Waiting on Wednesday (155): Made You Up + Hello, I Love You

This week's WoW picks has a theme: Blue. And, well, gorgeous covers.

Just check them out below! :D

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Title: Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
Release Date: May 19th 2015
Published by: Greenwillow Books

Want? Add to your Goodreads list!

Summary:

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. Made You Up tells the story of Alex, a high school senior unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion. This is a compelling and provoking literary debut that will appeal to fans of Wes Anderson, Silver Linings Playbook, and Liar.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out the difference between reality and delusion. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8-Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She’s pretty optimistic about her chances until classes begin, and she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She’s not prepared for normal.

Funny, provoking, and ultimately moving, this debut novel featuring the quintessential unreliable narrator will have readers turning the pages and trying to figure out what is real and what is made up.

Why I'm waiting for Made You Up:

For some reason, I am really in love with the cover of this book. I can't put it into words but after I've finished reading the summary and I looked at the cover closely, I felt like it fits the story.

What is reality and what isn't? That phrase just got me. And who is Miles? I like that I'm going to think real hard while reading this book, guessing what is real and what isn't. And I've never read the Silver Linings Playbook, but Made You Up just makes me want to read it now. There's something about Alex being an unreliable narrator that gives this book so much appeal. I need it!

Title: Hello, I Love You by Katie M. Stout
Release Date: June 9th 2015
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin

Want? Add to your Goodreads list!

Summary:

A teen escapes to a boarding school abroad and falls for a Korean pop star in this fun and fresh romantic novel in the vein of Anna and the French Kiss.

Grace Wilde is running—from the multi-million dollar mansion her record producer father bought, the famous older brother who’s topped the country music charts five years in a row, and the mother who blames her for her brother’s breakdown. Grace escapes to the farthest place from home she can think of, a boarding school in Korea, hoping for a fresh start.

She wants nothing to do with music, but when her roommate Sophie’s twin brother Jason turns out to be the newest Korean pop music superstar, Grace is thrust back into the world of fame. She can't stand Jason, whose celebrity status is only outmatched by his oversized ego, but they form a tenuous alliance for the sake of her friendship with Sophie. As the months go by and Grace adjusts to her new life in Korea, even she can't deny the sparks flying between her and the KPOP idol.

Soon, Grace realizes that her feelings for Jason threaten her promise to herself that she'll leave behind the music industry that destroyed her family. But can Grace ignore her attraction to Jason and her undeniable pull of the music she was born to write? Sweet, fun, and romantic, this young adult novel explores what it means to experience first love and discover who you really are in the process.

Why I'm waiting for Hello, I Love You:

If you've been following me for quite some time, then you know how much I love Kpop and the Korean culture and this book felt like all my dreams come true and then some. Finally, someone wrote the book I've been wanting to read for a long time!

And to mention Anna and the French Kiss (but with an Asian twist?!) is making me all the more curious about this book! I have never read any book that includes Kpop, idols / superstars, fame, the music industry like this book suggests, so I am eagerly waiting for the release of Katie's book. It's just something I need to read, both because I'm a Kpop fan and I'm an avid YA reader, and this just sounds like a really good combination I can't wait to get my hands on!

-----

So what are your WoW picks? Share them with me, please!

Read More

Review: Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang + Giveaway!

Sometimes we just need to pay attention. Sometimes we just need to notice. Sometimes, we just need to ask for help when we need it.

Title: Falling into Place by Amy Zhang
Release Date: September 9th 2014
Published by: Greenwillow Books
Buy: Fully Booked

Summary:

On the day Liz Emerson tries to die, they had reviewed Newton’s laws of motion in physics class. Then, after school, she put them into practice by running her Mercedes off the road.

Why? Why did Liz Emerson decide that the world would be better off without her? Why did she give up? Vividly told by an unexpected and surprising narrator, this heartbreaking and nonlinear novel pieces together the short and devastating life of Meridian High’s most popular junior girl. Mass, acceleration, momentum, force—Liz didn’t understand it in physics, and even as her Mercedes hurtles toward the tree, she doesn’t understand it now. How do we impact one another? How do our actions reverberate? What does it mean to be a friend? To love someone? To be a daughter? Or a mother? Is life truly more than cause and effect? Amy Zhang’s haunting and universal story will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver, Gayle Forman, and Jay Asher.

She's the kind of girl you'd love to love, and the kind you'd love to hate. Liz Emerson was one part of the trio of the most popular juniors in her class. Everyone knows Liz. Everyone. But then Liz crashed her car, and things started to unravel, and people realize Liz Emerson's life isn't perfect, not by a long shot.

Physics has never been a favorite of mine, but I give kudos to Amy Zhang for using Physics to illustrate Liz's life and paint it using cause and effect, Newton's Laws, mass and acceleration, gravity and motion. Told in bits and pieces seven days before Liz attempted suicide, crashed her car and the days that followed, Falling Into Place pushes the readers to slide into what was behind the fragile facade that makes up Liz Emerson's life.

Taking a look in Liz's life is a powerful experience in itself. The layers come off piece by piece as we see Liz on her very best and her very worst, the cruel parts and the lonely parts, the pretense and the dreams, the innocence, the potential and the wishes, the things that led her to break people because she too is broken, and the things she did and wished she did to feel whole again, to just feel, to find meaning in her existence.There are a lot of broken people in this novel, and sadly some of them cannot be put back together, but there are others like Liam, who we find unlikely strength from.

It's a cheerless tale, laid bare to the readers in jumbled thoughts and messy emotions and the potent way that Amy Zhang has told this story in simple narrative is what made Falling Into Place a haunting, meaningful read. Sometimes we need to read a book like this, where we just need to look at things just a little bit closer, where we sometimes need to notice, because we might not know when a friend, the one who was always smiling and laughing, might be the one who needed our help the most. Your heart will give a painful lurch or two when you finish reading this novel. Falling Into Place is a gripping, significant debut that needs to be read by everyone.

Falling into Place is available in Fully Booked.

Content (plot, story flow, character):

The sad nature of this book and the heavy theme might not be suitable for most people, but it discusses a very important issue and presents a theme that we all need to be aware of, so I highly encourage people to read this. It'll definitely help provide an insight on what people going through tough times like Liz would feel and do, and what we in our part can do to help.

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
That cover is deceptive, beautiful but there's more to it than meets the eye.

-----

Read this in a couple of hours and I am still stunned. Wow.

GIVEAWAY TIME!

WIN A FINISHED COPY OF FALLING INTO PLACE!

Rules:

Open to Philippine residents only

(If you know someone from the Philippines who can receive the book for you, then you can join!)

Must be 13 years or older

Ends 2/28

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read More

[Blog tour] The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe: Excerpt + ARC Giveaway

I will tell you this early, but The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe is one of the few YA contemporary books that caught my eye last year, so I am very, very excited to be a part of this.

This is the second stop on the tour, and we are releasing the FIRST 50 PAGES of The Tragic Age. Yes, you can read the first fifty pages by checking out the blogs below:

Excerpt 1: Tuesday, February 3rd: KellyVision
Excerpt 2: Saturday, February 7th: Amaterasu Reads
Excerpt 3: Tuesday, February 10th: The Young Folks
Excerpt 4: Friday, February 13th: Unbound Books
Excerpt 5: Sunday, February 15th: Books and Whimsy
Excerpt 6: Thursday, February 19th: Stories & Sweeties
Excerpt 7: Monday, February 23rd: As I Turn the Pages
Excerpt 8: Saturday, February 28th: Novel Novice

I have 3 ARCs of The Tragic Age to giveaway, so if you are liking what you've read so far, here's your chance to win a copy! Scroll down below!

And now for the excerpt... (this is chapter 2 and 3 in the book)

The drum room.

The drum room is on the lower level of the house. You might call this level the basement if a basement had in- laid wood floors, lath and plaster walls, and crown mold- ings. Dad had the drum room professionally soundproofed because not only was the noise driving him crazy, he was convinced it was stirring up the sediment in the cases of vintage Bordeaux that he had impulsively bought to put into the walk-in, climate-controlled wine cellar that came with the house.

My set is a Pearl Masterworks series. Black pearl. Dou- ble bass drums, a twelve-inch Tama Warlord Titan snare, four rack toms, and two floor toms, all tuned at two inter- vals apart. The set has six Zildjian cymbals; two rock rides, two custom crash, and a high hat.

My sound system is a Lyngdorf TDAI2200 Integrated Amp and Onkyo CS5VL SACD/CD player that plugs into a Pioneer S4EX speaker system.

Drum karaoke.

The very first concert was probably people beating logs by the fire. The rhythms were the patterns that made up their natural world—wind, rain, stampeding hooves— and through these patterns, they experienced ecstasy.

What are my patterns?

Speed metal. Thrash. Ska punk. Progressive rock. Any- thing or anybody that makes me work. Neil Peart. Mike Portnoy. Shannon Leto of Thirty Seconds to Mars. Danny Carey of Tool. Stewart Copeland of The Police for simple precision. But my favorite drummer of all time is Avenged Sevenfold’s Jimmy Sullivan aka the Reverend Tholomew Plague aka the Rev. Dead of acute drug and alcohol in- toxication at the age of twenty-eight.

Better to drum yourself to death.

The soundproof room is small and insular and hot and it doesn’t take long before I’ll be dripping with sweat. A lot of times I strip down to my underwear or take my clothes off completely. My hands and bare feet blister and bleed and the blood and the sweat spot the drum heads. Drumming is the closest thing I know to mindlessness.

I would never ever play for people.

-----

“Billy! Billy, hi!”

This is the Sunday morning that as I sit on the beach wall reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau, who I’m finding to be a pretentious, pedantic, sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, sheep-brained stiff, the tall, slim girl with the long, light red hair and the green eyes calls out to me. She’s up on the road above the seawall. She’s in running shorts and sports bra and has obviously been jogging and now she’s stopped. She waves, hopping in place, the way runners do while waiting to pass out or for a traffic light to change.

My hand has gone up to cover the right side of my face, the way it always does when I’m startled or surprised. A port-wine hemangioma is a reddish to purple birthmark caused by dilated capillaries in the skin. Mine starts just to the right of my eye and spreads like a stain down and across most of my cheek.

The girl with the long, light red hair and the green eyes points at herself.

“Gretchen! Gretchen Quinn! We’re back!”

Fact.

Shock is a response in the body’s sympathetic nervous system. The heart jumps. Breath catches. Blood vessels in the brain contract, throwing off sparks.

The red-haired girl smiles again. She waves at me again. “See you at school!” And then she’s off again, run- ning. She has a beautiful, long stride.

I lower my hand. The side of my face pulses and feels hot. I feel as if I’d like a pond to run away to.
I hate it when people expect things of you. I just hate it.

-----

About the book:

Title: The Tragic Age: A Novel by Stephen Metcalfe
Release Date: March 3rd 2015
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary:

This is the story of Billy Kinsey, heir to a lottery fortune, part genius, part philosopher and social critic, full time insomniac and closeted rock drummer. Billy has decided that the best way to deal with an absurd world is to stay away from it. Do not volunteer. Do not join in. Billy will be the first to tell you it doesn’t always work— not when your twin sister, Dorie, has died, not when your unhappy parents are at war with one another, not when frazzled soccer moms in two ton SUVs are more dangerous than atom bombs, and not when your guidance counselor keeps asking why you haven’t applied to college.

Billy’s life changes when two people enter his life. Twom Twomey is a charismatic renegade who believes that truly living means going a little outlaw. Twom and Billy become one another’s mutual benefactor and friend. At the same time, Billy is reintroduced to Gretchen Quinn, an old and adored friend of Dorie’s. It is Gretchen who suggests to Billy that the world can be transformed by creative acts of the soul.　

With Twom, Billy visits the dark side. And with Gretchen, Billy experiences possibilities.Billy knows that one path is leading him toward disaster and the other toward happiness. The problem is—Billy doesn’t trust happiness. It's the age he's at. The tragic age.

Stephen Metcalfe's brilliant, debut coming-of-age novel, The Tragic Age, will teach you to learn to love, trust and truly be alive in an absurd world.

PRE-ORDER: AMAZON | B&N | BAM | INDIEBOUND

About the author:

Stephen Metcalfe is a writer, a director and a teacher. His stage plays include LOVES & HOURS, VIKINGS, STRANGE SNOW, SORROWS AND SONS, PILGRIMS, HALF A LIFETIME, EMILY, WHITE LINEN, THE INCREDIBLY FAMOUS WILLY RIVERS, WHITE MAN DANCING, A WORLD OF THEIR OWN and THE GIFT TELLER. He has been produced in New York and at regional theaters throughout the United States as well as in Europe and Japan.

He is an Associate Artist at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego and has been An adjunct professor in dramatic writing at University of California at San Diego, University of San Diego and San Diego State University.

His first novel, THE TRAGIC AGE, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in the fall of 2014.

GIVEAWAY TIME
WIN 1 OF 3 ARCS OF THE TRAGIC AGE BY STEPHEN METCALFE!

Rules:

Open to US/Canada
(But if you're an international resident and you have someone in the US who can receive the ARC for you, go for it!)
Must be 13 years old and up
Ends March 1st.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read More

Waiting on Wednesday (154): From Where I Watch You by Shannon Grogan

How are you all? The weather is still somewhat chilly (in the mornings, at least) which is a plus. Okay, I am not sure why I'm talking about the weather, but yeah, my 1st WoW post of the year!

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine

Title: From Where I Watch You by Shannon Grogan
Release Date: August 4th 2015
Published by: Soho Teen

Want? Add to your Goodreads list!

Summary:

16-year-old Kara is on course to be a superb professional baker. Perfectly designed and piped, her cookies are masterpieces, but also her route out of the rainy streets of Seattle. Winning a prestigious culinary contest could take her away from the misery that is her home life since her widely hated big sister Kellen drowned. Now Kara's dad is gone, her mom has turned from high-powered attorney into nutty holy-rolling Christian fundamentalist who sells Soul Soup in the family café, and Kara is left with memories of better times.

As Kara pieces together the events that led to Kellen's death, she starts seeing her out of the corner of her eye: an unwelcome ghost in dirty Ugg boots. And then there are the notes. Someone is watching her, knows exactly where she is and what's she's doing. If she doesn't figure out who her stalker is, she could lose everything. Her chance of escape. The boy she's beginning to love and trust. And even her life.

Why I'm waiting for From Where I Watch You:

I wasn't at first, actually. I mean okay, a YA contemporary story about baking, happy family. But everything changed as I was reading the second paragraph. I've always loved a good YA thriller / mystery story and I haven't read enough of those so I'm definitely intrigued with this book after reading about the notes. Stalker? Someone watching?

(And hopefully it's not the boy she's beginning to trust.) So excited to see how the story plays out!

And that gorgeous cover! You actually wouldn't think this was a thriller based on that.

-----

What are your WoW picks for this week? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Read More

[Blog Tour] Review: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

A world divided by blood and color. The Silvers who are the rulers and the Reds who follow, inferior, slaves. It was the way the world works, until a Red girl named Mare came along.

Title: Red Queen (Red Queen Trilogy #1) by Victoria Aveyard
Release Date: February 10th 2015
Published by: Harper Teen
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

Graceling meets The Selection in debut novelist Victoria Aveyard's sweeping tale of seventeen-year-old Mare, a common girl whose once-latent magical power draws her into the dangerous intrigue of the king's palace. Will her power save her or condemn her?

Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood--those with common, Red blood serve the Silver- blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.

To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard--a growing Red rebellion--even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction. One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.

Mare just wants to escape. Having been born a Red, her only choice as she turns 18 is to serve in the military like her older brothers because she had no other talents. But Mare doesn't want that, and so she would do anything in her power to avoid it. But Mare doesn't have the money nor the ability to do so, the only way she can help feed her family is when she picks pockets. Until one day she meets a mysterious boy, compassionate enough to give her help in a way Mare couldn't forget. But the boy isn't what he seems, and when Mare finds herself working inside the palace, amidst the mighty and superior Silvers, Mare finds out that she might be something else entirely. And the boy who helped her? He happens to be the heir to the throne, the boy she can never have, even as she became a part of the family to protect her secret.

See, Red Queen had this hypnotic quality that just pulls you in the moment you start reading. Everything about this book intrigued me. Mare is a girl one can easily sympathize with, fierce and loyal to her family and right from the start she wanted something more for herself, to break free of the life given to her just because her blood runs red. Her strong personality became more evident especially when she found herself smack dab in the middle of the Royal family, and with her new found ability, she was tested over and over as she familiarizes herself with the very same people she hates: the Silvers, their world, the powers they possess, the rebellion, all while Mare tries to keep herself alive and protect herself as she tries to make the lives of her people, the Reds, better.

While reading Red Queen, I learned early to be wary like Mare, but no amount of vigilance and readiness prepared me for when I encountered Cal and Maven, Silvers and Princes, possessing great abilities harnessing the power of fire. An older brother with the burden of ruling a country divided, a younger sibling who has always existed in the shadow of the first born. They fought for attention and though their personalities are in total contrast with each other, there's much to love and admire on both brothers. That is, until conspiracies, secrets, hatred and betrayal got woven in the story. I loved how Victoria Aveyard managed to make me lose focus enough to not figure out which brother isn't what he really seemed. And boy, the shock I got when I figured it out was something that made me love this book more.

The author managed to build a believable world, full of strife and conflict, and there's a lot of elements worth discussing aside from Mare's complicated relationship with the Royal family. The world Mare sees, it's social hierarchy, the way the society functions under the premise of the superior ruling and subjugating the weak, where one's place in life is dictated with the color he/she bleeds, and the obvious disparity in life when it comes to privileges and power. There's this palpable impact seeing all of these through the eyes of someone who was once that, a Red and now suddenly a Silver as the readers get to see both sides of the story. Even Mare's struggles as she became someone who was neither of the two, still with that burning desire to right the wrongs done to her people is noteworthy. There's absolutely nothing in this book that isn't worth paying attention to, even the minor characters. (Officer Samos deserves a special mention!)

Red Queen is an addictive read. If the political or royal intrigue and family dynamics isn't enough to make your heart race, then the action scenes will. It's not so much about the explosions and uprisings, but the consequences and complications they create, and the impact they have on Mare who exists in a lie in order to live. Nothing is certain. People betray even those they hold dear, and death is always on their heels. No guarantees, no promises. It's a cruel, cut throat world, and I loved reading every single minute of it. Victoria Aveyard's debut novel convinces the readers of her talent and the potential for this book to become a hit is really high. Thoroughly enjoyable, with breath taking, heart breaking romance set in a fascinating, futuristic world, Red Queen is definitely a favorite of mine this early in the year!

One of the very few downside of this book? Waiting for the sequel. How do we past time now?

Content (plot, story flow, character):

This book could have been close to perfect were it not for that one aspect of Mare's personality that I didn't really like: that single minded desire to "avenge" her people, ignoring everything else which leads her to being an irrational person more often than not. Combine that with her complete inability to choose between Maven and Cal which caused her a lot of problems, that feeling of love consuming such a big part of her that she loses focus, until it was too late.
.5

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
This cover speaks volumes, and it makes so much sense when you read the story. What a perfect representation of the story as a whole.

I have extra content for the followers and readers of this blog! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to ask Victoria one question. What is it? Check out the graphic below:

And if my review made you want to read the book, you can check out the video that the wonderful folks over at Epic Reads made to find out more about Red Queen:


Thank you so much to HarperCollins International for letting me be a part of this tour! Follow and check out the rest of the international tour stops by checking out the list below:

2/2 http://amaterasureads.blogspot.com (Philippines)

2/3 http://staybookish.net/ (Philippines)

2/4 http://ghostgrrrl.wordpress.com (Malaysia)

2/5 http://iliveforreading.blogspot.com (Singapore)

2/6 http://thedailyprophecy.blogspot.com (the Netherlands)

2/8 http://spellsaab.juice.ph/ (Philippines)

2/8 http://defiantlydeviant.blogspot.com (Philippines)

2/9 http://www.carinabooks.blogspot.com (Norway)

2/12 http://www.booksloveme.com/​ (Malaysia)

Read More

Signing recap: James Frey Manila Book Signing! #JamesFreyinPH

National Bookstore brought James Frey signing for their first ever YA Book event for 2015. What can I say? I am pleasantly surprised.

James Frey visited Manila for a book signing for his latest interactive book called Endgame: The Calling which features a puzzle you can solve in order to win $500,000. And in case you didn't know, his publisher has also recently announced shortly before his tour that James is Pittacus Lore, the author of the Lorien Legacies books.

James opted not to use the mic and proceeded to answer the questions from the bloggers right away. As for his answers? Check the Q&A I listed below:

The hardest part of Endgames to write: was it the beginning, middle or end?

Books are all sort of the same. The ending for Endgame has been changed four times, which James considered to be the hardest part, because there are now four different endings and he kept redoing it. The beginning is hard because you know there are hundreds of pages in front of you, the middle is the easiest and the end is hard because you have to get it right. If it stinks, your book stinks.

Endgame is an interactive trilogy that involves playing a game with a real prize, utilizing social media and producing e-novellas, what's the most challenging part in putting all of it together?

Before James and Nils started, they wrote a 50 paged document on how to integrate everything, and they just had to make sure to get it right. The hardest part was the logistics, as Endgame came out in 165 countries in 35 languages all on the same day, which was a very complicated thing to carry out. The book also has a puzzle in it where one can win a lot of money if they were able to solve it, and they had to make sure that it was legal all over the world as different countries have different laws with lots of paperwork. As for the social media aspect, the characters in the book had their own twitter handles made a year before the book came out, and it was just a lot of work. But James considers himself lucky for having an awesome job, as hard work is a good thing. He also had kids, where he jokingly said that the job makes it possible for him to buy shoes for them. :)

The puzzle in Endgame is embedded in the book, how did James & Nils go about in designing it?

James wrote the puzzle into the story on his first draft of Endgame. It was, however, very simple and it looked the way he wanted the puzzle to look and function. He then hired 3 guys with PhD's from MIT who then made it way harder, way cooler and way more fun. The puzzle James wrote can be solved in a couple of days, while the puzzle the MIT guys wrote will take a year to be solved.

Did James helped, in any way, for the movie adaptation of his books: I AM NUMBER FOUR and ENDGAME?

 James help and contribute as much as they want him to. I Am Number Four is Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay's work and they don't really need James telling them what to do. If they called him with questions then he was happy to talk with them and give them his input, but he wasn't aggressive in trying to make things the way he wanted them to be. In his experience, generally it doesn't work out well. The smartest authors are just happy that they're books are getting to be made into movies as it increases their audience dramatically. With Endgame, the producers were the ones who made the Twilight, Nicholas Sparks movies, Fault In Our Stars and Maze runner and they don't need to hear from James either. They're old friends of James and he trusts them.

In working out strategies of the characters according to the rules of the game, did James think that a particular character will definitely violate the rule?

There are no rules! They can do anything they wanted. The only rule is that there are no rules. That's the beauty of it. That gave both James and Nils the ability to make the characters do anything they want, be as good or bad as they want. Once they have the cultures they started making the characters appropriate to the culture, and then they had to decide which characters had to be good or bad and they try to balance it out (e.g. not making all the Asian characters bad and all the white characters good). There are 5 Asian characters in the book which is way more than anybody else.

Will there be more Asian characters? (Not really as players.)

For sure. James has to figure out how to get Manila in the next book as he wants to write a chase scene set in Manila.

What sets The Calling apart from other books in the same genre?

James asked Sab what she thinks the genre for The Calling is. It's not dystopia, as it is in an alternate world. What sets it apart? It's way freaking better and way cooler. And Filipino readers love it way more. James and Nils tried to make it different by setting it in our world, a world we all know. Something happened at the end of the book that is unlike any of the books with love triangles. It was a deliberate decision that basically says James is sick of "love triangle" books. Also, the characters are "global". It doesn't just have white characters. James wanted to make a book with characters all over the world, a book that acknowledges cultures and people all over the world because in today's world, an author's audience is not just white Americans, and it's way cooler to make a book with characters from all over the world.

Among the 12 players, which one best describes James?

As a writer, unless you are writing directly about yourself, every character is you in some way and none of them are you. If there's one who most resembles James, it's Jago but he doesn't really think any of them is like him as James had different reasons for writing all of them. When you write a book, you have to treat your characters fully with equal care, attention and love or the book will get messed up. You give equal care to the good ones and the bad ones.

Is there a scene in Endgame James wishes to change or remove?

No, he thinks the book is perfect. Certainly when you give a book to a publisher and you go to the long process of editing where you change, remove and add and do all sorts of things with the book, part of it is taking input from the publisher, what the author thinks as he writes and right now he's pretty happy with what he has.

Is there already a title for the sequel to Endgame?

They already have a title, but it had to be changed, and now they are planning on changing it again so James doesn't know what the title is going to be. He asks his readers to give him suggestions for potential book titles. :)

As a bonus, here's a message from James to his Filipino readers:


I am missing around a minute and a half in my recording, because I totally forgot that I pressed "Pause" on my recorder and only remembered to start it again towards the end. You can check the other recaps for two or more of the questions and their answers! Sorry about that.

I arrived a little bit late so I only had time to take photos with my other blogger friends while James was signing our books, so here are some of the photos:

First #Kaiselfie of the year! Oscar inspired, eh?

And of course James signed my books! He really likes it here in Manila, as evident in his messages and what he writes in the books he signs. And it's true, he signs EVERYTHING. National Bookstore raffled off 5 shirts and I managed to win one and he signed it for me. He also signed Polaroids from my blogger friends.

And then at the public signing, we were greeted by the screams of hundreds of fans who pushed their way near the stage as James Frey arrived. I thought my ears were going to fall off! James answered a few questions as well and picked a winner for the contest he mentioned before, where a fan can win a chance to be included in James' book!

It was an unexpectedly fun book signing, and as always, thank you National Bookstore for organizing this event! I had a lot of fun and James is quite the cool guy.

Did you attend the assigning? How was it for you? Share your experiences/comments/recaps with me!

Now who's excited for the book signing this March? :D

Other signing recaps:

Precious @ Fragments of LifeSab The Book Eater

Read More