assigned to be travel buddies with Jesse, the world’s most infuriating photo blogger, and it’s definitely war at first sight.

Will Five let Jesse turn her dream vacation into a total nightmare? Or will falling in love be on the itinerary?

Buy it on Amazon | Smashwords
Add it on Goodreads

What Drew Me In

THE COVER (Design & illustration by Clarissa Ines)! I mean, would you look at that beauty? Quick backstory: I saw this book listed along with other #romanceclass books in their catalogue back in March last year and had been meaning to buy it but kept on forgetting. I became acquainted with author Chrissie Peria when we became bundlemates for #StrangeLit and I asked her to reserve a print copy of this book for me in time for FilReaderCon–and that’s where I finally got one!

Click on the Read More button for the rest of the review. This also serves as your warning for possible spoilers.

Personal, Writing

How many firsts can you squeeze in a year? A LOT, apparently.

January 1, 2016 No Comments

First things first: From my family to yours, a very happy new year. I wish we all have an amazingly blessed 2016. <3

And now for a proper yearender post.

Personal

Tara Tries To Write: 2015 in review

December 30, 2015 No Comments

Thank you, WordPress, for creating this report! Very interesting! ^_^

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Events, Personal

Bayan o Sarili: Mamili Ka!

December 24, 2015 No Comments

So this was a thing that happened last Sunday. 🙂

I was initially apprehensive about attending the Heneral Luna DVD Launch because 1) it had been raining non-stop the day before (and we know what happens to the already congested roads when it rains) and 2) the venue was in Eastwood City, a place I wouldn’t know how else to get to aside from riding a cab.

So imagine my excitement when the rain let up on Sunday, allowing me to do a bit of shopping early in the afternoon before heading to Libis. I was so scared of being late for the 7:00 PM event that I rode a cab to the venue at around 4:00 and arrived 20 minutes later. (LOL, what traffic? Where? It was a miracle!)

Reporting for duty! In fairness sa bilis ng byahe ko! pic.twitter.com/4Gp7EFnrO7
— Tara 🐰 (@tarafrejas) December 20, 2015

Heneral Luna DVDs were being sold at the venue entrance for P699 (roughly $15) and I think I was one of the first ones to buy that day. The staff were still setting up their wares when I approached and told them to

Just kidding. I didn’t say that.

I did let them take my money though.

The Writing Community, Videos

ON-AIR: #RomanceClass Podcast

December 24, 2015 No Comments

It’s here! The #RomanceClass Podcast is finally up, its initial offering made available on December 12, 2015. The pilot episode featured Ana Tejano’s Fall Like Rain.

For those who aren’t yet familiar with the whole concept, here’s what you need to know: Theatre actors Gio Gahol and Rachel Coates read scenes off some of #romanceclass books, penned by indie Filipino authors. There are ten episodes in total, and two have been released so far. Updates are being posted weekly and may be subscribed via romancepodcast.com, but if you want everything in one go, feel free to purchase all ten episodes of Season One here. (Preorder price is $4.99, but only until the end of December! It will be selling for $8.99 come January 2016.)

Oh, and did I mention you get a guest pass to the next live reading if you purchase Season One? Yep. There’s that, too. Exciting, right?

Anyway, click the Read More button for the first two episodes which are now available for your listening pleasure–Ana Tejano’s Fall Like Rain, and Mina V. Esguerra’s Never Just Friends.