Your Place Next Year

by Mina V. Esguerra

Alia Monterojo may be the country director of one of the largest consulting firms in Manila, but she absolutely doesn't want to be at this important breakfast meeting right now. In another time she would have been in La Union, spending her only free week a year at the beach, with a certain someone who doesn't even know her full name. She's missed the trip for several years now, for good reason, but she still wishes things were different, that she was with him instead.

This year, she gets her chance, when he shows up at the breakfast meeting as an invited guest—because he's the CEO of the small company they might acquire.

Content notes: As of 2021, this is set in a somewhat near (and safer) future, and the covid lockdown/various quarantines in the Philippines happened as is, are mentioned, and have an effect on the plot and characters.

Genres: Novella, Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance

62 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2021

About the author

Mina V. Esguerra writes contemporary romance and young adult novellas. She has a bachelor's degree in Communication and a master's degree in Development Communication, put to good use in her work as trainer and content management consultant. Mina lives in Metro Manila, Philippines, with her husband and daughter.

She finds inspiration in the lives and experiences of other people, so the answer to "Is this story based on you?" is always, always "No."

Reviews

[K.J. Charles]

A short, exceeding relatable novella that touches on a lot of stuff--the low key trauma of returning to a post pandemic world (especially harsh as this is set in the Philippines where it was grossly mishandled); work life balance; climbing the greasy pole as a woman; learning when to let go. Lovely gentle hero who gives the heroine space, and a general feeling of balm after a lot of painful stuff. Quite high steam for #romanceclass, should probably not have read at the hairdresser.

[aarya · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 Winter Bingo (#SnowInLoveBingo❄️): Hotel/Inn

I was surprisingly invested for a novelette! The length is short (14K?) but fits the story scope and characters perfectly.

[Shealea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in a Philippines still recovering from COVID-19, Your Place Next Year tells a quiet, low-key romance between two tired, disillusioned adults - with one finding peace in the beautiful beaches of La Union and with one reevaluating their idea of success outside the capitalist framework of the corporate world.

Short and sweet (with slight steam), this novella delivered what it set out to do - and sometimes, that's enough.

Recommended!

🌻🍃 More bookish content on Shut up, Shealea 🍃🌻
instagram • pinterest • twitter • ko-fi

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Per scrivere storie così brevi che non sembrino monche ci vuole bravura e qui ce n'è 👌
Altri plus: ambientato nelle Filippine, post-pandemia, con tutte le riflessioni sul work-life balance che ne sono scaturite, ma trattate con una mano leggera ma decisa quanto basta.
Un piccolo gioiellino ♥️

[Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC from the author and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Your Place Next Year is a beautiful novelette that touches on serious issues within a short form, while not feeling overbearing. Most notably, it is set in a world that imagines life after the COVID-19 pandemic has been resolved, but with it still in recent memory, and I appreciated the sensitivity with which Mina V. Esguerra handled the issue, especially as she talked about the inequity in terms of things like vaccine access and healthcare in her author’s note.

I appreciated the depiction of burnout and the urge to drop everything through Alia’s eyes, and how her hookups with this guy every year are a nice break…until it gets complicated through work. While hookup-to-lasting-love is often a hard sell for me, I found it well executed, with just enough to keep me invested.

I can see this story resonating with a lot of people who’ve been struggling over the past year or two (or more!), and I love the sense of hope it provides that things can get better.

[paudesilva · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️! Proud to be a fan of Mina after all these years. Proud to say that she’s also my favorite chick lit Pinay author (i read a lot of chic lit and i have to say that her writing style is at the same level with international writers!)

. This book was a quick read for me (finished in less than 2 hours) and really enjoyed Alia and Leandro’s mature relationship. I also chose this book coz La Union is close to my heart and it’s so nice to read a story from that setting. I, too, goes to LU once a year to take my mind off from things (no Leandro though!) so this hits very close to home.

Oh and thanks for the spice too! 🌶

[Anjeli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received an ARC of this book for a #RomanceClass readalong.

Quick thoughts:
- God, it's me again. When?
- the burnout huhu
- 🔥🔥🔥
- BEAAAACHHH


I would just like to reiterate *shivers*, how good Ms. Mina is on capturing the feeling of very specific~ things. The meetings, the burnout, the urge to run away and leave it all behind, the second guessing... it's all there, in this novella. And kudos too, for acknowledging and incorporating the before times without making it too harsh. This is what most of us needs–happily ever after, despite everything.

[Megan]

I read the Special Edition version with the novelette plus two additional short stories, each featuring the romance of one of Alia's brothers. My favorite was actually one of the short stories, "See You Under the Counter," because I really loved the characters' approach to nostalgia and to being who you want to be, but I enjoyed all three stories. Esguerra is always so good at writing characters older than the romance novel norm (and late thirties / early forties isn't old! just older than the usual characters whose falling-in-love narratives dominate the genre).

[Sharonda Isadora · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay, this is a cute quick sexy read with a bit of spicy. Alia and Leandro (aka) vacation bae meet every year for no strings attached sex but what happens when maybe one....or both of them want more.
Oh, I did enjoy this book! Loved the couples energy on page. They were so good and cute together but what I liked most was them getting to know each other while they stayed at Alia's place.

Great read!

[JMarie]

I have no beef with this novella, it's just not holding my attention right now. The author does some things with tense that are not my cup of tea, but as style choices go your mileage may vary there. Few readers are quite as overly picky about grammar as I am, and it doesn't seem fair to hold the book accountable for that. I might try and come back to this one someday. But for now I'm moving on.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short romance set in the Philippines after the pandemic, this tackles the pressures of the corporate world, the choices we make to stay in it, and what happens when your yearly vacation fling shows up at your meeting. The writing style was a bit more removed from the characters than I like, but I appreciated the glimpse into another country, and the romance was sweet and spicy.

[Tart · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a cute fairly low spice novella. overall i enjoyed it okay, but i felt like it maybe could have been a little longer or had a little more character time because i couldn't really find myself buying/rooting for the couple.

[Kaetrin]

pre-order from Amazon

[Frida · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweet romance novelette set in the near future without shying away from the effects of the pandemic.

[Weekend Reader_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quickie

Friends a hookup during the pandemic that's short and to the point. We love to see it.

CN: casual sex

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such an interesting, tender look at the impact of the pandemic. Which doesn't sound super romantic, but is. I love the Philippines milieu.