[Vintage Love] Excerpt Reveal + Giveaway

 

Welcome to my Vintage Love stop in the Hello+Vintage Love blog tour (organized by Book Junkie Blog Tours)! In case anything about Vintage Love looks familiar, it's because I've featured Agay Llanera's book before -- as one of the novellas completed during #romanceclass! 

 

26-year-old Crissy Lopez’s life is in dire need of a makeover. Her wardrobe revolves around ratty shirts and beat-up sneaks; her grueling schedule as a TV Executive leaves no room for a social life; and worst of all, she’s still hung up on the Evil Ex who left her five years ago.

When her fashionable grand-aunt passes away and leaves behind a roomful of vintage stuff, the Shy Stylista inside Crissy gradually resurfaces. Soon, she feels like she's making progress -- with a budding lovelife to boot! But the grim ghost of her past catches up with her, threatening to push her back into depression. To finally move on, Crissy learns that walking away is not enough. This time, she needs to take a leap of faith.

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Here's an excerpt -- read on and join the giveaway after!

For the first time, after a really long time, I took a long, hard look at my full-length reflection.  Underneath the hair awkwardly growing out of a year-old layered bob, dark circles under the eyes, and stubborn flab that had accumulated in the middle area, I tried tracing my old self five years and ten pounds ago.

Who was I before all this happened?

I remembered taking pride in how I looked, scouring department stores to regularly update my wardrobe and blowing off my allowance on occasional shopping sprees in designer stores.

I remembered regular visits to the neighborhood salon for my regular trims and nail care.
I was never a gym rat like Bea, but I did enjoy working up a sweat—whether it was a quick round of volleyball, swimming, or badminton. I even joined 5K runs just for the fun of it.

Mama Maring used to tell me that taking pains with your appearance is a form of public service. “You give people something nice to look at—at the same time, you feel good about yourself!”

Seeing all those people fawning over her clothes and accessories at the rummage sale made me realize that Mama’s fashion investments were still paying off—they were still nice to look at, and those who bought them felt good about their purchases. I wanted to feel the same way, so I had gathered all the leftover accessories and brought them home. I vowed to wear a piece of Mama’s history every day.

But I had also brought one more item with me from the rummage sale. I looked across the room, where Mama’s polka-dot dress stared back at me, as if contemplating its new owner. I unhooked it from its hanger, and held it up to my body. Like I said, it was a thin-dress. It would take a while for my figure to catch up.

Leo constantly told me that, in order to succeed, you had to visualize success. You had to “claim those goals” before they could truly be yours. So in the process of reclaiming myself, I would start with this dress—claiming that it would eventually look good on me.

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About Agay Llanera

Agay Llanera is a freelance writer for television and video, and a published writer of children’s books. She is a member of KUTING, a private, non-stock, non-profit organization, which aims to be the Philippines’ foremost writers’ organization for children. Email her at agay.llanera@gmail.com.


Buy: Amazon  Smashwords
Follow: Twitter  Author Website