Review: Dare To Love by C. P. Santi
10:57 AMA few pages in, I wasn't sure if I'm gonna enjoy Dare To Love. It seemed too grown-up for the usual MG/YA/NA reader that is me. Once again though, C. P. Santi made me fall in love with her words.
Summary:
Restoration architect Giada Manahan’s heart has begun to resemble the adobe walls she loves. At least that’s what her friends say. But Gia knows better—she’s just being cautious. After all, as a single mom, her kids are her first priority.
But one drunken night, her friends push her into a trippy crystal healing ritual. Gia thinks it’s a joke … until a few days later, she finds a half-naked stranger in her bed.
Hot, tatted anthropologist Alex Roces is exactly the kind of guy Gia should avoid. But when they end up sharing a house, Gia finds Alex’s charms increasingly difficult to resist.
Will Gia continue to keep the walls around her heart? Or will she finally give in to its demands?
How do I love this? Let me count the ways:
- This is my second C. P. Santi read and she's fast becoming one of my favorite authors. Like on Maybe This Time, I was delighted by her poetic way of describing things. It was amazing how she painted in the readers' minds the picturesque places Gia and Alex visited during the course of the story.
- Gia was passionate about her work and was a strong and loving mother to her twins. She was jaded by her hurtful past and was too cautious not to fall for our charming love interest. She was careful and I appreciated that she was someone who learned from her mistakes. In many romance novels, I get annoyed by the main character's indecisiveness, but here I understood where Gia was coming from that made me root for her happy-ever-after with Alex.
- Alex Roces seemed like a poster boy for Heartbreakers United with his handsome face and tattoed body. But he broke all the stereotypes that can be attributed to him and effortlessly proved himself to be worthy not just of Gia's affection, but of her adorable children as well. One order of an uber attractive scholar who will catch you when you fall, please!
- The priests! Here we see priests not as mass celebrators, but as family members. This delighted me because I made friends with some friars and priests recently and I saw their playful and funny side that was also described by Santi in this book. I love how Uncle Emong and Nic were depicted as accepting and loving, as opposed to the misconception that all priests are uptight and judgey.
- This book is very Pinoy, from the food, to the setting, the humor, and family values.
- I have highlighted many parts of the book and these are my favorite lines:
“Only two things were important: what you felt and what you were going to do about it.”
“There are people who are capable of worming themselves into your life . . . quietly, stealthily. Until one day you’re surprised that they’ve made a place for themselves without you noticing. Until you’re so used to the fluttering butterflies in your stomach that you can’t imagine how life had been without them.”
“Not everyone is made to follow the same road. But that doesn't make you bad—just different.”
“But first we have to accept that our perfect vision of love often doesn't exist. Because love—true love—isn’t about perfection, it’s about faith.”I'd recommend this to anyone who likes a story about conquering one's fears and being brave again to have faith in love.
You may purchase Dare To Love by C. P. Santi through this link:
Amazon
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