Book Title: Promdi Heart
Authors: Georgette Gonzales, Agay Llanera, Chris Mariano, C.P. Santi, Jay Tria, Ines Bautista-Yao
Kindle edition
Published 29 March 2017
PromdiHeart is the kind of book that can very effectively showcase our beautiful country and its multi-cultural diversity and lure both tourists and expats to come here through the power of romance literature.
Each story brought out several endearing features of its setting, from the food, to the dialect spoken, to the provincial folks and their traditional way of life, even the architecture – woven into the universal language of love through the story-telling of six romantic relationships.
Distinctly Filipino, the stories were not the familiar instalove plots in today’s modern romance books. Instead, love bloomed and developed between two people through the passage of time as well as occasions of togetherness and separation. No steamy, naughty or tease-ful scenes here. Delightfully, you’ll find skillfully executed plays of words which tug deep at the heartstrings, creating a profound longing for a particular provincial setting while not lacking on adequate swoon levels.
I love that the women were not the timid, push-over, soft-spoken doormats usually associated with typical Filipina provincial girls. Instead, they were smart, strong-willed, assertive girls who speak their mind without being bad-mannered (except for Hugot girl in one instance which is completely understandable 🙂 and yet have a full grip of their emotions.
I love the guys too. Except for Son. But I expect he’ll come around and realize it’s always been Alice for him — give or take a year or two. 🙂
Out of all the stories, my favorite is Only the Beginning, Andi’s story written with humor and wit. The pacing was steady, the main characters relatable, the back story involving cultural mapping relevant and timely. It was a great start to pique interest for the succeeding stories which did not disappoint as well.
For the sake of our country’s tourist promotion and rekindling of nationalistic feels among us Filipinos, may this breed of romantic stories multiply.
I was given an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review of this book.
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