Happy 10th birthday, Keep the Faith!
Ten years ago on July 31, I published my second book!
It was technically my third book, because I published a short story in between, but Keep the Faith was my official second novel. I also thought that it took me too long to write it — 1.5 years — but past me didn’t know that Meah’s book was a monster, haha.
But wow, what is time? I can’t believe it’s been a decade.
Unlike Fall Like Rain, I have a different relationship with this book. The short version is I liked it way more than I did Rain, and I would put it forward more than I did my debut. I also knew that this was better written, which I felt would connect with a wider range of audiences, unlike Rain, who felt almost unlikeable to me at times, and only a few people would get her. Plus, I seemed to have struck gold with Nico, my golden child, so it was easier to push him over Mark as a book boyfriend.
It wasn’t until this year, after publishing Meah, that I went back to both books and laughed at myself when I realized I have so much room to grow (as always), and that my 2014-2016 writing self was so different from who I am as a writer now.
But I digress. And allow me to be honest this time – I think Keep the Faith is the one closest to my heart because it’s probably the one closest to my life since I wrote Faith as I was getting over heartbreak myself. My circumstances were different, of course (like, I have no Nico lol), but a lot about what Faith learned in the book were also my personal lessons, from getting my heart crushed to watching how much Yolanda devastated parts of the Philippines and realizing that the heartbreak of not being loved back isn’t much different to the heartbreak of watching your country suffer from natural disasters and corruption. There is space and healing for both kinds of heartbreak.
Anniversary sale!
Get the ebook for $0.99 until August 31, 2026 across all ebook platforms! Buy links are here.
As I was planning anniversary things for Faith, I reread the book, and while yes, I still loved it, I realized that it could be better. Haha! And because I’m an indie author, I figured I could do whatever I want, and I made some minor copy edits to the book to make the prose sharper, less redundant, and hopefully more enjoyable to read. The story is still the same, of course, and Nico remains as charming as ever haha.
If you have the pre-August 2026 print version, then congratulations, you now hold a collector’s edition! 😀 The ebook version is now live, and it should update across retailers (one day huhu it’s taking forever), and you should get it in your e-readers once specific retailers push it or if you update it from your dashboards. For Gumroad purchases, you can download the new version now. 🙂
That said, the content is now a little different from the audiobook version, so reading it simultaneously might give you a different experience. But again, the story isn’t different, so hopefully it’s not that jarring! (You can listen to the whole audiobook for free on the Romanceclass Patreon, btw!)
More to come
I have a few more announcements regarding Keep the Faith, but I will save them for another day. 😉 I’m so excited to share them, but I am also slightly frazzled at how many things I need to set up first (the life of an indie author amirite) haha so let me gather myself and my to-do list, and you’ll know about them soon!
For now, thank you so much to everyone who’s ever loved Faith and Nico – your support means the world to me! And if it’s your firs ttime here, welcome and I hope you enjoy reading. 🙂