By Christina Lauren | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4/5)
I’m not good at giving book reviews. I’d probably written two or three as requirements in grad school and post-grad, but I’d like to try. Hehe
This book written by Christina Lauren is so charming and it felt like I’ve vacationed in Maui too! The first four chapters of the book was a little boring for me. I was even contemplating if I will proceed to the next book on my reading list, but I persisted to finish it because I want to be a little organize and I wouldn’t be able to stay still knowing I have some like an unfinished business.
Truth be told that first four chapters built up the succeeding chapters of the book and it gotten so interesting that I spent one night reading until 70% of it.
Olive is somehow relatable to me, she was often misunderstood as a pessimist but really she’s just in touch with reality and out of touch with this world’s ideals that could break her, but yes, it pays to be brave too. Her love story with Ethan, a protective sister to Ami, and calling out Dane for being such a jerk are brave and good qualities of Olive in the book. Their big family is also relatable especially for us Filipinos, specifically those closed knit ones.
Like Olive, some of us think we are not ‘lucky.’ I sort of think that too—that it requires a mixture of skills, excellence, and luck all at once to succeed or even just win raffles!
That’s the point of luck: it happens when and where it happens.
That’s the whole point of luck, isn’t?
You have to trust that it’s not fleeting.
I understand how Dane and Ami and Olive and Ethan went through with their respective relationships. That someway, somehow, things could be difficult and quite impossible at the moment.
Nothing is harder in a relationship than not respecting the person you’re with.
IN HINDSIGHT: like I’ve said, if you read the book, it’ll feel that you are also in Maui having the best time and it made me want to book a flight and accommodation as the story goes. The book is a feel-good kind that after you finish it, you’ll feel renewed and refreshed. Yes, it was happy ending for both Olive and Ethan and I guess they both deserve it. Their personality really matches! Though it was usual and predictable, it was cosmic, sweet, and cute.
It’s a total kilig going through the love story of Olive and Ethan; and it was hilarious at some ends there, too. I’m so glad I persisted to finishing the book because it could be one of the best feel-good books I’ve read in the last two years.
Shainne Hostalero 