Overbooked Reader

Author: Chris Mariano Title: Cover (Story) Girl Place Published: Manila, Philippines Publisher: Christelle Rhodamae Mariano Year Published: 2013 No. of Pages: 131 Pages (Print Version) Price: US$0.99 Place Bought: Amazon Cover illustration and design by Miguel Calvan Chris Mariano, in her first self-published novella Cover (Story) Girl, shows how a Philippine-based koreanovela can be told well through the power of words.  Her story is set in Boracay, known for its white sand beaches and all-night parties. But this isn’t a story about clubbing, flings, and other typical Boracay stuff. Instead, it begins with Gio, head curator of his family-owned Boracay Heritage Museum.  Gio is busy preparing for an exhibition when a group of Korean tourists enter the museum for a photo shoot. Among them is a girl in blue: the pretty, pixie-like, and cream-skinned Jang Min Hee.  Gio finds her attractive, but is put-off by her prima donna attitude. He scolds her for moving ...

Author: Mina V. Esguerra Title: Love Your Frenemies Place Published: Manila, Philippines Publisher: Mina V. Esguerra  Year Published: 2011 No. of Pages: 119 (on my Samsung Galaxy S3) Price: US$3.99 (Kindle Version) Place Bought: Amazon  The book cover of my Kindle version. Love Your Frenemies is a contemporary romance novella about Kimmy Domingo, a young woman who had everything going for her in life. She grew up comfortably under the loving care of her mother, and the money of her father, who had left the family when Kimmy was but a child. Father’s money paid for membership to the Country Club, where mother and daughter spent plenty of time with loved ones over the years. Career-wise Kimmy was the very best, and a promotion was definitely coming soon. It was also at work where she found the love of her life. But disaster struck when he unceremoniously dumped her a week before their wedding. Word spread through the grapevine, and the rumor-mill at wo...