Day 2 was kind of Tokyo-drifting day 1 proper, that being our first full day to roam the city. Our hosts said we arrived in Tokyo at a very opportune time, just after the heat wave had come and gone (32+ degrees! Boiling heat just days before). It was cloudy and a bit dry that day, and we left the cool comfort of our air-conditioned apartment for the great outdoors.
Going to Tokyo was one of those dreams I never thought would come true. Even with the news of dirt cheap plane fares, guesthouse-type accommodations, and more lenient visa rules, the Tokyo-plan remained in the airspace of dreams. The trip just had to be perfect, you know? Sakura blossoms raining from the sky, sushi platters floating in the air towards me, and maybe Oguri Shun escorting me around the city. That kind of perfect. This year, however, I realized I cannot keep waiting for the perfect timing, or the perfect weather (or the perfect celebrity bishounen date. Sad face), or else I…
You enjoyed Episode 1 of the #romanceclass podcast right? The one of Fall Like Rain by Ana Tejano? And by now you’ve subscribed to the #romanceclass YouTube channel right? GOOD. Now click below for Episode 2, this time of Never Just Friends/Fallen Again by Mina V. Esguerra. In this excerpt, you will meet Jake, read by Gio Gahol, and Lindsay, read by Rachel Coates. Here’s a bit of background about the book before you hit play on the podcast: It’s too easy to fall in love with Jake. Don’t do it. Despite living in two different countries, Lindsay Kresta and Jake Berkeley have…
Cocoy’s not-so-secret dream is to one day become a gun-toting, ass-kicking secret agent. But she has another dream—and this time, even her best friends don’t have a clue—she dreams of someone. Problem is, she finds out that Jaime Arguelles—a.k.a. the guy she’d been secretly crushing on for years—likes girls who . . . well . . . like pink. To Cocoy’s logical mind, there’s only one solution: it’s time to go girly. After all, how hard can it be? With the help of her friends, Cocoy embarks on a pink-tinged journey that somehow turns her neat and orderly life upside…
For 20-year old Kyle Thomson, nothing in the world is more terrifying than the prospect of telling Allison Jeon that he loves her. That is, until he finds out that this mystical café in a peculiar place called Nowheretown had served her a cup of afforgeto—a brew for forgetting—a drink she ordered intending to forget him. Hoping to reverse the spell, Kyle reluctantly teams up with a bunny-eared hopeless romantic and a badass barista to retrieve Allison’s memory jar from the Repository of the Intangible. But when stealing back forgotten memories doesn’t quite turn out as expected, Kyle is left…
One day, author Katrina Ramos Atienza tweeted about a romance writing playlist that keeps her going when she’s in her writer’s hole. I took the bait, we fangirled a bit (ehem, Alex Turner), and then she so kindly shared her Spotify playlist link to the Twitterverse. A few months and many track contributions later, her playlist has swelled to 30+ songs and it’s still growing. I list my 15 favorites below (since 2015 is wrapping up and it’s the season of year-end lists), in no particular order. Feelings may vary depending on the weather, or the availability of chocolates in…