Miri dela Merced’s film director grandfather and Pabs Paglinauan’s studio head grandmother had a huge falling out that ended Lolo Ikong’s career. At seventeen, Miri finds herself in the same summer film internship program as the down-to-earth film studio heir Pabs, whom she’s decided to automatically write off, just because of his lineage. As Miri gets a crash course in her expectations vs the reality of what it’s like to work on a real movie, her true feelings for Pabs become harder and harder to ignore. In between attending outdoor screenings of classic Pinoy movies and battling monster production assistants together, can flipping the script on a decades-old grudge be only a few sequences away?
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
Release Date: February 15, 2019
Cover Models: Liane Palomo, Boo Gabunada
Cover Designed by: Tara Frejas
Flicker Design Identity: Clarissa Ines
Photographed by: Chi Yu Rodriguez
Makeup by: Carla De Guzman
Styling by: Alex Lapa
BUY LINKS:
For PH print edition: http://bit.ly/FTSPrintOrder
For International readers: http://bit.ly/FTSintl
For the Kindle edition: http://bit.ly/loloikong
Add us on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/FTSgr
So now what? Are we a thing? Do I want us to be a thing? Would it be so wrong if I say that I do? What do I do with these feelings, exactly?
So now what? Are we a thing? Do I want us to be a thing? Would it be so wrong if I say that I do? What do I do with these feelings, exactly? It was definitely more simple when we weren’t friends. It was easier hating Pabs, but I must admit that falling for him is a lot more interesting.
THE AUTHOR
Danice Mae P. Sison realized she wanted to be Harriet the Spy when she was very young. Since then, she has been digging out from real life experiences, pop culture obsessions, and her growing TBR pile of young adult and romance books for inspiration. She works in pay television as a channel manager, and has previously contributed as an author on the anthology Start Here. Flipping the Script is her first book.
Contact Danice:
danicemaepsison.wordpress.com
Twitter: @danicemaepsison
Email: hastyteenflick@gmail.com
I interviewed Danice about the book and her writing journey. Here’s what she has to say…
Tell me about your writing journey. How/when you started and how did you come by #romanceclass.
Iirc it was about the time after I read Mina V. Esguerra’s The Interim Goddess of Love in 2015 or so? I read it in one sitting on a bus trip from Manila to Baguio, and wanted to read more of her work. When I visited her blog, I came across an entry about #romanceclass and the free romance writing workshop she was holding at the time. I submitted a book description but dropped out very early in the game because… life. Anyway, I signed up for the FB group and lurked for about a year. I only became more active in the community when I spotted the callout for the “Start Here” anthology and the #romanceclassYA workshop shortly after.
Before you discovered #romanceclass, what romance books did you read?
I grew up reading Sweet Dreams, Sweet Valley High and Crosswinds pocketbooks. I read those from age 10-13. Then there was a long gap where I stopped reading romance and only one or two titles would grab my interest, like Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series, (though I stopped after the fourth book!). I rediscovered the romance genre recently when I discovered Tiffany Reisz’s Original Sinners series. I was also reading a lot of M/M fanfic and BL manga, which led to C.S Pacat’s “Captive Prince” and K.J. Charles’ “A Charm of Magpies” and her “Society of Gentlemen” series.
Do you have a favorite romance author/book?
It’s hard to pick a favorite especially after discovering so many awesome authors, but a recent favorite would have to be Rebekah Weatherspoon’s FIT trilogy. I marathon-ed all three (plus the novella) in late 2018 because I couldn’t get enough of the “fit but soft” heroes in the books.
Tell us about how you came up with FTS. What were the difficulties you encountered while writing FTS? In what way was the writing process easy?
The #romanceclassYA workshop called for a story for young adults incorporating one Pinoy element that I wished there was more of in YA stories, or a Pinoy element I haven’t seen yet written in any YA. I immediately thought of coming up with a storyline that had to do with a couple of young filmmakers because I’d just completed my undergrad in Film the previous year (after a 15 year hiatus!) so a lot of my experience from being around young people in film was still quite fresh. That was the easy part.
However, to be honest I’m terrible with conflict, so I was struggling in the beginning how to bring the story to Act 2. I kept going back to the #romanceclass textbook to keep myself in check as I pieced the story together.
Is there a character you identify with?
It would have to be Mimi Dela Merced, the mom of the MC, Miri. I think if I became a parent, my parenting style would be like hers. That, and I wish any future daughter of mine would be as awesome as Miri is.
Is there a trope you dream of writing? What is it and why?
Oooh, there’s a lot I want to try experimenting with. The biggest one right now (and I’ve been thinking of this for about a year) is Older Woman/Younger Man. I look to previous work done by awesome #romanceclass writers Agay Llanera, Jay E. Tria, and Carla De Guzman and I want to contribute my own story! Reading these writers’ work have inspired me, and I think we need more of these. I need more of these, especially as I approach my 40’s. There are thankfully a lot of seasoned romances available, but I think I may need to write seasoned romances about 35+ women who don’t necessarily identify with those who are/have been previously married or have had children, because I’m 39 and haven’t experienced those personally. There must be a lot of us that haven’t, and am sure we’d also love to see some representation.
Where is Danice headed from here? What can we expect from you in the near future?
I’m a really slow writer when I don’t have any imposed deadlines, but I’m hoping to finish my next book, which is Older Woman/Younger Man, or Woman-in-her-thirties/young-man-in-his-barely-twenties. Here’s hoping I finish! *crosses fingers*
- Is a community of authors who attended #romanceclass, #romanceclass2016, the steamy reads, YA classes organized by Mina V. Esguerra
- Readers of the books by those authors
- Readers of English-language romance books by Filipino authors
- Actors and artists who are part of the event and publishing process
We are a community of Filipino writers and readers who gather together to do what we love. Quoting from Mina V. Esguerra:
“The #romanceclass community of authors is a group that came out of the free class I ran in 2013, meant to encourage Filipino readers of chick lit and contemporary romance to start writing and publishing their own stories. “romanceclass” was the hashtag used to informally discuss things with each other over Twitter, and it stuck. That time, 100 people signed up, and 16 authors completed a contemporary romance novella. They’ve since gone on to write more, publish, get publishing deals…and we continue to support each other on social media and everywhere else.”
Genre:
“Just so we’re on the same page. There’s no boyfriend, is there?” he asked when she returned. As much as he wanted to seem disinterested, even he could tell he was focusing too intently on the calluses on his fingertips. He raised his eyes, blinked away the memories, and grinned.
“Figures. You looked pretty intense just now.”
“I’m not complaining. I am asking who’s sexy.” Dark eyebrows up and wiggling. Ripe lips curved in a smirk, bearing my final warning.
Oh, we weave such a tangled dark web. Is it possible to disentangle oneself without inflicting damage, permanent damage, to one’s person?
J. Guibone 
