So #AprilFeelsDay2023 was two Saturdays ago, and it was a fun time, as always, seeing old faces, meeting new friends, celebrating the release of new books, and squealing in kilig hearing scenes from our books being read back to us. This is the SEVENTH #AprilFeelsDay we’ve had (the first one was in 2017! Imagine that!) and the first in-person one since 2020, so it felt like the first time all over again (yes, even if we got to do an in-person #FeelsFest event in October last year).
In mid-December, I started a Twitter thread that matched Ben&Ben songs with #romanceclass titles, and it garnered a bit of attention from my mutuals as well as people I don't know. Because that thread was made rather haphazardly, I thought of creating a new one with better visuals and stuff, but things got busy right before the holidays, and I wasn't able to continue/complete the thread at all. And because I vowed that I would try my best to finish things I started, here's a blog post instead! <3
(NOTE: I'm going to try doing this Music x Book Match a regular thing just like Pinoy Movie x Book Match, so wish me luck!)
The hate-to-love / enemies-to-lovers trope takes center stage because the featured Pinoy rom-com this week is the Claudine Barretto-Rico Yan starrer, Got 2 Believe!
THE MOVIE
Got 2 Believe (2002) opens with a wedding, the perfect milieu for us to get to know wedding planner Toni (Claudine Barretto) and event photographer Lorenz (Rico Yan). Hopeless romantic Toni loves weddings and the promise of happy-ever-after, while marriage/relationship cynic Lorenz is only in it for the money and career advancement. Early in the film, we learn that for the longest time, Lorenz has been annoying the shizz out of Toni by taking the most unflattering photos of her at weddings they’ve both been part of. This causes her to vehemently swear off working with him ever again.
This is an unfortunate development for Lorenz, who gets a shot at being featured in Life Asia Magazine when his friend George (Nina Ricci Alagao) expresses her desire to write a story about Toni, the perennial bridesmaid. Mustering his confidence, he approaches Toni with the Life Asia Magazine deal, saying it’s the perfect way to promote her business. She turns it down in a heartbeat, but after her romantic fantasies with Arnold (Carlo Muñoz) fall apart when he gets married to her best friend Karen (Nikki Valdez), Lorenz changes his strategy and offers her not only the magazine feature, but also the prospect of finding her a match. Eventually, she agrees, but only after he promises he won’t ever bother her again after the magazine feature is published.
After a bunch of failed dates, Lorenz finally finds the “perfect boyfriend” for Toni. But while he shows her how to be the “perfect girlfriend,” he finds himself falling for her instead.
Oops?
Got 2 Believe is available for viewing on iWant.
THE BOOK MATCH
^ Probably my favorite song off the soundtrack, because it plays just when Lorenz gets this epiphany that he is, in fact, in love with Toni.
After friends-to-lovers, perhaps enemies-to-lovers is my second favorite trope (tied very closely with faux dating) because there’s just something so delicious about two people who absolutely could not stand each other eventually realizing they have fallen in love. How inconvenient, right? How kilig!
If you liked Got 2 Believe, or enemies-to-lovers is your catnip, check out these #romanceclass titles which are right up your alley.
Project Saving Noah by Six de los Reyes
Noah might be the best oceanographer the Institute has seen in years, so he’s in no hurry to finish his Master’s degree…until a new arrival threatens his chance at a once-in-a-lifetime research grant. Suddenly, it’s sink or swim time.
Lise knows there’s a slot at the Institute’s newest project with her name on it. But she’s all math and very little science, and when it comes to the ocean, she’s completely out of her depth.
Lise and Noah are determined to win—even if it means working with each other to overcome their fears. But what begins as a shallow bargain lands them straight into the deep end when they realize they want the same thing—each other. Unable to ignore their physical chemistry, can they balance personal ambitions against an illogical attraction that threatens everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve?
Flipping the Script by Danice Mae P. Sison
Miri dela Merced’s film director grandfather and Pabs Paglinauan’s studio head grandmother had a huge falling out that ended Lolo Ikong’s career. At seventeen, Miri finds herself in the same summer film internship program as the down-to-earth film studio heir Pabs, whom she’s decided to automatically write off, just because of his lineage. As Miri gets a crash course in her expectations vs the reality of what’s it like to work on a real movie, her true feelings for Pabs become harder and harder to ignore. In between attending outdoor screenings of classic Pinoy movies and battling monster production assistants together, can flipping the script on a decades-old grudge be only a few sequences away?
Better at Weddings Than You by Mina V. Esguerra
Daphne Cardenas is the best wedding planner around, and everyone knows it. That’s why her friend Greg hired her as an emergency replacement one month before his wedding—because he fears his fiancée Helen is falling for the guy they first hired for the job.
Aaron Trinidad is new to the wedding industry but years of conference planning and loads of charm make him good at it. Really good at it. Planning the wedding of his friend Helen should be easy, and it is. To be unceremoniously fired isn’t good for his new career, but the chance to learn from the best might be the silver lining.
Aaron and Daphne have chemistry, but there’s history with Helen that at least one other person considers a threat. Who’s the planner who can fix this impending disaster?
(Part of the Chic Manila series, but can be read as a standalone.)
Keeping the Distance by Clarisse David
No bets. No fake relationships. Just a very real one that has to be kept under wraps.
Seventeen-year-old Melissa wants to dye her hair cotton candy pink and focus on her ukulele instead of Physics. But she can’t. As the daughter of a Catholic school principal, living up to her model student image 24/7 is a must. Something’s about to give under all the pressure. She only hopes it isn’t her.
Getting involved with a troublemaking basketball player is the last possible thing she needs…
Lance is used to getting what he wants. With a pretty face he uses to full advantage and his role as co-captain of the basketball team, the easy way is the only way he’s ever known. Until the day he notices the prim Melissa he’s known forever is actually hot and decides to ask her out. He has no idea he’s about to learn the lesson of a lifetime.
Not getting what he wants might exactly be what he needs…
Chasing Mr. Prefect by Katt Briones
For the first time in her life, Vinnie finds herself on the brink of academic suspension.
While standing up to a bully is something she’ll never regret, she has to take on additional responsibilities in lieu of punishment for the offense. This unfortunately involves working with Cholo, the head disciplinary prefect, who seems to take delight in other people’s blunders. Her determination to match his expectations eventually leads her into a crazy chase to keep up.
That’s it for this edition of Pinoy Movie x Book Match! If you love this trope, I hope you pick up any of the books listed above, and also maybe watch the movie? ^_^ I know, I know…it is pretty dated, but I still think it’s one of the best Pinoy rom-coms of its time. Hey, what’s your favorite hate-to-love rom-com movie / book? Mind sharing in the comments below?
See ya next post! ^_^
What is #romanceclass?
#romanceclass is a community of:
Authors who attended #romanceclass, #romanceclass2016, the steamy reads, YA classes organized by Mina V. Esguerra
Readers of the books by those authors
Readers of English-language romance books by Filipino authors
Actors and artists who are part of the event and publishing process
We are a community of Filipino writers and readers who gather together to do what we love.
Check out our website for more books and information on where to get them: romanceclassbooks.com
Last Saturday, March 2, #romanceclass had a “double-feature” book launch for Danice Mae P. Sison’s Flipping the Script (#romanceclassFlicker #2) and Mina V. Esguerra’s Kiss and Cry (#Six32Central #2).
Instagram will load in the frontend.
As always, it was a fun morning day, filled with stories and good food (and tea, lots of it). I don’t know about you, but I like #romanceclass book launches. Apart from the fact that I like seeing our books being displayed and photographed in various venues, they’re always so casual and fun, and we usually play a lot of musical chairs — as in people transferring from one seat to another to socialize or simply to say hello.
For last Saturday’s launch, we were treated to brunch (braunch, anyone?) at Kanto Freestyle in Annapolis, Greenhills. There was Chocnut Champorado (yes, it’s A Thing!) and Pulled Beef Pares Nachos for everyone, while I ordered some Chili Garlic Longganisa and coffee for myself. In the middle of brunching and chatting, people bought books, asked for them to be signed, took pictures, and Instagrammed the day away. Very chill. ^_^
If you don’t already know, here’s what Flipping the Script and Kiss and Cry are about.
