Readings – Page 2 – Shainne Hostalero

Reminders of Him

“So, decide right now, right here. Are you gonna live in your sadness or are you gonna die in it?”

By Colleen Hoover | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 out of 5 stars)

Love. Sadness. Happiness. Tears. And more and more tears. That is how I can describe this book. I put reading it on hold because I was too eager and I want to subside the feeling of being too excited so I can absorb what happens in the book well. And I did.

Someone told me (I have forgotten who because I’d probably didn’t care that much) that “I’m not that much the CoHo (Colleen Hoover)-reader type.” I was like, “okay” but I think my face gave it away. I truly can understand and comprehend, that we all have different preferences, but as much as I thought that I am not the CoHo-reader type too, I simply am not. I am that type and I am so comfortable saying it and slaying it that I am that type of reader because life is as stressful as it is now and we need a breath of fresh air at some point and that is what CoHo creations give me.

As you may also know, I am doing my post-graduate studies and the materials I read are, I don’t know how do I describe it, but for the lack of a better term, intense. Just like what CoHo said in the epilogue of Reminders of Him, reading is a hobby but to some, it is an escape. Indeed, it is for me. It lets me into another character’s life, it opens my mind to various insights of people even on the things I don’t believe or understand and it was nice to have that comprehension–that understanding, that discipline–to not judge somebody just because you think otherwise.

Reminders of Him pained me because I am a mother and I can very well comprehend and empathize with Kenna. She has been through a lot. I can also understand how it felt to have the same kind of relationship as her with her mother. And, indeed, it is a difficult world out there. To be unsure how we can not be awkward with anybody and to actually say the right things at the right time.

I want to learn how to talk to people without wishing I could retract every word I said. I want to be good at feeling things when a guy touches my waist. I want to be good at life. I want to make it look effortless, but up until this point, I’ve made every aspect of life appear entirely too difficult to navigate.
Kenna

Scotty may have not lived long for Kenna, but I think their relationship prepared her for Ledger. It was more mature, more secure, and it went through a lot more that was able to test their honesty with one another and how much they can rely upon each other when the going gets tough–even when the world was against them.

Happiness isn’t some permanent thing we’re all trying to achieve in life, it’s merely a thing that shows up every now and then, sometimes in tiny dose that are just substantial enough to keep us going.

Whoever was the first person to say they fell in love must have already fallen out of it. Otherwise, they’d have called it someting much better.

So, you decide right now, right here. Are you gonna live in your sadness or are you gonna die in it?
Ivy

Sadness is part of our lives as much as happiness, I guess. We fall into it a thousand times in our lives but perhaps we remember it more because it stings more. When we are happy, we may tend to forget a lot of things; the same thing when we are sad, we forget how tiny bits can make up for the big pieces and we forget how to be grateful because we think that the world owes us and it is not giving us what we want. But somehow, what we want is not exactly what we need.

Some things can be forgiven, but sometimes an action is so painful the memory of it can still crush a person ten years down the road.

I have taken note of quotes from the book that I can relate to or so beautiful that I don’t want to forget them. You may check it on my Goodreads profile.

I had a lot of tears while reading and finishing this book, same goes with Ugly Love, but a little more intense. And for those who have loved and lost (even not romantic ones), may we all be reminded that:

Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coicidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can. And in the off chance that the people we lose are still somehow able to hear us, maybe we should never stop talking to them.
Ledger

A Borrowed Life

“So many years of burying myself under what was expected of me that I don’t even know what I want.”

By Kerry Anne King | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

It took me a while to finish this 13th book of mine for the year 2022 due to work, travel (for work, too), and other commitments in my enterprise. But behold, no regrets! This book is heartfelt and satisfies our need for happy endings in the midst of the chaos of our current lives. Hee hee

Thank you to Amazon for giving me $3 book credits! I bought Reminders of Him via Amazon and have gotten book credits to allow me to purchase another book. I was hesitant to use it though because I know the books I want still cost more than $3 because they are all good, to begin with. I kept on scrolling and reading the synopsis of books available in store when I came across this creation by Kerry Anne King, A Borrowed Life.

About the book

This book is about Elizabeth Lightsey. Liz as she preferred; was widowed by her Pastor husband, Thomas Lightsey, and a mother to Abigail. She married young, about 18 years old when Thomas was to be assigned to head a church in Colville. He chose her to be his wife and succumbed to unhappiness as she didn’t fearlessly make choices for her life and her daughter’s.

When Thomas died due to a heart attack, Liz was sad and relieved all at the same time because finally, she could live the life she wanted for herself or so she thought. The journals she hid, the books she read (rather romantic and not about the congregation), and the careers she wanted, she can finally do; but not without drawbacks especially with Abigail.

Liz

When Val, Liz’s best friend, a divorcee, introduced her to the community theater, it was a re-birth for Liz. She loved acting and she thought before long that she could make a career of it until she has gotten married to Thomas. With Thomas, his rules must be obeyed as how God wants them to be, as to how Apostles say in the bible. These trapped Liz for over 30 years and also closed so many doors to Abigail, too. She, later on, had a falling out with her mother but all’s well that ends well.

Maybe this is what hell is, I think. Being given the thing we think we want and having to live with it.
Liz

Our choices and Liz’s choices are no guarantee of a happy life, but we must always try. Life can take a surprising turn and most of the time we are not ready for it. When Liz got pregnant by Lance (her love interest, divorced) at 49, it was really unexpected and terrifying-given her age, her disposition, everything doesn’t add up; but life can take us anywhere, even where we do not have any idea about.

There was a time to break out of this life I’m living, I missed the turnoff. It’s too late for me.
Liz

So many years of burying myself under what was expected of me that I don’t even know what I want.
Liz

When you can’t be you, be somebody else.
Val

When you’re held back from being yourself, from living your gifts, how can you possibly be your best self? If your own life feels out of control, the it’s easier to control somebody else’s. Only, you can’t, you know. Not his. Not mine.
Liz

Takeaway

Before being with somebody else or being a parent to someone, it is essential to know one’s self and ensure that you’d be able to fight off adversities. To love oneself is to show more love for another. Because, how can we give something we don’t have? We can be full of everything and we can share, but if there’s something lacking in our lives, definitely we cannot give that away as help or to show mere gratitude.

Marriage is not a walk in the park. I have never been married and I cannot go out giving advice to people on how marriage should be, but I just know what it should be not-a controlling sphere, a too submissive one. I know it says that a wife should submit to her husband, but is it always right? At this age we live in, I believe what Liz’s too, that women or wives must have equal rights to decide for themselves, for their bodies, for their careers, for the lives they want, because while we adjust everything to motherhood, to being a wife, and being all we can be to sustain a family, we should also not forget to be ourselves, too. Knowing, loving, and supporting our own can make a good family, too. If a woman is happy and satisfied, she sure can also make a good wife, a great mother, and everyone else she needed her family to be.

Loving or at least adjusting or tailor-fitting to a certain situation can make us forget everything all at once, but what’s important at a loss is to stick back to your core and everything may fall into its right pieces again.

Ugly Love

Love isn’t always pretty.

By Colleen Hoover | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5 out of 5 stars)

After I read Rebecca, I was determined to start a new read and choose something that will be lighter (in terms of how it was written) and a bit of fresh air. I checked my Kindle library which I was able to update last week and found Ugly Love which was also set in my Goodreads To-Be-Read account. Then, I did. Without further doubt, I did. I didn’t fail.

Less than a week, in the midst of the business, I finished the book, and yes, never without a tear in my eyes. I was in such awe of the tragic reason of Miles Archer as to why he doesn’t want to open himself yet again to love and how much Tate Collins can swallow for someone even though she knows she deserves better. I guess we all are like her at some point, sometimes.

Love isnt’ always pretty, Tate. Sometimes you spend all your time hoping it’ll eventually be something different. Something better. Then, before you know it, you’re back to square one, and you lost your heart somewhere along the way.
Cap

As we grow older perhaps and with every man and woman that pass through our lives –some may have even created a dent on it–we knew how terrifying it to start over again after every heartbreak. We focused on self-blame for the most part, maybe, but just like Miles, we also have to forgive ourselves and open up to all possibilities to see where life would take us.

Sometimes a man’s spirit just ain’t strong enough to withstand the ghosts from his past.

Tate is all of us. She’s willing to accept whatever it is a man can offer to her even if it is below the minimum. We all her at some point–hoping and wishing something may change, that if we love more and be okay with anything they could only give us, they would come around and give us what we deserve. Nope. It is not true. They will give it to us if they want to. We may be the most perfect, the most available, the ultimate deal, but those aren’t assurance that they will take us or not hurt us. A man will give it to you if he wants to even if you don’t do anything, even if you don’t say so.

There are just so many things I realized while reading and after finishing the book–that we are Miles and Tate at some point in our lives. But the thing that can defy our fears is acceptance–accepting things that we cannot change, things will never have, and times or people that are not for us, and we must always be accepting of whatever it is because that is the only way to move forward. We must also not be too hard on ourselves–that before we forgive other people, we must forgive ourselves first because it is hard to share or to give something that we, ourselves, do not have.

Rebecca

You could fight the living, but you could not fight the dead.

By Daphne Du Maurier | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 out of 5 stars)

Rebecca follows a story of an unnamed woman, referred mostly to in the book as Mrs. De Winter, who married a widower (Mr. Maximillan De Winter). They met in France and later moved to De Winter’s estate in Manderley which was crept by the memories of Rebecca De Winter, the late wife of Maximillan or Maxim/Max De Winter.

If you haven’t read the book and you are inclined to do so, kindly stop here as I might spoil some of the details. Hehe.

I could fight the living, but I could not fight the dead.

The book was said to be first published in 1938 and may be considered a classic. They said that the book is continuously printing and selling, and was impressive. I might have read fast-paced books prior to this to find that the plot of Rebecca is a bit slow for me. At around 50% in the book, I still wait for the twist, though I have already made assumptions on my own while on it.

My earliest assumption is that the house was haunted, but of course, it wasn’t in the book. The Manderley mansion was just full of memories of the late Rebecca because Mrs. Danvers, her personal maid, was fully in owe of her still. But my assumption that Mr. De Winter killed his wife was ought to be true. It was a good twist that a lot might consider gold especially if movies or films of this kind existed or if you haven’t seen one, but I, having been able to see and read some in the past, it was a little predictable to me then.

If only there could be an invention that bottled up a memory, like a scent. And it never faded, and it never got stale. And then, when one wanted it, the bottle could be uncorked, and it would be like living the moment all over again.

Rebecca was a charmer and surely doesn’t stick to one guy, hence the marital problems she and Mr. De Winter had that led to his motive to do Rebecca wrong. It was later on ruled out as suicide, and so he was able to walk as a free man and be with his new wife then. What was shocking in the end was the fact that Manderley was summoned by a fire, and Mr. De Winter and his new beau were able to not go back there and probably live a new life.

The plot twist was a little bit at the end of the book and then there were a lot of turns–like finding Rebecca’s journal and that she was sick, and Favell, her cousin, contest of Mr. De Winter’s verdict or lack thereof.

The book was okay and probably a source, of one of the sources, for films antics of its kind.

A Kingdom of Dreams

“Why is it when you yield, I feel like the one who has been conquered?”

By Judith McNaught | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)

This book has been in my library for quite a long time already and apparently, I have the full series. Yes, it is a book series by Judith McNaught (Westmoreland Book Series). The story centers on Royce Westmoreland, the lord of Claymore and a Knight who later on became a Duke, and Jenniffer Merrick of Merrickeep Scotland and later on became Duchess of Claymore.

Royce and Jenny’s clan and castles were far-long enemies. It started when Stefan Westmoreland, the brother of Royce, abducted Jenny and her sister Brenna from the Abbey. They were held prisoner for a possible war against the Merricks, but Jenny wasn’t plain nor ordinary like any other stories about her were circulating. She was fierce, brave, and impressively stood up against Royce or The Wolf as he was often called because of his notorious reputation and being a legendary knight due to the wars and battles he has won. The two have fallen for each other and shared twists and turns–conflicts in Jenny’s side and village people. They wed in the most unprecedented of time–during the moment when they hate each other at best.

Every time you surrender willingly, like this, you make me feel like a king who has conquered. Yet when I conquer you against your will, you make me feel like a defeated beggar?
Royce Westmoreland

As I was reading, I have discovered that I like fictional historical books at best, historical romance to be specific. It was good spending time with myself because yes, there are still things you will and still have to discover about yourself, for yourself. The book is quite hard to read, perhaps I have a big comparison to the Bridgerton book series which I finished all last year. The latter is friendlier to read maybe the terms used and how it was written and probably what I’m looking for is something that is lighter and easy to understand to constitute recreational reading hehe. I’ve read extensive research, journals, studies, and textbooks so I’m looking at something that is easy to gather during my rest and leisure time.

I was a bit surprised that this book was first published in 1989. I am not sure if there are films or TV series made inspired by this book series but I put Henry Cavill as the image of Royce Westmoreland in my head while reading the book. Hehe. He pretty much matches Royce’s physiques based on what was described.

Overall, the book is nice to read, even made me cry at some point, because of Royce and Jenny’s love story. Typical maybe for some but it was touching for me. I’d probably finish the entire book series if my schedule permits, but after this, I will go on to read a new one outside Westmoreland.

My Dark Vanessa

“The longer you get away with something, the more reckless you become, until it’s almost as if you want to get caught.”

By Kate Elizabeth Russell | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 out of 5 stars)
Trigger warning: Sexual Abuse, Rape, Grooming, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Suicide

January of 2021, my first book to read for the year was Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I know that the book was a controversial classic and that I think every adult should read it at least once. It followed Humbert Humber, a middle-aged man, who was in love with his stepdaughter, Dolores Haze, 12, or who he fondly calls, Lo.

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Lolita inspired Russell to create the book My Dark Vanessa. Indeed, the context of the latter revolved around Nabokov’s creation. Though I was able to read Lolita, My Dark Vanessa was still a hard book to finish. It shakes one’s mind like how it should, anyway.

The book followed the story of Vanessa Wye who was once a fifteen-year-old high school student and was groomed by her English teacher, Jacob Strane. The two had a long relationship before Strane committed suicide amid student sexual assault issues thrown at him.

As you go on in the book, you will understand how Strane gaslighted and groomed Vanessa into a person who will just accept sexual abuse and rape. It was hurtful as a reader for Vanessa to blame herself and go after Strane’s defense in terms of her abuse. It was maddening. Anyone at 15 should just be 15 and not in, any manner, be groomed and forced to be adults and be relied on for consent. Strane, on the other hand, may have some psychological problems about his attraction to prepubescent girls. While he may say he loved Vanessa, a major part of their relationship was selfish/self-serving–this was also seen when Vanessa grew up to be an adult of her own right. Strane’s interest deteriorated, leaving him to assault further different students he teach. Again, it was maddening. And I do empathize with Vanessa–all of her trauma, all of the things he made her believe, her life moving forward, her self-blame, and even more.

To be groomed is to be loved and handled like a precious, delicate thing.
Or so how Vanessa was led to believe.

These things can happen, to us and to anybody we know. I hope our society may grow to be more understanding and shy away from victim-blaming. Victims, even suspects, have a lot going on in their heads and shall need professional help to intervene.

People will risk everything for a little bit of something beautiful.

The longer you get away with something, the more reckless you become, until it’s almost as if you want to get caught.

The book made me feel uneasy as it was supposed to be. It was written in a way that may help us understand issues like this. I hope you’ll make time to read this and understand. There are many Vanessa Wye and Lolita out there. Let’s take the time to help.

The Silent Patient

By Alex Michaelides | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

Today, mental illness and those who suffer to it have been slowly being looked into, accepted, and helped. More and more people understand and pay attention to it. But still, it is a long battle for society and the people to duly be educated, equipped of knowledge, and to comprehend what people who suffer need and go through.

Mental illness is precisely about a lack of this kind of integration—we end up losing contact with the unacceptable parts of ourselves.

The Silent Patient revolves around the story of Alicia Berenson, a patient who was convicted and placed in a mental institution— The Grove-for his husband’s death, and Theo Faber, a psychotherapist who worked on Alicia’s case.

Gabriel and Alicia Berenson, artists and married aren’t the typical married couple. Gabriel is a famous photographer and Alicia is a painter. Alicia, whose childhood was also tragic, has suffered different emotional winds that she learned to express through her art.

I didn’t want to die. Not yet; not when I hadn’t lived.

Theo, a psychotherapist, like Alicia also suffered a gruesome childhood because of his childhood. And the story has taken a turn on Theo and his issues.

We’re all crazy, I believe, just in different ways.

Like Theo in the story, he had some unexpressed emotions that took a toll on him as he went on with his life.

Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive, and will come forth later, in uglier ways.
Sigmund Frued

There were a lot of things lacking in Alicia’s life, her husband’s trust and belief in her are one. But Alicia could not ever kill her husband like how it panned out. Gabriel was shot point blank and Alicia became the bait to bury in this sin.

Choosing a lover is a lot like choosing a therapist. We need to ask ourselves, is this someone who will be honest with me, listen to criticism, admit making mistakes, and not promise the impossible?
Ruth

The turned out of events in this book was shockingly revealed, though a little prediction from my end has been concluded before I made it to the final stop.

*Spoiler Alert*

Theo was the killer, because Gabriel was once cheating with his lover. He set it up and use Alicia as bait. Though Alicia was wise and she recognized him even through disguised during the killing. Alicia kept a journal of events and she wrote about this, about it all, about Theo overdosing her that led her to coma.

The journal was then recovered from Alicia’s things and Theo in the end was arrested.

The Kiss Quotient

Two lonely halves found comfort together.

By Helen Hoang | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

Stella Lane, an econometrician and has autism was trying to learn how to be good around people, most especially with relationships. Hence, she hired Michael Larsen, an escort, to teach her how. First, to be how good in bed but later on ventured on relationship particulars.

I duly can comprehend with Stella’s situation and how she could be around people in her own right. Given her challenges, it is also difficult to get by being her usual self without bewildering anyone.

I appreciate the books discussion questions that made it easier to comprehend on what I have read and here are some points:

Philip James, Stella’s co-worker, had expressed his liking to Stella after years of working together and she was suprised that Philip was asked out by an intern. In retrospect, men are the usual initiators. Women are usually at the receiving end. Times are changing, innovating even, when a woman ask a man out nowadays it is not a big deal, it should not be a big deal. We have come to know our abilities, confidence, and times have taught us to be more assertive.

On the other hand, Michael issues with his father – a swindler – had definitely affected his disposition, leaving him insecure about his stature and his abilities that also cost his relationship with others. I comprehend with his mother primarily; giving him the boost he needed, knowing what her child really is deep inside—even with the things he doesn’t even know about himself or doesn’t pay attention to. Michael’s mother played a great part to bring out his confidence and let alone make him try to accept his being to be also acceptable to Stella.

When you love someone, you fight for them in every way you know how.

If you can’t stand being with a woman who’s more successful than you, then leave her alone. She’s better off without you.
If you actually love her, then know the value of that love and make it a promise. That is the only thing she needs from you.

Stella and Michael’s differences are apparent. Love alone is not enough to make a relationship work. It takes patience, friendship, acceptance, and understanding combined. Relationships aren’t about rainbows and butterflies but also being committed to another person to make it work even through the toughest of times.

Verity

So be it.

by Colleen Hoover | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (5/5 stars)

The first question I had for myself after I finished the book is, “what the F*** did I just read?” It is so brilliant, creative, thrilling, and terrifying even!

I’ve read some books by Colleen Hoover–I started with It Ends With Us last year and I knew right then and there that she’s one of the best authors to watch for. Of course, there are tons of raves in Kindle Philippines Groups about books she has written and released and part of me also relied on those posts, so I’d be able to relate (somehow, I am not under any pressure of going to what’s trending or to relate, to be understood even), and to travel through words and story settings I craft in my head while I read the book word per word.

Colleen Hoover is so creative, I’m starting to get inspired by her as I also went back to writing after I stopped a few years ago. Definitely, I could say that she’s very good in her craft and really gives! Verity, for one, is one of those books that terrifies you to the core reading it in the middle of the night, making you so uneasy, tearful but you would not stop reading it–that if there additional four hours in a day, you will avail because you want to finish what you started.

In this book, like Lowen, I don’t know what was true anymore–that “fictional” manuscript that Verity wrote and eventually read by Jeremy even way before Lowen discovered it or that letter of Verity addressed to Jeremy stipulating that fact. I was mindblown. The story was so effective that I couldn’t let this day pass without writing about it here.

Verity by Colleen Hoover (I’m using Kindle Paperwhite, which I think 2nd Gen, but I’m not sure. It still works perfectly fine.)

I sympathize with the children–dead and alive–they did not deserve to be in the middle of it all and suffering the chronic setup their family has become.

I started reading Verity a few nights back, for the first five chapters I’m stalling because I’m terrified of what the book might be and I don’t what to check reviews yet in the fear that they will spoil the ending to me. I did try looking though because I frantically do not want to be caught off guard, but that wouldn’t be fair either.

I posted it on my Instagram Stories and a former colleague commented that the book was stressful, it will be so good, and I wouldn’t be able to put it down. It was true. She was right. I couldn’t. I was ready to spend all my Saturday nights finishing it and continued it today, on a Sunday in between checking and packing orders for Happy Shift.

IN HINDSIGHT: One of the best books I’ve read so far. It’s my 6th book for the year 2022 and I’m happy I was able to finish it before I start a new semester in my doctorate. I wish the best for Lowe and Jeremy and their family. I hope life takes them to a different turn, a turn that may be able to let them start a new joyously and fruitfully. I hope wherever Verity is now, she’s at peace. It hasn’t been easy for her no matter what the version of the truth we are talking about. She really needed to be at peace in her own right.

Nothing is harder in a relationship than not respecting the person you’re with.

The reason why Jeremy and Verity ended up the way they did was not because of the tragedies they came their way, but the loss of respect for one another.

I guess being here in her office for a few days will be one way to test my theory. The richer you are, the more creative you’re able to be.

I’d like to believe this theory is true. If you are not worrying about money or earning, your creativity blossoms because you aren’t confined to what was acceptable for others (for them to sell) or to simply worry about what other people might think (whether it is positive or negative).

I’m not interested in speaking about a woman who chose never to speak of me again.

I, too, isn’t interested.

If an attraction is present between two peole, those two people can only be one of two things. Involved or not involved. There is no in-between.

In or out. Yes, there is no in-between.

The Unhoneymooners

“That’s the point of luck: it happens when and where it happens.”

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.