I’ll be honest, I have only heard one audiobook my entire life, and it’s The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. I started the book without knowing what to expect but was reduced to a sobbing mess when I neared the end.
Since then, I’ve been itching for another opportunity to listen to an audiobook but just never got the chance. That is until someone from AudioPHile by Bookshelf PH reached out to me, allowing me early access to the platform.
AudioPHile by Bookshelf PH is the first audiobook platform in the Philippines, focused solely on Filipino content across all genres. However, AudioPHile launches its platform with a growing library of romance titles, spread across contemporary, Tagalog, and LGBTQIA+.
And speaking of Filipino romance titles, I have created a list of my anticipated picks available on the platform! You might find some of these titles very familiar, especially if you read Romance Class books.
Without further ado!
A Portrait of Jade by Justine Camacho-Tajonera
Jade Alverio is dying to get to summer art camp in Baguio, far away from her demanding parents and her ultra-perfect sister, Ruby. She thinks it will be a haven of like-minded spirits until she gets her first critique from Alexander Santamaria III, who seems to have converted all the female camp members into his groupies.
Things get worse when she’s paired up with him on a major project. Will she survive dream-turned-nightmare art camp, or will she go running back home, the very place she wanted to escape in the first place?
Only a Kiss by Ines Bautista-Yao
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.
Just for the Summer by Justine Camacho-Tajonera
Cassie already knows that Joey Garcia makes no promises. He was the cautionary tale told in college. But when he says, “Come with me to Dumaguete for the summer,” on a whim, she says yes. It’s the summer Cassie is turning twenty-three, and she thinks she’s old enough to make mistakes and young enough to recover. Besides, Cassie has always worked hard to get what she wants. For once, it looks like this is going to be easy.
So when she shows up, prepared for a wild getaway, little does she realize that they’re actually heading for his hometown… for a wedding. Her summer fling is turning out to be all kinds of awkward, from sleeping arrangements to family introductions. But heck, if Joey can be cucumber cool about it, then so can she.
Are you excited to listen to any of these audiobook titles? Tell me about it in the comments!
Ysa, not Bella. 