Cover (Story) Girl

by Chris Mariano

[KitsuneBae]

Actual Rating: 4.5 stars

This review first appeared at Thoughts and Pens.

Having read a total 4 novellas for the past weeks, I must admit that I went into this with so much care. I hate being disappointed with abrupt endings and unwrapped loose ends so yes…you can say that I already had a pre-conceived bias when I dove into Cover Story Girl. It didn’t help that the premise is already overused. But guess what, I ENJOYED THIS ONE. In fact, I LOVED it. A rarity of course because nowadays, it’s so hard to gain gratification from something that has already oversaturated the market of contemporary romance.

Cover Story Girl is a light and funny romance story with good ol’ Boracay as a backdrop. It follows the boring life of a Boracay Museum curator, Gio Torres. He is someone who liked stability and fusses a lot over organizing things. While he was quite happy with the way he runs his life, Min Hee suddenly walked into it. And before he knew it, the Korean girl is already causing havoc in his heart and mind. Seeing their glaring differences in terms of personality, Gio tried avoiding Min Hee but Fate was determined to turn his life upside down.

I am not really sure how Cover Girl Story convinced me to dish out my 4.5 stars. I think I had let my heart ruled my mind when I was contemplating on what to give it. Yeah, it’s all about the feels. But wait…there’s a lot more… I loved how this book promoted Philippine Tourism with subtlety. I haven’t been to Boracay yet (I am poor you know) and just by reading this book, I know that I have to go there soon. Plus, who wouldn’t want to experience eating calamansi muffins while barefoot and looking at the Boracay sunset?

Meeting the characters was like déjà vu for me. Gio is someone I’ve already met IRL. He is OC, his actions are always numbered, he is boring and everything that he does must always be according to plan. Gio is the boy version of my boss-cum-friend. And that made me kind of wary around him. My boss and I would sometimes get into disagreement because I just hate organizing even the smallest of things…i.e “by 10:30-10:45 am we have to stop by the high way and eat some snacks.” I mean where’s the fun in that, right? But things got really exciting upon Min Hee’s arrival because she is a mirror of thyself. She’s spontaneous, the type who just goes with the flow and if her plan went awry, she’s okay with it. No biggie. So you can just imagine how things are when they were thrown into each others’ arms.

Another plus for this book was the plot…Remember that Cover Story Girl is romance story but surprisingly (although predictable), it chugged at a normal pace without heavily relying from that aspect. The romance developed gradually toying with my emotions until it can’t take no more. I JUST EXPLODED WITH A LOT OF STUPID FEELINGS…tingling sensations, butterflies in my stomach…blah, blah, blah… It was definitely a swoon worthy romance which I hoped would even out the staggering amount of instalove that littered the genre.

Prior to reading the Cover Story Girl, I did read some of its reviews and found out that some bloggers were kind of hesitant to read it due to the KPop culture references. Apparently, they weren’t fans. Hahaha. And wow, that certainly cemented my decision to read this immediately. I love K-Pop so Cover Story Girl was just perfect since I haven’t yet read a book verion of Koreanovela. :D

Overall, Cover Story Girl is a short read that had me laughing instantly at the first pages. If you’re looking for a light book with a summery feel to it, then this is for you. Or if you’re planning to visit Boracay, Philippines then don’t hesitate to snuggle with this while you’re on your way to one of the famous tourist attractions in the Philippines!

And because this book has made me throw all my reviewing rules out the window, I’m gonna give it a button to display on my All-Time Favorite-Books page.