Category: Reads x Writing

FEELS: NOTED || The Hometown Hazard by Dawn Lanuza

Disclaimer: Everything you will read after this will be spoiler-free. This is not an actual review. These are just feelings, put into slightly incoherent words that hopefully make sense enough for you to understand how a certain book affected me. There will be no technical comments, no nitpicking. Just feelings, all the feelings.

EMOCHI_GifScale_Hometown-dawnGet it on Amazon | Also available on Buqo

First things first: Don’t forget to follow the #TheHometownHazard blog tour, join the giveaway, and get a chance to win a free e-book copy of The Hometown Hazard!

Do rate/review The Hometown Hazard on Goodreads, or give a shout-out to the author on Twitter and Facebook.

Jules Coronado has been away from her hometown for almost a decade but when an intruder breaks in to her childhood home, she finds herself coming back. Changes evidently took place in her small town, including her childhood best friend’s younger brother, Kip – now tall, slightly scruffed, all grown up and caught climbing into their garden wall.

Kip Villamor has a mission and despite Jules’ doubts, they team up: going on fieldtrips, tackling unsuspecting men, and trespassing offices to dig up dirt. But Jules has secrets of her own, one that might be exposed – unless she keeps her walls up. But climbing walls are Kip’s forte, remember?

Will her secrets keep her on his side, or will it force her to disappear again?

It was the cover that got me at first when I saw the blog tour invite. I mean, look at how pretty this is! Obviously, a good cover is a big factor. But I’ve gotten books with nice covers, and ultimately put them down before I could even finish the story. It didn’t happen with The Hometown Hazard. (Though we did get a little “tense” for a bit, right, Dawn? :p)

I expected an in-your-face romance when I signed up for this tour. And I did get romance, definitely! But The Hometown Hazard is a lot more than just romance. It has suspense, and a sense of mystery that reminded me of the crime procedurals I love watching on television–with more sexual tension, of course. ♥

Continue reading FEELS: NOTED || The Hometown Hazard by Dawn Lanuza

COVER REVEAL + GIVEAWAY || The Bye-Bye Bouquet

It was December 2015 when an idea came to me and never left. The Plot Bunny was so strong, I already had a title and a blurb within hours!

Depending on how you look at it, it was either a smart or a really stupid idea to aim for Valentine’s Day release. I only had one month to finish a fifteen thousand word novella. There were a lot of things going on in my life and there were days when I struggled to write even just a sentence or two.

I still ended up going over by one week but guess what? More than twenty thousand words later, I finished my first ever, full-length romance novella, The Bye-Bye Bouquet. Somebody hold me.

Every month for the past year, like clockwork, Meile Simon has gotten orders at her shop for the same type of bouquet, from the same guy, delivered to twelve different girls. By the third month, she starts to take note.

Warren Leigh likes women. He does. He knows there are too many beautiful women out there just waiting to be plucked by the right guy. But he firmly believes that personal relationships with them must have an expiration date.

When the girl who likes to watch flowers bloom encounters the guy who’s only in it while the fragrance lasts, curiosity gets the best of both of them.

In the midst of intermittent weather, will their connection blossom or wilt?

Continue reading COVER REVEAL + GIVEAWAY || The Bye-Bye Bouquet

GIVEAWAY || Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay is the final installment of author Suzanne Collins’ New York Times Best Selling series, The Hunger Games.

Want to get your hands on your very own copy of this epic trilogy’s action packed conclusion? All you have to do is like this page then share the post below to qualify for the draw! Collection of entries will end on Sunday, December 6, 2015, and the winner will be announced the next day.

Good luck! And may the odds be ever in your favor. 😉

https://www.facebook.com/chiyurodriguez/photos/a.1658685937708723.1073741829.1606295296281121/1672934256283891/?type=3

StrangeLit: The Launch That Launched A Thousand Nerves

I’m not even kidding. My nerves kept me on the verge of a panic attack, from my sweaty forehead to the kick ass heels I wore that I’ve lovingly named Mistakes since that day.

That day being: October 24, 2015.
The place: Recession Coffee, Eastwood City.
The event: The #StrangeLit launch.

Continue reading StrangeLit: The Launch That Launched A Thousand Nerves

Paper Planes Back Home || Excerpts and Things

First things first: Don’t forget to follow the #PaperPlanesBackHome blog tour (it’s the last day!), join the giveaway, and get a chance to win a free e-book copy of Paper Planes Back Home! (Open to Philippine residents only.)

Do check out where else you can buy this wonderful book if you don’t feel like joining the giveaway: Goodreads, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks ♥

There are books that you remember, and then there are books that you remember — the ones that become a part of your life, the ones that leave indelible marks on your soul and make you feel all the things. Paper Planes Back Home is one of those books.

Tara Frejas managed to put into words the simple, yet also very complex, idea of life and after life, and make it feel real in the most heartfelt way possible. ♥

Continue reading Paper Planes Back Home || Excerpts and Things

Paper Planes Back Home || An Interview with Tara Frejas

First things first: Don’t forget to follow the #PaperPlanesBackHome blog tour this week, join the giveaway, and get a chance to win a free e-book copy of Paper Planes Back Home! (Open to Philippine residents only.)

Do check out where else you can buy this wonderful book if you don’t feel like joining the giveaway: Goodreads, Amazon, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple iBooks ♥

Tara Frejas

She seems reluctant to unfold a plane, but when she looks back up at him, she sees a paper plane drop on his lap. The look on his face is inexplicable. “Someone thought of you,” she points out, feeling an ounce of hope for this man in front of her.

QUESTION: In a few sentences, can you tell me about Paper Planes Back Home? Not including the book description… As in kunyari hindi ko pa siya nababasa, pano mo siya ipapaliwanag sakin?

T: Okay, uuh…
C: [evil cackling]

T: Okay, so, Paper Planes Back Home is an urban fantasy. Which has these two characters in a coma. And the way to get them to wake up, is for them to get these paper planes which are thoughts from their loved ones. So, we’re introduced to this place, that we don’t know where, but it’s kind of a limbo, where they’re standing on clouds. Those paper planes, when they get a lot of them they can build a bigger ride, and they can finally take the journey back home — which is synonymous to their families or their actual bodies… yung corporeal vessels!
C: Yes! [secret brain hemorrhage #1]

Continue reading Paper Planes Back Home || An Interview with Tara Frejas

StrangeLit: When Filipino Authors Get Fancy

Step 1: Think of a theme.
Step 2: Give it a name.
Step 3: Throw a bunch of Filipino authors in a room and tell them to WRITE.

What happens?

Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of #StrangeLit. Forty-one stories. Four anthologies. You get not one, not two, but ten magical stories (or even eleven for bundle three) for its current introductory price of Php90.00 ($1.99)!

Show your support for this amazing and talented community of Indie Filipino Writers by checking them all out… ♥

 

BUNDLE ONE: Killer Seasons
A werewolf chef, a cursed family, a spell to forget. You’ll meet these and more in the ten stories of the KILLER SEASONS installment of #StrangeLit, featuring:

StrangeLit Killer SeasonsResto Rescue by Maita Rue
The Last Night of Her Wake by Chrissie Peria
House of Silver: A Cursebreaker Novel by C.P. Perez
The Myth Menagerie by Lana Garcia
Vengeance: The Awakening by Arlene Manocot
At The Wishing Well by Amae Dechavez
Intersection by Den Lim
Disappearing Act by Roselle De Guzman
The “Forget You” Brew by Tara Frejas
Aurelia by Japonicus

Download the Buqo app and get this bundle HERE.

Continue reading StrangeLit: When Filipino Authors Get Fancy

Ain’t No Party Like a #SparkNA Party

June 6. National Bookstore Super Store, Cubao. SparkNA: Last Day.

[ cue orchestra music with matching flashing lights and creepy humming ]

Me, being dramatic: While SparkNA classes were ongoing, it felt like the days were going by so quickly, that two months was way too short to finish a novella. When it was over, I felt as if we’ve all been doing this together for years. And it felt like I was saying goodbye to a bunch of long time friends.

Me, being spazzy: I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE IT, BUT I FINISHED! 31,000+ words. How even?

Congratulations to all my other classmates who finished, and to those who kept going even when things were going wrong and it was getting difficult to write. Finish it! You can still submit. This isn’t the end. Let’s get that thing out there no matter what! ♥

Me, being sentimental: I took photos, like the stalker that I am. Mostly for those who didn’t come, because reasons.

Me, being realistic: StrangeLit is coming soon, and HeistClub after. No one knows exactly what 2016 has in store for us (except maybe Ms. Mina). But I bet we’ll all be waiting with bated breath, too excited for whatever the next class may be.

And then we’ll be alive on twitter again, stress out again, go nuts again, create another monster out of a hashtag again–it’s going to be EPIC.

For now, let’s chill. Because we can finally get some sleep!

Yeah, no. Who am I kidding? It’s time to plot.

BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments || Excerpts + Giveaway

First things first: Don’t forget to follow the last leg of the BuqoYA blog tour, join the raffle, and get a chance to win a Powerbank from Buqo! (Open to Philippine residents only, to be picked up at Buqo’s Manila office.)

Do support our Filipino Authors. Grab your very own copy of BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments. Six amazing stories, 90 pesos. Worth it. 🙂

[ BuqoYA 1 | BuqoYA 2 | BuqoYA 3 | BuqoYA 4 ]

A Moment Like This by Sue Donymko

A Moment Like This by Sue Donymko

Sue Donymko lives and works in Manila, Philippines. When not writing or working, or working some more, she eats, watches a lot of television, sings — much to the neighbors’ dismay — and reads until she falls asleep.
Blog | Twitter

Continue reading BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments || Excerpts + Giveaway

BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments || An interview with Madelyn Tuviera

First things first: Don’t forget to follow the BuqoYA blog tour this week, join the raffle, and get a chance to win a Powerbank from Buqo! (Open to Philippine residents only, to be picked up at Buqo’s Manila office.)

Do support our Filipino Authors. Grab your very own copy of BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments. Six amazing stories, 90 pesos. Worth it. 🙂

MadelynTuviera2

“You look familiar,” Wency whispered. Slowly, he bent his knees before getting down on all fours, looking up at Lester through the narrow gaps of his bangs. “Very familiar.”

QUESTION: In a few sentences, can you tell me about Matchpoint Mishap? In words that you haven’t used to describe it before. Not including the book description…

M: Not including the malandi sila part.
C: Yes!

M: I’d like to think of it as a coming of age story. Yeah, I’d like to think of it as a coming of age story where the– the main character explores both– Ang hirap!
C: Kaya mo yan. Continue reading BuqoYA Bundle 5: Perfect Moments || An interview with Madelyn Tuviera