A Bookish Day: #KMRinPH

In case you don't know, #KMRinPH is the official hashtag for Katie Cotugno, Melissa Kantor, and Robyn Schneider's visit here in the Philippines, and yes, I did have an awesome time meeting them just this morning!

A Bookish Day: Leigh Bardugo in Manila!

Just yesterday, I met another author in my long list of favorite authors, but this lady's special because the books she's written are some of the titles I've been reading more thoroughly than usual as part of "learning" how to get my high fantasy WIP just right, so in a way, she's also kind of like a teacher to me. And yes, there were starry eyes involved in my part the entire time we were in the same room. I think I'm starstruck even as I type this recap. Jesus.

A Bookish Day: The Disreputable History of Liars

It's the first bookish event of the year - well, for me, that is! XD I was absent for the past couple of events and I missed a whole lot of incredible authors, but I'm trying to change that this year and I sure as hell wasn't going to miss E. Lockhart! She wrote two of the most intelligently-written books I've ever read (and I read them one after the other, which was double awesome) so I really looked forward to meeting her, even though I had to rush from the office for a quick shower and then leave again after twenty-four hours of no sleep. Plenty of time for sleep when I'm dead lol.

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: Signs of Life - Selene Castrovilla

For the first cover reveal here on the blog this year, I'm beyond glad to be sharing the cover to a sequel that I only just learned is actually happening - which is good because I need to prepare my heart for this book.

It's My Second Blogiversary!

Just like last year, I'm going to keep this short because, as you've noticed by the lack of posts recently, I am even busier this time around (and also because I'm still no good at the mushy stuff). First of all, thanks to my PH book blogger friends who I haven't seen since July! I miss you guys, and I'll see you next month ;D Second, thanks to the authors and publishers who make books possible. No matter how occupied I am, I will always be yearning for words, and you are the people who make sure my needs are met. The work you do is invaluable, so please continue being awesome. And lastly, thanks to you, for still being here and dropping by my blog. I am truly grateful.

And to complete this celebration, here are two giveaways!

2014 Debut Authors Bash feat. Sashi Kaufman

This year, I'm glad to be part of the 2014 Debut Authors Bash, and even more glad to have Sashi Kaufman, author of The Other Way Around, on my blog! I really adored her book, and I hope that my featuring her here will help spread the word out even more. But before we get to my interview with Sashi, here's some info about her book:

Title: The Other Way Around

Author: Sashi Kaufman
Release Date: March 1st 2014

Publisher: Carolrhoda Lab
Age Group: Young Adult

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Andrew has seen a flash of his future. (Dad: unfinished PhD. Mom: unfulfilling career. Their marriage: unsuccessful.) Based on what he's seen, he's uninspired to put a foot on the well-worn path to the adulthood everyone expects of him. There must be another way around.

After a particularly disastrous Thanksgiving (his cousin wets Andrew's bed; his parents were too chicken to tell him his grandmother died), Andrew accidentally (on purpose) runs away and joins the circus. Kind of.

A guy can meet the most interesting people at the Greyhound station at dinnertime on Thanksgiving day. The Freegans are exactly the kinds of friends (living out of an ancient VW camper van, dumpster diving, dressing like clowns and busking for change) who would have Andrew's mom reaching for a third glass of Chardonnay. To Andrew, five teenagers who seem like they've found another way to grow up are a dream come true. But as the VW winds its way across the USA, the future is anything but certain.

The path of least resistance is a long, strange trip.

1. Where did you get the idea for writing The Other Way Around?

I think the idea really came from the fantasy of running away, rejecting what you’ve been told about adulthood and finding a home in an unlikely place. That and a strong connection to Andrew’s voice is what got me started on this story.

2. The Freegans in your book were really interesting. Were there people in your life who inspired you while you were writing these characters?

I’m a middle school teacher and a lot of my students want to know if they (personally) are in my book. The answer I give is that they’re all in the book. Little bits and pieces of the people I know get incorporated into characters. The Freegans themselves are pretty closely related to people I knew and loved when I was a student at Oberlin College. A lot of their beliefs and ethics and silly behaviors come right from people I lived with in a student cooperative that was Vegan and known for being pretty politically radical. Though, truth be told I was always one of the most straight-laced people living there.

3. If you were in Andrew's shoes, would you also have run away with a bunch of strangers?

Ha! Probably not. It’s really hard to say because I had a very balanced and warm home life not at all like the dysfunction and borderline neglect Andrew experiences. He may not be physically neglected but he is emotionally neglected by his parents.

4. What books do you think are similar to The Other Way Around?

Ooh that’s tough. I think I took some inspiration from writers’ whose style I admire more than similar books. A.S. King is one of my heroes -I love the way she writes adolescent voices. Also maybe Papertowns by John Green. An earlier version of this book is From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler -which was one of my favorite running away books as a kid.

5. If/when you go on a roadtrip, what kind of music do you listen to?

Embarrassing things. Old pop songs, whatever is on the radio. I’m a great appreciator of a good song but a terrible connoisseur. I know so little about music. If I choose something myself, probably bluegrass. I do love me some bluegrass music. 

About the author:

Sashi is a middle school English and science teacher who lives in Portland, Maine with her husband and daughter. She is also an amateur trash picker.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway!

{Blog Tour} Spotlight + Giveaway: Proxy - Alex London

Title: Proxy (Proxy #1)
Author: Alex London
Release Date: June 18th 2013

Publisher: Philomel
Age Group: Young Adult

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository | National Bookstore

Knox was born into one of the City’s wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

Giveaway!

Cover Reveal + Giveaway: Amour Amour - Krista & Becca Ritchie

Today, I have a beautiful new cover to share with you guys! It's for a standalone novel written by two of my fave NA authors (they're twins, which is another point for awesome), and without further ado...

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Boomerang - Noelle August

Title: Boomerang (Boomerang #1)

Author: Noelle August

Release Date: July 8th 2014

Publisher: William Morrow

Age Group: New Adult

Source: eARC for blog tour

Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Welcome to Boomerang.com, the dating site for the millennial gen with its no-fuss, no-commitments matchups, and where work is steamier than any random hook-up.

Mia Galliano is an aspiring filmmaker. Ethan Vance has just played his last game as a collegiate soccer star. They’re sharp, hungry for success, and they share a secret.

Last night, Ethan and Mia met at a bar, and, well... one thing led to another, which led to them waking up the next morning—together. Things turned awkward in a hurry when they found themselves sharing a post hookup taxi... to the same place: Boomerang headquarters.

What began as a powerful connection between them is treated to a cold shower courtesy of two major complications. First, Boomerang has a strict policy against co-worker dating. And second, they’re now competitors for only one job at the end of summer.

As their internships come to an end, will they manage to keep their eyes on the future and their hands off each other, or will the pull of attraction put them right back where they started?

Boomerang is the kind of book to hook a reader right from page one. It is the usual NA - steamy and dramatic and all that jazz - but it packs a punch with its hilariousness. Seriously. I was reading it in a train full of people and I had to stifle a laugh that would have been boisterous at best. Phew.

Hurrying down a narrow hall, I catch glimpses of sports photographs and motivational posters with soaring eagles and mountaintop sunrises. One says, "Life begins at the end of your comfort zone," which means my life is definitely beginning. Right. Now.

Imagine waking up beside your one-night stand partner - your hot one-night stand partner, and not remember anything that happened. If you're one for such activity, then it's okay, right? No biggie. Then your partner wakes up too, and you both prepare to go to work. Still okay. You share a cab because the two of you are going to the same general direction, but when you get there, you go into the same building, into the same elevator, and drop off at the same floor, into the same office, and start your first day at the same job.

Yay.

But that's life for Mia and Ethan, new interns for the dating site Boomerang, and they have to get over their maddening attraction to each other if they want the job at the end of their internship - and to keep the internship in the first place. With the book written in their alternating POVs, these characters just leaped off the page, and it was truly enjoyable to read about them tackling the challenges that most people in their early twenties face, particularly in the professional aspect of their lives.

"Can you even breathe?" she asks.

"Barely, but I don't think I'll be able to eat anything."

"You're just trying to avoid my mother's cooking."

"No way. Sulfuric acid is my favorite."

Mia and Ethan have the kind of chemistry that I fall for in the blink of an eye. They are those lovers who are also best friends; they can communicate with their eyes and, together, they just feel so right, perfect in every way. And because most of this book is them trying to prove that they don't belong together, most of this book is also me wanting to reach into the pages to push them into each other until they stuck. Talk about secondhand sexual frustration.

The bottomline: Boomerang is the NA book for you if you're still iffy about trying the genre (which you shouldn't be). And it's not totally about the romance; it's also filled with family and friendship that gave the book so much more personality. As with other NA series, the sequel is sounding more like a companion novel, but I am excited.

MY FAVORITE PART is Mia and Ethan going on their first work-required dates =))

RATING:

 

About the author:

NOELLE AUGUST is an anagram for Veronica Rossi and Lorin Oberweger. Just kidding, it's a pen name!

VERONICA ROSSI is the author of the New York Times Best-selling UNDER THE NEVER SKY trilogy for young adults. The books are available in more than thirty countries and the film rights have been optioned by Warner Bros. Veronica completed undergraduate studies at UCLA and lives in Northern California with her husband and two sons. She is fond of dresses with pockets, fluffy dogs, and cheese and chocolate -- but not together.

LORIN OBERWEGER began her storytelling career by captivating her first-grade class with tales of her summers on a kibbutz in Israel. Lorin had never been to Israel. While teacher/parent night put an end to her first experiments in fiction, she’d already caught the bug and eventually made a career of all things story. As a long-time independent editor and story development guru, Lorin's client successes range from small press publications to major bestselling novels. She's an award-winning author and has also worked behind the scenes as a ghostwriter on a variety of projects. Her work has received starred Kirkus reviews and glowing mentions in The New York Times. Oh, she did get to see a kibbutz, eventually, and found out she had it pretty much right all along.

Veronica and Lorin met at a writing workshop and just knew they were destined to create awesome things together.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

Giveaway!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: More Than Music - Elizabeth Briggs

Title: More Than Music (Chasing the Dream #1)

Author: Elizabeth Briggs
Release Date: June 17th 2014

Publisher: Self-published

Age Group: New Adult

Source: eARC for blog tour

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords | The Book Depository

Music major Maddie Taylor just finished her junior year of college and has a summer internship lined up with the LA Philharmonic, yet every night she practices guitar and secretly dreams of a louder life. But geeky girls like her don't get to be rock stars. That is, until tattooed singer Jared Cross catches her playing guitar and invites her to join his band on The Sound, a reality TV show competition.

Once on the show, Maddie discovers there’s more to Jared than his flirty smile and bad boy reputation – and that he’s just as big a geek as she is. With each performance their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, but when the show pressures them to stay single they’re forced to keep their relationship secret.

As the competition heats up, Jared will do whatever it takes for his band to win, and Maddie must decide if following her dream is worth losing her heart.

It's been months since I last read an NA novel, and with its geekiness, sexiness, and humor, More Than Music has everything I want from the genre - or in any book, for that matter. If you've ever had dreams of being in a rock band, then I can't imagine why you wouldn't enjoy this read.

Maddie is a pianist in her third year of college, but when she's alone in her apartment with her two best friends, she lets out the real her and rocks out with her seafoam green Fender. One night, while checking out her friend Kyle's band's studio, she gets caught playing the guitar and singing by none other than Jared Cross, lead singer of Villain Complex and the guy Maddie's been lusting for for so long - so she dashes the hell out of there. The next day, Jared's waiting for her outside her classroom and begs that she join their band temporarily for an audition, and before she knows it, she's on TV and living the dream... except that means she can't be with Jared.

Reading this book was like watching an entire season of The Voice within a few hours, but with an in-depth look into what happens when the cameras stop rolling: unenthusiastic mentors, manipulated votes, and all the drama. But More Than Music is so much more than that. It's about Maddie learning to go after what she wants, and even Jared learning that his idea of success isn't all there is to it.

"I thought of Aerosmith's 'Love in an Elevator'," Kyle said.

"That's a good one, too," Jared said, and belted out the lyrics.

Hector shook his head. "Not me. I heard that Nelly song 'Country Grammar'."

"What?" Kyle gaped at him. "I think we might have to kick you out of the band."

Aside from the tense and steamy romance between Maddie and Jared, another thing I enjoyed about this book was watching the friendship form between Maddie and the guys in Villain Complex. With their bassist quitting because of drama with Jared, the two other members feared a repeat of the incident and were against Maddie joining at first, but in time, she proved herself and her kickass guitar-playing skills. I can't help but think that even if things didn't work out between her and Jared, I still would've loved More Than Music as long as she got to be in the band. Alone, they were lovers, but with Kyle and Hector, they really were like siblings.

A sweet, fast, and easy read, More Than Music should appeal to music lovers out there. And if you're not, well, I can assure you that you'll fish out a ton of great music recs from this book, so what are you waiting for? Me, I'm waiting for the next books!

MY FAVORITE PART is Maddie returning after a brief, uh, break.

RATING:

About the author:
Elizabeth Briggs is a Young Adult and New Adult author who lives in Los Angeles with her British husband and a bunch of fluffy white rescue dogs. She's a guitar-playing geek who loves books, rock music, and video games, goes to Comic Con every year, and is still hoping to be a Jedi when she grows up.

Elizabeth currently works with WriteGirl to mentor at-risk or pregnant teen girls in writing, to help them get through high school and into college. She also volunteers with Bichon FurKids to help rescued dogs find a new, loving home. She previously worked as an intern for literary agent Jill Corcoran of Jill Corcoran Literary Agency, an intern for Entangled Publishing, and an editor for Curiosity Quills Press.

Elizabeth is represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of KT Literary and is a member of SCBWI and RWA.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Pinterest

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{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: MELT - Selene Castrovilla

Title: MELT

Author: Selene Castrovilla
Release Date: November 6th 2014

Publisher: Last Syllable Books

Age Group: Young Adult
Source: eARC for blog tour

Goodreads

MELT is a brutal love story, set against the backdrop of The Wizard of Oz. Sixteen year old “good girl” Dorothy just blew into the small town of Highland Park – where the social headquarters is Munchkinland (Dunkin’ Donuts.) There, she meets Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism? And then there’s his family's secret – about to be unleashed. 

Told in dual first person, Joey's words are scattered on the page - reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason - until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away? 

MELT is based on true events. It is both a chilling tale of abuse, and a timeless romance. It will hit you like a punch in the face, and also seep through the cracks in your soul.

MELT is not a book for the faint of heart. I went into it on a lazy Sunday morning and having completely forgotten what the blurb said, and instantly it had me in its grip. This is one of those books that is just impossible to put down, and because of its length - three hundred twenty-eight pages, according to Goodreads, but it does feel significantly shorter than that - I don't think anyone would have to.

Dorothy is an all-around good girl: she has good grades, does not smoke, drink, or care for her social status. But when her parents' job bring her to Highland Park, she meets Joey, someone that everyone considers to be a bad boy through and through. He drinks, has a mangled fist from numerous fights, and even a rap sheet, but no one in their small town knows the horrors that he's subjected to daily at home. No one knows, and when they see him, no one cares... except for Dorothy.

They ain't doing nothing new to me.

I already got myself locked up in my head.

The moment we enter his head, it is easy to discern that Joey has a twisted life. His story broke my heart because, once we get past the booze and the fighting, he really is a good guy who just wants a normal, loving family to come home to. So the entire time as Dorothy tries her best to unravel him, I kept waving my internal pom poms for her.

There is, undeniably, quite a bit of insta-love in this book, but it was so beautifully done that it didn't bother me one bit. And who was I to question the sparks that flew right off page one, the same sparks that melted my heart right alongside Dorothy's and Joey's? Their relationship goes through its highs and lows, Dorothy desperate to tear down his walls and Joey letting her in while still keeping her at a distance because he's sure that once she learns of his real life, she'd bail.

A gripping tale of love, the lack of it, and just what both can do to a person, MELT is one book I will never forget. The author truly nailed the dual POV and made me not just read the story, but experience it, and I only breathed for real once I got to the end.

MY FAVORITE PART is the ending. Sigh.

RATING:

 

About the author:
Selene Castrovilla is an award-winning teen and children’s author who believes that through all trends, humanity remains at the core of literature. She is the author of Saved By the Music and The Girl Next Door, teen novels originally published by WestSide Books and now available digitally through ASD Publishing. Her third children’s book with Calkins Creek Books, Revolutionary Friends, was released in April 2013. She is also a contributing author to UncommonYA. Selene holds an MFA in creative writing from New School University and a BA in English from New York University. She lives on Long Island with her two sons.

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{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Girl of Rage - Charles Sheehan-Miles

Title: Girl of Rage (Rachel's Peril #2)

Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles

Release Date: May 25th 2014

Publisher: Cincinnatus Press

Age Group: New Adult

Source: eARC for blog tour

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Four days ago, Andrea Thompson agreed to fly to the United States to help her sister Carrie. Four days ago, everything changed.

Now Andrea is lost and on the run. Dylan Paris is missing. Julia and Crank Wilson are under investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The Thompson family is scattered and in danger, and Andrea’s very identity may hold the key to unlock decades of buried secrets.

Andrea, the youngest member of the Thompson clan, sets out on a search to find answers. Who is attacking her family? Who is trying to kill her and why?

As Andrea seeks her answers, everything she thought she knew about her family will be turned upside down.

Girl of Rage picks up right where Girl of Lies left off, with the Thompson family under attack on all fronts by adversaries unknown to them. The sisters struggle to keep themselves safe while trying to discover the truth about the ugly past that their parents hid from them, one that carries with it a gruesome event that a handful of people in positions of power means to hide forever, no matter the cost.

I held out hope that this book would be less like its predecessor and more like the Thompson Sisters books and I ended up being disappointed because of that, but that's not to say Girl of Rage isn't a good book. Reading this felt like watching a telenovela that took its time telling the story of every single character, like throwing in a bunch of random ingredients into a pot and having nothing to do but wait and see what dish comes out of it. It requires a big amount of emotional investment in the characters to fully enjoy this series, which, fortunately, I have a ton of.

What surprised me the most about this sequel is how it made me feel for characters that I used to hate. *cough* Adelina *cough* In here we learn that there is more than a lot of history to everyone, and that has made them who they are now. The multiple POVs certainly made it easier to sympathize with everyone. 

Overall, Girl of Rage is better than Girl of Lies. More gripping, fast-paced, and unpredictable, I found it easier to plow through, and I am looking forward to reading the third book. Now, just what is up with that series title?

MY FAVORITE PART is the ending.

RATING:

 

About the author:
Charles Sheehan-Miles has been a soldier, computer programmer, short-order cook and non-profit executive, and is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including the indie bestsellers Just Remember to Breathe and Republic: A Novel of America's Future. Charles and his partner Andrea Randall live and write together in South Hadley, Massachusetts.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Remember to Breathe

Giveaway!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: Don't Fall - Rachel Schieffelbein

Title: Don't Fall

Author: Rachel Schieffelbein

Release Date: May 27th 2014

Publisher: Swoon Romance

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: eARC for blog tour

Goodreads | Amazon

In which a teenage girl endures the over-protective love of her adoptive mother until she falls for a boy who has her wanting to spread her wings, pitched as a contemporary retelling of Rapunzel.

Seventeen-year-old Anya leads a very secluded life in a house on the edge of town with her adopted mother. She doesn't go to school, but instead has a private tutor. Her over-protective mom keeps her so sheltered that she doesn't even have a best friend.

But Anya doesn't seem to mind. She has her books, her photography, and her daydreams, and would do anything to please her mom. Until one day at the library, the only place she's allowed to go, she takes a picture of a beautiful boy.

Before long she's lying to her mom, and sneaking out late at night to meet Zander. But Zander wants more than a secret romance. If Anya wants to be with the boy of her dreams, she will have to risk her relationship with the only other person she's ever cared about.

At every mention of Rapunzel to describe a story, what I find myself most curious about is the reason behind the mother hiding her daughter from the rest of the world, and although Don't Fall didn't end up as dark as I'd thought it would, it was still a heartwarming read.

Anya's mother has her living a very sequestered life, and between their house and the library, Anya doesn't have much to do aside from photography. One day, she takes a photo of a boy at the library, but he catches her before she manages to sneak away. Zander and Anya hit it off and the friends become lovers, but their relationship soon feels the strain of Anya's overprotective mother.

Somehow, even outside the library and our clearing in the woods, we were still in our own world. Everything else could fade away, and he and I would remain, tied together by something I couldn't quite explain. In its simplest term, love.

It would be easy for some readers to mistake Anya and Zander's romance for insta-love when it's actually more like insta-attraction, which is realistic for two recluses like them. It was so much fun to watch their reluctanct advances towards a relationship, their Tuesdays-and-Thursdays-only meetings at the library and then at a cupcake shop. The story truly is focused on their romance and how it affects Anya and her mother, and it's perfect as a lazy day read.

I thought up all sorts of dark, twisted back stories for Anya's mother and her unusual way of rearing Anya, and while it didn't disappoint, I feel like I wanted more from this aspect of the book. But Don't Fall certainly made up for it in many other ways. Quite a handful of references to other well-known YA books are made in this one, but even without them, I believe Don't Fall is worth a read.

MY FAVORITE PART is the ending :3

RATING:

 

About the author:
Rachel grew up in a tiny town in Minnesota. She still lives there, with her husband and their four kids. She coaches high school speech and theater, rides Arabian horses, reads as much as she can, and writes stories.

Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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{Blog Tour} Excerpt + Giveaway: The Polaris Uprising - Jennifer Ibarra

Title: The Polaris Uprising (Polaris #1)

Author: Jennifer Ibarra

Release Date: October 20th 2013

Publisher: Tiwala Books

Age Group: Young Adult

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Smashwords

No citizen shall be left behind.

Life in Neress is simple. For nearly four decades, people have known exactly what’s expected of them. Obey the rules, follow the path that’s been laid out, and everything will be provided for: food, shelter, education, safety. No need goes unmet.

But the cost is steep: you lose all rights to make your own choices in life.

In seven years, eighteen-year-old Ryla Jensen will come of age and take over for her father as president of this idyllic nation. Groomed since childhood to take on a role she’s not even sure she wants, Ryla’s only escape from the pressures of duty is her sister, Alanna. But when her eyes are finally opened to the oppressive regime her father built, she begins to question everything she’s set to inherit—and finds herself at odds with her sister’s blind allegiance to their father.

Torn between loyalty to her family and the fight for freedom, Ryla must decide just how far she’s willing to go to make a stand and risk losing the person she loves most in the world: Alanna.

Here's an excerpt!

{Blog Tour} Book Review + Giveaway: There Will Come a Time - Carrie Arcos

Title: There Will Come a Time

Author: Carrie Arcos

Release Date: April 15th 2014

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Age Group: Young Adult

Source: ARC borrowed for tour
Goodreads | Amazon | The Book Depository

Mark knows grief. Ever since the accident that killed his twin sister, Grace, the only time he feels at peace is when he visits the bridge on which she died. Comfort is fleeting, but it’s almost within reach when he’s standing on the wrong side of the suicide bars. Almost.

Grace’s best friend, Hanna, says she understands what he’s going through. But she doesn’t. She can’t. It’s not just the enormity of his loss. As her twin, Mark should have known Grace as well as he knows himself. Yet when he reads her journal, it’s as if he didn’t know her at all.

As a way to remember Grace, Hanna convinces Mark to complete Grace’s bucket list from her journal. Mark’s sadness, anger, and his growing feelings for Hannah threaten to overwhelm him. But Mark can’t back out. He made a promise to honor Grace—and it’s his one chance to set things right.

Grief is something we all deal with in different ways: some lash out, some harm themselves, and then there are some like Mark who withdraw from the world. When he and his twin sister, Grace, get involved in a car accident that results to her death, Mark lets the loss take over his life, not knowing how to move on without her and wishing he was the one who'd died instead.

"I'm saying there will come a time when you won't be so angry or in so much pain. It doesn't have to be now. You just have to believe that it'll come and let people in."

There doesn't seem to be an end to Mark's pain, until the long-lost package with Grace's things from the accident finally come in the mail. In it, he and Hanna, Grace's best friend, find a journal filled with Grace's thoughts, things she kept hidden from everyone, and suddenly, the Grace they knew feels like another person from Grace as she knew herself. But aside from the girl's secrets, they also find a bucket list of five things she'd wanted to accomplish that fateful year, and the two decide to honor her memory by completing the list for her.

Bucket lists have always equated to fun for me, but There Will Come a Time kind of ruined that for me because can you imagine completing your dead twin's list? Mark could have faced his pain with his family and friends but because of his anger, both at himself and the other driver who caused the accident, he chose to face it alone. As is to be expected, he doesn't get too far with that, often finding solace at the bridge where the accident took place as he tries to get close to his twin sister, the way they were close since they'd been in their mother's womb.

Because how can you really know joy if you don't know despair? Nothing exists without its opposite.

The list helps Mark in more ways than one, but it also tests the few remaining relationships he has. He learns that he doesn't have sole ownership on the grief over Grace's death and that sometimes, relief starts with forgiveness. I read the second half of this book while watching my family frolic in a river, and that made me appreciate how well the author integrated the Filipino culture into her story. Everything she wrote about Mark's family - down to the amazing food, yes - is just so easy for me to imagine happening in real life. And that's where There Will Come a Time really shines through: with how real and well-written it is. Even if you've never known loss as intense as Mark's, I can promise that this book will be an experience for you. Perhaps a traumatic one, but still.

MY FAVORITE PART was Mark finally knowing forgiveness. Tears.

RATING:

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