Rating: ★★★
Read: March 2017

3.5 stars out of 5!

I was browsing through the shelves of my local bookstore with my brother while we were waiting for our mom to get done with the grocery and I came across this book. The cover actually made it hard not to notice and the synopsis at the back of the book seemed really interesting.

This is actually the first book of Luis Katigbak that I’ve ever read. I mentioned in Twitter that I have only read a handful of local authors and that I find it hard to find local novels these days that aren’t fanfics of local celebrities, so having to find books like this, the feel to buy and read it is intense for me.

Dear Distance hasn’t let me down. Upon diving into the stories, I feel like I was a kid of the 70s and the 80s. It’s hard not to feel like I am one with the characters when someone writes so well.

 

“In the end, distances and surfaces are all we can ever be sure of, and this is no sad thing. In a world that has accelerated almost beyond recognition, it may be the only comforting thought of which I am still capable.”

 

My favorite from this collection is Sabado, 1995. I don’t know why, but it really made an impact to me.

Rating: ★★★★
Read: March 2017 

4.5-ish, so close to 5!

This is the third book of Lang Leav that I have read and she never fails to pull at my heartstrings. I have always been impressed by poets because poems are really so hard to construct. I have read a few poems Edgar Allan Poe and E. E. Cummings and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and it actually requires a lot of understanding but I loved their poems nevertheless.

In Lang Leav’s books, she has a different and modern take on poems that I adore. I like the way her writing touch people’s hearts and make us feel like we’re not alone. Now, in this fourth collection of poems, Lang Leav has grown absolutely well with her writing. She has improved even more since I first read Love & Misadventure. 

I’ve read this book for about an hour, it was just too good that I actually devoured every page, it’s like a medicine for my soul. It covers everything, from love to heartbreak, from being lost to getting found, and really, just about life itself.

…and although life will always find a way to test you, someday you’ll have everything you want. Your ending will be a happy one. 

— A Premonition

My favorites are:

Distance
A Premonition
And Then
Predestined Stars
Eros
Stitches And Scars
Remorse
Young Love

Rating: ★★★
Read: March 2017

It’s more of a 3.5 stars.

It’s been a while since I last read one of Nicholas Sparks’ books. He’s one of my favorite authors, so I’m actually trying to be able to read all of his novels and so far, I have already read 7 out of 20.

In The Choice, I honestly didn’t like how Travis and Gabby fell in love, because it was all too fast and I’m just not fond of the idea that people can fall in love in a span of a few days. I liked Travis’ character though. I find him a great man and I didn’t see his carefree-ness as a negative part of his personality. I liked how he adores kids and that he mostly daydreams of having his own family in Beaufort someday–if only he could find the wife-material woman for him.

Gabby, on the other hand, frustrated me. At some point in the book, I found her a bit annoying. There are other parts, though, that I get why she was acting. The title was really perfect for the whole novel. I really liked how Nicholas Sparks seemed to have thought that part through.

But all in all, I liked the story. Although not as much as I liked his other books, there are still points in this novel that are unique. The ending absolutely made up for my concerns and frustrations with Gabby at the first part of the book.

 

“How far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?”

 

I’ve watched the movie right after reading the book, and it wasn’t really that good (for me, at least). Some names and relationships were different from the book and I’m just glad I’ve read the book first.