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| New Adult Quick Reads 1: Say That Things Change (Jhing Bautista, Jonnalyn Cabigting, Katherine C. Eustaquio-Derla, Leng de Chavez, Rachelle Belaro, Rayne Mariano, and Mina V. Esguerra)New Adult is an emerging literature category that focuses on themes of discovery and independence for characters in college to their mid-twenties. Buy the book HERE ***
First up, if you're looking for a fun, kilig and quick read, (or I should say, "Reads", as there are a couple of different stories here), THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU! And I am not kidding--it totally is. And, get this: Most of the stories are in Tagalog, so if you're the type who has no time or patience to read heavy English reads, you can try this baby out.
Actually, at first, I was like, "Ayy tagalog yung iba", because with the exception of Bob Ong, I have not really tried reading tagalog novels/stories, especially those that are all the rage right now. Not that I'm judging, it's just not my thing, but boy oh boy did I enjoy this one.
First, you have Jhing Bautista's "Six Degrees of Separation" and omg, I seriously posted this on Twitter, "Tagos talaga sya!" haha. The story was refreshing in such a way that it gives a voice to people who have loved and lost and have been crazy and heartbroken at some point in their lives. (You know we've all been there) I like the honesty of the story and the fact that two different points of view were used to show how each of the characters felt. It was so good, I swear.
And then there's Jonalyn Cabigting's "Prince Charmee". Ay My god, RIOT ITO. The title in itself already says so much about the story--so think what you want to think--but I'd have to say, I really enjoyed this one. It's funny in all the right places and so kilig and cute, too. If you're having a bad night or a bad week, read this. You'll feel all the good vibes, definitely.
Next up is "Before I Do" by Katherine C. Eustaquio-Derla. This one was also quite enjoyable and refreshing. It was frank and honest and perfect for every woman out there who's in a relationship that's either stable or stale. It's perfect for those who are in dire need of some thinking and decision making. What's good is that the protagonist is not api-apihan. She's fierce and she's awesome--as each and every woman should be.
"Everything Is In Line" by Leng de Chavez meanwhile is perfect for every person out there who's connected to his or her mobile phone. I'm pretty sure teenagers or teens at heart can relate to this. Hashtag alam na. *wink*
Rachelle Belaro's "Almost but not Quite". Awww, With love comes surprises? Sure does. Those who have not tried being in a relationship--yet--will surely be able to relate to this. Plus, you'll also be able to relate to it since well, we've all been there.
Rayne Mariano's "Sharm's Side" is about the fact that while you may feel like you are often in the sidelines, or that someone else is put in the limelight more than you are, it doesn't mean that you will no longer get your time to shine--who knows? Sooner or later, you will be placed in the spotlight and who knows what happens? So, friend, di pa huli ang lahat!
And last but definitely not the least, Mina V. Esguerra's "My Muse Apollo 1: Creation Myths". There's always a magic that comes with stories revolving college. Mina has woven her magic wand once again with this one of a kind story about two people from opposite ends of the spectrum. It's kilig, it's lovely and it's interesting. The perfect way to cap off such an entertaining book.
Say That Things Change is a reminder that women these days are strong--and are totally worth loving.
Bravo to this!
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A little mix of everything you need to know about books, food, music, what-nots, and my life in general.
Showing posts with label mina esguerra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mina esguerra. Show all posts
Saturday, March 8, 2014
New Adult Quick Reads 1: Say That Things Change - Book Review
Sunday, December 29, 2013
13 Books for 2013
So 2013 is almost over and I haven't posted any EOTY lists yet--until now. I'll start with what else? Books, of course.
It's hard to narrow down everything to just 13 books since I read 164 books this year (yay!) but I'll try.
Here are my Top 13 books for 2013: (Note: Some of these books may not have been released this year in particular but I read them this year, so, there..)
1. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl
“Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and mildly socially retarded, I'm a complete disaster.” (Cath, "Fangirl)
In Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
All the feels for this.
2. Chris Mariano - Cover (Story) Girl
"He thought it smelled like regret." (Gio, "Cover (Story) Girl)
) She has amnesia.
2) She’s on the run from her father’s creditors.
3) She’s enjoying her last days on earth.
Ever since Jang Min Hee walked into Gio’s small museum, she’s given him one excuse after another about why she’s vacationing at scenic Boracay Island. Rarely has Gio’s neat and organized world been shaken like this. Soon he finds himself scrambling over rocks, hiding in dressing rooms, and dragging her out of bars. But how can Gio tell what's true from what isn't? Their worlds are getting unraveled -- one story at a time.
I think this is one of the best books that have ever been written. It's just something you'd want to read over and over again.
3. Rainbow Rowell - Eleanor and Park
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.
4. Maria Semple - Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
"You have to create! Or you'll become a menace to society!"
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
5. Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) - The Cuckoo's Calling
“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.”
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
6. Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
“Men always say that as the defining compliment, don’t they? She’s a cool girl. Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl."
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
THIS IS BATSH*T CRAY AND IT'S SOOOO GOOD.
7. Mina V. Esguerra - Love Your Frenemies
"So we liked to speak our minds, but not our hearts. Too bad, because sometimes people needed to hear that. A whole mess of things could have been avoided if we just knew how to say the right thing.”
Kimmy knows everyone hates her, but when she comes back after a long disappearance, she has a nagging feeling that things aren't exactly what she thought them to be.
First of all, there's her first love, the very sexy Manolo who used to have a nasty habit of breaking her heart. Then there's her bride-to-be BFF whom Kimmy means to write out of her life right after the wedding. And there's her mother who Kimmy can't wait to abandon - again.
Is Kimmy headed for more disaster, or can a girl everyone hates finally get a clue and find happiness?
8. Meg Cabot - Airhead
"“Looks can be deceiving.”
Meg Cabot expands her huge fan base with this slightly darker, more mysterious novel - without losing any of her signature heart and humor.
EM WATTS IS GONE.
Emerson Watts didn’t even want to go to the new SoHo Stark Megastore grand opening. But someone needed to look out for her sister, Frida, whose crush, British heartthrob Gabriel Luna, would be singing and signing autographs there—along with the newly appointed Face of Stark, teen supermodel sensation Nikki Howard.
How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her—and life as she’d known it—forever? One bizarre accident later, and Em Watts, always the tomboy, never the party princess, is no longer herself. Literally.
9. Jessica Park - Flat Out Love
“It was always you. I thought it was someone else, but it was you. You were the person that I felt.”
Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.
It's not what you know--or when you see--that matters. It's about a journey.
10. Chrissie Peria - All's Fair in Blog and War
Five Cuevas @fivetravels
Three guesses to where I'm going next. Starts with an M. Ends with a U. Has a lechon named after it. #travel
Twenty-something travel blogger Five thinks she has hit the jackpot when she gets invited to glittering Macau for an all-expense-paid bloggers tour. Think majestic old churches, sparkling casinos, exhilarating bungee jumps, and the world's most unforgettable egg tarts. The trip is practically perfect, except for one little glitch. She gets assigned to be travel buddies with Jesse, the world's most infuriating photo blogger, and it's definitely war at first sight.
Will Five let Jesse turn her dream vacation into a total nightmare? Or will falling in love be on the itinerary?
11. Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
WICKED above her hipbone, GIRL across her heart
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.
NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.
HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.
With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.
12. Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project
“But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?”
An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.
13. Koushun Takami, Yuji Oiniki - Battle Royale
Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language.
See the full list of the books I read this year HERE.
It's hard to narrow down everything to just 13 books since I read 164 books this year (yay!) but I'll try.
Here are my Top 13 books for 2013: (Note: Some of these books may not have been released this year in particular but I read them this year, so, there..)
1. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl
“Underneath this veneer of slightly crazy and mildly socially retarded, I'm a complete disaster.” (Cath, "Fangirl)
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?
All the feels for this.
2. Chris Mariano - Cover (Story) Girl
"He thought it smelled like regret." (Gio, "Cover (Story) Girl)
2) She’s on the run from her father’s creditors.
3) She’s enjoying her last days on earth.
Ever since Jang Min Hee walked into Gio’s small museum, she’s given him one excuse after another about why she’s vacationing at scenic Boracay Island. Rarely has Gio’s neat and organized world been shaken like this. Soon he finds himself scrambling over rocks, hiding in dressing rooms, and dragging her out of bars. But how can Gio tell what's true from what isn't? Their worlds are getting unraveled -- one story at a time.
I think this is one of the best books that have ever been written. It's just something you'd want to read over and over again.
3. Rainbow Rowell - Eleanor and Park
“Eleanor was right. She never looked nice. She looked like art, and art wasn't supposed to look nice; it was supposed to make you feel something.”
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.
4. Maria Semple - Where'd You Go, Bernadette?
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to Seattle—and people in general—has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence—creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
5. Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) - The Cuckoo's Calling
“The dead could only speak through the mouths of those left behind, and through the signs they left scattered behind them.”
After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.
Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, thelegendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.
You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.
Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
6. Gillian Flynn - Gone Girl
On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer?
As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?
THIS IS BATSH*T CRAY AND IT'S SOOOO GOOD.
7. Mina V. Esguerra - Love Your Frenemies
Kimmy knows everyone hates her, but when she comes back after a long disappearance, she has a nagging feeling that things aren't exactly what she thought them to be.
First of all, there's her first love, the very sexy Manolo who used to have a nasty habit of breaking her heart. Then there's her bride-to-be BFF whom Kimmy means to write out of her life right after the wedding. And there's her mother who Kimmy can't wait to abandon - again.
Is Kimmy headed for more disaster, or can a girl everyone hates finally get a clue and find happiness?
8. Meg Cabot - Airhead
"“Looks can be deceiving.”
EM WATTS IS GONE.
Emerson Watts didn’t even want to go to the new SoHo Stark Megastore grand opening. But someone needed to look out for her sister, Frida, whose crush, British heartthrob Gabriel Luna, would be singing and signing autographs there—along with the newly appointed Face of Stark, teen supermodel sensation Nikki Howard.
How was Em to know that disaster would strike, changing her—and life as she’d known it—forever? One bizarre accident later, and Em Watts, always the tomboy, never the party princess, is no longer herself. Literally.
9. Jessica Park - Flat Out Love
Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.
It's not what you know--or when you see--that matters. It's about a journey.
10. Chrissie Peria - All's Fair in Blog and War
Five Cuevas @fivetravels
Three guesses to where I'm going next. Starts with an M. Ends with a U. Has a lechon named after it. #travel
Twenty-something travel blogger Five thinks she has hit the jackpot when she gets invited to glittering Macau for an all-expense-paid bloggers tour. Think majestic old churches, sparkling casinos, exhilarating bungee jumps, and the world's most unforgettable egg tarts. The trip is practically perfect, except for one little glitch. She gets assigned to be travel buddies with Jesse, the world's most infuriating photo blogger, and it's definitely war at first sight.
Will Five let Jesse turn her dream vacation into a total nightmare? Or will falling in love be on the itinerary?
11. Gillian Flynn - Sharp Objects
Words are like a road map to reporter Camille Preaker’s troubled past. Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, Camille’s first assignment from the second-rate daily paper where she works brings her reluctantly back to her hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls.
NASTY on her kneecap, BABYDOLL on her leg
Since she left town eight years ago, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed again in her family’s Victorian mansion, Camille is haunted by the childhood tragedy she has spent her whole life trying to cut from her memory.
HARMFUL on her wrist, WHORE on her ankle
As Camille works to uncover the truth about these violent crimes, she finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Clues keep leading to dead ends, forcing Camille to unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past to get at the story. Dogged by her own demons, Camille will have to confront what happened to her years before if she wants to survive this homecoming.
With its taut, crafted writing, Sharp Objects is addictive, haunting, and unforgettable.
12. Graeme Simsion - The Rosie Project
“But why, why, why can't people just say what they mean?”
An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don's Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges.
13. Koushun Takami, Yuji Oiniki - Battle Royale
Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller is based on an irresistible premise: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan - where it then proceeded to become a runaway bestseller - Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world. Made into a controversial hit movie of the same name, Battle Royale is already a contemporary Japanese pulp classic, now available for the first time in the English language.
See the full list of the books I read this year HERE.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Interim Goddess of Love, Queen of The Clueless, and Icon of the Indecisive Reviews
Hello! It's almost the last day of August but the Interim Goddess of Love Trilogy Book Tour is still not over for today marks its stop on my blog. And yes, if you're looking for something good to read, then you better get your hands on these babies.
Book 1: The Interim Goddess of Love
Goodreads Amazon Smashwords
College student Hannah Maquiling, also
temporarily working as the Goddess of Love, has had enough of everyone asking
for her help when it comes to relationships. It's her turn to find romance! She
deserves it, after serving as matchmaker and confidant to everyone else in Ford
River College for the past year. She's had a crush on handsome senior (and God
of the Sun) Quin forever, but he's destined to fall in love with an
extraordinary mortal woman, so she's figured her chances with him have pretty
much dropped to zero.
It's not like she doesn't have any options for a classic college romance though. There's Diego, God of the Sea and Quin's best friend/enemy. And regular guy Robbie is stepping up, making sure she knows how he feels about her. How hard can it be for a goddess to find someone to love, and be loved in return?
It's not like she doesn't have any options for a classic college romance though. There's Diego, God of the Sea and Quin's best friend/enemy. And regular guy Robbie is stepping up, making sure she knows how he feels about her. How hard can it be for a goddess to find someone to love, and be loved in return?
***
Imagine a life where in you have the powers over people who are in love...Well, not really.
As Hannah accepts the challenge to become the Interim Goddess of Love, she thinks that affairs of the heart are so easy to have power over. Hannah also has problems with letting her powers come to life and she feels like she's not really meant for the job. But then again, she realizes that she has her own problems of the heart, as well, and that she could do nothing about. There's Robbie, hot guy, who Hannah has something going on with (or is there, really?), and then there's Quin, Sun god, who everyone around Hannah thinks should be with her. She also has to deal with the conflicts around her--there's troublesome Diego--god of the sea, and Vida--goddess of the moon and all around Miss Popular who seems to hate her with a passion.
As Hannah accepts the challenge to become the Interim Goddess of Love, she thinks that affairs of the heart are so easy to have power over. Hannah also has problems with letting her powers come to life and she feels like she's not really meant for the job. But then again, she realizes that she has her own problems of the heart, as well, and that she could do nothing about. There's Robbie, hot guy, who Hannah has something going on with (or is there, really?), and then there's Quin, Sun god, who everyone around Hannah thinks should be with her. She also has to deal with the conflicts around her--there's troublesome Diego--god of the sea, and Vida--goddess of the moon and all around Miss Popular who seems to hate her with a passion.
If you want a story that incorporates reality and magic, this is the book for you. You'll cheer for Hannah, cry for Hannah, and feel for her every dilemma...such as choosing who to fall for: Good boy Robbie (who loves her with a passion), Sun God Quin (who is again, very. hot.), and Bad Boy Diego (who always seems to be around Vida!). It's a different kind of book that incorporates not only love, and stories about college, but also Filipino Mythology, as well. I like the fact that there's Filipino Mythology involved since most of us have forgotten or don't even know about our own myths. And if you're one of those who don't, then this book is a good start. Who doesn't want a good magical love story with some education involved? I swear, you'll smile from the very first page all the way to the end. Such a cliffhanger, though! But that's why it's a trilogy...
If you've been feeling neglected by the Goddess
of Love lately, don't worry -- Hannah Maquiling, college sophomore, is in
training to take over. The Original Goddess is missing, but Hannah is Interim
Goddess now, and she should figure out how to solve humanity's love problems
soon. Quin (God of the Sun) is still her mentor, still really hot, but
apparently isn't as honest about his other earthly relationships as she
thought. It's frustrating, and enough to make her check out possibilities with
Diego (God of the Sea) and Robbie (Cute Human).
In the meantime, she's decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn't exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it's not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it's not what people want.)
In the meantime, she's decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn't exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it's not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it's not what people want.)
***
Hannah is still the Interim Goddess of Love--and now, she's more clueless than ever! In this book, the stories of her friends--especially her bestfriend, Sol, were also tackled. See, Sol thinks that her boyfriend, Neil is stealing from her and she just doesn't know what to do.
And that's where Hannah enters. She tries to help Sol solve her problem but the uncanny Neil seems to have an agenda on his own. And Hannah thinks that Neil is also one of the gods! And then there's some jealousy involved as Quin seems to be seen in the company of Denise Cabral, a young History professor, most of the time. And still, there's Vida--tough cookie Vida who still seems to hate Hannah so much and wouldn't stop on making life harder for her.
This book also showcases the good side of bad boy Diego--see? Even bad boys can be good, too. (And yeah, yeah, I'm on Team Diego so...)
This book is pretty cool and easy to read, and super, super bitin--and that's why you have to read "Icon of the Indecisive" right away just to shake those "bitin" feelings off and see what happens to our dear Hannah...
Book 3: Icon of the Indecisive
Goodreads Amazon Smashwords
And that's where Hannah enters. She tries to help Sol solve her problem but the uncanny Neil seems to have an agenda on his own. And Hannah thinks that Neil is also one of the gods! And then there's some jealousy involved as Quin seems to be seen in the company of Denise Cabral, a young History professor, most of the time. And still, there's Vida--tough cookie Vida who still seems to hate Hannah so much and wouldn't stop on making life harder for her.
This book also showcases the good side of bad boy Diego--see? Even bad boys can be good, too. (And yeah, yeah, I'm on Team Diego so...)
This book is pretty cool and easy to read, and super, super bitin--and that's why you have to read "Icon of the Indecisive" right away just to shake those "bitin" feelings off and see what happens to our dear Hannah...
Book 3: Icon of the Indecisive
Goodreads Amazon Smashwords
College student Hannah Maquiling, also
temporarily working as the Goddess of Love, has had enough of everyone asking
for her help when it comes to relationships. It's her turn to find romance! She
deserves it, after serving as matchmaker and confidant to everyone else in Ford
River College for the past year. She's had a crush on handsome senior (and God
of the Sun) Quin forever, but he's destined to fall in love with an
extraordinary mortal woman, so she's figured her chances with him have pretty
much dropped to zero.
It's not like she doesn't have any options for a classic college romance though. There's Diego, God of the Sea and Quin's best friend/enemy. And regular guy Robbie is stepping up, making sure she knows how he feels about her. How hard can it be for a goddess to find someone to love, and be loved in return?
It's not like she doesn't have any options for a classic college romance though. There's Diego, God of the Sea and Quin's best friend/enemy. And regular guy Robbie is stepping up, making sure she knows how he feels about her. How hard can it be for a goddess to find someone to love, and be loved in return?
***
| Sometimes, in life, you have to really, really decide. That's the lesson that Hannah Maquiling learns after becoming Interim Goddess of Love. When she finally realizes that it's not just a game and that people's feelings may be hurt, she learns that she has to decide once and for all if this life is for her. This book is crazy good. It shows the different sides of the characters, and also, there's a really good subplot that you'll feel for: Justin and Marlee's story. Justin and Marlee have been together forever. And then a betrayal happens, and Hannah has to help out or else relationships will be destroyed and a life would be in danger. And then there are Hannah's dreams, which actually are prophetic and she has to learn to understand them--and to understand that she actually possesses the powers of a real goddess now. This also shows more of Hannah's lovelife--the confusion, the fear, the pain, and all the "kilig" moments that makes you feel like you're back in college again. (How Hannah does any studying with all these hot boys around, I don't know...) Also, this book showcases who the original goddess of love is and you'd probably be surprised. Surprises, more backgrounds on Philippine Myths, love, life, choices-- This is the perfect ending to the trilogy--one that'll make you go "awww, I want more!". And I really do want more.
***
 About the Author:
Mina V. Esguerra writes
contemporary romance, young adult, and new adult novellas. Her young
adult/fantasy trilogy Interim Goddess of Love is a college love story featuring
gods from Philippine mythology. Her contemporary romance novella Fairy Tale
Fail won the 2012 Filipino Readers' Choice award for Chick Lit. Through her
blog Publishing in Pajamas (minavesguerra.com), she documents her experiments
in e-publishing.
When not writing romance, she is
president of communications firm Bronze Age Media, development communication
consultant, indie publisher, professional editor, wife, and mother. She created
the workshop series "Author at Once" and #romanceclass for writers
and publishers.
Visit Mina on her website, follow her on Twitter, be her friend on Facebook and don't forget to check out her other stuff and rate her books on Goodreads.
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