Blog Tour: Only a Kiss by Ines Bautista-Yao [Review + GIVEAWAY!!!]
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Title: Only A KissAuthor: Ines Bautista-Yao
Publishing Date: November 29th, 2014
Publisher: Chamber Shell Publishing
Format: Kindle
Rating: 3/5 stars
Summary:
When she was nine-years-old, Katie knew she wanted Chris to give her her first kiss. It wasn’t because she was in love with him (no way, he was her best friend! Besides, she was in love with his fourteen-year-old big brother), it was because she could make him do anything she wanted.
Besides, it didn't really mean anything. It was only a kiss after all.
But then things started to change. They grew up. They parted ways and went to different high schools. And other girls and boys—well, just one particular boy—came into the picture, throwing their lives upside down.
Told from the alternating points of view of Katie and Chris, this love story between two best friends will tug at your heartstrings and leave you thinking how the simplest things can mean so much.
Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.
The book is on sale for ONLY $0.99 until February 14.
About Ines Bautista-Yao
Ines Bautista-Yao is the author of One Crazy Summer, What’s in your Heart, and Only a Kiss. She has also written two short stories, “Flashbacks and Echoes,” which is part of a compilation called All This Wanting and “A Captured Dream,” one of the four short stories in Sola Musica: Love Notes from a Festival.
She is the former editor-in-chief of Candy and K-Zone magazines and a former high school and college English and Literature teacher. She is also a wife and mom and blogs about the many challenges and joys of motherhood at theeverydayprojectblog.com. She has recently launched The Author Project, a section in her current blog devoted to the stories in her head: http://theeverydayprojectblog.
She posts on Instagram and tweets @inesbyao and her author page is facebook.com/inesbautistayao.
Twitter - https://twitter.com/inesbyao
Instagram - http://instagram.com/inesbyao
Facebook - http://facebook.com/
Excerpt:
Katie couldn’t get over what she had just witnessed. The kiss Kuya Ben gave her cousin wasn’t like the ones she’d seen in movies or on TV. It was quick and it was through a car window, but it was the most powerful one she had ever seen. It was as if he wanted to gift all the emotions coursing through him to his future bride, and the only way he knew how was through a kiss.
Only A Kiss is a heartwarming, albeit simple, story of two best friends who fall in love with each other. The story starts with a kiss, and happily ends with a kiss. I loved Chris and Kate's relationship, how they remain friends from childhood until adulthood. I loved how they valued each other's friendship more than anything else, and I loved the development of each character, and their relationship. I swooned a little too many times in the story, and I just wanted to smash their faces together because I couldn't wait for them to end up together.
Big moments and significant life experiences are covered, and I especially loved how Kate and Chris go to the same university (YAY!!). I was impressed with the honesty and innocence of the story, how Chris is so passionate with his art, and how Kate dreams of weddings even when she was really young.
However, I expected the book to have more emotional depth, and I found myself looking precisely for what I said I wanted in local books: hints of the culture of the setting. Sadly, I was disappointed on this matter, because I found the story not Filipino-like at all, aside from the normal calling of kuya and ate. There is one part when Kate goes out sunbathing, which is not very much Filipino because no one in the Philippines sunbathes unless you'd rather get sunburnt. And there's also some mention about how Kate has freckles - are you sure you're not talking about pimples or whiteheads? The story could've taken place anywhere, more particularly in a Western setting, and I wish the author could've put more of the Philippine culture and setting into the story.
Nevertheless, Only A Kiss is overall enjoyable, and worth reading, if you're in for a light, funny, and cute best friend romance.
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Giveaway: Ines is giving away lots of things!
For Philippine residents:
One (1) winner will get a signed paperback of ONLY A KISS, a gift card from FILA, and a back issue of CAST comic book
Two (2) winners will each get a signed paperback of ONLY A KISS, light up laces, and back issue of CAST comic book
For everyone:
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