the synopsis promised me a coming-of-age story and i didn't really get that :/ i liked some parts of the book, especially when we got to high-school-aged guada. as a fellow science high school alumna, i related a lot to her struggles and thoughts while studying in national science. for most of the book, though, i feel like we focused too much on other characters that ultimately didn't do anything for the story. i wish we really would have just focused on guada instead.

also, for a filipino book written by a filipino author, i sometimes didn't think the author had people like me as her intended audience. idk if that makes sense, but it just felt very westernized. i've come to realize maybe this author's writing just isn't for me (jokes about a character's bisaya accent? seriously?)

on a positive note, this book has my favorite cover... probably of all time??