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A review by carnisht
Any Day With You by Mae Respicio
4.0
This book was a bit of a rollercoaster. It was by no means a groundbreaking story, but there were still enjoyable heartwarming aspects of it. Specifically, the relationship between Kaia and her Tatang. However, it was also quite boring. The characters were lovable, but there was just nothing really happening to maintain my interest for the first half of the book. Once they started filming the movie, though, my interest came back a bit more. The mishaps they had while filming (like the scene getting ruined by bird poop, the food fight, the lack of audio), as well as Kaia’s determination for perfection to convince Tatang to stay, were exciting enough elements to keep me interested and entertained.
Speaking more on Kaia’s relationship with Tatang: I absolutely loved it, and it was probably the best part of the whole story for me. It very much exemplified the whole “middle child syndrome” and highlighted Kaia’s feelings of unimportance and insignificance. Tatang was the only one who really saw and valued Kaia, so her investment in him staying felt like it had real stakes to it. I will say that she got slightly annoying with her constant harping on this fact, but I was ultimately able to overlook it (even though it almost reached a point of unbearability because it was ALL she talked about).
Her relationship with Tatang did, however, allow for a great deal of focus and appreciation for Filipino culture throughout the entire story. The stories that Tatang told to Kaia and the brief glimpses into life in the Philippines were probably my favorite part of the story. I really wanted to learn more and hear more about all of these fascinating elements of this culture.
To read more of my thoughts on this book, check out https://yalitreader.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/any-day-with-you-by-mae-respicio/
Speaking more on Kaia’s relationship with Tatang: I absolutely loved it, and it was probably the best part of the whole story for me. It very much exemplified the whole “middle child syndrome” and highlighted Kaia’s feelings of unimportance and insignificance. Tatang was the only one who really saw and valued Kaia, so her investment in him staying felt like it had real stakes to it. I will say that she got slightly annoying with her constant harping on this fact, but I was ultimately able to overlook it (even though it almost reached a point of unbearability because it was ALL she talked about).
Her relationship with Tatang did, however, allow for a great deal of focus and appreciation for Filipino culture throughout the entire story. The stories that Tatang told to Kaia and the brief glimpses into life in the Philippines were probably my favorite part of the story. I really wanted to learn more and hear more about all of these fascinating elements of this culture.
To read more of my thoughts on this book, check out https://yalitreader.wordpress.com/2022/12/19/any-day-with-you-by-mae-respicio/