Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Title:       Be Careful What You Wish For
Author:   C.P. Santi
Rating:   ★★★
Availability: Amazon | Buqo | Smashwords
*Copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review

Be Careful What You Wish For was the perfect book for me during my breaks at work because I've been so tired the past three days. It was exactly the kind of light reading I needed to relax and recharge.

Ana is in a rut.

For years, she had been focused on trying to carve out a niche for herself in a competitive, male-dominated, scientific world. On her 32nd birthday, she finally takes a step back and realises her life is . . . boring. With a little prodding from her friends, she decides to shake things up. She vows that this is the year she’ll finally capture the heart of Daniel Sato, the research associate she’s secretly loved for ages.

So she makes a birthday wish—to finally fall in love with someone ('with' being the operative word).
But then, she hadn't counted on crossing paths with hunky and opinionated actor Ken Nakamura.
Be careful what you wish for—Fate always answers—even if it isn't exactly the answer that we were hoping for. Find out how even the best-laid plans go awry when the paths of two very different people suddenly collide.

Yes, the actor/dreamboat character-meets-ordinary-person-and-they-fall-in-love is such a cliche, but the romantic in me cannot help but read it anyway. It helped that going into the book, I already had my expectations that this was going to be a fluffy story; what I didn't expect was that I'd be so absorbed and I'd be smiling and get super kilig while reading.

I loved Ana Madrigal and Ken Nakamura as separate characters and as a couple! I love their opposing personalities but that they find humor in their differences. I can just imagine a buff Ken with broad shoulders sweeping the lab coat-wearing Ana into his arms...only she had my face. It's just confusing that Daniel Sato wasn't in the limelight in their relationship as much, and a few more scenes between Ana and Daniel would have spiced up the story more, seeing as Ana's winning him is a key factor in Ana and Ken's agreement. But this is a novella, not a novel, and my stressed out mind was simply enjoying the smooth banter, secret smiles, and hot hot hot kisses.

Be Careful What You Wish For actually made me want to learn Japanese -- and even years of Samurai X didn't entice me. But I'm envious of Ana being so fluent and conversing easily in a different language with a lot of people. Japanese seems closer to some Filipino words and now I'm curious.

I'm so excited for the story of Ana's friends, Kaye and Tessa, and C.P. Santi promises they'll be up next. Supporting characters can also lend excitement to the story, and Kaye and Tessa were such strong forces with their own quirks and troubles that I couldn't help but want them to come alive like I know now C.P. Santi can do.

About C. P. Santi:

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In another life, she is also an architect and academic.