Book Review: Keep The Faith by Ana Tejano + Interview with the Author, Excerpt, & Giveaway.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Book
Title: Keep the Faith
Release
Date: July 31, 2016
Author: Ana Tejano
About
the Book:
As a community development worker, Faith
was quite familiar with heartbreak and recovery after all the time she spent on
disaster relief missions. So when her five-year relationship ends right before
she left for a mission trip to a typhoon-stricken town in Iloilo, she tries not
to make a big deal out of it. How can she be broken up about a breakup when
she’s with people who literally lost everything?
But now that she’s back, all Faith wants is
for her life to go back to normal and have people stop looking at her with
pity. Never mind that she still has a lot of questions about the breakup, or
that she feels a tiny ache every time her ex comes up in conversations. She’s
okay now, and happily distracted by Nico Tamayo, the attractive new guy at
work.
With new possibilities in the horizon,
Faith thinks she is well on her way to moving on. But when her past comes
calling back to her, will all the good things in her present be enough to keep
her on the path? Or will she finally learn that there was more to heartbreak
and recovery than what she knows?
Links
to Purchase:
·
Amazon - http://bit.ly/ktfnovel
·
Smashwords – http://bit.ly/ktfsw
·
Barnes & Noble – http://bit.ly/ktfnook
·
Kobo – http://bit.ly/ktfkobo
·
iBooks – http://apple.co/2afU4ff
Review:
This book has so many feels despite being a short book. The story plays with the office romance troupe with Faith and Nico both working as community development workers. The author did an marvellous job in the Characterization of Faith. Faith is kind and very thoughtful. Her purpose in life is to help others, and like other male and female she also can get emotional and hurt. While Nico is the kind of partner you want. He has a very good heart with how he takes care of Faith and other people. The two of them have great chemistry. I like how they joke around with one another, especially on the topic of fast food french fries. Overall, this book is so relatable because majority of us have or will experience heartbreak and go through the seven emotional stages of grief until you are ready to love again.
I like how Faith did not jump into a relationship with Nico as soon as she had closure with James. I like how she waited until she was sure of herself, she had reflected on her life after her breakup, and was fully ready to be with Nico. To end, this book offers so much lesson in which the readers can imbibe. It has taught me to be helpful to others and the protect the environment, it made me realize that love has to be takes seriously; you have to be sure that you and your partner are compatible with one another, and don't fall in love or be in a relationship too quickly. You first have too make sure that you are ready to be in that kind of relationship.
About the Author:
Ana Tejano has been in love with words and
writing ever since she met Elizabeth Wakefield when she was in Grade 3. She has
contributed several non-fiction pieces in print and online publications, and
has been blogging for years. When she’s not writing, she works as a
communications manager for a payroll outsourcing firm, and serves in CFC
Singles for Christ in every other time that she doesn’t spend reading or
sleeping. She lives in Metro Manila and is also known by another name in her
other circles (but it’s not a secret identity, really).
Contact
Links:
·
Website: www.anatejano.com
·
Twitter: @itstimeana
·
Facebook: http://facebook.com/itstimeana
·
Wattpad: http://www.wattpad.com/user/anatejano
·
Instagram – http://instagram.com/storiestotell
Hi Ms. Ana Tejano and thank you for answering some questions for me,
First things first can you give me five fun facts about yourself?
1. Ana is a pen name. It is actually my second name, so still technically mine. I’m known by another name in other circles, but I’m really, really trying to get used to be called “Ana” when I’m at #romanceclass events. J
2. I took up Computer Science in college.
3. I’m a pretty good navigator and map reader.
4. I have 6 dogs.
5. Peanut butter is my most favorite food. Next is Chicken joy. :P
Why write about heartbreak and office romances?
I knew that Faith’s story was going to be about heartbreak when I decided to write about her in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo 2010). When I started writing the book again after publishing Fall Like Rain, I had just gotten over my last heartbreak so it felt just right and timely to for the feelings.
As for office romances, honestly, I just needed my characters to be in close proximity and the office felt like a natural setting for them. I like that in my fiction, but I tend to avoid that in real life.
Who was your inspiration for Faith?
Faith was based on one of my dear friends in college (and she knows this, too, haha). Incidentally, the time I started writing her book was also the time she went through her own kind of heartbreak. The characters evolved so while in some ways it is her (with the favorite color, for one), it’s also not her. Happens all the time.
What was it like writing Keep the Faith? Did you experience some trouble?
So I thought it was going to be easy, because it was my second book and I had a lot of feelings for this because of the said heartbreak. But interestingly, it took longer than expected. I had to redo my outline five times because there were some things that just didn’t fit initially, and I could hear my characters complaining about some things so I had to change it. There was also a time when I felt like I couldn’t write any feelings into it. Maybe because I had already moved on? Haha. I made up for that by watching all the rom-com movies I could find. And listening to the #romanceclass live readings over and over again.
One of the things that caught my interest in the book was that Faith is a community development worker, is there a story behind that or was it based from your own life?
In the first draft of the book, Faith was a missionary for a Catholic lay community, inspired by my own community, Singles for Christ, and my missionary friends. On the next draft, I wanted it to be more readable (and maybe less preachy), so I made them development workers instead. All the dev work things were provided by my best friend, who does disaster management and rehabilitation in his day job.
What advice would you give to teens that are going through breakups?
Four things, based on my own experience (haha). One: wallow. It’s totally okay to be sad. Set a period of crying, listening to all the sad songs, moping. Give yourself time to grieve, because you need to, and it’s part of the process. Two: surround yourself with good people. Friends and family who will listen, cheer you up and keep you accountable when you feel like checking your ex’s Facebook profile for the nth time. Three: move, and by this I mean, do things you like. New things, things that you want to try but never tried before. Write a book, join a class, go on a trip, or volunteer for a cause. It’s the best time to get to know yourself again through activities. And finally, give it time. It’s such a big cliché, but a broken heart needs time to heal. Don’t rush through it to be okay, because all of this will make you a better person. There’s nothing like a broken heart to make one stronger after. J
Last question, what advice would you give to people who would like to be an author someday?I’m reading this book called Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and she said something really beautiful about writing: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something - anything - down on paper.” That’s my advice: it doesn’t have to be perfect, just start something. It’s so easy to think it has to be perfect when we write it down, but it’s not. Just start something, because it’s really better to have a crappy first draft than have nothing at all. J
Thank you so much for answering my questions and congratulations on your book, Keep the Faith.
Excerpt#1:
“Hi.”
I froze at the sound of that now
all-too-familiar deep voice—now less sleepy—and my panic gave way to anger. I
turned around slowly.
Nico’s expression was friendly, oblivious
to my seething. “I just want to say sorry for sleeping on your desk. Alvin told
me you were coming back but I thought it wasn’t until Monday so I didn’t
transfer immediately.”
“Did you touch anything here?” I pointed to
my cubicle’s walls, ignoring his apology.
“Huh?”
“You’ve been using my desk since you got
here. Did you remove anything?”
He shook his head, his messy hair flopping
on his forehead. He brushed it away with a hand. “No. Why would I remove
anything? I only sleep at other people’s desks, but I don’t take anything.” He
gave me a cheeky grin at the last part, an attempt to make a joke, but I was
too worked up to play along.
“Then what happened to my pictures, huh?”
“What pictures?”
I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I
turned, and there was April, holding out a small paper bag. “Hey. I almost
forgot to give you this.”
“April, do you know—”
“I heard you. They’re in the bag,” she
interrupted gently. “I took your pictures down, okay? It’s not Nico’s fault. He
didn’t even see them.”
I took the bag from her and peeked inside,
and found the smiling face of my ex-boyfriend looking at me, beside my own. I
was unprepared for the stab of pain when I saw our matching grins, remembering
exactly when that photo was taken (second year anniversary, right after he took
me out to dinner).
“I thought it would help if I cleaned it up
when you told me what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.” She squeezed my
arm, and left to answer her phone that started ringing again.
Squashing the urge to sort through the
photos and memories, I shoved the paper bag in my bottom drawer, shutting the
drawer with a loud click. When I looked up, I saw that Nico was gazing at me
intently, and my face burned with shame again. Twice now. I can’t seem to get
off on the right foot with this guy.
“I told you I didn’t know about anything,”
he said, amused.
Well thanks a lot for rubbing it in. “If
you hadn’t been sleeping on my desk then I wouldn’t have asked you.”
“Didn’t you learn much from what you saw on
my profile?”
“I wasn’t stalking you!”
A small line formed between his eyebrows as
if I was a Math problem that he was trying to solve. I tried to stare back at
him but his brown eyes were too intense. Then to my surprise—and frustration—I
saw the beginnings of a smirk tug at the corner of his lips.
“Aren’t you going to say something?” I
crossed my arms.
Then his lips stretched into a full-fledged
smile, a dimple popping on his right cheek. “I’m sorry. I promise I won’t sleep
on your desk again.”
“Good,” I said with a firm nod. Then I
started to feel a little silly for my outburst, especially after he seemed so
gracious. “I’m sorry, too.”
“Peace?” he asked, extending his right hand
to me. I uncrossed my arms and looked at his hand warily before glancing up at
him again. He was still smiling.
“Okay,” I said, just a little begrudgingly,
and reached out to shake his hand.
“My name is Nicolas, but everyone calls me
Nico.”
“Hi, Nico,” I said, trying not to think of
how warm his hand was. “I’m Faith. Faith Alvarez.” I let go of his hand. Too
much hand-shaking was weird.
There was that dimple again. “I know.”
Except#2:
The tiny tinkling sounds of the chime
sounded extraordinarily loud in the empty office as she left. As soon as she
disappeared from my view, I switched to my browser, and in less than a minute,
I was staring at James’s smiling face on his social media profile page.
He had just changed his profile picture.
His hair was shorter, shaved closer to his head. The last time he had this
hairstyle was around three years ago. The photo looked like it was taken at a
restaurant, and that he was with some people, but I could only see the shoulder
of whoever was sitting beside him. I recognized the red and blue plaid polo
shirt he was wearing—my birthday gift to him last year. Seeing that gave me a
huge wave of relief. He hadn’t thrown it away.
I know cyberstalking my ex wasn’t healthy.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t checked on his profile when we were together, but now
that we’re not, I couldn’t help but look at it every time I logged on. This was
all I could do while I mustered up the courage to reach out to him so we could
talk about what happened, for my peace of mind.
James’ eyes crinkled whenever he smiled
genuinely, like he was doing in this photo. A slight ache tugged at my heart as
I stared at it but I shrugged it away as I scrolled down his timeline.
There wasn’t anything else new on his
profile that I hadn’t seen the last time I checked (yesterday). With a tiny
sigh, I clicked on some albums that he posted after the breakup to see if there
were comments that I hadn’t seen yet.
“Faith, what are you still doing here?”
“Holy crap!” I shot out of my seat, and for
the second time since last week, my heart leapt at the sight of Nico.
“Hey, hey, sorry.” He put down on the floor
the big plastic box he was carrying and held up his hands, as if I was a wild
animal about to bite him. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to surprise you. I thought you
heard me.”
“You think?” I exclaimed, taking a step
away from him. My voice was shrill from the adrenaline running through my
veins.
“I’ve been in the supply room all this
time. April even said goodbye to me. I thought you left with her.”
“Why are you still here?” I struggled to
keep my voice calm but my nerves were still strained. I jumped a little to
shake it off, but my shaky knees made me stumble. Nico reached for my arms to
keep me from losing my balance.
“Hey, be careful.” His grip was firm but
gentle and helped to steady me, but my heart refused to calm down. I pulled
away, stepped back, and leaned on the table, finding it more soothing to hold
on to rather than Nico’s warm hands.
Excerpt #3:
-->
“I
didn’t realize we were expecting this many people,” I said.
“Some
of his high school friends, people from college, and his sisters,” Rain explained.
She motioned for me and Meah to help her with the banner, then climbed up one
of the chairs, holding one end. “Lissa
will be here, too. She’s just on cupcake duty.”
I
passed more tape to Meah to secure her side of the banner when Rain’s phone,
which was near me on the table, rang. Lissa’s face flashed on the screen. Rain
jumped down from her spot, dropping her end of the banner. We made a face at
her, but her panicked expression shut us up.
“Oh,
fudge. Are they with you now?”
Lissa’s
tinny muffled voice from the phone was the only sound in the quiet room. Rain’s
eyes were wide. “And you’re just about to park. Oh…okay. Can you give us about
five minutes before coming in? Okay? Thanks.”
She
hung up, and we watched as she took a few deep breaths before facing me.
“Faith, I’m so sorry.”
“Why
are you apologizing?”
“Lissa
just got here, with the cupcakes,” she said slowly. She glanced at Meah, who
suddenly had this knowing look on her face. I had an idea what she was about to
say, followed by a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“And…James
is here with them. I’m so sorry, Faith. I didn’t invite him, promise, but he
dropped by our place with Andrew, and Lissa invited them.”
“Oh.”
“I
can find a way for him to leave if you don’t want him here,” Rain said, clearly
distressed. “I’m so sorry.”
Meah’s
eyes were on me, ready to spur into action if needed. My ex-boyfriend was
outside, and in a few moments I will see him again. We will be in one place,
and this was my chance to talk to him after more than three months of not being
in contact with him.
“Faith?
What do you want us to do?” Rain asked.
I
looked at her and slowly shook my head. “Nothing. It’s okay. Don’t worry about
me. I don’t mind if he’s here.”
My
friends exchanged looks. “Are you sure?”
I
nodded firmly. “I told you guys I was fine, remember? And James and I will see
each other sooner or later. Better now when I’m with you guys than when I’m by
myself.”
So
that was how I ended up in the same room with my ex-boyfriend a week after I
got back, three months after our breakup.
Excerpt # 4:
“So,
French Fries, will you tell me who that guy is now?”
I
looked at him with a start. Nico was near enough to have a clear view of my
screen that showed a photo of James, and the screen gave off enough light for
me to see his curious expression. I locked my phone, put it back in my bag, and
looked out the window to avoid his intense gaze.
“Faith?”
Nico said softly after the silence had stretched on long enough. My name
sounded weird coming from his mouth after I had gotten used to his calling me
French Fries. “I’m sorry. Look, I won’t press anymore—”
“He’s
my ex,” I blurted out. He was silent so I sighed. “That guy in the pictures was
my ex-boyfriend. But I’m pretty sure you figured it out already, or you must
have heard about him from our colleagues.”
Without
my phone, it was too dark for me to see his expression, but his hesitation
filled the air. Finally, he said, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t
want to.”
But
that was the thing. Now that I’ve said it out loud, I wanted to talk about
James, about us. His memory was now a phantom inside the van I felt I should
entertain so it wouldn’t leave me.
I
missed him so much.
“We
were together for five years, and he broke up with me before I left for my last
mission,” I started slowly.
“Oh,”
Nico rubbed his face with his hand and let out a breath. “That sucks. I’m
sorry.”
I
shrugged, ignoring the pinch in my heart. “These things happen, unfortunately.”
I
paused, sensing his discomfort again. I bit my lip to suppress a giggle; it was
kind of amusing to see the confident Nicolas Tamayo fumble.
“Why
did you break up?” he asked.
“He
said he can’t do this anymore.”
Silence,
then, “What the hell does that even mean?”
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