Author Angel C. Aquino with her husband Roland at Nuvali, Laguna. Angel says, “A trail run in Nuvali, Laguna—the location for the zombie run that Diana and her friends joined in the book.”

In Love at First Run, Diana joins a running club to get closer to her office crush Paul, and there she meets running hottie and overall sweet guy Josh. In this blog post, author Angel C. Aquino talks about her inspiration and process.

1. What inspired you to write a romance about running?

My husband Roland and I are both avid runners. We’ve been joining races for many years now and there are always a lot of couples running together. I’ve also heard of instances when the guy proposed to the girl at the finish line! The running world is crazy and colourful and I thought it would be the perfect backdrop for a romance novel.

I also ran my first full marathon with Roland in 2015. A few months later, I wrote the first draft of my book when I joined a #RomanceClass workshop. While the story was inspired by different running experiences over the years, looking back at this blog entry I wrote made me realize that my experience in that marathon actually inspired some of Diana’s experiences too!

2. Diana does a lot of different types of runs in this book (zombie run, mountain trail, urban races). As a runner yourself, which type of race do you like best and why? 0108

I love trail runs the most. I used to go camping and mountaineering when I was younger. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s exhausting to hike for days while carrying a heavy backpack. Trail running allows me to enjoy nature, breathe in the fresh air, and explore the mountains without worrying about carrying a heavy load or thinking about where to pee. Haha!

3. There are some wonderfully vivid descriptions of the joys of running in the book. For example, Diana talks about the feeling of stretching her muscles after working at a computer all week, and about the breathtaking view at the top of the mountain. What’s the most memorable experience you’ve had as a runner?

Oh, there are so many! Each race is definitely unique and special. But I think the most memorable would be when we joined the Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon in California. We ran amidst a backdrop of beautiful vineyards—and we could have unlimited wine at the finish line!

4. There are some really yummy meals described in this book, and it seems like running really works up an appetite! What’s your favourite post-run meal?

I love a good Filipino breakfast after a run: beef tapa or tocino, eggs, and garlic rice!

5. What surprised you the most, if anything, while writing this book?

I realized that writing a book is a lot like joining a race—you need lots of discipline and endurance during the whole writing and editing process. There are a lot of stumbling blocks along the way, but once you reach the finish line, it’s all worth it!

The Romance of Running Photo Album

Check out some of Angel and her husband Roland’s running memories below!

At the Healdsburg Half Marathon—the best race ever with lots of wine along the racecourse and at the finish line!

We did our first half marathon in Singapore in 2008. We’ve obviously gained weight since then but it just goes to show that with the proper training, anyone of any age, weight, or gender can run! Haha!

We’ve joined several races that pass through Manila’s Skyway—the location for Diana’s first half marathon!

With my hubby at the finish line of our first marathon in Nuvali, Laguna

Love at First Run is available in print in the Philippines and on Amazon Kindle internationally.

To learn more about the author, visit www.angelcaquino.com

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Thank you to the author for an electronic advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure: The author is a friend, and I’m super proud of her for writing a novel, but all views expressed on this blog are my honest opinions.

About a year and a half after Anna Johnson’s parents committed suicide, Anna receives a note — “Suicide? Think again.” — that makes her wonder if her parents had actually been murdered instead. Let Me Lie has an intriguing premise, and I like how Mackintosh portrays Anna’s grief, how she had to work at getting over her parents’ deaths and how receiving the anonymous note reopened all these old wounds.

I especially like how Mackintosh really fleshes out the detective character Murray. Rather than just a straightforward mystery solver, Murray is actually retired from his detective role. His actual job is to man the police station desk, and he should’ve given Anna’s case over to active detectives. But because he misses his detective job and he worries about other detectives dismissing Anna’s theory of murder, he decides to investigate it himself, on an unofficial basis. There’s also a great subplot about his relationship with his wife, who is being treated in a psychiatric facility, and who he clearly loves deeply. There’s a point where he dreams of taking his wife on a really long road trip, and it was the most heartbreaking passage.

Anna’s story was also intriguing, and also had its own emotional heft. The second half was definitely a lot faster paced with lots of twists and reveals. A lot of it I didn’t see coming, and it was fun just to sit back and enjoy the ride. There was one particular character I was super suspicious about throughout most of the book, and it turned out that one of the major baddies was someone I completely forgot about. (Not that they weren’t a major character, just that they were lost to me among a jumble of other characters, and I was so focused on my suspect.)

Tip: Do not look at the Author’s Note before at least the first big reveal. The first sentence, about the author’s inspiration for the story, is a pretty major spoiler. I accidentally saw the Author’s Note while I was still fairly early on in the book, and I’m only glad there were more twists and reveals after that.

Overall, Let Me Lie is a fun read. It starts off as an emotional domestic drama / grip lit, then turns into a fast paced series of twists that reveal hidden darkness in unexpected characters.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

Anna Fox is an agoraphobic recluse in New York, who spends her days watching old movies and spying on her neighbours. One day, she witnesses a murder through her neighbour’s window, but when she reports the crime, she learns that not only is the victim alive, but the woman she thought was her neighbour seems to never have existed at all.

AJ Finn’s Woman in the Window is a well-written psychological thriller in the vein of Rear Window and Girl on the Train. I had the opportunity to meet the author in the Harper Collins offices a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed hearing about how his own experiences with mental health informed the writing of this book. I like that the book updates the Rear Window trope to an agoraphobic heroine — it’s a condition that I don’t often see in novels. Finn does a good job in depicting how terrifying the outside world is for Anna, as well as how much the Internet can help in forming a social circle online.

The reason behind Anna’s agoraphobia informs much of Anna’s psychological journey, and it was sad to see her struggle in coming to terms with what happened. The reality behind the event is fairly easy enough to guess early on, which detracts from the impact of the big reveal midway through, but this knowledge also enhances some of the earlier scenes with emotional heft.

The story started off a bit slow for me. There were also a lot of old movie references that I think will appeal to film buffs and possibly even foreshadow events in the novel, and I also appreciate how they helped form a complete picture of Anna’s isolation such that the old movies are the highlights of her day. But to me, they just slowed the story down.

The second half picks up the pace significantly, and to my mind, is worth the wait. The big reveal about the villain is unexpected and chilling, and goes to show how vulnerable loneliness can make a person.

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Thank you to Harper Collins Canada for a copy of this book and a chance to meet the author.