REVIEW

This book is very easy to love. Period.

I’ve been hearing a lot about Dawn Lanuza from my friend, Raf of The Royal Polar Bear Reads, because he doesn’t shy away whenever he expresses his love for Dawn’s books. When he told me that he’s planning to organize a blog tour for Dawn’s latest book, I volunteered to be his co-organizer which he happily accepted. It might sound weird to volunteer as a co-organizer instead of just joining the tour as a participant — for someone who hasn’t read any of her book before — but for some reasons, I just felt that Dawn Lanuza’s books are something that will perfectly fit my palate.

Especially after I saw the cover of the book…

And I wasn’t wrong.

Stay A Little Longer is beautiful, and I love it!

A long-distance relationship.

Yup! This book tells about a long-distance relationship or LDR. While I don’t have a first hand experience of LDR, I know just by thinking about it that it’s hard. And to be honest, I don’t think that it’s a kind of relationship that I will have the courage to enter. ~~Well, who knows? Lol~~

Stay A Little Longer tells exactly how difficult it is to be in a long-distance relationship, especially if you are in different time zones. It tells the struggle of staying on loop with each other.

Stay A LIttle Longer by Dawn Lanuza | Book Review by The Nocturnal Fey

How you miss each other.

And how you miss touching each other.

Or how you just simply miss the presence of each other.

Sure, technology made it possible for long-distance relationships to work and to be easier, but it’s still different if you have each other’s presence. RIGHT?!

Contrasting main leads.

One of the main reasons why I easily fell in love with this book is because I love how the main leads have very contrasting personalities. I love most especially Caty — our main girl — because I have a thing for female leads with strong personality.

Caty has this a very interesting character that you want to dissect as the story goes. How I saw her is someone who seem a bit domineering at first, but very fun and friendly once you get to know her. Which is a complete opposite of Elan — our main guy.

Right from the start, I found the whole thing rather interesting and romantic. I don’t know, but for me, the idea of meeting someone on a train trip sounds adorable. I have a soft spot for a classic and nostalgic setting.

Elan is very closeted, mysterious, like someone you can’t easily approach because he might snap at you for no freaking reason. You know, your resident brooding main guy. But Caty, with her strong and couldn’t-care-less personality managed to break that thick wall between them on their first meeting.

The thing about Elan though is even if he seems always unimpressed or something, he was never rude. He was never boorish over Caty for always trying to open him up. He doesn’t act condescending unlike the many brooding characters that I have come across.

This is why I find the main characters of this book very easy to like.

Also, did I mention that Elan and Caty are like SOOOO CUTE?!

A light read.

Another reason why I had an amazing time reading this book is because of how easy it is to read. The storytelling is straightforward and easy to absorb. The writing is something that you’d easily get into. And it is also something that you can read in one sitting without getting bored.

And the cover is just lovely!

Final verdict

Overall, Stay A Little Longer is easily one of my favorite contemporary reads this year. It is really nice to get into more #romanceclass books and discover more Filipino romance author. So, if you want to explore more romance books by Filipino authors and those that are set in the Philippines, I think one of the best place to start is through #romanceclass.

While Stay A Little Longer is not published under #romanceclass, I believe that Dawn worked on this book with the help of the #romanceclass team.

I think if you are in a long-distance relationship, you’ll easily relate to the things that are tackled on this book.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC from Andrews McMeel Publishing in exchange for an honest review in participation for a blog tour. This doesn’t affect my opinion of the book in this review in any way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dawn Lanuza

Dawn Lanuza writes contemporary romance, young adult fiction and prose poetry. She has two first loves – music and writing – and is lucky enough to surround herself with them. She currently lives with her family and a very loved cream toy poodle.

She sometimes blogs at dawnlanuza.com.

BLOG TOUR SCHEDULE

May 22
Erika @ The Nocturnal Fey
Rafael @ The Royal Polar Bear Reads
Jen @ Jen D Bibliophile

May 23
Jenny @ Levicorpvs Blog
Alice @ Married to Books Reviews and Blog

May 24
Cathrina @ Puggyreader Writes
Jennilyn @ Rurouni Jenni Reads

May 25
Bryan @ Bryan Hoards Books
Rachel @ In Between Book Pages

May 26
Naadhira @ legenbooksdary
Gerald @ Gerald the Bookworm
Danielle @ dmcireadsblog

May 27
Princess @ Princess and Pages
Provocatrix @ Provocatrix

May 28
Kath @ The Last Reader
Jessica @ Endless Chapters
Rebecca @ Bookingway Reads

Tour organized by The Nocturnal Fey & The Royal Polar Bear Reads

Erika E.

Erika is a freelance content writer and illustrator from the Philippines. Aside from her love of arts and reading, she loves taking photos, coffee, cats, and fairies. She’s into fantasy, historical fiction, and contemporary, and anything young adult genres.