Bookworm Log #4: Before Ever After

My friend, Farah, told me about this book a few months back. She described it as The Time Traveler's Wife-ish, set in Europe, written by a Filipina author. I was kind of skeptical about that given that I loved Audrey Niffenegger's book.

But when I heard that the author, Samantha Sotto, is coming to the office for our International Women's Day event, I immediately ran to the bookstore and bought myself a copy. This is only because I wanted to get it signed for my friend, and her review of the book was convincing enough.

So I read Before Ever After a few days before her scheduled visit, and I can't tell you how much I loved reading it! Although Sam was inspired to write it after reading The Time Traveler's Wife, it's definitely much more than its copycat. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more only because it's more lighthearted and had a more mystical feel to it (and not to mention a less depressing ending). I also loved the way that it made me feel like I also signed up for the Slight Detour, traveling through Europe with them, not knowing where Max's story will take me next.

And as if I didn't like the book enough, I loved it even more when I met Sam! She told us about how she came about writing the book and her story is truly inspiring. I must mention that she came complete with a full slideshow presentation (with matching music and video) to tell us about the making of the book. So artsy and creative! Love it! =)

Anyway, she was part of the corporate world for quite some time before she decided to quit and become a full-time wife and mom. She said that while she was looking after her brother, who just had an appendectomy, she was reading The Time Traveler's Wife. At that time, she was also hooked on the TV show Dr. Who. Then, Max suddenly popped into her head together with other bits of the soon-to-be-written story.

So she decided she had to write everything down. She would drop her kid off to school every morning and wait for him to finish after three hours, and in those three hours, she would stay at Starbucks and write. When she finally finished writing her book, her husband liked it but asked, 'What now?' He encouraged her to have it published.


Then one day, as fate would have it, she was in a book sale shop in one of her trip and there on a table was
an Idiot's Guide to Publishing. And so she started on her journey to finding her agent. There were a couple of unsuccessful attempts until she finally found Stephanie Kip Rostan, with whom she felt she had an instant connection because her name Kip meant 'chicken' in Dutch.

The rest, they say, is history.

Here's a sneak peek into the book:

And so I share with you my takeaways from this wonderful meeting:
 

Here's the note for Farah!

Chickens definitely rule! =)

She's just amazing and I can't wait for her next book! Visit her website here: http://www.samanthasotto.com/