Event Recap: Veronica Rossi, Tahereh Mafi, and Ransom Riggs' Bloggers Forum

I am pretty sure that as soon as National Book Store announced that Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs, and Veronica Rossi would be coming here for an event, every bibliophile in the Philippines fangirled and died. Having met Tahereh Mafi and Ransom Riggs last year, I was really excited to see them again. They were such great and genuinely nice people; and they still are! I was even more excited to meet Veronica Rossi because I absolutely love her Under the Never Sky series! I was honored to have been invited to the Blogger Forum wherein we were able to get up close and personal with the authors.

The lovely book display at the forum.

Geraldine (yes, she was there) and I actually arrived at the mall around 10 AM and found out that the place didn't open until 11 AM so we just chilled with Nicole (The Twins Read) and chatted with each other. It was crazy because National Book Store tweeted that a fan was there at 1:54 AM. That is serious dedication, and she did deserve to get the first slot for the book signing.

This is how 500+ people look like, in the morning.

So once we had all registered at the forum, we reminisced and of course, selfied with our fellow bloggers. It's always great seeing each other and fangirling about authors. Haha!

Blogger peeps wearing their quote shirts!

Jesselle (The Lifelong Bookworm) and Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs)
using my phone for their selfie.

A big welcome to Veronica Rossi from Veronica Rossi PH.

The Hardest Selfie EVER 3.0

And the time finally came when Tahereh, Ransom and Veronica would arrive. We were all at the edge of our seats, awaiting their arrival. And when they did, all hell broke lose (so to speak). The forum immediately commenced with Chad Dee, our always amazing host, presenting the three authors.

The always fabulous, Chad Dee.

Ransom, Tahereh and Veronica have arrived. WHOOT.

Ransom taking a picturing of his surroundings.

Tahereh taking a picture of Ransom. (SO CUTE.)

One of Veronica's super fans from Veronica Ross PH.

Them answering some questions.

Here are a few things we learned during the interview portion:

• Veronica Rossi says that Boomerang, her New Adult novel understand the pseudonym "Noelle August" (which she also co-authored), was a very fun book to write. It wasn't difficult for her to transition from one genre and age group to another because the YA books she's written has more of herself in them than her upcoming NA novel.
• Ransom has already seen a couple of scripts for the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children being directed by Tim Burton, and he is very excited. Also, castings will be starting soon so if you're eighteen, feel free to audition. Haha!
• Tahereh says that while she was writing Shatter Me, she already knew who Juliette would end up with. (We did too! ;D)
• Veronica says that she does not regret killing the characters she has killed and would not change anything. Also, when she killed off (SPOILER ALERT) Perry's older brother, her editor (or agent?) made a pun about how Veronica was very cutthroat about it. *pun pun*
• Ransom says that he really enjoys traveling different places to collect pictures, even going to flea markets just to scour their collections. He also loves talking about photography.
• Tahereh says that if she were to be best friends with one of her characters, it would be Kenji because he really is best friend material and he is based off of her brothers. Tahereh would also love to be best friends with Roar (from Veronica Rossi's series) because he reminds her of Kenji, as well.
• Veronica says that when she wrote Under the Never Sky, she decided to free flow it so that she would get more creative freedom while writing it. But in Through the Ever Night (which was the hardest book to write), she already had a set idea as to how the book would go.
• Ransom says that he hates being told he's wrong so don't do it. (Haha!) Also, if he were to describe Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and Hollow City in just one picture, it would be his heart (all black and squishy)!
• Tahereh said that she intentionally made Juliette weak so that you can see how she grows. She is so inspired by women who may be physically weak but mentally strong, and that was what she was trying to go for.

Well, that's it! After the Q&A we immediately moved on to the book signing portion of the forum.

Ransom, Tahereh and Veronica signing books.

Just a group pic! <3 Love these ladies. Hehe.

Me with VTR. I die.

Geraldine with Ransom and Tahereh.
Tahereh's lashes, that is all.

Geraldine with Veronica Rossi.

Me with Veronica Rossi. Thanks for photobombing, guys. :))
And V. Rossi is so beautiful. I swear.

Veronica Rossi signing books. (Hi, Dianne.)

For those wondering, Tahereh's shoes. You're welcome.

Our creepiness knows no bounds. LOL

And after all that, we had to bid Tahereh, Ransom and Veronica farewell because they still had to get ready for the actual book signing which we no longer attended because we really didn't want to add more people to those attending. That's why we really admire all those who waited so patiently to meet their idols, you guys are the true heroes. All almost 2000+ of you.

How almost 2000+ people look like.

Bloggers loving up the authors. <3

Shirt quote peeps! WHOOT.

Rockin' my very Active Romance-y shirt.

Me with my other hald, Nina (The Book Confect).

Signed books! Love me some Roar. <3

My signed shirt. <3

Some awesome Polaroid shots! (Tahereh looks so beautiful!)

And here is a very special message from the three lovely authors (sorry if the quality in general sucks, I was not born a photographer. LOL).

Here are a few thank yous to some very important and completely amazing people, a BIG thank you to the National Book Store team who listens to our suggestions regarding authors to be invited. Chad, JB, Louis and the rest of the team, you all rock! Seriously love you guys. <3 Tahereh Mafi, Ransom Riggs and Veronica Rossi, thank you, three, for agreeing to come here and get all loved up by your Filipino fans. Please come again! Haha! Kate, Jesselle, Hazel (Stay Bookish) for letting me snatch your photos. Also, Pinoy Book Tours for organizing the shirt thing, Hazel for designing them and The Dream Shirt for supplying! They turned out so great. :D I love you, my blogger friends because you never fail to make an event fun and exciting. So grateful to have you all as friends. #Kilig And last but never the least my parents for letting me go and God for obviously answering our prayers. LOL See y'all in the next event! And keep tweeting using #VTRinPH !

Event recaps you don't want to miss:

Kate (The Bookaholic Blurbs: Recap)
Chyna (Lite-Rate-Ture: Recap)
Jesselle (The Lifelong Bookworm: Recap)
Kai (Amaterasu Reads: Recap)
Sab (Sab The Book Eater: Recap)
Mari-Anette (Anette The Wicked: Recap)
Lyra (Defiantly Deviant: Recap)
Hazel (Stay Bookish: Recap)
Precious (Fragments of Life: Recap)
Leslie (bibliophilekid: Recap)
Ella (The Filipina Booknote: Recap)
Tiffany (Read, Breathe, Read: Recap)
Maricar (BLACKPLUME: Recap)

{Blog Tour} ARC Review: Burn For You by Marquita Valentine

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Title: Burn For You (Boys of the South #5)
Author: Marquita Valentine
Publication date: April 21st 2014
Source: Received eARC from tour host (Thanks, Wordsmith Publicity and Marquita!)
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / iBooks



Beau Montgomery is *not* the typical single dad for three reasons:

1. He's rich and famous.
2. He needs a nanny, like yesterday.
3. He has no idea if eight month old, Mia, is actually his daughter.

Only, number three doesn't matter to him, because he's determined to give up everything to be a standup dad, including racing, partying, and his favorite vice-women. Until that is, he's invited to race in Monaco--a dream he's always had. Now, all those things he'd sworn to give up are at his fingertips, including the very inconveniently hot nanny, Landry Basnight, who's traveling with him.

Landry Basnight *is* the typical college graduate for three reasons:

1. She's broke and in debt up to her eyeballs.
2. She needs a job, like yesterday.
3. Nothing exciting ever happens in her life.

Only, number three is about to change, because she's been hired by Beau Montgomery, son of Racing Royalty. Landry's parents are big fans of the Montgomerys, while she couldn't care less--all she wants is to make a dent in her student loans. However, that doesn't stop her from falling in love with her little charge, nor does it make it easier to resist Beau's charms.

Lines are crossed, and then forgotten as Beau and Landry grow closer, but when Beau's ex-girlfriend, who is also Mia's mother, shows up, everything starts to fall apart for the new couple.

Will their love weather the storm, or will Beau abandon Landry for the family he's always wanted?

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

Okay, I have been waiting for this book since... forever. As soon as I read Live For You (book #1) I instantly knew that Beau needed his own book. Call it intuition or just plain attraction, I knew there was something more to Beau Montgomery than his tattoos and overall sex appeal... and I was right.

Beau Montgomery never had it easy, being the illegitimate child of a car racing legend and a woman who passed away in a very unfortunate and saddening way, it was hard growing up "normal." Having to learn to adapt and find his way was difficult, reading about his journey to becoming who he is now was very enlightening and very slap in the face-like. Ever since that faithful day that Beau met his now ex-girlfriend, Paisley, his life has never been the same. Seeing him get all torn up about her and how much he hurt, made me hurt. Beau gave her his all and she took, took and took until she found someone else. And now, Beau is taking care of his daughter (who he isn't even sure is his daughter because of Paisley's extracurricular activities) without complaint and anger, he just loves Mia. Being able to read about Beau's past and how he came to be made me sympathize and understand him. Seeing him grow into a person capable of loving unconditionally even after going through what he did made me believe that there really is hope for everyone, and that Beau is seriously one of the best men out there.

Right off the bat, I felt the sexual tension between Landry and Beau, I could almost feel how thick it was. I generally liked Landry as a character, she was sweet, kind and also genuinely cared for both Beau and Mia. I liked Landry's spunk and her need to be independent; and her being responsible made me see how mature of a character she was. Every time I would read a scene between Landry and Beau, I could not help but giggle, they were great together but we all know that love is never a smooth road...

The huge thorn on both Beau and Landry's side is Paisley, Mia's mother and Beau first true love. It's not because she's deliberately antagonistic but with the way she was raised and everything she went through, it became a sort of defense mechanism for her to be spiteful and cruel, especially to Beau. There were moments when you would catch a glimpse of a kind mother who genuinely loved her daughter, and those moments gave me hope that she wasn't a complete witch. What Marquita Valentine did was that she makes you dislike Paisley but also makes you sympathize with her, it was nice to be able to understand the "mean girl" in a book since we're hardly ever given the opportunity to really get to know them. Paisley definitely has a lot of layers and as chapters go by, you'll see them get peeled off one by one till all you have is her core. By the end of the book, I actually liked Paisley. *sniffles*

Marquita Valentine could not have made me any more proud. I absolutely loved this book and how she handled Beau's story. Everything was so unexpected and felt very much like car racing, speedy with turns and swerves that will leave you breathless with excitement. I am so happy that Marquita Valentine wrote this book the way she did, she did Beau, Landry and Paisley justice. I cannot wait to see what else is coming from the Boys of the South series! Very excited.

Rating:

.5

About the author:

New York Times Bestselling Author, MARQUITA VALENTINE, writes small town romances that are anything but small. She met her husband aka Hot Builder at Sonic when they were in high school. She suggests this location to all of her single friends in search of a good man -- and if that doesn't work, they can console themselves with cheesy tatertots. She lives in North Carolina in a very, very small town with Hot Builder and their two children. 

You can find her here: 

Website / Facebook / Twitter

{Blog Tour} ARC Review: The Hunt by Stacey Kade

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Title: The Hunt (Project Paper Doll #2)
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication date: April 22nd 2014
Source: Received eARC via NetGalley (Thanks, Dianne from PBT and Disney-Hyperion!)
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble



Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life. 

But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.

Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?

(Image and summary taken from Goodreads.)

Review:

Picking up immediately where The Rules left off, after Ariane and Zane have successfully escaped from GTX with only the bare necessities, they realize that they are far from being safe. Now exposed to the real world, they find out that Dr. Jacobs and GTX are the least of their worries when other corporations start to arise and plan on eliminating their competition. This tests not only Zane and Ariane's relationship but everything they've ever known as a whole.

As soon as I finished reading The Rules sometime last year, I instantly knew that I needed the sequel. Like, ASAP. I really enjoyed the complexity of Stacey Kade's story and how elaborate she made it. It is so hard to find an alien-themed book that does not feel forced or too creepy, Stacey Kade was definitely able to blend just the right amount of alien into the story that made it so interesting. And let me tell you, Stacey Kade has certainly written a sequel that is worth waiting for.

It never ceases to amaze me whenever I see a heroine grow from a shy girl to this badass rebel. The change in Ariane was very profound and I was thoroughly impressed with the way Stacey Kade developed her as a character. In The Rules, she was this insecure high school girl who never felt like she belonged for obvious reasons but in The Hunt, you see that Ariane has found a sense of purpose that she felt she needed to accomplish. Unfortunately, Ariane is still half-human and is very susceptible to making brash decisions that end up pushing away the people who care *cough* Zane *cough* for her.

I loved Zane in the first book and I still love him in this one, as well. The scenes between him and Ariane range from sweet to steamy to OMG-just-kiss-and-make-up-already. Most the time it's like a battle of wills between him and Ariane, the need to protect and insist that they do whatever that needs to be done together. Zane's tenacity made me adore him even more because it's like he's the one trying to keep the two of them together and even though he could just choose to back out, he still decided to stay no matter how dangerous things could get. We all need a Zane in our lives. Seriously.

Stacey Kade thoroughly impressed me with this one; the steady paced writing, detailed experiences that will make you feel like you're the one going through them and a diverse cast of characters, The Hunt just brims with excitement. This is a worthy addition to a great series. And may I just say? OH MY GOD, THAT ENDING. JUST, OHMYGOD. Somebody, please, hold me.

Rating:

.5

{Blog Tour} ARC Review: Stroke of Love by Melissa Foster

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Title: Stroke of Love (Love in Bloom: The Remingtons #2)
Author: Melissa Foster
Publication date: March 3rd 2014
Publisher: World Literary Press
Source: Received copy from tour host (Thanks, Julie from AToMR Book Blog Tours and Melissa!)
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble / iTunes



Kate Parello runs a volunteer program in Belize for Artists for International Aid, where she deals with self-centered artists who use the program as a means to repair their marred reputations. She loves the country, the people, and what AIA stands for, but too many diva volunteers have turned her off to press-seeking celebrities altogether and left her questioning the value of the volunteer program. When she meets incredibly handsome and charming Sage, he stirs emotions she hasn’t felt for ages, even though he represents the things she despises.

Laid-back artist Sage Remington escapes his wealthy lifestyle in the Big Apple for a two-week journey of self-discovery to figure out how a guy who has so much can feel so empty. When he meets ultra-organized Kate, who lives her life the way he’s always dreamed of living his, the attraction is too hot to ignore, but Sage is there to figure out what’s missing in his life, not to find a woman.

Every look, and every late-night chat in the romantic jungle brings them closer together, but Sage can barely think past stripping away Kate’s misconceptions about him. Kate fights him every step of the way—even though she finds it hard to ignore the strikingly handsome, generous-to-a-fault artist who wants to do nothing more than right the wrongs of the world—and love her to the ends of the earth.

Review:

I read Game in Love (book one of the Remingtons series) and I quite enjoyed it, I liked the general feel and theme of the novel but wow, I absolutely adored Stroke in Love. Melissa Foster was able to create a fairly solid story that stemmed out and managed to elevate it to another level. Sure it was a love story and there were a few mushy and sweet scenes but I felt that Stroke in Love had a depth that its predecessor lacked and I was glad to have seen that substance in her books.

Meeting Sage in the previous book (still love his name) made me feel like I already had a grasp as to what kind of character he was and what he stood for and it was great witnessing him become even more of a man than I already thought he was. He was such a great confidant and friend to his brother Dex in Game in Love and seeing him fly solo made me realize how great of a guy he really was. The fact that he braved living in an area with limited resources and questionable health care while his "companions" bitched and moaned about their accommodations made my respect for him get even higher. His genuine eagerness and joy at seeing the children of Punta Palacia learn and appreciate art made me smile and go "aww". His quest to find that inner peace and a fulfillment that not even his passion for art could fill made his journey to self discovery all the more amazing. Sage was never the type to want to be in the spotlight or exploit the less fortunate for his gain, no, he was the type to try and think of every possible way to help others and to maximize his gifts to give other people better opportunities. Melissa Foster could not have created a better leading man, really.

Kate is a wonderful girl, she really is but there were moments (mostly in the first half of the book) that I wanted to just smack her upside the head. I understand that she has seen and experience first-hand meeting obnoxious and snobbish celebrities but the problem is that she has the stigma stuck inside her head that she never gives anyone the benefit of the doubt. She immediately judges people based on first impressions and never allows others to try and prove to her that they aren't what she thought they were. That was my only peeve regarding Kate but other than that, it was smooth sailing. At the beginning, you could see the attraction between her and Sage but you could also tell that her need to be right prevented her from truly seeing how amazing Sage really was; but it was nice to see that they were able to work through those issues. I really admire Kate as a person, she was just so genuine. Her love for the people of Punta Palacia was so tangible that you could see and feel it flow through the pages. She really does everything she can to help the people there and that was so admirable. Kate is definitely very inspirational and her dedication and love for her calling completely sealed the deal for me.

In terms of the romance aspect of the book, the steam and swoon definitely were not lacking in this book. I felt that the experiences that Kate and Sage went through made their relationship stronger and allowed them to be more open to each other. You will see walls crumbling and when you do, you will breathe a sigh of relief and do a happy dance. I just love them together, seriously.

As I continue to read Melissa Foster's books, I see how diverse of an author she really is because every novels she brings out is unique and different from anything else she has written. Her books are not all completely fluff and happiness, there are still slightly darker themes but that just shows how you can fall in love with her books in different ways. I'm already a fan and I can't wait to see what else Melissa Foster has in store for us!

Rating:

About the author:

Melissa Foster is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling and award-winning author. She writes contemporary romance, new adult, contemporary women's fiction, suspense, and historical fiction with emotionally compelling characters that stay with you long after you turn the last page. Her books have been recommended by USA Today's book blog, Hagerstown Magazine, The Patriot, and several other print venues. She is the founder of the Women’s Nest, a social and support community for women, and the World Literary Café. When she's not writing, Melissa helps authors navigate the publishing industry through her author training programs on Fostering Success. Melissa has been published in Calgary’s Child Magazine, the Huffington Post, and Women Business Owners magazine.

Melissa enjoys discussing her books with book clubs and reader groups, and welcomes an invitation to your event.

You can find her here:

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads