Book Review: Love At First Read by Chixnita

"In life, there are ups and downs. There are lots of turns too. Sometimes, you'd lost your way. Just remember that it'd be a boring ride if you're trailing the straight path ahead of you. Don't be afraid to take turns. Unpredictable twists and unexpected quests make our life more incredible and unforgettable."

--Love at First Read, Angelica Bianca C. de Makapili

Synopsis from Goodreads...

It all started with a lost diary. A diary that I never knew could turn my world upside down! 

I am your typical guy. I lead a boring life, and aside from being the MVP of my university's basketball team, there's nothing special about me. There's nothing unusual about the cycle of my boring world—basketball, academics, hanging out in a Cubao apartment, and eating at home in Antipolo. 

And because of a green diary, everything has changed. Storm of feelings. Lightning of fear. Thunder of doubt. Flood of what ifs. I don't know how to calm it down. It's drowning me. Sweeping me away. Maybe even deadly. I saw the warning but it just intrigued me. I wanted to read more. I was lured. I couldn't stop myself from flipping the pages anymore.

And the next thing I knew, I was screwed!

My reaction to this novel...

This book is one of the ones I bought during the last Book Festival here in the Philippines. Actually, the title is familiar to me. At first, I couldn't remember where I encountered it, but after some time, I realized that it already had a TV series adaptation on one of the popular TV networks here in the Philippines, so I've heard of the title before. I'm not really into watching TV, so I haven't seen it. I prefer reading it instead, to avoid disappointment if the adaptation doesn't live up to my expectations.

I was impressed by the book cover, which immediately caught my attention. What's great about the Book Festival is that you can buy books at affordable prices, and some even come with the author's signature. Despite rarely reading Tagalog books, I decided to give it another try, hoping to find something as good as the first novel I tried by Binibining Mia. And since many people have purchased it and I've seen that it's a number 1 bestseller, I have decided to include this in my cart. I am very excited and my expectations are very high.

So there, I started reading this. Turns out, it has more points of view from the male main character. The beginning is okay, but I got a bit thrown off because there are a lot of negative expressions written. The guy's attitude towards picking up and reading a diary is also weird. And then the character falls in love right away. It's creepy to me. Plus, the owner of the diary didn't even notice it was missing, which adds to the weirdness of the story. I didn't like it when they added the religion of the female main character, AB, who is Christian and even claimed to be Born Again. I am a Born Again Christian myself, but based on what I read in AB's diary, her behavior doesn't align with that. She praises herself excessively, uses bad language, and has beliefs and actions that are not typical of someone like us who are Born Again. I was very disappointed in the writer. I think that before including a religion in her novels, she should thoroughly research it or perhaps it would be better for her not to include any religion at all. Many people read what she writes; I saw on Wattpad that millions have already read this novel, so she should be careful in her writing because others might follow her example. I know many people would say that I am too sensitive about this matter. Yes, I am very sensitive when it comes to this because the Lord and being Born Again are not to be taken lightly, and they should not be included in novels without thorough research.

I also expected more from this novel because it has a lot of readers, but it turned out to be shallow. The female character attended a Science High School but she can skip classes, cheat, and choose which room or class to enter. I also attended a Science High School, but such behavior was not allowed there. If someone did that, they would definitely be expelled. I know this is a fictional story, but I hope it stays closer to reality rather than just being written for the sake of it. 

I was really disappointed, and in the end, they introduced a character who turned out to be important. It made me wonder if this was the twist in the story. Very superficial. Although I felt sad about the death of her first love and the other crush who impregnated another girl, after that, it was all shallowness. I don't know the rating for this because I couldn't find it on Goodreads, but I searched and found out that it was made into a TV adaptation, so I think many people liked the story for it to be adapted that way. But for me, I didn't enjoy the story. I can't recommend it because from the beginning, it's off. Hopefully, the other works by the author are better written, because that's how authors should be, right? They need to research thoroughly before writing and publishing a book. I've bought a lot of books by this author because I expected a lot due to her number of readers, so I really hope that the next ones I read from her are good.

My Overall Rating: ⭐✨(1.5/5)