Review: Maybe This Time by C.P. Santi
Maybe This Time: Stories of Love and Second Chances by C.P. Santi
Published on June 3, 2016
Goodreads | Amazon
An accidental reunion . . . a sneaky plot . . . things finally falling into place.
Maybe This Time contains three heart-warming stories of love and second chances. Because when fate gives you a break, you grab the chance to finally make things right.
In Sweeter by the Second, when paintings conservator Rina David arrives for the Arts Festival in the heritage town of Jimenez, she’s reunited with Tony, the guy she once loved and lost. Now vice-mayor of Jimenez, Tony wants Rina back in his life and will do everything he can to convince her that they belong together.
Pamela Quiroz hatches a plot to get her parents back together in Exorcising my Ex. But will a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner succeed in reconciling Geno and Viv? After all, it’s been more than fifteen years since they first got together and they aren’t the hormone-driven teenagers they once were. Will wine and cheese balls still do the trick?
Torch, meet hand. Arne Weichmann has been waiting twenty-one years for Bea. Is it finally the right time to make his move and convince her that they are Meant to Be? He hopes so. Because he doesn’t think he’ll survive losing the one person who brought warmth and sunshine to his life.
This review is weeks late, because life and work got in the way, but I’m catching up now!
The first time I read C.P. Santi’s book, Be Careful What You Wish For, I was giggling quietly as I went through the pages. There’s something so fresh and authentic in her writing that I knew immediately that I would read her other books, too. I had the same experience with her YA book, When Cocoy Became Kikay, so when the opportunity to read her collection of short stories came up, I immediately jumped at it. (Albeit late to read, but still!)
Maybe This Time: Stories of Love and Second Chances features three short stories about…well, love and second chances. Haha. Similar to her first book, the characters here are a little bit older than the usual contemporary romance novel – more accomplished, more settled into their lives, and maybe have allowed themselves to not really think about love and romance because of this reason. And yet love finds them again, in the form of old lovers, teenage daughters, and old friends.
I really liked how we get to see older characters in these stories who still fumble around love and romance, telling us that we’re all probably just fumbling along, trying to make things right at this front. Haha. But I guess because of their age and their accomplishments, they also know exactly what they want now, and then they go get it. The stories were funny and heartwarming and of course, provided all the feels you’d want/need in one sitting. (I read this in an Uber ride with a bit of moderate traffic.)
My personal favorite from this collection is Viv and Geno from Exorcising my Ex. I just loved how their current situation came from a complicated background, but still they made whatever they had work for the sake of their daughter. Though the story was short, the author provided enough back story for us to understand where they were coming from, and then you’d want them to get their happily-ever-after, too. (Okay fine, perhaps more for the sake of sPammy, because she’s such a darling.)
Maybe This Time is a perfect collection to give you a dose of warm, fuzzy feelings about love finding ways – sometimes with a little help from you. 🙂
About the Author:
C. P. Santi is a Filipina author based in Tokyo, Japan. She is a wife to an engineer/indie songwriter and a full-time mom to two energetic boys. She loves cooking and baking, and enjoys feeding people, gorging on chocolate, watching J-doramas, belting it out in the karaoke box, and running around the house playing tickle tag. She also loves dreaming up stories about the people she meets.
In another life, she is also an architect and academic.
Also by C.P. Santi: Be Careful What You Wish For | When Cocoy Became Kikay
