2013 BOOK CHALLENGE 8/35: THIS IS A LOVE STORY

I judge a book by its cover. Literally.

I remember the day when I first saw this book on the shelves of Powerbooks. It was in Greenbelt- that 2-storey Powerbooks branch right at the cusp of Landmark and Greenbelt 3. My sister and I were going to have lunch together and I was killing time while waiting for her to go on break. From afar, I see this tiffany-blue-colored book cover and when I came closer, there pretty little birds too so it was basically love at first sight. I immediately flipped the book over to read the blurb (so that's what it's called) ...

This is a love story. 

Boy meets girl and girl falls for boy- that much is true.But when Sienna meets Nick it's not the way it happens in love stories. It's because of a squirrel on water skis...She sees Nick's dangerous brown eyes and thinks, don't fall into them.Who will be there to catch Sienna when she falls? She is so fragile. She has so many secrets, and he is not that serious.Funny and sad, this is the story of two people designed never to come together in the great love affair they crave more than anything else.

and I was smitten. But I wouldn't let impulsivity get the best of me and my budget, it is after all P315. Sorry I'm a cheapskate and I wouldn't want to spend P315 on a bad book, so I would have to do some research work like read book reviews and check its rating on Goodreads before I buy it. After a few months when I finally decided that I would buy it, it was out of stock EVERYWHERE. As in, in all bookstores. Then a few more months later, I passed by Powerbooks in Megamall and saw this beautiful book on the window display and I knew I just had to get it already and to my luck, they were on sale! I had it with me since August 2012 but got to reading it only this February 2013. Now that I am retelling my love affair with this book, it seems to parallel the story of Nick and Sienna.

Sienna first saw Nick in one of her daily commutes to work. She saw him and thought he was cute (according to the blurb, Sienna was falling in love with Nick right at that moment she saw his eyes but I think it's just a crush. Kakakita mo lang, love agad-agad? Yes that's me channeling Vice Ganda :P) but before she could make pa-cute further, he was gone. Pero sabi nga mapagbiro si Fate, Nick was actually working in the same company that Sienna is working in. Their closeness began during that Florida convention they were both assigned to and for five years, for five frickin' years, they were torturing themselves.

You see, Sienna likes Nick. And Nick likes Sienna. But both of them think that the other doesn't think of them in that way. So as not to hurt what they had going on for them, which was their friendship, either of them didn't dare come clean about their feelings for one another. I swear I could have died of frustration from reading this book. This was even more frustrating than The Time Traveler's Wife. It was so damn frustrating because you know they love and pine for the other SO MUCH,  as in so much, it hurts. As in gusto ko silang saktan dahil ang dense nilang parehas.

What I liked about the book is it was told both from Nick's & Sienna's point of view. One scene or event happening from their respective points of view and both of them are pining for the other so badly right at that same moment but neither of them would dare to make a move. So frustrating. As I've said, they were too afraid to lose what she/he already has with the other.

And you know what else I loved about this book? Quotable quotes galore. Saksak-puso quotes, to be exact. And I, being a quote-whore, of course took note of my favorites:

Being this close to him was so torturous I could have cried, but at the same time I was happy. It was bittersweet. (S)

This was it. It was pulse-racing, heart-wrenching, dizzying love. The kind that touches every one of your nerve endings and renders you almost insane. The kind I could not give into easily because it already hurt like hell before lift-off.

Her lips touched the back of my neck ever so slightly and it set my heart on fire. I didn't sleep a wink. It felt like all my birthdays had come at once.

"Er, Si, I didn't even know you were here," I bullshitted, even though I felt sure she must be able to hear the broken shards of my heart tinkling onto the floor. 

And here is my favorite~

Thank God for peripheral vision.

Because it's so relatable. Ha ha.

I loooooooved it so much. This has got to be one of my favorite books for, like, ever. Right there with Shanghai Baby, The Time Traveler's Wife, the Jessica Darling series and The Prisoner of Azkaban. Maybe it helped that I stopped myself from making expectations from this book. The love story sounded tragic. It's so funny that I was thinking that this story would never end right (ie. they end up together) but at the same time, I was hoping that they would. During the last few pages, I was so convinced that the blurb would be true to its word and never let them be together and have an ending like One Day.

But just like my love story with this book, Nick & Sienna's love story was worth the wait.