Luna East Arts Academy Volume 1: Kids These Days--Book Review

Hello February, and hello darlings!  Welcome to Luna East Arts Academy Volume 1's stop on my blog!

         

The stories from LUNA EAST ARTS ACADEMY are about love. And also, friends, food, kissing, rumors, mean people, insecurities, birthdays, breakups, making up. We set it in an arts academy because we wanted everyone to have a talent, and know it. Because no one is ordinary, if you know them well enough. 

Who are you, at LUNA EAST? Are you a popular kid, a wallflower, a drama club diva, a debate whiz? Visit lunaeastacademy.org to read more stories from #LUNAEAST, and submit your own. For readers 16 and up.

BOOK LINK:

Luna East Website: lunaeastacademy.org

Paperback Order Form: bit.ly/lunaeastv1

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Welcome to Luna East Arts Academy, a place where your teenage fantasies are released, and where you can find yourself—or find people who can help you get to know yourself even more.

Luna East is a collection of short stories from today’s talented bunch of Filipino Authors. It’s a sneak peek about the lives of the students of Luna East Arts Academy, a fictional school where a lot of magic happens.

From childhood sweethearts, to love at first sight; to Cadet Training memories; teenagers trying to go against the Status Quo; to not being sure if the person you like likes you back; to picturing someone naked; getting rid of rumors and being true to yourself; Anime Conventions; Coffee shop talks; and learning to stand for yourself and for the people in your life, this book has it all.

What’s great about Luna East is that there is a variation of stories—no story is the same, but they also intertwine in such a way that you can find some of the characters in one story in the other. There’s continuity, for sure, but there is also variety, which makes it good, because as you well may know by now, some readers these days have little or close to zero tolerance for long books. With this one, they can read a lot of stories, and I’m pretty sure that they’ll find their favorites that they can read over and over again. Personally, I enjoyed “Sitting on a Tree” (Chrissie Peria), “Fifty Two Weeks” (Mina Esguerra), “The Rumor About Me” (Khristel Villar), “The Apple of My Eye” (Addie Lynn Co), “Senpai’s Number 1 Fan” (Anne Plaza), and “Picture Me Naked” (DR Lee) the most. They were cute, kilig, and really a delight to read.

Whether you’re in High School, or just want a reminder of what High School used to be like, this book is for you. It’ll make you smile, laugh, root for the characters, be happy and sad and feel some hate about some characters, and maybe even wish for more. After all, it’s High School, and there are all sorts of characters and all sorts of happenings involved. You'll realize that a kid from Luna East is a mirror of the person you used to be. 

The book also features awesome artwork from:

Richard Sy for Stella Torres' "Be Creative"

 Jonalyn Cabigting for Jen Suguitan's "Where do we go from here?"

Robert Wong for Anne Plaza's "Senpai\s #1 Fan"

Looking for a good read this lovely February? Then better check out this first volume of stories from the Academy. 

And, in case you have nothing better to do on February 8th, then why don't you come to the launch of Luna East Arts Academy Volume 1: Kids These Days at the Ayala Museum? It'll be fun and amazing. Plus, it's also the first anniversary of #RomanceClass, and best of all, it's for free! You'll get awesome freebies from Buqo and from Mina V. Esguerra, too! 

AUTHORS’ BIO:

Chrissie Peria is the author of All’s Fair in Blog and War, a contemporary romance novella featuring feuding travel bloggers in Macau. When not writing, she serves her tiny overlord Miffy and Miffy’s poodle/minion, Cooper. She also enjoys cooking, taking photos and playing with dolls. Chrissie is currently working on a contemporary YA romance featuring books and boys who like books.

Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance, young adult, and new adult novellas. Her YA fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love is about gods of Philippine mythology, in college. Through her blog Publishing in Pajamas (minavesguerra.com), she documents her experiments in publishing.

Ronald S. Lim has been writing for a newspaper for almost a decade now, but he’s been writing stories for much longer. He is co-author of the book 60 Minutes: Interview with People Who Inspire. He has more books than he has clothes.

Nurse by profession, educator at heart, Athena Claire Duenas has been a bookworm for as long as she can remember. Her passion for reading started when she “met” Archie Andrews in a store at the airport. Aside from reading, she enjoys writing short stories and reviews at thebookjunkie.weebly.com, playing the keyboard, and just cuddling with her dog, Frou-Frou.

Miles Tan likes inhabiting imaginary worlds, from fantasy books to sci-fi shows to cheeky mysteries to role-playing games. Her contemporary romance novella Finding X is available on Amazon.

M. Protacio-De Guzman works in the field of HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health. His poems and stories have been published in The Philippines Free Press, Sunday Inquirer Magazine, and The Philippines Graphic Magazine. He has also been anthologized in Ladlad 3: An anthology of gay writing in the Philippines edited by J. Neil Garcia and Danton Remoto. He also has ebooks available in Amazon and Smashwords, among others.

Writing has always been Kristel S. Villar’s first love, but it was only in her late 20s when she re-discovered her passion for writing fiction. When she is not busy daydreaming of story plots, she covers sporting events for a national broadsheet and takes care of her husband and son. She is addicted to coffee.

Alyssa Ashley Lucas gets her writing inspiration from the peaceful and beautiful scenery of her beloved hometown down south of the metro. She grew up together with Harry Potter and the Sweet Valley twins. She loves to read YA, detective stories, romance novels, classic novels, or any book that comes her way. She has always dreamed of becoming a writer.

Addie grew up reading Sweet Valley University and Nancy Drew mysteries. She finished a degree in Communication Arts and really wanted to pursue a career in filmmaking, but due to high production costs, she opted to tell her stories through her novels. Being the hopeless romantic that she is, she will stop at nothing to share her passion with everyone and hopes that she could infect others with it. She’s a daydreamer by day and an author by night. She has released her first book Hello: A Trilogy.

Anne Plaza has a degree in Psychology, but has actively pursued a career in writing in her previous work as a reporter and online editor. She currently works in the field of marketing communications and spends most of her time writing fiction (while not on the lookout for the nearest cupcake and cronut store).  Aside from writing, she loves to read contemporary romance, young adult, fantasy, and historical fiction. She also collects stamps and postcards, and loves everything about cats. Anne is based in Quezon City, Philippines. 

Jen C. Suguitan is a PR practitioner by day and a storyteller/ninja by night. Her love affair with words and letters was too strong that not even her differently-wired brain can actually stop her. She has written for different publications including a national broadsheet prior to diving into the PR industry.  When she’s not writing, she’s probably thinking of what to write about next.

D. R. Lee is a law student hailing from the Philippines. Outside of her academic endeavor, she does writing, painting, and a whole lot of reading. On a perfect day, she talks with the people inside her head and tells their stories through printed words. You can reach her by email at: drlee.peacelovebacon@gmail.com.

Jayen San Diego likes to share her imaginary world through writing. She is the author of Just A Little Rain, one of the novels produced during #romanceclass. She is a news archivist by day, fiction writer by night, and a self-confessed fangirl in between. Read about her thoughts about life, love, and writing at jayensandiego.blogspot.com

Stella Torres graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor’s degree in English literature with a concentration on creative writing. She also worked briefly in public relations and earned her master’s degree in special education before moving back to the Philippines. Stella is currently taking up her PhD in education at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. She writes novels, short stories, and unproduced screenplays when not establishing correlations between test scores.