We all talk about supporting local authors, but finding authors we enjoy reading who have books available to us can sometimes be a challenge. The writers behind Romance Writers of the Philippines have recognized the difficulty facing many authors today, whether traditionally or independently published, and they formed the organization with the goal of “working toward better written, better edited, better produced, and better marketed romance novels by Pinoy writers.”
To this end, the org will be hosting a party in honor of some of its member writers, and they’re inviting anyone who wants to read more romance by Filipino authors and discover new authors to follow to come join in the fun!

Here are the party details:

What: #MoreLoveInPH: Romance Writers of the Philippines’ 1st Multi-Author Online Bash
When: Saturday, June 27 (10AM-9PM), and Sunday, June 28 (10AM-9PM)
Where: bit.ly/MoreLoveInPH

Here’s what participants can expect to do the bash:

• Learn about and interact with local romance authors (authors will be doing one-hour takeovers throughout the weekend)
• Join contests for bookish freebies—one author is giving away a free ebook for every person who comments during her takeover!
• Support local authors! Writers don’t always get as much love as you should, so it’s great if you just drop by and tell them how intrigued you are by the book you just learned about or even how much you enjoyed a book of theirs that they read! RWP will also be sponsoring random giveaways for participants who invite their friends and who are active during the weekend-long event.

Not sure how to join? It’s easy! Just follow these three steps:

• Visit the Facebook event page for #MoreLoveInPH: bit.ly/MoreLoveInPH.
• Confirm that you’re going to the event by clicking on “Join”
• On the days of the event, drop by the event page—authors will be posting ice breaker games (with giveaways to be raffled off to commenters), info on where to follow them and on their latest books, and more!

Optional: Invite your friends to join the party too! Then on the morning of June 27 or anytime during the course of the event, have them nominate or vote for you for the top inviter on RWP’s post—top inviters will get swag and GCs!
And just to give you an idea of who will be participating in the bash, check out the takeover schedule below:

Saturday, June 27 

10AM-11AM Romance Writers of the Philippines (Kick-Off)
11AM-12NN Ines Bautista Yao
Author of One Crazy Summer, What’s in your Heart, Only a Kiss, “Flashbacks and Echoes,” “Plain Vanilla,” and “A Captured Dream” (from Sola Musica: Love Notes from a Festival)
12NN-1PM Cassandra Javier
Author of The Path of Us
1PM-2PM Fay Sebastian
Author of “Waiting for Whatever”
2PM-3PM Carla de Guzman
Author of Cities and Marry Me, Charlotte B!
3PM-4PM Edith Joaquin
Author of Once Upon A Dream, Heracles Marasigan, Ace Crisostomo, Love In Disguise, A Piece of Heaven, Ikaw Pala Ang Minahal, Patunayan Mong Mahal Mo Ako, and Kuwentong Pag-Ibig Lang
4PM-5PM Bianca Mori
Author of In too Deep, Tame the Kitten, and One Night at the Palace Hotel
5PM-6PM Claire Du
Author of Heart Choices and “He Loves Me...Not?” from Kids These Days: Luna East Volume 1
6PM-7PM C. P. Santi
Author of Be Careful What You Wish For
7PM-8PM Ana Tejano
Author of Fall Like Rain
8PM-9PM Chrissie Peria
Author of All’s Fair in Blog and War, The Kitchen When It Sizzles, All I Want for Christmas (with Chris Mariano and Miles Tan), Hot Like This (with Chris Mariano and Miles Tan), “Sitting in a Tree” from Kids These Days: Luna East Volume 1
Sunday, June 28
10AM-11AM Miles Tan
Author of Finding X, All I Want for Christmas (with Chris Mariano and Chrissie Peria), Hot Like This (with Chris Mariano and Chrissie Peria), “Something Real” from Kids These Days: Luna East Volume 1
11AM-12NN Marian Tee
Author of My Werewolf Professor, the Moretti and Caro novels, the Greek Billionaire Romance serials, the Brimstone & The Master and His Soul Seer Pet series, the Boys with Billion-Dollar Trust Funds (BBFS) series, the Heart Racer Books, and more
12NN-1PM Eve Montelibano (Official)
Author of the Megastar trilogy (Megastar, Stargazer, Written in the Stars), Sweet Downfall (Boxed set including Sex, Lies and Video Tape and Two World Collide), and The Billionaire and the Pop Diva series (Drive Her Crazy, Drive Him Wild)
1PM-2PM Kristel S. Villar
Author of Blast from Two Pasts, “The Rumor About Me” from Kids These Days: Luna East Volume 1, “Barely Even Friends”
2PM-3PM Mina V. Esguerra
Author of Playing Autumn, Fairy Tale Fail, Sola Musica, Welcome to Envy Park, Love Your Frenemies, That Kind of Guy, My Imaginary Ex, No Strings Attached, the Interim Goddess of Love trilogy, the Young and Scambitious series, The Harder We Fall, Never Just Friends, and more
3PM-4PM Six de los Reyes
Author of Just for the Record and After the Moment
4PM-5PM A.S. Santos
Author of SPRG (Student Paranormal Research Group) trilogy: Voices in the Theater, Corpse in the Mirror, and Darkness in the World
5PM-6PM Racquel Sarah Castro
Author of When Fate Speaks Big Time and Second Sight to Forever
6PM-7PM Stella Torres
Author of Save the Cake and “Be Creative” from Kids These Days: Luna East Volume 1
7PM-8PM Angela Pangilinan
Author of The Gift of Love, Hanggang Wakas, The Only Exception, Nang Muling Umibig Ang Puso, and When You Say Nothing at All
8PM-9PM Romance Writers of the Philippines (Last Hurrah)

Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn't, she wouldn't have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back.

But when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. Lobo is mysterious and passionate, and Maddie begins to fall for him. But when they live this close to the edge, can their love survive?

"From Allison van Diepen, author of Snitch and Street Pharm, comes a sexy, dangerous novel about a teen who witnesses a murder and gets caught up in the seedy world of Miami’s gangs." -extracted from book's blurb

Things were looking good for Madeleina "Maddie" Diaz. Her mom was finalizing her divorce with her stepdad from hell, she got accepted to her first choice college on full scholarship, and her friends threw her a party to celebrate. All of that came crashing down when she sees a homeless man getting attacked by the Reyes gang- and decides to get involved by testifying in court. Maddie quickly becomes known as a snitcher, and we all know what happens to people who snitch on gangs.

Truth be told, I had a really hard time getting into this book. The beginning dragged on a bit too much and never really set the pace 'til near the end. It was supposed to be thrilling from the beginning, what with the whole plotline of being involved in gangs and all, but I never really felt my heart beat faster than the normal rate. And the fact that Maddie was kind of a dull character didn't help either. She was made out to be this headstrong student journalist who was smart and sexy at the same time but it just didn't seep through. Her character sort of fell flat for me. She was kind of like a transient being robotically interacting with the other characters and moving from scene to scene. The pacing was choppy too- the transitions between scenes wasn't smooth and it made me confused.

There was one thing that made Maddie come to life though: romance. She became animated and flirty (in a cute, awkward, nice girl way) when it comes to boys. Three of them come into the picture: Manny, her funny, reformed ex-convict co-worker; Ortiz, the quiet, kind, and mysterious boxer who oozes sex appeal; and the gang leader Lobo, the unknown gang leader who saved her life. I only ever liked Maddie when she was talking to either one of the three. The author definitely knows how to develop subtle chemistry and sexy banter. The backstory behind the rivalry between the two gangs was incredibly well plotted though. It was the main reason why I kept reading- it was interesting, dark, and made my arms tingle with excitement. Too bad that it was only made evident in the later part of the story. I would have liked to know more about the two gangs and their members, especially Lobo's partner X.

All in all, On The Edge had the promise of a great plot and well thought-out storyline. However, a story like this needs a main character with strength and conviction, and Maddie unfortunately fell short. 

Seventeen-year-old Genesis Lee has never forgotten anything. As one of the Mementi—a small group of genetically-enhanced humans—Gena remembers everything with the help of her Link bracelets, which preserve memories perfectly. But Links can be stolen, and six people have already lost their lives to a memory thief, including Gena’s best friend.

Anyone could be next. Which is why Gena is less than pleased to meet a strange but charming boy named Kalan who claims that they’ve not only met, but that Gena knows who the thief is.

The problem is, Gena doesn’t remember Kalan, she doesn’t remember seeing the thief, and she doesn’t know why she’s forgetting things— or how much else she might forget. As growing tensions between Mementi and ordinary humans drive the city of Havendale into chaos, Gena and Kalan team up to search for the thief. And as Gena loses more memories, they realize they have to solve the mystery fast.

Because Gena’s life is unhappening around her.

Buy from: Amazon // The Book Depository

730. That's how many days I've been trapped.

18. That's how many days I have left to find a way out.

DAI, trying to escape a haunting past, traffics drugs for the most ruthless kingpin in the Walled City. But in order to find the key to his freedom, he needs help from someone with the power to be invisible....

JIN hides under the radar, afraid the wild street gangs will discover her biggest secret: Jin passes as a boy to stay safe. Still, every chance she gets, she searches for her lost sister....

MEI YEE has been trapped in a brothel for the past two years, dreaming of getting out while watching the girls who try fail one by one. She's about to give up, when one day she sees an unexpected face at her window.....

In this innovative and adrenaline-fueled novel, they all come together in a desperate attempt to escape a lawless labyrinth before the clock runs out.

I always assumed that The Walled City was a dystopian novel, so as I read each page I was surprised to discover that the book isn't set in a distant future or in a different world- it is set in our world, in our timeline. However, it felt like an entirely different world. It was incredibly dark and dangerous, and I could feel the tension in every scene. In a district filled with cheaters, gangs, prostitutes, and drug dealers, you wager your life every day.

The Walled City is a riveting novel written in three different perspectives- Dai's, a drug trafficker with a dark past and a dangerous secret; Jin's, a girl who spent years pretending to be a boy to survive the City and to look for her missing sister; and Mei Yee's, a prostitute with a silent desire to escape and find a better life outside and see the sea. Three different people from different walks of life in the City, three different lives that ended up finding each other and working together to destroy the King Pin's gang from the inside and escape the City forever.

I loved Dai, Jin, and Mei Yee equally. At first glance, they seemed like people who gave up and succumbed to the City's powers, but they actually had this fire within them- this quiet determination that pushed them every step of the way. Learning about their pasts, my heart broke and cheered for them even more. My heart raced along with theirs at every danger that they faced and believe me when I say that it was like they were cats that have nine lives considering all of the near-death circumstances that they got into. Reading this book was like asking for a heart attack!

The book had echoes of a reality that we refuse to accept. There are places out there just like the Walled City, like the Kowloon Walled City that the book is based on. Ryan Graudin managed to create a carbon-copy vision of those places and projected it into the book. It was absolutely masterful and terrifying. Her writing kind of reminded me of Haruki Murakami's- tasteful, smart, fluid, and realistic with a drop of magic. It keeps you guessing and leads you on a spiral of fictional reality that will shake your core. Words cannot express the experience The Walled City gave me, you'll have to read the book yourself. But be careful! In the Walled City, there is no escape.

The explosive conclusion to the series reviewers have likened to Ender’s Game and “Hogwarts-in-Space”

This exhilarating, explosive, and heartrending conclusion to the Insignia trilogy brings Tom and his intelligent, passionate, and brave young friends stunning tests and dangerous confrontations and through to an impossible future they could never have predicted.

Tom Raines and his friends are eager to return to the Pentagonal Spire to continue training for the elite Intrasolar Forces, but they soon discover troubling changes: strict new regulations and the revelation that the Spire is under new military control. What begins as an irritating adjustment soon reveals a dangerous shift in reality. Those now in control are aligned with corporate sponsors and their ruthless agendas. And when the military academy begins welcoming new cadets with suspicious neural processors, the first step in a plan with horrifying worldwide ramifications, Tom is desperate to stop it, even if that means keeping secrets from his closest allies.

Then a mysterious figure, the other ghost in the machine, begins fighting against the corporations, but with methods even Tom finds shocking. And when the enemy comes for Tom, how much can Tom endure in the battle to save himself? He must decide if he can still fight when the odds of success seem to be sliding from his grip.

S.J. Kincaid was born in Alabama, grew up in California, and attended high school in New Hampshire, but it was while living beside a haunted graveyard in Scotland, that she realized that she wanted to be a writer. Her debut, Insignia, came out in July of 2012. The second book in the series, Vortex came out in July of 2013. The final book in the INSIGNIA trilogy will come out in Fall of 2014.

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