Cover Makeover | In This Life by Christine Brae

IN THIS LIFE

Author: Christine Brae (Website | Facebook | Twitter)

Genre: Standalone, Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Release: November 15

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2esajvA
Sign up to promote this release: http://bit.ly/2f5cdEx

SYNOPSIS

Secrets ruin lives, and lies protect those secrets…

Wanting to escape her life in New York City before starting medical school in the fall, Anna Dillon convinces her best friend Dante to travel with her to Thailand on a medical mission. While volunteering in a coastal village recently ravaged by a tsunami, Anna meets Jude Grayson. They share an instant attraction that leads to a brief, passionate affair. When she has to rush home for a family emergency, he promises to stay in touch. 

But Jude never calls, and Anna tries desperately to forget him.

Five years pass, and Anna finally moves on with Dante after giving up hope that Jude will ever return—until they come face to face again in a chance encounter. Reeling, Anna discovers the life-altering secret of why Jude never contacted her—and why they can’t be together. But the passion that ignited between them on an exotic beach years ago never died, making it impossible to stay away from each other.

And Dante? Anna discovers that the friend she grew to love—and trust—has a secret of his own.

In case you've missed it, I actually reviewed In This Life here in my blog during the start of 2016. In which I have said, "Christine Brae’s prose for In This Life is that of poetic and beautifully weaved truths. ... Her words packed a lot more punch which resulted for the emotions of her characters to freely flow to us, her readers. Brae’s thoughts and words is the perfect match to flawlessly execute such a plot line as with In This Life." I even rated this book FIVE STARS. Read more of my thoughts about this book here. 

FULL COVER

Blog Tour | SCANDALIZED by Tara Frejas

Scandalized

by Tara Frejas

Publication Date: May 5, 2016

Genre: NA/Contemporary/Romance

SYNOPSIS

Fi Legaspi is living the dream working in Seoul as a road manager for one of South Korea's hottest bands, East Genesis Project. Until she isn't.

When she finds herself in the middle of a scandal and a hostile fangirl witch hunt, Fi seeks the comfort of home, and to her surprise, not the person she had been pining for for years. All too suddenly it's no longer her career on the line, but also her heart. Will she walk away from everything that matters to her or fight to keep her dream alive?

Goodreads

BUY Scandalized on Amazon.

Are you into Korean idol groups? If yes, you need to read this.

Are you a fangirl? If yes, you must read this.

Or just looking for a good book to devour in one sitting? Then better check this book out by Tara Frejas, Scandalized. This book is all that and more.

I’m sure you’ve encountered books out there with just by reading the first sentence of their synopsis and you’re thinking that, “Okay, done deal. I’m sold with this one.”, right? Scandalized was like that for me and so I immediately grabbed the opportunity to join this blog tour. “Fi Legaspi is living the dream working in Seoul as a road manager for one of South Korea's hottest bands, East Genesis Project.” totally lured me in. Maybe this is also because of the fact that I’m currently hooked with the K-Pop group, EXO, and I badly needed a reading material that will feed off my Korean entertainment feels. Scandalized was just the perfect read for me. No-brainer, I breezed through it and enjoyed reading something that I have knowledge and feels to.

Top Ten Tuesday | Top Ten Albums that I could listen to FOREVER

A while ago, I wandered around The Broke and The Bookish book blog. This particular blog is famous for its weekly meme, Top Ten Tuesday, which bookish people fervently participates in. With that in mind, I decided to check the topics being discussed in the following weeks and only to be surprised that the topic for this week is something that I actually would love to talk about. Then and there, I immediately thought of still crafting a blog post for it even though Tuesday had already passed. Here’s the topic for September 20, yesterday:

All About Audio freebie --  aka top ten audiobooks you should listen to, 10 books I want to listen to on audio,10 bands you should check out, 10 podcasts you should be listening to, 10 of my all time favorite albums, 10 songs I love, really whatever you can come up with.

I tweaked this prompt and created this... Hope you'll enjoy this!

Top Ten Albums that I could listen to FOREVER

(I will randomly name some albums that I have in my playlist for quite a long time yet I still listen to up until now.)

1. Modern Minds and Pastimes by The Click Five

Remember The Click Five's hit song Jenny? Or the catchy happy birthday song, Happy Birthday? Or the mellow, Empty? Those songs actually belong to The Click Five's second album yet a first for their new vocalist, Kyle Patrick. During the year this album was released, I went gaga over them and if I remember correctly I went pretty active on Myspace because of them. There was something about Kyle's voice that drew me in and add in their awesome and catchy songs. I'm sold. My favorite song out of this album (which sadly wasn't released as a single) is I'm Getting Over You. Headlight Disco and When I'm Gone were my jam too!

Listen to Modern Minds and Pastimes on Youtube. 

2. Riot! by Paramore

Riot! was the album where I feel like Paramore is at its peak. Hayley's killer voice, Zac's drum skills  and Josh & Jeremy's guitar rifts were the key points that gave Paramore its definitive sound. With those things, you'll immediately know if it is Paramore that you're listening to. Paramore is Paramore and no other band can recreate the magic that they have. 

In my opinion, they seriously killed this album and offered their fans lots of great materials to listen and sing-along to. All songs have a single material to it and has that recall factor. After all these years, songs from Riot! are still stuck in my head and I could gladly sing it at the top of my head. My favorites from this album are: Misery Business, CrushCrushCrush, That's What You Get, Born for This, Hallelujah and When It Rains. 

Listen to Riot! on Youtube.

Blog Tour | BEHIND CLOSED DOORS by J.L. Berg

About BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

My name is Roman Cavenaugh and I’m kind of an asshole. 
Running a company isn't easy, especially when everyone expects you to fail, so being a jerk? It comes with the territory. 

I don't have time to mess around, and I sure as hell didn’t see her coming.

Cara Hamilton—she was supposed to be off limits…a temporary employee brought in during my assistant’s maternity leave. 

But, in the blink of an eye, she became so much more. 

An obsession I couldn’t shake.

So yeah, I may be an asshole, but now, I finally had a purpose, and soon, she would be mine. 

All’s fair in love and war…

GOODREADS

Purchasing Links

Amazon | B&N | iBooks

EXCERPT

“How does one break their ankle while bowling?”

She snorted, her dark brown eyes meeting mine once more.

“I think there was a lot of beer involved. Plus, those shoes are slippery. Haven’t you ever noticed?”

“I’ve never played,” I admitted.

I watched her expression turn from playful to downright astonished.

“Never?”

“Nope.”

Release Day Blitz | BEHIND CLOSED DOORS by J.L. Berg

About BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

My name is Roman Cavenaugh and I’m kind of an asshole. 
Running a company isn't easy, especially when everyone expects you to fail, so being a jerk? It comes with the territory. 

I don't have time to mess around, and I sure as hell didn’t see her coming.

Cara Hamilton—she was supposed to be off limits…a temporary employee brought in during my assistant’s maternity leave. 

But, in the blink of an eye, she became so much more. 

An obsession I couldn’t shake.

So yeah, I may be an asshole, but now, I finally had a purpose, and soon, she would be mine. 

All’s fair in love and war…

GOODREADS

Purchasing Links

Amazon | B&N | iBooks

EXCERPT

"Can I ask you something?" she said, drawing my attention away from the monotony on my computer screen.  I looked up to find her eyes dead set on mine.  It was unnerving.

She usually tried to avoid direct eye contact with me.  Maybe I intimidated her.  Perhaps she found me attractive and the idea of lusting after her boss bothered her.

Believe me, it bothered me too. 

In a very physical way.

“Go ahead,” I answered, unwilling to break the intimate connection she'd started. 

"When you saw me… at the club that night," she said, her eyes wavering just slightly.  "What was it you saw in me? I mean, was it just the clothes?"

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  Even though I'd said we'd never speak of what happened that drunken night two weeks ago, I saw something in her eyes that needed an answer. 

That needed something more. 

The Sunday Currently: Volume 1

Long time no post, huh? I know, I know. Here's the thing. I’ve been busy dealing with real life stuff which resulted to me having a hard time keeping this blog up and running. Sometimes a barrage of words rushes through my mind, I get this sense of “I know I should type it in and make a blog post out of it” but when I face my laptop or I’m in the middle of writing my post – the spark in me little by little fizzles out or time restrains me from finishing it up. Let’s not dwell too much on that, shall we? As a comeback post, I’m using siddathornton’s The Sunday Currently. I haven’t done this here in my blog yet (hence the Vol. 1 in the title) and so it’s going to be a new feature that I’ll be updating weekly or we’ll see what I’ll come up with the schedule for this. In addition to that, I think this is a great idea for me to reintroduce myself and talk about where’s my head at concerning my blog, Fandomly Bookish. Okay, let’s start!

Reading (or should I say, I’m going to read) Finding my Forever by Heidi McLaughlin. A couple of days ago, I find myself wanting to read. It was an out of the blue move for me because I’m currently into this reading slump period which was brought on by It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover. But surprise, surprise, not only did I finish one book in a few days but I ended up with two, which were the first two books of this series. I have to say that McLaughlin’s books are addicting. Once you start reading it and get introduced with her set of characters, you just can’t help it but to be curious about everyone. So that’s what happened to me. I devoured those books and now planning to add another one.

Writing this blog post. For a long time, I haven’t felt this level of joy with blogging. Probably it has something to do with it being a comeback post and at the same time, a new feature. I’m also having fun with just letting my thoughts out through a blog post. I’m planning to write another post today or tomorrow. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one.

Listening to You and Me by Ahn Hyeon Jeong from W Original Soundtrack Part 7. Twitter friends wouldn’t be shocked with this but I’m sure my dear blog readers will be. I think ever since this blog existed not for once did I mention any Korean related stuff here and you’d be amazed with my progress in this area. Just so you know guys, my playlist is invaded and filled to the brim with Korean songs. Most of those songs are from the original soundtracks of the Korean dramas that I’ve previously watched and am currently watching. Some people will probably say that I can’t even understand the lyrics, so why listen? Wait. Hold up. This is something that I’ve came to realize after all these weeks that I’ve spent listening to these songs – I might be clueless with their lyrics but the emotions of the artists transcend the message of the song and affect me. And Google’s around too. I could do a one click to read about the English translation and double the song’s effect on me.

Thinking about the things that I should consider to spice up this blog and make it come alive. I have a few things up my sleeves and I’m still trying to finalize it in my mind. I'm also thinking about W - Two Worlds and Waves of Memories by Jonaxx. What a mind-boggling duo! 

Smelling the carbonara and fried chicken from the dining room. It's my cousin's 20th birthday and we had  a simple gathering awhile ago and the smell of the  foods and festivity are still lingering in the air. Happy Birthday, cous!

Wishing that I can really push through with those plans that I’m currently thinking. I’m wishing that I won’t be placed under a reading and blogging slump too. It’s seriously messing up with my plans.

Hoping that W – Two Worlds leaves its viewers fully satisfied and ends happily. Right now, W is delivering the satisfied part (just a few more triggers and my mind would probably explode already) but on the other end, nope. My heart is thoroughly crushed by that cruel ending and cliffhanger from Episode 13. This Korean drama is a MUST WATCH!

Wearing a tank top and shorts that I usually just wear inside our house. My comfy clothes.

Loving all the love my Twitter account is getting. I love all the interactions and mentions. I love my Twitter friends. Hi!

Wanting to make some changes here in my blog for quite some time now but distracted to do it. I think, I might be able to pull it off this time around. 

Needing more behind the scenes videos and photos of Lee Jong Suk and Han Hyo Joo. For added feels and my strong need to check up on what’s happening with the two of them in between takes. I also need my on-screen couple – Kang Chul and Oh Yeon Joo – to end up together and be their saccharine selves.

Feeling sleepy. I didn’t get enough sleep last night because my mind went into an overdrive and kept on thinking about different things from my blogging life and real life. Decisions, decisions, decisions…

Clicking through my blog to able to post this.

There you have it. I'm done filling out 'The Sunday Currently' feature and I certainly had fun! How about you? What were the things that you accomplished today? What were the thoughts that circled through your mind? Want to share it to me? Just comment down here on my blog post or let's talk about it on Twitter @ @fandomlybookish! I'd be glad to entertain you!

It Ends with Us: A Short Note to Colleen Hoover

Title: IT ENDS WITH US

Author: Colleen Hoover (Twitter | Facebook) 

Publication Date: August 2, 2016

Publisher: Atria Books

SYNOPSIS

Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened. 

With this bold and deeply personal novel, Colleen Hoover delivers a heart-wrenching story that breaks exciting new ground for her as a writer. Combining a captivating romance with a cast of all-too-human characters, It Ends With Us is an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

GOODREADS

Amazon | B&N | iBooks

A Short Note to Colleen Hoover

Just a note, since I believe that it is best to dive into this book - blind and freely allow Colleen to give you chills through her words. 

Dear Colleen Hoover, 

I don't know what to say about It Ends with Us. But what I do know is that I want say great things about it to encourage more readers, more people, to hear your voice - to hear your story. I've been staring at my laptop for quite some time now and words just went out the window. You've literally left me speechless. That last chapter + epilogue + note combo you pulled in this book was a sure killer. I also know that I'm barely coherent to be typing in this note but whatever. I'm just going to wing it from here and tell you something. 

Thank you for being so brave and bold. Thank you for deciding to share the story that enfolded in It Ends with Us to us. I am, we are, lucky. Now, I finally know why you're so nervous about the release of this book and why IEWU means a lot to you. 

A huge part of you, of who you are, bleeds through these pages.

Your honesty on how you intricately wrote this story brought in how raw, profound, moving and deeply personal this book is. It is all too real. It Ends with Us is like Colleen Hoover by Colleen Hoover. You've left marks everywhere - from the major events that transpired in Lily's life down to the littlest of things mentioned. You've left a "Colleen Hoover" imprint all throughout the book.

And now, you've left an imprint on me. Once again.

Thank you. 

An avid reader of yours, 

Amanda 

BOOK REVIEW | GOOD (Too Good #1) by S. Walden

Title: GOOD (Too Good #1)

Author: S. Walden (Website | Twitter)

Publication Date: August 25, 2013

Publisher: Penny Press Publishing

SYNOPSIS

Cadence Miller is a good girl. She just happens to make one terrible mistake her junior year in high school which costs her ten months in juvenile detention. Now a senior, she's lost everything: her best friend, the trust of her parents, driving privileges, Internet access. It's a lonely existence.

But there is one bright spot: Mark Connelly, her very cute, very off-limits 28-year-old calculus teacher. She falls hard for him—a ridiculous schoolgirl crush headed nowhere. She can't help it. He's the only good thing at Crestview High. She doesn't expect him to reciprocate her feelings. How inappropriate, right? But he does. And he shows her.

And that's when her life goes from bad to good. 

GOODREADS 

Amazon | B&N | iBooks

It actually started out so well (sneaky forbidden stories often do) but then as I delve deeper into the story, I cannot help but feel being stuck on a loop. Over and over again I was going through the motions with both protagonists' issues: insecurities and control. It just got dragged through the entire book and character development at the end is weak.

AUTHOR INTERVIEW with Jonaxx … ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED!

Hi, Readers! 

Before we delve into the interview proper, I would just love to share with you how this interview came to be. Actually, it was a few months back since I sent in the email which includes all of my interview questions for Queen J. Knowing that she’s a very busy person, what with her work and writing our favorite stories, sending it in didn’t mean I’ll really be able to snag an exclusive interview with her and that she’ll immediately be emailing me back with her answers. I took a chance. I was just happy with the thought that I have an email sitting pretty on her inbox. A message that hopefully she would be able to read and reply to once she has some free time.

Months have passed and on …

January 26, 2016.

10:44pm.

I was already lounging in my bed, relaxing and getting ready to continue reading the book that I picked out that afternoon. That’s how my usual night life goes. When a notification suddenly popped on the topmost part of my phone’s screen saying that I have an email coming from Jonahmae Pacala.

Me: ENTERS IN A DREAMLIKE STATE

I found myself abruptly standing up, opening and reading the content of her email. When I saw that she indeed answered all of my questions, I cannot help myself from constantly chanting, “What? Seryoso? Nagreply siya? Sinagutan niya?”.  I was shaking. I was fangirling so hard and I need people to talk to me. I ended up sending messages to some of my friends and sharing the news over the JSL main group and Bicol chapter about this blog interview.

I couldn’t believe it.

It may have taken her some time in replying to my email but it was definitely worth the wait. This surely is going down as one of my surreal blogger and fangirl moments: Interviewing one of my favorite authors. And it truly is a pleasure to share this interview with you, blog readers and Jonaxxstories Lovers.

Since I already formatted my interview questions in a conversation-type of way when I emailed it to Queen J, I won’t be editing it out (just a little tweak here and there) and I would really love to share it with you as it is. My questions, my thoughts and her answers – just out there for you to read. Let’s get started!

AUTHOR INTERVIEW

Amanda (A): Thank you so much for giving me and my blog this huge opportunity of having you here and at the same time interviewing you. If only I can squeal and be heard by my readers here in this blog just for them to know how I’m reacting to all this.  Seriously, I’m such a big fan of yours so this all seems to be so surreal for me. Enough of me and my fangirl ways, though.

I’ll start off this interview by asking you a little bit about yourself. You’re widely known as The Royal Writer, the Queen or Queen J by your royal readers, but what is it like just being Jonahmae Pacala? What are your favourite: songs, movies and books?  

Jonaxx (J): I have so many favourite songs and movies. Genres like EDM, slow love music, pop, and alternative. It’s difficult to mention it one by one. Haha! For movies, I like the Divergent, the Harry Potter Movies, and all movies with medievalish setting. And for books, I’ve read HP series and it was very nice. I am always amazed by how J.K. did it. She’s a legend. And then I also like Paulo Coehlo. I like books with deeeeeep messages.

A: When you aren’t writing, where would we most likely find you? What are your hobbies aside from writing?

J: Malling, sleeping, going out with friends, roadtrips, beaches… etc.

[PH BLOG TOUR] BOOK REVIEW + GIVEAWAYS | IN THIS LIFE by Christine Brae

Title: IN THIS LIFE

Author: Christine Brae (Website | Facebook | Twitter)

Publication Date: January 22, 2016

SYNOPSIS

It started out so simply. Anna runs away to Thailand, drags her best friend Dante with her and spends a few weeks away, taking on other people’s problems while getting away from her own. She meets the enigmatic Jude Grayson, and for as long as it’s clear to both of them that it ends when they leave, she thinks she’s got the perfect fling planned out. 

Or does she? 

Anna returns home to find that her life is no longer the way it once was, and that she can’t stop thinking about him. She learns through tragedy that nothing she’s ever believed in has turned out to be true. The worst part? The people she loved were keeping a secret from her. And that no matter what she does, no matter how hard she fights against it, every path she takes keeps leading her back to Jude. 

This is a story about love, found in a faraway place by two very unlikely people. It is also a story about friendship and loyalty and fighting for what you have despite the illogical mystery of fate. And with the struggle between morality and guilt, faith and acceptance, there comes a learning that even the best-laid plans are powerless against the alignment of the universe. 

From the beaches of Thailand to the streets of New York, three friends, Anna, Dante, and Jude will learn the hard way that once providence steps in, there is nothing in the world that can change what is truly meant to be.

GOODREADS

AMAZON | B&N | iBOOKS

In this life, I hope you can take time and read In This Life by Christine Brae. It’s emotional. It’s real.

One of the simple joys that I have when I read all the works of an author is being able to witness the growth taking shape when it comes to their writing style. Just like her previous works, Christine Brae’s prose for In This Life is that of poetic and beautifully weaved truths. But this time around, her words packed a lot more punch which resulted for the emotions of her characters to freely flow to us, her readers. Brae’s thoughts and words is the perfect match to flawlessly execute such a plot line as with In This Life. It’s a story that truly requires a certain bravery and sincerity to radiate through the words and pages of the book for readers to fully feel and grasp its vital points. Aside from those, I do think that one of Brae’s strengths lies on how her words leave marks, make people think and reflect about their personal lives. In This Life may be about Anna’s self-discovery journey but a bonus to this is having our own self-discovery journey while reading the book and beyond that.  

“Don’t you ever just want to forget who you’re supposed to be and just be who you really are?”

BOOK REVIEW | TRUTHWITCH (The Witchlands, #1) by Susan Dennard

TRUTHWITCH (The Witchlands, #1)

Author: Susan Dennard (Website | Twitter)

Publication Date: January 5, 2016

Publisher: Tor Teen

SYNOPSIS

On a continent ruled by three empires, some are born with a “witchery”, a magical skill that sets them apart from others.

In the Witchlands, there are almost as many types of magic as there are ways to get in trouble—as two desperate young women know all too well.

Safiya is a Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lie. It’s a powerful magic that many would kill to have on their side, especially amongst the nobility to which Safi was born. So Safi must keep her gift hidden, lest she be used as a pawn in the struggle between empires.

Iseult, a Threadwitch, can see the invisible ties that bind and entangle the lives around her—but she cannot see the bonds that touch her own heart. Her unlikely friendship with Safi has taken her from life as an outcast into one of reckless adventure, where she is a cool, wary balance to Safi’s hotheaded impulsiveness.

Safi and Iseult just want to be free to live their own lives, but war is coming to the Witchlands. With the help of the cunning Prince Merik (a Windwitch and ship’s captain) and the hindrance of a Bloodwitch bent on revenge, the friends must fight emperors, princes, and mercenaries alike, who will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.

GOODREADS

Purchase links: Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Book Depository

If you’re on Twitter, Goodreads and follow book bloggers around the world, surely you’ve encountered posts about Truthwitch by Susan Dennard already. There was so much hype surrounding this book leading up to its release date, January 5th. I even remember reading tweets from people who attended BEA ’15 lining up and sprinting just to snag an ARC of it. With my Twitter-BEA experience, I could definitely say that Truthwitch was one of the “It” books during that event.

Next thing I know, early reviews started to pop out and more people were raving about it. The hype’s continuously building and also having my hopes up that it would turn out so great, just like what they’re saying. But then all of us experienced reading an over-hyped book and ended up thinking that, “meh it didn’t live up to its hype”. So that factor made me quite nervous to read this one and also the reason why I decided to stop checking out reviews. I don’t what to build it up more in my head.

Well as I’m typing in this review, I understood now why the early readers of this book are gushing about it. All those excitement-feely tweets/posts, I understand you now guys. Oh hell-gates, Truthwitch is such an impressive series starter. There are just so many elements of the story that people needs to get excited about and go for it. Read it.