I won this from Goodreads. I was fascinated to find that the author is a Filipino. I am proud of Filipinos making it big like designers and writers who have made it and penetrated the international market. Thank you again, Mayumi Cruz and Goodreads for the copy of this book.
The picture was taken when a friend and I hiked through the Henderson Waves Bridge in Singapore. This bridge connects Mt. Faber and Telok Blangah Hill Park. We ended up walking the 5km+ hike trail which this bridge is just a part of.
This is a quick read. I felt like I was back in high school reading pocketbooks that were in Tagalog. I felt that way because it was a lot easier reading in Tagalog. It's like breathing. No effort. Though, this book was in English, in my mind the characters were speaking in the national language, add to that the setting that is so familiar to me, were enough to make me nostalgic. Oh, I miss BGC (Bonifacio Global City)!
I am a Cebuano but I don't think there are published books or novels in Cebuano. Fiction and love stories are mostly published in the Philippines in Tagalog or English. This book brought me back the feeling when I first read a pocketbook. It was exciting but I think my imagination was not that active. Reading and imagining were skills that I have not mastered yet. I secretly laughed when my friends admitted that they cried while reading a certain story. I could not relate. I did not find anything worth shedding a tear over when I read the same story. Inexperience was my friend then.
Reading about BGC and some places mentioned in the book where I have been to was exciting. It made me feel like I was there when that certain scene in the book took place. I can see it vividly. The story seemed to have stopped being a story from there, it became somewhat a part of my memory. It felt like the story happened right exactly when I stood on that same spot. The setting of the story is so familiar that it made the story familiar too.
In truth, the story is a bit predictable. Like watching a Filipino-made romance movie. Because it's my own culture and I know the nuances and what to look for, it seemed as if I already know how the whole story will end. The same with this but not entirely. There were a few parts that were not as expected which I think is a very good thing.
I give this book 3/5 motorcycle helmets. The plot is interesting enough but the book was written with younger audiences in mind. I appreciate that the language was simple and straightforward but it would have been better if the story was a lot deeper and more sinister. Knowing this was more fitted for readers in high school was a little disappointing because I think the author is capable of writing stories for more mature audiences where the story is unpredictable and with more heart-pounding suspense. Being an avid suspense and mystery reader, this book has promise but I needed it to much more. This would likely make a good movie.
It also didn't matter that she had only known him for a short time. The heart knows no time when it meets its match, its better half, its kindred one, which long ago was planned by destiny and then thrust forward by serendipity in ways she had never imagined.
- Mayumi Cruz, The Gangster and the Socialite -
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