Book Rave: Something Borrowed

You just know you’re doing something worth your while when you find yourself holding a good book and grinning from ear to ear.

This was how I pictured myself when I was about done reading Something Borrowed late this afternoon. Only that I wasn’t quite holding the novel but was actually reading the ebook version on my trusty laptop, my eyes were sore from the eight hours plus or so of marathon reading despite the threat of uglier-looking eyebags.

Who cares? I’ve never had such giddy feelings since..well, Twilight back in its golden, prehyped days. Come on, a girl has got to admit that at one point in her life, she worshiped that book like it was the bible or something. But that’s another story.

I don’t know for the rest of you out there but my true measure of a good novel is when I could not simply put it down. Or I find myself smiling like an idiot, preoccupied all day and people begin to ask what is causing my buzz. Or if I keep reading my favorite parts over and over, at some point highlighting them or remembering what pages they are on, and I wish that I was the heroine who gets to utter those epic lines.

And the ultimate sign of all?

When I begin to contemplate on what I plan to do next with my life or how I am supposed to move on now that something so good has ended. That’s when I know that I got it real bad.

Something Borrowed was a pleasant surprise for me. I began reading it with low expectations because I’ve already read Love the One You’re With (by the same author) and it didn’t really had that much of an effect on me as the former did. I was practically bored to tears, but Something Borrowed was different. It became an unexpected souce of excitement and entertainment during my dull and uneventful week.

The book may just seem shallow and insignificant to some lit critics, but it is perfect for women who are currently searching for the right break and thrill in some essential aspects in their lives such as in career and lovelife.

I could relate to Rachel, the book’s protagonist, in the sense that I am also just the average kind of girl, dull at most times, painfully shy, socially awkward, an eternal conformist, Ms. Goody Two-Shoes, but is secretly resentful of those women who always had it easy in life.

At thirty, Rachel is faced with the all-too-common dilemmas that women of her age have: dealing with the enormous pressure of getting married and starting a family, career dissatisfaction, and the constant bout of loneliness.

However, her life begins to take an interesting turn when she wakes up one morning hungover, naked, and lying on bed beside her bestfriend’s fiancee. And all too sudden, she is confronted by a lot of complications brought by a seemingly simple case of alcohol intoxication from the night before: fighting her strong attraction to Dex, her bestfriend’s hot and smoldering fiancee, whom she has a lot of history with and is a constant fixture in her life, spending numerous nights and waking moments wondering if The Deed was just a one time thing or a prelude to something worth calling a wedding off, ultimately betraying her bestfriend of 25 years, the beautiful, charming, popular yet self-centered Darcy, spending fun but meaningless dates with Dex’s unattached friend, Marcus, being a willing participant to one of Manhattan’s most delicious and intriguing affairs,  paving the road towards self-discovery, and taking risks for a shot at happiness with the person you truly love.

Her journey was such a delightful and fun read  filled with witty banters with her crowd and an insufferable boss, steamy moments, and realizations about the true meaning of friendship, loyalty and love.

I’m quite contented with how things ended between her and Mr. Right who miraculously grew a spine by the last chapter. Thank God. But I have to say that reading the first few chapters was what really made me glued to my seat. There’s just something so compelling about a woman who falls so helplessly in love with a man she’s not supposed to fall in love with and being secretly victorious by the fact that she has a fighting chance against her usually preferred, stunning bestfriend. The undeniable attraction between her and Dex was really so palpable, their feelings so right, but their circumstances so wrong that their story is the kind that makes you crave for what will happen next. There was a good deal of suspense for the most part of the book and was very addicting.

Although I can’t really see myself stealing a friend’s boyfriend soon or worse, sleeping with him just to have the liberating experience that Rachel got, I still think I want to be like her in a way, the Rachel who finally developed a great deal of assertiveness despite how delayed it was. The Rachel who finally determined what she wanted in life and took a stand for it.

Because at times, it is in taking risks that can get you the happily ever after that you have been yearning  for.

Rating: Pure Awesome Sauce

 

Confession

A/N: I really love the way Vic looked after hearing Khun’s confession at their wedding. I saw wonder, bewilderment, gratitude, and love in her eyes like it’s her first time to hear him say those words. The moment couldn’t be any more real for me as it was for them.

~~~

She looks at him with eyes growing misty by the minute and at that instant she realizes what her heart has always known, that when all of this ends, it’s going to hurt.

It takes her a moment to let out a shy smile and tear her gaze from his intense eyes; too afraid that the wild beating of her heart will get the better of her.

It’s not like she wants to play dumb. Not really. For the past year and 20 days that they’ve been together, he never failed to show how much he cares through his gazes, his touch, and his efforts to make her happy. After all, he is the transparent one in this pretend marriage. But it’s always been I like you, Victoria-ssi.

Never like this.

It’s really the first time she heard him say it and she knows that it will take her a long while before she can forget the clarity of his voice and the sincerity in his eyes.

She tries to compose herself and order her brain not to go into total shutdown. She stares at him and finds him looking at her in that usual way of his: half fearful and half hopeful of what she’s going to say. Eyes that are in search for some kind of reassurance.

So, she allows herself to let loose this one time and let him hear what her heart has known all along.

Nichkhun-ssi, I love you too.

The depth of her feelings is quite concealed in her best aegyo voice, but the confession still left her reeling, and vulnerable, and exposed.

She takes a few tentative steps towards him and allows herself to drown deeper in his embrace, inhaling his clean, familiar scent.

The look he gives her then kind of makes her wonder how she’ll ever pepare herself for the onslaught of pain that’s about to come her way.

Because from here on in, it’s going to take a hell of an effort to go back to the way she used to be. Back to the kind of life she had before he happened.

There’s a slight stinging in her eyes again but she braves a smile for him.

There will be a lot of time for moping later, she thinks.

She reaches out for his outstretched hand and ignores the ache she feels in her chest as they walk towards their awaiting crowd.