My Work, The Writing Community

I have a new book coming out!

No Comments

Yep, you read that right! I’m working on a new short story collection which I’m planning to release in March, and here’s a sneak peek of the cover that I’ve commissioned Filipino artist Lori Rebluna to create:

Tara, what’s the new book about?

It’s a collection of short stories, kind of similar with What If We Fall In Love?, but some of them are in epistolary form. If you have been following my publishing journey closely, you may have consumed some of these short stories in some shape or form in the last 4-5 years. These are previously published somewhere on the internet, and I felt that they needed a “container” of some sort, so I’ve compiled them in this one book.

When’s it coming out?

The target date of release for digital is the second week of March, just in time for the 2025 Philippine Book Festival. The print release will hopefully come in time for #RomanceClass April Feels Day 2025.

If you’d like early updates about this book, please consider signing up for my newsletter! Click here to subscribe.

Cover reveal and pre-order link coming in February!

Continue Reading

Featured, The Writing Community, Writing

What If We Fall In Love: A Short Story Collection

No Comments

In case you missed the announcements on my social media accounts (and newsletter), my latest #romanceclass book What If We Fall In Love? is coming out on Saturday, December 31st—and yes, you may pre-order it now!

What If We Fall In Love? is a collection of three short stories, two of which are new, and one previously published as part of #romanceclass’ NomCom: A Foodie Romance Anthology, published in February of this year.

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

COVER REVEAL: Keeping Miss Kalila

No Comments

Here’s some good news for those of you who read and love my books: I’m releasing a new title on the 1st of April!

Keeping Miss Kalila has been in development since late 2018, but I only went full steam ahead in terms of writing the novel April last year. I wrote another blog entry about my struggles to finish it here.

But finally, everything’s on track and I’m very excited to share this beautiful, beautiful cover created by the amazing Miles Tan. This was based on the original photograph shot by Chi Yu Rodriguez (for @romanceclasscovers) which featured models Gab Pangilinan and Gio Gahol. Check it out!

Keeping Miss Kalila

With a job that she loves, an adorable senior dog, and a baby she fought hard to conceive on the way, life is going well for thirty-one-year old school teacher Kalila Rayos. That is, until her ex-boyfriend and first love, filmmaker Datu Alvez asks if they could try again.

Saying yes shouldn’t be too difficult. After all, she’s still also in love with him and Datu’s efforts to be there for her make her feel she truly has it all. But on top of her worries as a soon-to-be mom, a crisis that hits her school forces her to shift her priorities away from her own desires.

Will the one who got away be strong enough to stay, or will their second chance at love crumble and break her heart once more?

Please note the following content warnings for this book: miscarriage (backstory), casual sexism, and verbal and physical abuse from a parent.

This book follows #romanceclass guidelines requiring HEA/HFN for romance, and is Heat Level 3 (at least one “open door” sex scene).

Keeping Miss Kalila will be released digitally on April 1, 2020, but you may already pre-order a copy on Amazon. If you have already bought a copy, thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy reading Datu and Kalila’s love story.

P.S. If you’re posting about Keeping Miss Kalila on social media, please use the hashtags #romanceclass, #KMKNovel, and #ProjectDatu. ^^ See you all on April 1!

 

Continue Reading

Personal, The Writing Community, Writing

Yep, I did play it by ear this time.

No Comments

So let me start this blog post with a tweet down memory lane:

You read that right, folks. It’s been (almost!!!) a year since I started writing the second book in the Backstage Pass series, Play It By Ear, and I cannot be more relieved that I’m finally releasing the book soon. We’ve had a couple of false starts, starting with a very early cover reveal (haha, that was just me being a) impatient, and b) unable to keep Shai San Jose‘s awesome art to myself), but this is the real deal, my friends. I mean…there’s a release date and all, and I am prepping the final, final, FINAL version of the manuscript as of this writing.

Can I say, OHMAHGAWD?

And yeah, in case you missed it, here’s the official announcement…plus a couple more things you need to know:

Continue Reading

Cover Reveal, The Writing Community

COVER REVEAL: You Could Be The One by Ana Tejano

No Comments

There’s a slew of new #romanceclass releases for the upcoming April Feels Day (click on this link for the FB event page), and one of them is Ana Tejano’s You Could Be the One, a collection of short stories about friends, lovers, and friends becoming lovers. This is my favorite trope, you guys, so you can be sure I’m getting myself a copy of this one! <3 Check out its super sweet cover below!

You Could Be the One
Ana Tejano

Maybe the one is right in front of you all along.

Experience the spark of discovering something new with someone familiar in You Could Be the One, a collection of stories about friends, lovers, and friends becoming lovers. Complications abound when the line between platonic and romantic gets blurred, but they did say that friendship is the foundation of a great love story. Will you take the risk for a relationship upgrade?

It’s a Match
Cams Ronquillo is single and ready to mingle—at least, online. After finally moving on from her last breakup, she decides to try online dating thanks to the encouragement of Gabriel Evangelista, her friend, business partner, and a serial online dater. As she learns to navigate uncharted dating territory with the potential dates at her fingertips, Cams decides to break one of the online dating rules she was taught…and gets an unexpected match.

Bottleneck
Love is patient—just ask Gelo Morales, who waits for Lara Nolasco after his class every day just so he can spend time with her on their commute home. She doesn’t know that, and she also doesn’t know that he’s been in love with her since they met. He’s planning to tell her one day—he’s just waiting for the perfect moment. Will he find a way to reach Lara’s heart in time, or will be run into bumper-to-bumper traffic on his way there?

Fake It Till We Make It
Ruth Garcia is in her thirties and still hasn’t been in any relationship. She’s totally fine with that, but her family thinks otherwise. When her aunt orders her to bring a significant other to the next family event, she enlists her friend Ian Balboa to be her fake boyfriend. But when things go a little too well, she wonders just how they’ll get out of it without ruining their friendship. But does she even want to end the charade?

Add it on Goodreads
Pre-order on Amazon
Pre-order paperback (print copies may be picked up on April 30!)

Congratulations, Ana! ^_^ Can’t wait to read this! <3

Continue Reading