by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 27, 2022 | Awards and Competitions
After months of grueling preparations, RP Blu Boys begin their quest for World Cup glory as they tackle powerhouse TEAM USA on November 26 at Rosedale Park, Auckland, New Zealand.
The Philippine Men’s National Softball, who qualified for the World via a strong runner-up finish in the Asia Qualifiers, is bracketed in Group A with very strong teams such as Argentina, the USA, Cuba, the Czech Republic, and host, New Zealand.
“Our RP Blu Boys’ confidence is on a high. They have been doing well in practice and in tune-up games and we hope to translate those into good performances in the upcoming games. It will be a tall order but we’re gunning for a win or 2 against the very strong teams in our bracket.”, said ASAPHIL President Jean Henri Lhuillier.”
“Our boys are ready. Preparations have gone well and we are all eager to compete. We don’t want to make any promises except for giving our best every game, every inning and hopefully, we should pull off some upsets.”, said RP Blu Boys Head Coach, Jasper Cabrera.
The WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup is slated on November 26-December 4 in Auckland, New Zealand. Other participating countries comprising Bracket B are equally strong Teams, Japan, Canada, Venezuela, and Denmark.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 25, 2022 | Book Reviews
Loved this! At first glance, The Alpha’s Freakshow by Miri Googag may remind you of a Barnum and Bailey show. If you don’t know what that means, think of The Greatest Showman.
I think we can all agree that werewolves are common knowledge to most readers. Occasionally, we’ve encountered other shapeshifts like werebears and dragons. But how often do we read about shifters who are elephants, monkeys, tigers, or birds of prey? For the much bigger or much smaller shapeshifters, I don’t know how believable it is without factoring in magic since I think body mass is one controlling factor of how big or small a person would be once they shift.
So how would a regular-sized person shift to a regular-sized falcon, even one of the bigger size? Same with a monkey? To be fair when I read “monkey,” my mental picture said chimpanzee so I could be wrong. I was thinking of something bigger but the author did not say ape so it must be that. Magic!
Maggie was an ordinary teenage girl who, while out hiking with some friends, was bitten by a dying wolf that her friends were prodding with a stick. Little did she know that it would be the bite that would change her life and cause her suffering for many years.
Becoming the Alpha of his birth pack was not something Axel ever wanted. He was content with becoming his twin brother’s beta. But fate had other plans. On his birthday his eyes changed color which revealed him to be The Ultima. This prompted his brother to try to kill him. With the intervention of a close friend, he is not killed but instead grievously hurt (and close to death) and cast out instead. A werebear later rescued Axel and together they put together the Freakshow, finding other shifters, and putting on a show for humans.
SECRETS. That’s what this book revolves around. Maggie is hiding the fact that she is looking for the Ultima. Axel and everyone in the Freakshow hides the fact that Axel is the Ultima. And more secrets get revealed along the way. The biggest secret of all … how does the Ultima choose its victims every blue moon? Find out for yourself by reading The Alpha’s Freakshow by Miri Googag on Goodnovel.
All the secrets, to be honest, drove me nuts! It made for a good story, though. Waiting for Axel and Maggie to admit how they feel and just “embrace the love” was getting me antsy.
This is more than a love story, though. There are many details I didn’t mention above to avoid spoilers but, take my word for it that this book has a lot of intrigues, exhausting action, and happy outcomes for many characters. I also like the fact that this story does not discriminate and allows characters of different types of species/shifter animals to fall in love with each other.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 23, 2022 | Book Reviews
I wish authors put more thought into their book titles because I feel that My Dad’s Bad Boy Bestie by Lacey Nash is mistitled. There is nothing about Jason that says “bad boy”, in fact, for him to be best friends with Bella’s dad he has to be a good guy. If we ask Daddy Bryan, he is the BEST guy. After all, they’re besties!
There are more than a handful of grammatical issues that caused frown lines to appear on my forehead, but that is probably just the copy editor in me. I wish more books go through copy editing or proofreading publishing. Sometimes it’s a case of homonyms, which is understandable, but other times it is like the author was searching for the right word, never found it, and used a different word with the intention of going back to it but never got around to it.
If you are the type of reader that can just skip over those you may enjoy this book. It isn’t long, just 22 chapters plus an epilogue, and took me a few hours to read.
The story is pretty straightforward with the main characters struggling with the 18-year age gap but ultimately overcoming it. HEA guaranteed.
My Dad’s Bad Boy Bestie by Lacey Nash is available on Amazon for only 0.99 and is free on Kindle Unlimited.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 23, 2022 | Business
Isla LPG, the company behind one of the most trusted LPG brands Solane, has achieved 22 million safe manhours for both its regular employees and contracted staff without Lost Time Injury (LTI) as of April 2022.
This milestone in Health, Safety, Security, and Environment means all Isla LPG employees and Isla partners, both in the plant and office, have not experienced any injury or accident that resulted in them being absent from work and thereby, losing productive work time.
“At Isla LPG, we take safety seriously every step of the way, from our plants and offices to the transport of Solane LPG products to our valued customers and business partners,” said Tonito Gonzalez, CEO of Isla LPG. “We want all our employees and contracting partners to feel confident about our mission to provide safe and quality LPG accessible for Filipinos, and it starts with ensuring that they have a safe workplace.”
For Isla LPG, the 22M LTI-free manhours record means the company was able to achieve operations in the plant including gantry/cylinder filling, the safe driving performance of haulers, no LTI in Isla’s plants and offices nationwide, and no LTI for Isla contractors working on projects, installations, and partner sites.
“Safety is non-negotiable for Isla LPG. Just like how we put a premium on the safety of our products through stringent measures and innovative technology, we also make sure that all our employees are working in a healthy, safe, secure, and environment-friendly workplace by integrating practices in all aspects of our businesses,” said Marvin Dela Fuente, HSSE Manager of Isla LPG.
Dela Fuente attributes this hard-earned milestone to the company’s efforts to combine regular training, documentation, plant operation programs, and annual internal audits. He added that the company ensures that safety is instilled in everyone’s hearts and minds.
“Aside from striving for zero LTI, our goal is to have no major plant operation accidents, major road transport accidents, total recordable occupational illnesses, security incidents, and life-saving rules violations,” Dela Fuente added.
Isla LPG employees undergo weekly toolbox meetings to start their workweek and receive regular training on first aid, firefighting, and Permit to Work-Job Hazards Analysis. In compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Republic Act No 11058, Isla tapped Philippine Red Cross Trainers in June to conduct First Aid training for its security personnel, its plant staff, and nominated employee first aiders.
Given the risk that comes with working with hazardous substances, Isla implements programs specifically for its plant operations. These include Emergency Response Procedures (ERP) where proactive and reactive approaches for plant operations are discussed and implemented, the Medical Response Strategy (MERS) where plant safety and high health standards are ensured, and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) component where Isla works with the community surrounding its plants.
To review and ensure that safety procedures and practices are up-to-date and implemented, Isla also conducts an annual internal safety audit on its plant operations, distributor operations, metal maintenance contractors, and haulers.
Isla LPG Corp. (ILC), ISLA Petroleum & Gas Corporation’s subsidiary engaged in the supply, trading, marketing, and distribution of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the Philippines under the banner brand Solane (formerly Shellane), operates strategically located LPG refilling plants nationwide and has a vast network of distributors and retail stores.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 22, 2022 | Book Reviews
Sex Life Tips by Donna Prince is game-changing. In 4 books, she is able to give me so many ideas on how to write love scenes better! In my personal opinion, anyone who wants to venture into writing romance stories or erotica stories specifically needs to get their hands on this book, especially if they do not have that much sexual experience.
I’ve noticed a lot of new writers just tend to imitate what they read from other stories but it doesn’t always work. There are often even positional problems with menage sequences.
Whether it is seduction, execution of certain pleasure practices, BDSM, dirty talk, sex games, role-playing, etc., or even self-pleasure, this 4-in-1 book has something for everyone.
Learning about the 9 types of seducers and figuring out which one I am was intriguing and I found myself imagining how future characters I would write would behave. While this book is called Sex Life Tips, it is actually more of an empowering book and, possibly a manual for some.
If you decide to buy Sex Life Tips by Donna Prince on Amazon it costs 5.99 but is free with a Kindle Unlimited account. In my opinion, it is worth every me. (Penny, get it?)
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 21, 2022 | Book Reviews
It is nearly Christmas I decided to give Shy Girls Can’t Date at Christmas by Milly Rose a try. This book is definitely targeted at a younger audience such as teenagers.
The story for me was confusing because it didn’t feel like the author had her thoughts together when she started writing. This is why outlining is essential. It takes several chapters to answer basic questions like … what happened to the neighborhood? How can the death of Ava’s mom have such a devastating effect on everyone who lived in their cul-de-sac that everyone (literally everyone!) seemed to cease functioning normally? Why is Beau’s mom upset with Ava? Why does Ava’s dad hate Beau? I don’t understand!
I don’t even think calling Ava shy is appropriate. Before her mom passed away she wasn’t so freaked out all the time. Being freaked out is not synonymous with being shy. If at all, the only time she really exhibited behavior that could be deemed shy is in the first two or three chapters.
After ten chapters we discover that Beau’s “acting out” started as a way to get his parents’ attention. How original! (sigh) And, apparently, four years later, even after he acknowledges this as truth, he still can’t help but continue to do it even though he says “it is useless”. How does that make sense? Also, he stopped being a bully when he was able to spend time with Ava.
Twenty chapters in and while a relationship develops between the two, I still don’t know why there is a stick up the parents’ collective butts. I think it is an important detail that will help explain and perhaps resolve parental issues in the book.
To be honest, I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I hoped I would since I love young love and Christmas stories. At best I would say it is okay. It’s on Amazon if you want to give it a try.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 18, 2022 | Book Reviews
In all ghost stories I’ve ever read, it is said that ghosts don’t age but are frozen at the age they died at. Haunt by Rachel H. Drake says otherwise. I initially thought it would follow the same story arc as the movie Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. But this story is nothing like it at all unless you count the fact that William is a ghost.
Yes, it is a love story. Yes, The guy, William is not corporeal … but is he really a ghost? William has been Emily’s constant companion since she was 6 years old and was crying because of her father. He could only make his presence felt with cold breezes. Over time they develop simple communication to answer yes and no questions.
William never left her side and as time passed their relationship changed and matured and Emily started to fantasize about having a sexual relationship with her ghost. A glass dildo and a visit to a medium started the ball rolling in that direction.
There is a lot of sex between William and Emily in this book, especially once it is revealed that William is actually an incubus who was killed by an energy vampire. But since he found an anchor in Emily, he did not move on but instead grew up with her. When William died he was only 11 years old, making him 5 years older than Emily.
To make this story interesting there are critical moments, all of which have sex involved (of course!) as an important medium of energy transfer. One instance was a ritual to make William “real” and involved a stinky douchebag.
Things to note:
- William’s dick is like a Stojo collapsing cup. It is ridged and gets wider the further you go down.
- They started their communication with cold breezes so where cold showers kill the mood for most people, it just turned Emily on.
- William’s family had the foresight to set up his estate so that when he came back he was nowhere near destitute and Emily would not have to work, ever! They could just spend their days having sex.
- As an incubus and part-energy vampire, their relationship is perfect because they can just feed off each other.
Haunt by Rachel H. Drake is a sex-filled light reading with a guaranteed HEA and will be on Amazon soon.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 14, 2022 | Book Reviews
I was not prepared for the emotional roller coaster I’d find myself on once I started reading Huge Dare by Stephanie Brother.
Ellie is a beautiful young woman who tends to live her life cautiously but once she is dared to do something she throws caution to the wind and does it. The dare becomes her reason to be reckless and free. One dare after another leads to her participating in a childish game of 7 minutes in heaven at her best friend’s birthday party. She is guided into the closet blindfolded expecting to ward off one man, only to discover that she was locked in there with three!
Things take a surprising turn when instead of being scared, Ellie finds herself excited as one man holds her from behind and kisses her neck, another worships her breasts, and another has his face buried between her thighs.
7 minutes of heaven indeed! As time runs out her best friend calls out her name and reality seeps in. The men let go when they realize who she is. As she stepped out of the closet disheveled and dazed she looked back and saw a tattoo she recognized and she realized the same thing they did … she just made out with her stepbrothers!
Colby, Seb, and Micky are identical triplets. Their dad married Ellie’s mom 7 years ago and from the moment they saw Ellie, they fell for her, hard. Each triplet handled their attraction to Ellie differently based on their personalities. Micky is playful and friendly, Seb likes to joke around, and Colby is broody and snarky. Ellie, on the other hand, always seemed to treat them with disdain, mostly because she was quietly jealous of how much her mom seemed to love them more than her.
But the dare that led her into the closet proved to be the catalyst for her recognizing her attraction to them. A dare from another friend leads her to seek the bed of one brother, which led to another and another.
Huge Dare by Stephanie Brother ends with happily ever after. Reading from the perspective of each of them brought me to such emotional highs and lows that I just couldn’t stop reading! I needed to finish this book before I could sleep! In the end, the only thing I feel is good.
It will be available on Amazon on Nov. 15 for only 2.99.
After reading this book you can read the bonus content here.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 13, 2022 | Book Reviews
I don’t normally do this but sometimes I have to make an exception. His Reject: The Alpha King’s Hybrid by Moon Flood is really good. I would go so far as to say it is a REALLY GOOD NOVEL. Kudos to the author! It is well-written and the pacing is fast. Are there grammatical or spelling issues? Yes, but thankfully not a lot!
I started reading this on Goodnovel because it was offered to me at 70% off and after reading the first chapter I decided to take the plunge and downloaded the rest of the chapters.
Carrot is the lead character. She is an Omega and at 20 still does not have a wolf. She discovers that she is mated to Noah, the psychopath Alpha of the Red Lake pack. She is an orphan and has been treated as a slave all her life so she assumed she would be rejected. Alas, he doesn’t reject her but he also does not acknowledge her … choosing to shag other she-wolves so that he could watch her writhe in pain. She rejects him but he does not accept it, instead, he imprisons her in the dungeon to prevent her escape.
With help, she manages to escape weeks later and inadvertently travels to the capital city where the Alpha King, Killian, lives. I won’t go into the details of how that happened so that you would read it.
To avoid pushing through with an arranged marriage, Killian decides to claim Carrot (now called Amethyst) as his mate, acting lovestruck and enamored in public. Afterward, they discuss and Killian convinces Amethyst that it is to her advantage that they pretend to be mates. Since she knows that Noah is her mate and she plans on seeking revenge against him and Red Lake for all the injustices done against her, she agreed.
His Reject: The Alpha King’s Hybrid by Moon Flood is still a work in progress and I quickly caught up with the latest chapters. Author Moon Flood, I do hope you update soon. If you would like to read this story you can find it on Goodnovel and on other reading apps.
by Penny Angeles-Tan | Nov 11, 2022 | Book Reviews
They say that no idea is truly original because everything we create is built on something someone else wrote or made which, in turn, was built on someone else’s idea, too. At times we even end up plagiarizing ourselves! That being said, I believe that, despite the formula, authors should infuse something in their story that will make it stand out, be different, and not easily be thought of as a copy of someone else’s work.
It sounds the same but not
When I started to read The Alpha’s Rejected Mate by JK Bartolome my immediate thought was that this was very similar to Alpha Atlas by Jane Doe without the bully squad of the Alpha to be.
Angel is quiet, shy, and overweight. She tends to wear baggy clothes and people assume it is because she has no sense of style. Consequently, many of her peers ridicule and bully her. In addition, her wolf, Slade, has not shown up yet so they think she is wolfless.
Gabriel is the soon-to-be Alpha. On the day he found out that Angel was his mate, he did not hesitate to reject her. Stupid, weakling Angel did not accept the rejection, she just walked away and decided to leave the pack.
Time passes and she returns as a warrior to train Gabriel’s pack to defend themselves. Does this sound familiar yet? She is no longer the fat, shy, and retiring girl they knew. She was now an unbeatable warrior.
While she was away Gabriel was busy humping every willing she-wolf and Angel suffered through it all. Upon her return he decides to stop all that and accept her as his mate, hoping she does not reject him. Pffft!
Go ahead and call me a grammar nazi
From page one, it is clear that English is not this author’s first language. I’d forgive it if I saw some effort to use a grammar and spellchecker. Sadly, it looks like we have another lazy author here who cannot be bothered to, at the very least, use the tools that come built-in with document software like Word or GoogleDocs. It is so prevalent that these authors think we will just forgive the awful grammar which leads to them not making an effort to fix it.
Be responsible
If doing so feels like more work for them then they should hire an editor or proofreader. Even I cannot claim to be perfect so I religiously check for grammar and spelling errors and sometimes, some still get left behind. The point here is TRYING because the reader can see when you try.
It’s always the same … messed up pronouns, tenses, etc. Sigh.
In addition, I have to add, that anyone who writes in an established genre should research the genre first. It is better to research and get it right than mess up big time and get called on it by a lot of people. Or … create their own world and mythology.
How old are you?
From the way it is written I can only assume that our author is young, or at least wrote it when he/she/they were younger. I gauge this from the juvenile behavior of the characters, and the very limited skill and technique writing in the love scenes (which speaks of inexperience) as the best that could be described is oral sex, and not even very descriptive at that.
He/she/they do not also seem to understand what happens when a female goes into heat. Wolves are like dogs when they go into heat … they will want to have sex RIGHT NOW with any male and every male nearby will have an almost uncontrollable urge to have sex with her. This isn’t fiction, that’s really how it is with canines.
In the standard mythos about werewolves, they react the same way as wolves. So, the fact that the author did not really describe this properly leads me to believe that the author is young and does not know this or … did not do his/her/their research.
To be fair, it is not a bad story. It just could be better. It doesn’t need massive plot changes. All it really needs is cleaning up at the very least. Do I hate it? No. Do I like it, meh … okay is the best I can give you. But just to give you perspective, I did finish it. There are only a little over 30 chapters so it isn’t difficult to read.
I wish authors put more thought into their book titles because I feel that My Dad’s Bad Boy Bestie by Lacey Nash is mistitled. There is nothing about Jason that says “bad boy”, in fact, for him to be best friends with Bella’s dad he has to be a good guy. If we ask Daddy Bryan, he is the BEST guy. After all, they’re besties!
Isla LPG, the company behind one of the most trusted LPG brands Solane, has achieved 22 million safe manhours for both its regular employees and contracted staff without Lost Time Injury (LTI) as of April 2022.
Sex Life Tips by Donna Prince is game-changing. In 4 books, she is able to give me so many ideas on how to write love scenes better! In my personal opinion, anyone who wants to venture into writing romance stories or erotica stories specifically needs to get their hands on this book, especially if they do not have that much sexual experience.
It is nearly Christmas I decided to give Shy Girls Can’t Date at Christmas by Milly Rose a try. This book is definitely targeted at a younger audience such as teenagers.
In all ghost stories I’ve ever read, it is said that ghosts don’t age but are frozen at the age they died at. Haunt by Rachel H. Drake says otherwise. I initially thought it would follow the same story arc as the movie Ghost starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. But this story is nothing like it at all unless you count the fact that William is a ghost.
I was not prepared for the emotional roller coaster I’d find myself on once I started reading Huge Dare by Stephanie Brother.
I don’t normally do this but sometimes I have to make an exception. His Reject: The Alpha King’s Hybrid by Moon Flood is really good. I would go so far as to say it is a REALLY GOOD NOVEL. Kudos to the author! It is well-written and the pacing is fast. Are there grammatical or spelling issues? Yes, but thankfully not a lot!
When I started to read The Alpha’s Rejected Mate by JK Bartolome my immediate thought was that this was very similar to Alpha Atlas by Jane Doe without the bully squad of the Alpha to be.
From the way it is written I can only assume that our author is young, or at least wrote it when he/she/they were younger. I gauge this from the juvenile behavior of the characters, and the very limited skill and technique writing in the love scenes (which speaks of inexperience) as the best that could be described is oral sex, and not even very descriptive at that.
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