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bentchcreates · 8 years ago

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Summer Feels, A #romanceclass Anthology

A few things I want you to know before you proceed with my review: For starters, I’m one of the twenty-three authors featured in this book. So yes, you might call bias, but this is my book and my blog so I get to do whatever hell I want to do here. That’s also why this is only Part 1 of the #SummerFeels content I’m releasing. The review today is my reader-side talking, come back tomorrow for the writer-side view. :P

So anyway, here’s my shot at the Summer Feels Anthology Blog Tour!

I will not deny that twenty-three short stories is a lot to process, (I had to take breaks in between, and by breaks I mean reading other books between the stories to even out my feels) that’s why it took a whole month before I finished the entire thing! Haha!

But it was fun discovering/re-discovering different authors’ writing styles, voices and themes this close to each other. I learned a lot from authors who are already my favorites, and those I was only reading for the first time. The gradual (but necessary) rise in heat level was also a good call on editor Kate Sebastian. It made the book cleaner in terms of “flow” and it ensured all authors get equal spotlight whether they’re new or are already established in the literary scene.

I initially didn’t want to review the stories one by one but reading other blogs who said nice things to each and every story was fun and enlightening so I’m gonna do the same here, even if it’s just one liners of what I loved about it.

1. All About That Bass by Fay Sebastian

It was perfect to start the anthology with this sweet and fluffy story. I loved the Glee references and how everything led to #LiRika

2. Alter Christus by Catherine Lo

Certified crowd favourite and I totally agree. While it is true that this stood out because of the heart-wrenching theme, I think I love how Catherine’s narrative flowed artistically smooth and the characters were well-rounded enough to carry such heavy-weight romance.

3. Fall for Me by Miel Salva

Another cute story filled with Filipino food and feels! I can’t wait for the full Yasmin x Igo book to come out!

4. The Game of Twenty Questions by Elizabeth Galit

The pacing of the scenes leading up to the grand reveal of feelings is swoon-worthy! The second chance trope is difficult to navigate but this one nailed it.

5. The Summer You Said Hello by Ami Granada

Sexy voices and on-air flirting sold this for me! And ugh, knowing both of them were playing coy on purpose gave me life!

6. At the Bermuda Triangle by Elea Andrea Almazora

The banter with this one is solid af. I love how the characters talked and ‘acted’ and I especially love the humor and sarcasm in each of them. And then there was the feels! *Kiligs*

7. Beachin’ Summer by Arlene Manocot

#romanceclass shout out! Haha! I love that in this one, the guy is the romance junkie and the girl gets him. In Pagudpud, nonetheless!

8. Buddy System by Yeyet Soriano

The ‘plays’ Carlo and Kit did to finally, finally admit their feelings to each other is A+. And ugh, don’t even get me started on that Javi x random IT guy fanservice scene! I will now stock easy to melt hard candies in my bag for impromptu kissing games! *yes, this is what I’m taking from this story. LOL

9. Busy Out of The Friendzone by Charlie Dio

Gillian, gurl! *snaps fingers in the air!* I love her witty clapbacks and the way Aidan put a “love stamp” on her to get their messages across. XD I enjoyed this so much!

10. Flying With You by Rachelle Belaro

Incredibly sweet and the parts about travelling were great! And OMG, that cake!

11. Guide for A Day by H. Bentham

THIS IS THE BEST STORY IN ALL OF THE UNIVERSE!! Lol. Not really. Even I can’t convince myself with this. Haha. But everyone loves their first born. ;)

12. Ready to Run by Kit Salazar

This take on the friends with benefits trope is awesomely done! I love the powerplay between the athlete and the homebody. Argh. I mentioned that and a recollection of what Chris and Lauren did with their ‘homebodies’ flashed before my eyes!

13. Secondhand Wanderlust by Erleen Alvarez

The twist in this one is unprecedented, but I love it. There is sadness, but also happiness, courage and hope.

14. The Search for The Kissing Monster by Ella Banta

This is incredibly sweet and fluffy and a creative take on the ‘what did I do last night’ trope. I absolutely adore Vincent and his friends and their pact to always spend a bit of summer together. Ella Banta’s HeistClub background might’ve influenced the light mystery in this but the romance is apparent and is very well executed overall.

15. Anything Can Happen by Marian Tee

This is where I started to find considerable heat! And omg, ALEXIO, if anyone introduces himself with this name, gurl, I’m telling you, anything can happen!!

*Disclaimer, he has to have this Alexio’s good looks and abs, ofc. LOL

16. Four Basic Principles by Bianca Mori

I love the efficient use of alternating POV’s in such a short piece! That in itself is impressive, but wait ‘til the steamy kilig (along with the glorious bickering!) takes you by surprise!

17. Love After Summer by Irene Jurado

I love the names of the characters, as well as the CAKE! LOL. Ooh, and wedding hook-up fizzles and sizzles until the romance is palpable. It’s a lovely read.

18. Lucky in Paradise by Farrah F. Polestico

I didn’t think I’d enjoy this as much as I did but it was amazing! The non-promise and pining and the eventual second chance drama made me feel things from a part of my heart I didn’t know I still had access to! Haha!

19. The Swimming Instructor by Eris Peñaluna

I thought this started YA-ish so I wondered why this was put farther up the steam level, and then we’re talking about hiding swimmer’s tents, electric touches and voila! We’re in sexy pool palooza! I need moarr of Jandro x Ariel!

20. Wedding Night Stand by Mina V. Esguerra

I knew this story was hot from the onset, but oh my god, when it did turn super hot, I was still caught unawares and so happy for Andrea! I haven’t read What You Wanted yet (which I’m now planning to correct in the following couple of days!) but familiar characters make this even more endearing!

21. An Overdue Adventure by Kate Sebastian

I’ve been around Cebu countless times but I haven’t gone on an adventure similar to Hilary’s. I should probably do that before I turn thirty and I MUST stock up on Aloe Gel because that’s how you get sun gods to give you what you want! Hehe. I also adore the Bisaya representation of this one! I miss the Queen City so much now!

22. Buttered Sunset by Halina Cabrera

I can’t decide what I love most about this. Is it the illustrious scenic descriptions of the food and places? The fact that there was a sort of courtship (four/five meriendas is the modern day ligawan, imho)? Or that Sol is a woman of power who knows precisely how and when to use said power? All of the above, probably.

23. Then Derrick Was Back by Georgette S. Gonzales

I was angry at Derrick because he was clearly just playing with Nadia’s heart the first time…and then he wasn’t! Argh! Georgette’s superb writing got me so affected I was ready to vent tweet about German boys and why we need to avoid them, but good thing I waited ‘til I finished the story. Hihi. Let’s not avoid them, okay? :P

So that’s that. Haha.

The thing about anthologies by different authors is that not all will be suitable to my reading tastes. But I guess with this one, it’s okay. Some stories seemed to have been paced too slow for me, but when I managed to push through with it, I found that the ‘slowness’ was necessary groundwork for the kilig fireworks to explode by the end. And in the others I found things I wish my story had, or things I knew could be developed more, etc., etc.

I also got to read more straight steam than I can usually take (*this is prude of me to say considering I devour M/M smut like crazy) but I appreciate how hot/loving/raw the scenes were depending on the author and her target audience. And yeah, sex scenes of this kind are far better than smut in comparison, straight or queer.

The Summer Feels stories are short enough to get to the bite-sized HEAs and still let you enjoy your summer activities. If anyone asks me what I did this summer, well, I went touring up from Pagudpud and down to Gen San twenty-three times over!

6 of 5 Stars. I mean, 5 stars are enough for the anthology on its own. +1 Star for my story because I love my work and I deserve it.

Blurb:

Summer loving happens so fast, as you'll find with Summer Feels, an anthology of 23 stories of love under the summer sun by #romanceclass authors. Savor the candied thrill of firsts—first loves, first kisses, first solo vacations—and the bittersweet triumph of second chances. Tour the Philippines as the stories take you to mountain retreats and island paradises. Let the magic of the hot sun, clear blue skies, and lots of love take you on a roller coaster ride of feels. With stories ranging from sweet to sexy, there's sure to be something for any fan of romance.

BUY LINKS:

Amazon E-Book: http://bit.ly/summerfeels

Print Book (PH Only): http://bit.ly/summerfeels-pof

About the Authors:

Elea Andrea Almazora Elea Andrea Almazora typically writes poetry and speculative fiction and has a weakness for funny romance stories. She currently works as a contributor to Playboy magazine’s Advisor column. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, readinginbetween.com Follow her on Twitter @ealmazora Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/ealmazora Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/eleaalmazora Erleen Alvarez When she's not running errands or making monthly reports, Erleen Alvarez escapes the real world by reading books and writing stories about love of all kinds. She lives in a small town in Camarines Norte, where she’s trying to complete at least one publishable novel. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, bookforya.blogspot.co.uk Follow her on Twitter @BooksforYA Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/author.erleen.alvarez Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2py994M Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oDRpr6 Ella Banta Ella Banta is a purple-loving, egg pie-eating 30-something woman. Writing has always been a dream for her since she was little. And writing for a #romanceclass book is a dream come true. After this, she plans to write more and hopefully meet more awesome egg pie-eating peeps. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, gabrielleluna.wordpress.com Follow her on Twitter @gabbie_ellaine Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/ellabantawriting Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2pwjLEj Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2pyi9XU

Rachelle Belaro Rachelle is a published author of Pop Fiction, an imprint of Summit Books. She chooses watching Kdramas over writing stories, which makes it difficult for her to finish a chapter. If daydreaming were a profession, she could have made a great career in it. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, rachellebelaro.wordpress.com Follow her on Twitter @areysieyts Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/rachbelaro Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/rachellebelaro Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2o45RYx H. Bentham H. Bentham was born and raised in the Philippines, but now resides 1,487 miles away from home. He battles homesickness with his various hobbies and (mostly) by procrastinating on the internet. When he's done being bored, he writes stories and, when he's feeling particularly profound, poems. He adores turtles and bettas, enjoying the slow, quiet companionship they provide. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow him on Twitter @bentchbites Like his Facebook page, facebook.com/Mr.H.Bentham Follow him on Amazon at amzn.to/2nZO6eo Follow him on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oIysCK Halina Cabrera Halina Cabrera writes steamy romance, among other things, while she’s on break. She’s a breakfast person (that’s not the same as being a morning person). And she loves serif fonts. She’ll keep writing until she keels over. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @cabrerahalina Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/HalinaCabrera Follow her on Goodreads atbit.ly/2nKWytT Charlie Dio Charlio Dio is a jack of all trades hailing from the Philippines. She loves reading, writing, watching anime, and taking long walks with her two dogs. An office employee by day and an internet ninja by night, she spends the majority of her waking hours talking to people in her head and putting their stories into written words. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @chardiosaurus Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/Charlie-Dio-622595757951587/ Mina V. Esguerra Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance. She blogs about her writing and publishing adventures at minavesguerra.com. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Sign up for her mailing list at bit.ly/list-minavesguerra Visit her website, minavesguerra.com Follow her on Twitter @minavesguerra Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/minavesguerra Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/minavesguerra Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2p1YcaQ Elizabeth Galit Elizabeth Galit’s friends call her Beth. She is a book hoarder, romance writer, a chocolate sucker, a coffee addict and a hopeless romantic. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her website, bethgstories.com Follow her on Twitter @bethgstories Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/bethgstories Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/elizabethgalit Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oaLzwR Georgette S. Gonzales Georgette S. Gonzales is an author of romance in Filipino (as Edith Joaquin of My Special Valentine) and in English. She’s also written crime fiction novella Classified. Gette is a milrom junkie; she cooks but does not bake, loves to travel, and prides herself on being a singer, poet, and friend. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her website, pinaynobelista.com Follow her on Twitter @Gette_aka_EJmsv Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/georgette.pinaynobelista Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2oJa3Li Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oDwHaR Ami Granada Ami Granada writes romances, travel stories, and poetry. She has written one romance novel in English (Unspoken), romance novels in Tagalog, and short stories that have been published in local magazines and newspapers. The only time she feels really free is when she travels and when she writes. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, amidemanila.blogspot.com Follow her on Twitter @amidemanila Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/amidemanila Like her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2o06KCQ Irene Jurado Irene is a full-time mom in the morning and full-time employee by night. Once she puts everything in order, she becomes a romance reader, writes short stories, opens her bag full of watercolors, and drinks her milk tea. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @I_reign_ Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2peizWo Catherine Lo Catherine Dellosa Lo is a freelance writer by day and a geek by night, with works published in SuperHeroStuff, Vibal’s POC, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and more. She hopes to soar the skies as a superhero someday, but for now, she believes in saving lives through fiction. For fun, her personal blog recounts rookie misadventures as a noob wife. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, quirkylifeofthenoobwife.blogspot.com Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/TheNoobWife Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2nZN3uP Follow her on Goodreads at goodreads.com/TheNoobWife Arlene Manocot Arlene Manocot writes in English and Filipino. Her words dwell in the realms of fantasy, suspense and romance. Aside from writing fiction, she also weaves poems from the endless thread of life. Daydreaming is an expensive hobby she'd like to preserve, and putting her thoughts into writing keeps her sane in this world of insanity. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, writingandlovinit.blogspot.com Follow her on Twitter @arlenemanocot Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/manocot.arlene Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/arlenemanocot Follow her on Goodreads at goodreads.com/arlenemanocot Bianca Mori Bianca Mori is the author of One Night at the Palace Hotel, Tame the Kitten, and the Takedown Trilogy. She is interested in exploring power in romance and enjoys reading about demimondaines, pin-up girls and Jazz Age personalities and hopes to reinterpret these in her stories. She lives with her family and a hyperactive pug. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @thebiancamori Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/thebiancamori Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2nbI4Hd Follow her on Goodreads at goodreads.com/thebiancamori Eris Peñaluna The author is a graduate of the University of the Philippines. This is her first romance short story, though she plans to publish a novel in the near future. During her spare time, she practices yoga, runs and tries to learn as many languages as she can. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @ErisPenaluna Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/erispenaluna Like her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2nZZ5EN Farrah F. Polestico Farrah F. Polestico wanted to be a lot of things in life—an engineer, a nurse, an astrophysicist. But it wasn’t until she was thirteen that she knew she was going to be a published writer. When she’s not up all night writing her next book, you can find her reading anything and everything, from Charles Dickens novels to old grocery receipts. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, bookskeepmesane.wordpress.com Follow her on Twitter @bookskeepmesane Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2oJlZwO Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oaCvYK Kit Salazar Kit has always known what she wanted in life, but only recently took courage to go after it. She's back to doing things things that she loves, including writing and illustrating, while juggling a side job that helps fuel her creativity. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Follow her on Twitter @KitSalazarAuthor Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/kitsalazarauthor Follow her on Amazon at amzn.to/2nZXLSd Follow her on Goodreads at goodreads.com/kitsalazarauthor Miel Salva Miel Salva is a Filipino HR consultant by day and a romance writer/reader by heart. She enjoys watching movies, documentaries and TV series and going out to eat with friends or with her fiancé. She reads and writes stories about love and its many different facets because she believes that even in this world filled with hate, love still prevails. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, mielsalva.wordpress.com Follow her on Twitter @Miel_Salva Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/pg/MielSalva.Author Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/mielsalva Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2pec7Pf Fay Sebastian Fay is a speech communication student who writes even on the busiest of days because writing prevents her from turning into a college zombie. Why she holds writing instruments in an odd way will always be a mystery to the world. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her blog, faysebastian.wordpress.com Follow her on Twitter @mileventwelve Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/Mileventwelve Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/faysebastian Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oJDblO

Kate Sebastian Kate Sebastian has been crafting stories since she was tiny. She spent her childhood reimagining classic fairy tales and inventing new ones. She earns a good living writing articles and editing manuscripts, but decided to try her hand at writing romance (the steamy kind) since she reads so much of it. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her website, katesebastian.com Follow her on Twitter @ImKateSebastian Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/katesebastianauthor Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/katesebastian Follow her on Goodreads at goodreads.com/KateSebastian Yeyet Soriano Yeyet Soriano is an Asia Pacific IT manager by day, writer by night, and a wife and mother of three all throughout. Turning Points, In My Dreams, The Retreat, and Kate, Finally are her self-published novels. Romance is not her core genre, but all her stories, no matter how dark or twisted, have romantic elements embedded in them. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her website, ysrealm.com Follow her on Twitter @ysrealm Like her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/Yeyetsorianowrites Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/yeyetsoriano Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2nbyOmv Marian Tee Marian Tee is the author of The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire, which is part of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Billionaire Bad Boys of Romance. To learn more about this author and for updates on new releases, please Visit her website, authormariantee.com Follow her on Twitter @authormariantee Like her Facebook page, facebook.com/authormariantee Follow her on Amazon at amazon.com/author/mariantee Follow her on Goodreads at bit.ly/2oaFHDO

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