Brain Tabs: May 2017

Guest post: Playlist for Anything Can Happen by Marian Tee

12:59 PM

Summer Crush by Six de los Reyes, Tara Frejas, and Jay E. Tria

1:48 PM

Review: Promdi Heart

10:44 PM

Promdi Heart is a compilation of six stories by different authors. It takes the reader on a quick tour of the Philippines with love stories featuring different hometowns.

Look at this beauty

Only the Beginning by C.P. Santi is an enemies to friends to lovers story. We get to know about Andi and Martin, who started on the wrong foot. Andi, deservedly tagged as hugot girl, had an outburst about being used when Manileño Martin discussed about the cultural mapping project for the town of Jimenez. They end up working together in the project and through banter and exchange of text messages, we see how their relationship blossoms. I mean, who can resist a funny guy with cute dimples and a pogi face in a wholesome, boy-next-door kind of way? Their flirting and banter was so enjoyable to read that I couldn't stop smiling as if I'm the one receiving all the cutesy messages.

Jimenez, Misamis Occidental is the setting of the story, and if you've read Tony and Rina's story from Maybe This Time, you'll be delighted to revisit it through Andi and Martin's eyes. We see Tony and Rina now happily married, and we meet the mischievous and funny priest, Father Danny, a couple of times again. Supporting characters like Gina and Alon were also worth mentioning. They were the kind of friends who'll tease you endlessly when your crush is around and the ones who will knock some sense when you're being silly. At one scene, Alon told Andi something that really struck me. He said, "Dai, thinking of the future is great and all. But you miss out a lot by not living in the now.”

This story had tidbits about cultural mapping, and I never realized tocino is regional. I also got that feeling of nostalgia when Andi saw her hometown with fresh eyes and she realized how it shaped the person that she is. Andi's musings about dating and relationships resonated with me so much I wanted to highlight the whole page.

Letters to A Boy by Ines B. Yao is a story about the joys and pains of first love. This was told through Tin-tin's letters to her cousin, Annette. The story starts in the early 90's and spans about 5-6 years. Annette is in Manila and Tin-tin writes from Bacolod. I've been to Bacolod years back and I loved how I can picture the place while reading this.

The story was simple, girl likes boy, boy likes another girl. They are friends and boy doesn't seem to notice the girl who had always been in front of him. Ines said this is in the same universe as When Sparks Fly and I'll make sure I read that soon.

I couldn't relate to Tin-tin, but I felt for her, especially when she said "I know firsthand how much it hurts when the one you want doesn’t want you back.” Unrequited love, araykobes. I'm a bit asar kay Nicolas. Dense na, pa-fall pa. Huhu.

But overall, this was a lovely story. Ines writes with so much innocence and this story simply pinched my heart.

Drummer Boy by Chris Mariano introduces us to Reina and Ben as they go about the different preparations and traditions for Ati-atihan in Aklan. Ben is the best friend of Reina's older brother and omg, I love this trope. I liked that they had history, that Ben liked Reina even before, but he had to respect Dex and their bro code. Eep. So cute.

Dex and his big brother protectiveness to Reina was also adorable. On the other hand, I felt bad for Ben coz his dad was just too hard on him. Ben's father wanted him to pursue his (father) interest and I thought that was just unfair. I liked how Reina encouraged Ben to chase after his own dreams of making his own music though. This girl had guts and she was firm in standing up for her choices in life. You go, girl!

One Certain Day by Jay E Tria - aka the girl who never fails to hurtt (double t because ganun kasakit, bes) me with her words. Jay always writes painfully beautiful stories and this one is no exception. If you've read her Playlist series, you would've met Jose Antonio Luis Castillo before, or simply called Son. We get to know more about him from Alice, who had been crushing on him from afar for quite a long time. They've studied in the same school in Hagonoy, until Son moved to Manila when he was in high school.

Alice and Son both had relatives who recently died so their meet-cute is at a cemetery, during All Saint's Day. Alice is a bit reserved, but I can just feel her kilig when Son chose to chat with her on their very first All Saint's Day together. Gahd, may paakbay-akbay pa! Since Son is already based in Manila, meeting on All Saint's Day became their tradition, their one certain day.

I recently lost someone dear to me too and I can attest to how true this remark from Son is,“When someone dies, they leave a space. A spot. A vacancy, if you will. The ones that remain hurry to fill it." And like what he told Alice, I guess I was lucky too, because people around me tried to be there for each other, instead of letting our blank space dissolve into nothingness.

Son did come on very strong that first meeting and I don't blame Alice for having more than just a crush on him after that. I swear I was smiling so widely while I was reading about it. Then Christmas came and he wrote her a freaking song! Who won't fall for that? I was like, where can I find a guy who will write songs for/about me? (That sounded narcissistic, but really, nag-order na ako for Jay and myself.)

I'm not gonna spoil anything anymore coz really, you'll want to read this story. But Jay E Tria MUST deliver on what she said - that Alice and Son will have a longer story, or else, magwewelga ako.

Once Upon A Bully by Georgette Gonzales tells the story of Bridgette and Miguel. I'm embarassed to say that I was like Bridgette in a lot of ways - I used to be a bully when I was younger, I want to stay here in the Philippines instead of migrating somewhere, bagnet is one of my picker-uppers and cleaning out stuff for me means moving my belongings around rather than getting them all in their proper places.

I didn't bully people just to make them cry though, like what Bridgette did to Miguel. I was more of a I'll-get-payback-from-snotty-boys-who-push-girls-around kind of bully. Miguel, unlike Bridgette and I, does not have a bully bone in his body though. He was such a sweet boy and I honestly don't know why he liked Bridgette when she was just plain cruel and awful to him. I can understand though that she's changed and that he was able to forgive her quickly. All's well in the end as they were able to bond by going around Vigan and trying out delicious empanadas, bibingka and tinubong (which I haven't tried). Goodness, I'm getting hungry again just by thinking of this.

Back to the Stars By Agay Llanera takes us to Pundaquit, Zambales. If you've joined the bandwagon the past couple of years, you would've been to one of the many coves in Zambales. Imagine those beaches, complemented by the wide, blue, starry sky as the backdrop for the story of Leah and Wency - two childhood friends who lost touch. While Leah and her well-off family moved to Manila, Wency was left behind, living simply and trying to improve his family's quality of life. I'm all for strong, ambitious, independent women, but something about Leah threw me off. Being in her head with all her messy thoughts was such a treat though. I loved how Wency made Leah realize things though and how she was humbled in the end.

Promdi Heart was such a delightful read! It was my first time to read works by Chris Mariano and Georgette Gonzales and I can't wait to check out their other stories. This beautifully-written stories also made my travel-deprived self feel like I've visited all the different places featured. We were given glimpses of how life is outside Manila and it all touched on how the metro has influenced the characters' lives. Each of the six stories has a different feel to it, and this shows not only how talented these authors are, but also how diverse our people is. We need more books like these and I hope more authors will be inspired to feature our different towns and provinces, traditions, and food in their works.