Wicked Photo Diary: October 2015

Wicked Photo Diary is a feature on the blog where I recap what happened in my life, bookish and non-bookish, in the form of my Instagram photos. Do follow me on Instagram here.

Happy Halloween~! I'm not dressed as anyone this Halloween because I'm your usual lazy dresser. Heh. Anyways, it's November tomorrow and the day after November 1 is December 25 and then after that is January 1...you get the idea.

October 2, 2015

October pretty much started with a few drizzles here and there. I took this photo from our backyard with my iPad tilted up. My brother said it looked artsy-fartsy.

October 5, 2015

A Little Something Different - Sandy Hall

This book had cute written all over it. I was reading way too many heavy stuff and dealing with school so much that I needed this book to take a break from it all. It was utterly delightful.

October 6, 2015

Say What You Will - Cammie McGovern

I was so happy when I dropped by local bookstore when I found a lone paperback copy of this book that I grabbed it immediately and bought it right away. It was worth it. So so worth it.

October 12, 2015

Behold my bookshelf. I have roughly around 60 or 70 books in there already. All my babies~

October 15, 2015

The Fiery Heart - Richelle Mead

Oh. My. God. This book is literally just ugh amazing. Sydrian (Sydney + Adrian) are one of the many ships that I ship so hard I drown with the feels. 

October 16, 2015

Illuminae - Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

It was something I made to celebrate the worldwide release of Illuminae. I was feeling very inspired. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the book yet. Still looking for a paperback copy. But nonetheless, this books is AMAZING.

A good friend of mine whom I won't name because he likes the privacy. Hahaha! Anyways, these are comic books written by Manix Abrera and they're only available in my country and in our local language. It's so funny.

October 23, 2015

This is my good friend, Kat, whom I had the good fortune to meet last semester. She's the sweetest girl ever. I'll miss talking to her in secret.

October 23, 2015

A total of six books! I bought all in one day. These are the new books from Anvil Publishing, a local publishing company. Last weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend their book signing.

October 25, 2015

Photo taken with Kate Evangelista's mom. She was quite the famous lady during the event.

October 26, 2015

I kept staring outside to try and time lapse the sunrise but I got so impatient that I ended up with this instead.

(Clockwise: Chrissie Peria, Dawn Lanuza, Agay Llanera and Kate Evangelista) These were the four ladies I met and had a great time with last weekend. Unfortunately, Bianca Mori and Camilla Sisco weren't there at the event.

October 27, 2015

Spent last weekend with Jera, whom I haven't seen in a long time.

October 28, 2015

Mina Esguerra hosted the event last weekend and I took the opportunity to buy her book (at a discounted price too) and have her sign it. Happy days.

October 30, 2015

It's been a while since I posted my precious signed books. Aren't they pretty?

What Else Happened On The Blog:

(NEW FEATURE!) Book Turned Art: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and jay Kristoff

Wicked Journey: #SparkBooks Launch

{Blog Tour: Review + Giveaway} Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Wicked Review: Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern

Wicked Review: A Little Something Different by Sandie Hall

Wicked Review: Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang

I also have a special announcement to make. I'm going to take a month long hiatus because I'm going to join NaNoWriMo! I failed to complete my attempt at Camp NaNoWriMo last summer but after one semester, I think I'm ready. I feel like this is it. Even if I don't win and I just finish 50,000 words in a month, it would be the greatest thing ever.

I'm going to miss you all. You can catch me on Twitter! See you after November!

Book Turned Art: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

I have yet to come up with a decent sort of poster for my new feature called, Book Turned Art. So, Book Turned Art is a feature where I showcase my so-called talents in Adobe Photoshop and make up posters inspired by the book.

For the first Book Turned Art post, I'm going to showcase Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. Yes. I'm still reeling from this book. If you don't follow me on Twitter, then you should. Go, follow me here. A day before Illuminae was out into the wild, I made some posters inspired by the book.

This quote is the biggest understatement from the book and is by far my favorite quote from the book.

This one gave me the butterflies-in-your-stomach feeling. I think, it's still here...

This quote came from AIDAN. This one is very unforgettable too.


I would like to thank PaperJunk over at Deviantart. You can find his/her work here: http://www.paperjunk.deviantart.com. The fonts I used are standard fonts.

So, there you have it. I'm no master when it comes to digital art. But I'm trying anyways.

I would like to know your thoughts on this. And probably some suggestions for a poster made by me, if you would like.

Wicked Journey: #SparkBooks Launch

Wicked Journey is a feature is where I recount the times I actually went out of my comfort zone and went to different places. This includes book signings, travels, and other posts related to journeying.

So, yesterday was the first ever book signing I attended for this year. Now that school's out, I can definitely enjoy some reading. I found out about these books during MIBF last September and I only knew two of the authors, Kate Evangelista and Chrissie Peria, but the rest, I've only heard of now. Not only are the covers really pretty, these books are really cheap too. The stories, even if I haven't read all of them are phenomenal. So, I bought all six books in one go because that's how I roll.

Yup, number 4. This is the nearest I got to being an early bird in all of the book signings I ever attended.  Originally, six authors were supposed to be there. But Camilla Sisco (Submission Moves) and Bianca Mori (Tame The Kitten) weren't able to attend due to prior commitments *insert tears*.

I spent the day yesterday with this lovely lady, Jera, whom I haven't seen in a looooooong time. I was really happy that she came yesterday so we got to catch up.

The event was hosted by Mina Esguerra, author of Envy Park, The Harder We Fall and Never Just Friends. She's one of the first local romance authors I knew about. She has published a lot of books already, both in print and online. Aside from that, she also handles writing classes online and helps in spreading the love for local authors.

The first author she introduced was Chrissie Peria, author of The Kitchen When It Sizzles and All's Fair In Blog and War. Her new book, The Kitchen When It Sizzles, is about the story of Olivia Nadal, the almost perfect heroine and Nate Olivarez, very very smexy chef. Their lives intertwine in a really hot and sizzling romance and of course, food. This was one of the six I picked up and I am hooked. Here is Chrissie as she shared an excerpt from her new book. Chrissie loves taking photos, cooking, and taking care of a tiny human. Said tiny human was present yesterday and was the cutest thing I have ever seen.

(Click here to watch the whole video. Special thanks to Dianne of Oops I Read A Book Again for allowing me to share the videos she took yesterday.)

Next up was Agay Llanera, author of Once Upon A Player, Vintage Love, and Choco Chip Hips. Once Upon A Player is about the story of college star player (as the blurb said, in every sense of the word) Val Fabian and how she tries to win over Jake Clementia before graduation. Agay is also a freelance TV writer and when she's not writing, she's watching volleyball games in the arena. Here is Agay sharing an excerpt from her new book.

(Click here to watch the whole video. Special thanks to Dianne of Oops I Read A Book Again for allowing me to share the videos she took yesterday.)

Kate Evangelista is the proud author of Til Death and her new book Savor. She wanted to write that's why she entered medical school...really. Now, she's writing full time. Savor, from the looks of it, is pretty intense. The cover is intense. The blurb on the back is intense. It even came in with a warning. Savor is about Dakota Collins, a photography student with an eye patch, and Luka Visraya, smexy vocalist of the indie band called Vicious, and how their lives are intertwined. Here is Kate, looking as fabulous as ever, sharing an excerpt from her new book.

(Click here to watch the whole video. Special thanks to Dianne of Oops I Read A Book Again for allowing me to share the videos she took yesterday.)

Dawn Lanuza is the author of The Boyfriend Backtrack and What About Today. She's in the music industry by morning and writes during the night. The Boyfriend Backtrack is about Regina Cortes and how her life is like a movie. Every moment in her life is played out in a montage. All the men that has Regina has been with, their memories and all, come crashing back to her. Here is Dawn as she shares an excerpt from her new book.

(Click here to watch the whole video. Special thanks to Dianne of Oops I Read A Book Again for allowing me to share the videos she took yesterday.)

 Next up was question and answer portion time. I really learned a lot from these ladies. Their stories are somewhat drawn from personal experience and extensive research. In the case of Chrissie, she had to look up on cooking courses online. Like, what happens and the cooking jargon. Kate also shared that she does not look at reviews online. As she said, "It's a rabbit hole!" It was funny, really.

Then it was time to raffle off prizes from the authors. Most of the winners were guys and girls named Camille. And then there's me. Awkward duckling that I am, won a goodie bag from Dawn Lanuza!

Coming up to the authors, well, it was really funny. I'm thankful that there were only a few people in the event because it meant having more time to chat up with the authors. Dawn and Agay noticed me because they remembered my Twitter and Instagram handle! *woot woot*  I also got take more photos with them!

This was me being awkward with Kate Evangelista. Because a) her eyes are just so pretty and b) I literally have no idea what to say...

I also took a photo with Kate's momager. Throughout the event, Kate was addressing her mom and well, I couldn't pass up the chance to take a photo with her mom. She was a very sweet woman. After Jera and I took photos with her, she said, "I'll be famous!" And we laughed and kidded that maybe at the end of the day, someone will put up a Facebook page for her.

I also grabbed the chance to get a picture taken and a book signed by Mina Esguerra since she was there and her books are 10% off that day. Win win for me!

I went home with a big smile on face. I will never forget this event. I'm looking forward to reading all these amazing books I brought home with me. This is probably the start of me reading local author's work, which is something I haven't done ever.

Many thanks to National Bookstore and to Anvil Publishing! Here's to more books from local authors~!