Stephanie Perkins in the Philippines!

Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and the upcoming Isla and the Happily Ever After, is in the Philippines right now on a National Book Store signing tour.

I picked up Anna and the French Kiss because several book bloggers I follow read it and loved it. It is indeed a lovely, lovely book about first love that isn’t as simple as it should be, in a place that is as romantic as we all hope it is.

I recommended it too in Smile, the Cebu Pacific inflight magazine, posting here so I don’t repeat myself.

Thanks to National Book Store, I got the chance to see (and speak to!) Stephanie Perkins at the press conference for her events. I think I had a silly smile on my face the whole time. I got to ask her a question, about which secondary characters surprised her by being reader favorites. Her answer: Lola’s two dads.

I brought books for her to sign, and she signed them, while telling me a cool story about how Isla could have been named Mina instead. This led to her being a little distracted and officially naming me Anna, which means I now get Etienne. The author said so.

Thank you, National Book Store. I adore Stephanie’s books. I’m glad I got the chance to tell her! Hope everyone else gets to go to the signings on Saturday in Cebu and Sunday in Manila!

Tags: events, national book store, stephanie perkins

Mina V. Esguerra