princess&pages

Love felt like a gift but she didn’t know if she had room for it, where to put it, did she have to get rid of something to make space for it. During lockdown, good friends Sabrina and Victor spent a few days together in the same apartment. She was starting a cafe; he was teaching her some of his family’s recipes. They made sandwiches, then made out, and almost had sex. At 39 years old, it would…

Everybody cries, even if you don’t show it. All it takes is a little happiness. Or a little hurt. Right now, I’ve had a little of both. After years in exile, Aaron Guillermo returns to his hometown, Bacolod City. But home is no longer the place he once knew. As he steps back onto familiar soil, he faces the sugar cane crisis on the island of Negros, his father’s growing political ambitions, and…

What is the weight of a memory? A woman discovers that her bathroom has been remodeled into a prison cell—where she is an unlikely inmate—in this surreal novel of exile, grief, memory, and migration. In Salerno, Italy, Dilara spends her days caring for her aging father and her hypochondriac husband. Since leaving her native Istanbul, she’s been unable to find a job—adrift, she becomes…

It’s been more than a week since I attended the first-ever Kilig Cafe event hosted by RomanceClass and Komiket at Ayala Malls the 30th with my book besties and it’s definitely one of the highlights of the love month for me. How should I describe it? It was a celebration of love in all forms: romantic love, friendship, family, love for the arts and crafts, and communities. There were bookish…

Hello, yes I am back! Hopefully for good. Apologies for being inactive for so many years. I think I was hoping for a better time to continue yapping here about books and other things but looking at how things are only getting worse after the pandemic I figured there is no better time than now to… just exist and claim spaces of our own. Thanks to everyone who stayed subscribed, I have no fancy…

You’re using a story as a veil. Old, rich, and deeply rooted in witchcraft, the Petronio family’s youngest daughter is getting married. There’s just one problem: the mother of the bride, Mutya, is an evil witch—and she’s out for vengeance. Kelly hasn’t been planning weddings for very long, but she takes the job despite her misgivings. However, the wedding will be taking place at Chateau…

A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant. When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace–a company that manufactures cardboard tubes–she is expected…

My Year In Books 2021 + What’s Next 2022

Farewell and Thank You 2021 The best thing about having my own blog is that I can simply ignore the fact that this post is about a month late than should be acceptable. 2021 was an awesome and productive year for me, pandemic notwithstanding, and so it would be a shame not to say goodbye to it properly. I know I haven’t been so active here in the blog last year but I was able to write while…

OK to BE: A Work in Progress | “Postpartum” by Yours Truly

“But what is tougher is the waiting — waiting for someone to ask, for someone who gets it.”KB Meniado my collection so far! OK to BE is a monthly zine project featuring everyday adventures by creators for creators. The project is headed/edited/curated by the amazing KB Meniado of heykebe, a Filipina creative and editor. She has shared that her main reason for starting the project is to give…

Pages Review | “The House Plant” A Short Story by Jeremy Ray

“It would be the plant that lived.” George, a fern, doesn’t appreciate being bought by Brenda at Garden Palace. And he certainly doesn’t appreciate being trapped in her house of humans. He yearns to be with the plants outside in the garden. With time, George learns to trust Brenda and think of her as his human. Then one day, tragedy strikes and George’s life will never be the same. What happens…

Book Giveaway PH | “Vacant Steppes” by Steven Sy

“Feet on the ground, eyes to the sky. Gaeon ride with us all.” As a second invasion by the Empire threatens the nomads of the Great Steppe, a new generation of leaders must mend the broken alliances of their fathers or face certain destruction. Vacant Steppes is a Mongolia-inspired epic fantasy novel about inheritance, family, and leadership in times of division and war. The book features three…

Pages Review | “Black Dragonfly” by Jean Pasley

“We have a saying here: sumeba miyako. It means, wherever you live becomes home.” The year is 1890. Western influences are flooding into Japan. A nomadic Irishman arrives to record this unique culture before it vanishes. In this richly imagined novel, late nineteenth century Japan is brought vividly to life. Based on the remarkable experiences of the Irish writer, Lafcadio Hearn, and drawing on…

Pages Review | Totally Engaged (Six 32 Central #4) by Mina V. Esguerra

“…having roots wasn’t holding her back.” Rose Alban, 41, has been happily living alone and single in Manila. When her entire family moved to the US she became responsible for their house and since then she’s transformed it into her home, her sanctuary, and base for a new and more fulfilling career. She was even able to convert the garage into a studio apartment, that she’s now renting out to her…

Pages Review | Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (eARC)

“All this time she’d thought death was coming for her, but perhaps it was she who was death coming for everyone else.” Vern – seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised – flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a…

Mother’s Day in Quarantine + Books About Motherhood Year 2

“At every birth, two people are born: a baby and a mother.” –Unknown “Dandelion Fantasy Terrarium” If you asked me last year if I thought I’d be celebrating Mother’s Day at home again, I would have said no. I was too optimistic back then. The country has not really moved forward with any sustainable plans to deal with the pandemic on a national scale, and things are as bad as it was, maybe even…

Nanay Diaries | My Son Turns 5 + How To Celebrate During A Pandemic

“Nanay” means Mother in Filipino. __________ A non-bookish post today! A lot of you may not know this, but outside of this blog I am 90% mom and wife and only 10% bookworm. Mother’s Day is also coming soon, so I figured I might as well start a Nanay Diaries here. Will this grow into a series of mommyhood posts? I can only hope I will find enough time and energy to do so. But to start off, I’d…

Pages Review | Vulnerability is My Superpower: An Underpants and Overbites Collection by Jackie E. Davis ARC

“The less I hate who I was, the more I can like who I am.” By being her anxious, honest, and just plain silly self, Jackie Davis’ egg-shaped character proves that, even though opening up to others is scary at first, vulnerability can be a superpower. A sweet, instantly relatable diary comic about self-discovery, mental health, relationships, and childhood. From bouts with anxiety and insecurity…