#romanceclass is looking for new YA (young adult) authors–could you be one of them? If you’ve been wanting to write a #romanceclass book but don’t know where to start, this is your chance to be mentored by two amazing Filipino authors, Agay Llanera and Ines Bautista-Yao!
Click on the link below to view the signup page, read the rules carefully, and register for the class when you’re ready. But don’t wait too long, because the form closes on August 25!
Seems like it’s the season for wonderful romance anthologies, because here’s another one from six #romanceclass authors I look up to. Promdi Heart: Hometown Love Stories is a collection of short stories set in six different provinces in the Philippines–Misamis Occidental, Negros Occidental, Aklan, Bulacan, Ilocos Sur, and Zambales. I one-clicked this gem after its March 29 release (but I’ve not read it yet–I will get to it soon!) and I really think you should, too. I’ve seen a lot of people tweet positive thoughts about this book, and I feel like turning the book’s pages will take me on a lovely, lovely trip.
Promdi Heart: Hometown Love Stories
C.P. Santi, Ines Bautista-Yao, Jay E. Tria, Chris Mariano, Georgette S. Gonzales, Agay LlaneraTake a quick tour of the Philippines with six hometown love stories.
Visit Jimenez, Misamis Occidental where a priest might just set you up with a man whose dimples are to die for.
Visit Silay, Negros Occidental and get on a horse alongside hunky, hazel-eyed Negrense royalty.
Visit Kalibo, Aklan and find yourself in the arms of a cute drummer boy who just happens to be your kuya’s BFF.
Visit Hagonoy, Bulacan and spend All Saint’s Day next to a distracting boy who promises to write you a song.
Visit Vigan, Ilocos Sur and meet the hot man you used to bully when he was a shy, scrawny boy.
Visit Pundaquit, Zambales and find love in a bronzed fisherman whose eyes hold depths you’ll want to explore.
Click on the Read More button for more about this anthology.
Get ready for feels this holiday season with Make My Wish Come True, a Christmas anthology by #romanceclass authors. Join a Kris Kringle and receive the perfect gift, or learn how to survive your first Christmas in Manila and the steps you need to take to be with the one you love. Go to parties that will not go according to plan, feel the cold (and probably humid) December air as you explore city streets, and count down to five minutes to Christmas. Meet kind strangers and friends that remind you of home, and discover that the one who’ll make your holidays better has been beside you all along.
With seventeen stories, there’s something for you here no matter what feels you want and need. Fall in love this Christmas with #romanceclass!
Ysa Arcangel * Ines Bautista-Yao * Racquel Sarah A. Castro * Suzette de Borja * Carla de Guzman * Six de los Reyes * Mina V. Esguerra * Tara Frejas * Dawn Lanuza * Chris Mariano * Bianca Mori * Chrissie Peria * Chi Yu Rodriguez * C.P. Santi * Kate Sebastian * Miles Tan * Ana Tejano * Jay E. Tria * Celestine Trinidad
Cover by Miles Tan
Edited by Rix Forto
#romanceclass is a community of authors who attended various writing workshops organized by Mina V. Esguerra, readers of books by those authors, and readers of English-language romance books by Filipino authors. Visit romanceclassbooks.com to see the full catalog of books!
So–yep. This happened over the weekend.
Video © Chi Yu Rodriguez
First of all, if there’s one thing I learned about #romanceclass through this event, it’s that you only have to say “#RomanceClass–ASSEMBLE!” and that’s it. Everyone who’s able to lend a bit of time to help put together a Thing in an extremely short amount of time (TEN frickin’ DAYS, people) WILL go out of their way to do so. Sure, we may have been able to do so much more given ample preparation time, but Saturday’s turnout wasn’t bad. We sold books, served feels, and had a lot of good, (somewhat) clean fun. ^_^
Hello and welcome to the first installment of this mini blog project I’m doing–this is #RomanceClass ❤ OPM, where I ask Filipino authors and readers to send in songs they find relevant to the books they wrote or read and I curate them into playlists. The only rule: ALL the songs should be OPM.
Brief background for those of you who just stumbled upon this post:
#RomanceClass is a thriving community of Filipino authors who write romance in English and publish them (traditionally and independently). It began in 2013, when author Mina V. Esguerra facilitated a writing class wherein the objective was to complete a romance novel in a span of three months. Fast forward to 2016, the community and its body of work has grown immensely, exploring new avenues in order to weave new stories and market them. We have participated in bookish events, had writing workshops, talked about how to write more and market our work better, sold books, held live readings, and recently organized our very first standalone event in April. Just recently, a new batch of authors have typed “The End” to new #romanceclass books which may (hopefully!) come out before the end of the year.
OPM stands for Original Pilipino Music or Original Philippine Music. It was originally used to only refer to pop songs, but has since included all genres like rock, jazz, hip-hop, and so on. OPM is usually written in Filipino/Tagalog or English, but may, in some cases, also have touches of other foreign languages or local dialects.
Click on the Read More button to get to the first playlist I curated for this project, along with some notes from the authors and readers of the featured books. Links to read more about the featured books as well as buy them are included in the post. Have fun!
