I’m writing this down on TextEdit because my Internet connection refuses to cooperate (of course by the time I post this online, my Internet is obviously better), and I just need to let these thoughts out or else I wouldn’t be able to sleep thinking of all the things related to this.

So I just finished reading Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos, her follow up novel from Love Walked In. I loved Love Walked In, for all its seemingly old-fashioned scenes and the lovely characters. I especially loved the fact that Teo Sandoval was half-Filipino, somehow making it feel closer to my heart.

Belong to Me is a different story from its prequel. More characters, more conflict, more stories. I saw a couple of reviews that it wasn’t as good as the prequel, but because I can’t stand not reading all books in a series and because I was curious to what happened to Cornelia and Teo and Clare, I got the book.

In Cornelia’s words: I was slammed. Hard. Belong to Me is probably one of the best books I’ve read this year. It’s a different tone from the first book, but it was simply (and very) charming. The chapters were long, the stories were complicated but never did I feel bored with the entire story. I devoured every page, with all its lyrical prose and smart characters. My heart burst in sadness at the particular part of the story where all things came undone, and I celebrated victory with them when I got to the end.

I think it’s a given for any reader to love Cornelia, but what I really loved about the book was (and still), Teo. I could easily imagine how Cornelia could call him her sun and moon and stars. I tried hard to find a flaw in him, and I know there was something but it’s became a part of his character as a whole that you’d end up forgiving it because you know it won’t be the same without it.

And maybe the reason why I love Teo so much because I want someone like him. Not exactly a half Filipino hunk of a man with golden brown skin and bottle green eyes type (but hey, that sounds really handsome, haha), but someone who treats me the way Teo treats Cornelia. Like how he had an almost secret and sacred nickname for Cornelia that meant “heart” in Latin (Cor), or how his face changes whenever he talks about his wife (as observed by Piper). I want someone like that, someone who I’d think of as my sun and moon and stars but would also think of me the same way too. Someone whose heart could expand with love for all the people that matter to me, and teach me to make my heart be like that too, for people he cares for and people I have a hard time liking or loving. Someone like Teo, who stuck with Cornelia for fifty-six hours to try to fix the mess that exploded in their faces and not lose patience but remind her that love is not “I” or “you” but “we”.

*sigh* It’s got me smitten, really, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget about this book too easily. I love every single bit of it, and I kind of feel sad that it’s the last book on them. I really feel like I’m saying goodbye to good friends, people who have kept me company over the weekend. But it’s comforting to know that I could always visit them, and draw strength from them, and maybe, someday, talk about them to someone who will be my own Teo someday.

Oookay, and that last line is really cheesy. Enough cheese here, or else you may be better off reading mdclearreviews.com. :P It’s time for me to go to bed. :P