How to Survive a Modern-Day Fairy Tale

I wanted to love this one. I love that its ownvoices, I love retellings/fantasy, and I'm a sucker for some good romance and smut. But this book felt...ridiculous. What was advertised was not present hardly at all in the book and the writing itself was....cringe. No steaminess, just awkwardness. Not for me, dnf around 80% (and I got so far!)

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I would be lying if I said I didn't sob my eyes out on certain moments with Lola.

I utterly enjoyed the book but, to be honest, I did have a though time in the beginning to get thru some tropes: not like the other girls, gay best friend with no character development, rich but kind love interest. What saved the story for me, its the fact that the tropes felt minor introductions to the cast and faded away once we got more into the story. 

Even during the (several) conflicts along the story, they always felt true to them, even if most of the resolutions came too quickly.

This book will always have a special place in my heart on showing grandmother-granddaughter relationship once half of it is consumed by the Alzheimer's disease. It was loving and heartbreaking to see on the pages something that feels so personal to your life.

Don't be fooled, this is a fanfic, but a quite enjoyable and well written fanfic.

I really wanted to like this book, but the romance is incredibly rushed, forced, and unrealistic. The author's description of a Filipino family and the family dynamics are wonderful, but the romance totally sunk this book. There's no buildup and there's no ‘getting to know you' stage. In the course of one day, Claire meets a stranger, goes on a date, and suddenly they're dating like they've known each other for weeks? The author definitely has potential, but this romance unfortunately falls flat.