WiP [Work in Progress]

Thoughts and ramblings of a Filipino author

[COVER REVEAL] Summer Feels: A #romanceclass Anthology

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Summer Feels
A #romanceclass anthology

Genre: Romance
Release Date: April 30, 2017

Blurb:

Summer loving happens so fast, as you’ll find with Summer Feels, an anthology of 23 stories of love under the summer sun by #romanceclass authors. Savor the candied thrill of firsts—first loves, first kisses, first solo vacations—and the bittersweet triumph of second chances. Tour the Philippines as the stories take you to mountain retreats and island paradises. Let the magic of the hot sun, clear blue skies, and lots of love take you on a roller coaster ride of feels. With stories ranging from sweet to sexy, there’s sure to be something for any fan of romance.

 

Featuring stories by:

Elea Andrea Almazora • Erleen Alvarez • Ella Banta • Rachelle Belaro • H. Bentham • Halina Cabrera • Charlie Dio • Mina V. Esguerra • Elizabeth Galit • Georgette S. Gonzales • Ami Granada • Irene Jurado • Catherine Lo • Arlene Manocot • Bianca Mori • Eris Peñaluna • Farrah F. Polestico • Kit Salazar • Miel Salva • Fay Sebastian • Kate Sebastian • Yeyet Soriano • Marian Tee

 

Edited and compiled by Kate Sebastian

Cover and interior design by Miles Tan

 

 

About the Designer

Miles Tan likes inhabiting imaginary worlds, from fantasy books to sci-fi shows to cheeky mysteries to role-playing games. She works with websites, plays with graphics, and is now currently painting with words.

Finding X is her first published novella. Her short story “Something Real” is included in the YA Luna East anthology, Kids These Days.

To learn more about her books, visit milestanbooks.com. To see more of the cover art she’s designed, check out milestanbooks.com/works.

 

 

Book links:

 

 

Stories included in this anthology:

 

  • “All about That Bass” by Fay Sebastian
  • “Alter Christus” by Catherine Lo
  • “Fall for Me” by Miel Salva
  • “The Game of Twenty Questions” by Elizabeth Galit
  • “The Summer You Said Hello” by Ami Granada
  • “At the Bermuda Triangle” by Elea Andrea Almazora
  • “Beachin’ Summer” by Arlene Manocot
  • “Buddy System” by Yeyet Soriano
  • “Busy out of the Friendzone” by Charlie Dio
  • “Flying with You” by Rachelle Belaro
  • “Guide for a Day” by H. Bentham
  • “Ready to Run” by Kit Salazar
  • “Secondhand Wanderlust” by Erleen Alvarez
  • “The Search for the Kissing Monster” by Ella Banta
  • “Anything Can Happen” by Marian Tee
  • “Four Basic Principles” by Bianca Mori
  • “Love after Summer” by Irene Jurado
  • “Lucky in Paradise” by Farrah F. Polestico
  • “The Swimming Instructor” by Eris Peñaluna
  • “Wedding Night Stand” by Mina V. Esguerra
  • “An Overdue Adventure” by Kate Sebastian
  • “Buttered Sunset” by Halina Cabrera
  • “Then Derrick Was Back” by Georgette S. Gonzales

Get Ready for #SummerFeels!

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Twenty-three authors. From sweet to steamy. One anthology.

Get ready for #SummerFeels, a #romanceclass anthology featuring stories of summer romance set in different places in the Philippines!

What can you expect from this collection?

Yep!

Preorder links are now up on and for (PH only). Print copies may be shipped to your address or you may pick them up during the launch at the #AprilFeelsDay in UP Town Center on 30 April.

Inviting bloggers too, to sign up for our cover reveal and blog tour this May!

 

[BLOG TOUR] Feels Like Summer by Six de los Reyes

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FEELS LIKE SUMMER (Summer Storm #2)

SIX DE LOS REYES

In print (PH only): April 30, 2017

 

Blurb:

Five-minute girlfriend. This is what Jett signs up for when she meets Adrian and his band Arabella at beach music festival Summer Storm. One kiss and the attraction is too electric to ignore, but Jett has no room for love and Adrian is Mr. Relationship who’s getting over his recent breakup. The solution? Keep it simple. Keep it casual. For three months (that’s the rule about breakups, right?), Jett helps Adrian move on and Adrian shows up on Jett’s bed whenever she wants.

Then the three months are up and neither of them are in a hurry to be the first to leave. Does Jett walk away from a potential disaster or does she finally let someone into her closely-guarded heart?

 

Buy: Amazon and in (PH only)

Add it on Goodreads

 

Cover design by: Porcupine Strongwill

 

Follow Six de los Reyes:

Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Wattpad: @sixdlr

 

Author Bio:

Six de los Reyes has been reading and making up stories for as far as she can remember. In fifth grade, she learned to write about the stories she wanted to read. As a pretend grownup, she writes contemporary romance novels. Her day job doing science has something to do with being a part-time mermaid and a part-time labrat. She currently lives next to the sea.

 

Other works include:

Just for the Record

Beginner’s Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions

Sounds Like Summer

 

Anthology Contributions:

After the Moment, Taking Chances (#BuqoYA)

Nico Saves Christmas, Make My Wish Come True

Ocean Eyes, Summer Crush

[BLOG TOUR] Better At Weddings Than You by Mina V. Esguerra

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This is Book 9 in the Chic Manila series but, according to author Mina V. Esguerra, can be read as a standalone.

 

Daphne Cardenas is the best wedding planner around, and everyone knows it. That’s why her friend Greg hired her as an emergency replacement one month before his wedding—because he fears his fiancée Helen is falling for the guy they first hired for the job.

Aaron Trinidad is new to the wedding industry but years of conference planning and loads of charm make him good at it. Really good at it. Planning the wedding of his friend Helen should be easy, and it is. To be unceremoniously fired isn’t good for his new career, but the chance to learn from the best might be the silver lining.

Aaron and Daphne have chemistry, but there’s history with Helen that at least one other person considers a threat. Who’s the planner who can fix this impending disaster?

 

Buy on Amazon:

$1.99 pre-order price until April 30 / $2.99 starting May 1 / Free on Kindle Unlimited

 

Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34629572-better-at-weddings-than-you

 

Cover design by Tania Arpa, photography by Alexandra Urrea. The photo comes from one of the shoots for #romanceclasscovers project, providing romance-cover photos with Filipino models. (More about that project here: instagram.com/romanceclasscovers)

 

Interviewed Mina regarding weddings, and here are her (kilig) answers:

What is it about attending/participating in weddings you love/hate?

I love the dressing up, and the reception haha. Especially once I got married myself and experienced planning my own wedding. I liked looking at the menu in weddings I attended after, and figuring out how decisions were made, like why this, not that. I remember deeply disliking that part where the single women were “rounded up” and made to do things. I timed my bathroom visits right then, and I promised myself I wouldn’t do that to my friends. (I didn’t!)

What are the most nightmarish things that could happen to a wedding

  • If you were the organizer

Something weather related, or a medical emergency. Still you could prepare for it, but you don’t want it to happen.

  • If you were the bride

Same! I’ve seen weddings where little things or big things don’t go according to plan but it doesn’t ruin the vibe of the day at all.

If there was anything in your wedding ceremony that you could change/relive, which one/s would that/those be?

I would have eaten more. I loved the menu but there was so much going on and I wasn’t hungry during the actual wedding! Also, we brought in a table for 12 for our friends but they were led to a table for 10. They made it work, but when I found out that it happened during the reception I was like UGH HOW DID THIS HAPPEN.

If you were my wedding organizer, how would you ‘design’ a wedding ceremony between me and uhm… my dream fictional groom David Gandy? I like the color blue, lavender blooms and stargazer lilies. ?

Definitely a small destination wedding for the two of you. By the beach (but not really on the beach, because wind and sand). Special blue-colored cocktails, grilled seafood, real flowers on the layered cake. You’ll both be gone from the reception before the end of the night but that’s OK, we’ll understand.

 

 

[NEW RELEASE] Promdi Heart *Hometown Love Stories*

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I am soooooooo excited for this! Promdi Heart, Hometown Love Stories is finally hitting the shelves!

A couple years back, I was still new then to the #romanceclass community, author and editor Ines Bautista-Yao asked me if I wanted to write a short story set in a province. I readily said yes. I enumerated which ones I could write about – Dumaguete/Sibulan, Vigan, Baguio, Cebu. I ended up writing about Vigan.

I had an idea of what story I wanted and with that premise in mind, I gave birth to Once Upon A Bully.

    

What is it about? Well, about a girl who used to bully her chubby classmate and finding out more than two decades later that they were going to be neighbors. You’ll need to get the book to know the rest of the story. *wink*

#PromdiHeart Hometown Love Stories also features stories by #romanceclass authors C.P. Santi, Ines Bautista-Yao, Chris Mariano, Jay E. Tria and Agay Llanera.

Take 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, chubby boy.

Visit Pundaquit, Zambales and find love in a bronzed fisherman whose eyes hold depths you’ll want to explore.

Kindle versions will be available on April 1. Pre-order print copies and have them shipped to your address or pick them up at the #AprilFeelsDay event on April 29th.

 

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