genre: NA – Tara Tries To Write

{ Book Review } Learning to Fall by Mina V. Esguerra

October 17, 2015 No Comments

Oh, if only I were brave enough to live like fiction. Then again, that’s what living vicariously is for, right? I’m good at that. I’ll leave the Live Like Fiction challenge to the braver ones. Yes, I can feel you shaking your head sadly at me, universe. I know your feel. I can be brave over something else instead, okay?

Learning to Fall is the fourth Mina V. Esguerra book I’ve finished so far, after Never Just Friends, My Imaginary Ex, and The Harder We Fall. Does that officially make me a fan? ^_^

Learning to Fall
Mina V. Esguerra

“Go out with a stereotypical romance novel hero WHO ISN’T YOUR TYPE.”

Avid reader and art student Steph is participating in a monthly blog challenge to Live Like Fiction, and this was the task for October. When Grayson, former co-captain of her university rugby team, walks into her class, she knows it’s meant to be – she has to go out with this guy. Even if she’s never been attracted to big, hunky, athletic types. With Grayson’s “player” reputation off the field, Steph thinks he’ll be good for one date that’ll be worth blogging about, and that’s it.

But you know how it goes: Soon, it becomes more than just one date – and Steph and Grayson are caught up in “living like fiction.” How long can they keep playing their roles before reality steps in?

BUY A COPY OF LEARNING TO FALL!
Amazon

Click the Read More link below for my review of Learning To Fall. Not spoiler free, I’m warning you.

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{ Book Review } Fall Like Rain | Ana Tejano

September 30, 2015 1 Comment

Let me start this review post with a greeting, because Fall Like Rain is celebrating its birthday today! Happy, happy birthday, Mark and Rain~ and congratulations to author Ana Tejano for being able to put this book out there for us to read. <3

Anyway.

If I haven’t said this yet, then let me say it now: One of my favorite tropes is the “Friends to Lovers” trope. I am a complete sucker for it. I write it. I read it. I wish I lived it too, but the universe can only give you so much, so. When I learned that Ana Tejano’s Fall Like Rain tackles just that, I knew I had to read. And so I did.

Fall Like Rain
Ana Tejano

Rain De Castro has been in love with her best friend, Mark Velasco, for almost the entire time she has known him, but she’s clearly in the friend zone because he’s happily in a relationship. Or so she thought, until the news of his break-up reaches her. Now that Mark’s single again, she decides that it’s time to get out of the zone. But when her cousin Lissa comes into the picture and sets her eyes on Mark, Rain feels troubled when he gets a little too friendly with her. Rain is determined to fight for what she feels this time, but is it worth the effort if it’s a losing battle from the start? Will she back off to give way for her best friend’s happiness, even if it means losing him to someone else again?

Fall Like Rain is FREE on Amazon until October 3rd! Grab a copy now!

Click on the Read More button for my review of this story. There may be spoilers, so click at your own risk!

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{ Book Review } Songs of Our Breakup | Jay E. Tria

September 9, 2015 3 Comments

A version of this line appears in the book twice, but I’m going to tweak it a bit and use it anyway: This book should come with a warning.

About what? you ask, and I would say, Everything. Around summer this year, my friends Chi and Therese chose Six de los Reyes’s Just For The Record (JFtR) as one reading piece in preparation for #SparkNA, and they were quickly overcome with so much feels it flooded our Viber chats every so often. The other day I told them, “Guys, I think I found my JFtR.” And it came with a seafoam green Les Paul.

Songs of Our Breakup
Jay E. Tria

Every breakup has its playlist.

How do you get over a seven-year relationship? 21-year-old Jill is trying to find out. But moving on is a harder job when Kim, her ex-boyfriend, is the lead guitarist of the band, and Jill is the vocalist. Every song they play together feels like slicing open a barely healed tattoo.

Jill’s best friend Miki says she will be out of this gloom soon. Breakups have a probation period, he says. Jill is on the last month of hers and Miki is patiently keeping her company.

But the real silver lining is Shinta. Having a hot Japanese actor friend in times like these is a welcome distraction. This gorgeous celebrity has been defying time zones and distance through the years to be there for Jill. Now he is here, physically present, and together he and Jill go through old lyrics, vivid memories, walks in the rain, and bottles of beer. Together they try to answer the question: what do you do when forever ends?

BUY A COPY OF SONGS OF OUR BREAKUP!
Amazon

Click the Read More link below for my review of Songs of Our Breakup. Word of warning: I’m not even going to kid myself and say I’m going to try my best to be spoiler-free. I’m really just going to spazz and might not be able to help myself. So, read at your own risk!