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Ang Pag-ibig ni Crayon
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 8, 2024
Before I start this review, I just want to say that I'm the target audience of this book. I love chick flicks and college romances. I adore the romance genre and devour everything with any hint of romance. I don't mind cliches, and I don't mind reading or watching things that I can predict, even the biggest plot twist, because I want to feel kilig or the occasional iyak.
Ang Pag-ibig ni Crayon is the story of how Crayon falls in love with Atom, her long-time crush and bully, how they became bf-gf due to peer pressure, and how they came back together in the end.
Also...
Q: What trope do you want?
Pag-ibig ni Crayon: YES
Because Ang Pag-ibig ni Crayon inserted almost all the tropes available in romance. I could see enemies-to-lovers, forced cohabitation, second chance romance, etc.
What I Loved
I loved the author's writing style! I love how it's an easy read, in that it feels like the author is a friend who is telling me a chika about herself. I was entertained in the first few chapters and even found Atom swoon-worthy, and I was so kilig at first. Emphasis to at first, because everything went downhill when it was revealed that Atom was actually Crayon Venz's BULLY.
What I Didn't Like
In my opinion, this book should have a trigger warning. There are several mentions of bullying, a scene where Crayon was physical assaulted, and "magpapakamatay" was also casually and, in my opinion, insensitively overused in dialogues.
I don't know if I missed it or what, but I wasn't given the reason why Crayon was given this unusual name and how this unusual name was also incidentally given to twins CK and CX. I watched a movie with this kind of coincidence, where they were both named Alex because their parents were exes and promised each other that they will name their child as such. I was waiting for something like this, and I was kinda disappointed that I just had to accept that Crayon is a common name in that world. Idk.
It also took me a month to finish this because I had to constantly stop reading to contain my feelings and not get irritated by Crayon and Atom. The irritation I felt was alternating between Crayon and Atom, who were both emotionally immature people who forced themselves into loving each other. I'm not even sure if that can be considered as love.
Atom consistently gave grand gestures to Crayon and forced her to be his GF without her saying anything. They became a thing due to peer pressure, and I was willing to gloss over that because it's a fictional story, and I thought Crayon was just a "pakipot." But again, the reveal that Atom was Crayon's bully made me cringe at his advances.
I don't get what happened to Charm. Atom easily dismissed her as a cheating ex, and that's it? But Charm still isn't over Atom and is willing to physically assault Crayon over her obsession with Atom. But she also magically disappeared once Atom told her that he was already in love with Crayon. That was a weird move for a supposedly crazy ex-girlfriend.
Adding in my initial thoughts by Page 113 of the book...
I changed my view of Atom from kilig in the first few pages to disgust. I kept wincing at Atom's "sweetness" in the succeeding chapters. As a bullied girl myself, I can't believe how Crayon handled things... I'm mad. At Atom, Chynna, and all the people in Crayon's HS. Time doesn't heal all wounds.
That said, I find that everything was so easily resolved, from Crayon so easily forgiving Atom for being the bully that LED TO HER CHANGING SCHOOLS despite NO REMORSE from Atom and Chynna (her other bully), who were both laughing about it in front of her. And she was mad, not because of that, but because she was jealous. As a bullied person, I can't imagine myself sitting at the same table as my old bullies, who were laughing at my predicament, without wishing ill on them.
Also, Atom saying that he liked Crayon as Venz but didn't pursue her because he is popular while she is not is UTTER BULLSHIT! He let everyone make fun of her without even having the decency to at least stop them from doing so. He enabled them and I don't buy that as a guy liking a girl. Just... no.
I also find that the relationship issues of their parents, who I find to be disturbed people, magically resolved. I find CX fixing his relationship with his parents as a rather convenient way to kick him out of Red and Crayon's house, and his parents had their hoe phase rather than go to therapy to sort out their child's loss which leads to them neglecting CX. As of Red and Crayon's parents, I find the lack of self-respect of the mother appalling, though it was for the better, I guess, since their father returned to her by hurting herself in living together with the mistress and philanderer.
That said, I believe that everyone should start therapy, especially Crayon. She mistook her attachment to her and Atom's memories as still loving Atom and didn't let herself entertain her growing feelings toward CX over her attachment to those memories. She could've let Chynna and Atom rot in hell, especially since Atom was stupid enough not to see that Chynna was just acting and she was just wearing makeup and prosthetics.
Ang Pag-ibig ni Crayon is the story of how Crayon falls in love with Atom, her long-time crush
Also...
Q: What trope do you want?
Pag-ibig ni Crayon: YES
Because Ang Pag-ibig ni Crayon inserted almost all the tropes available in romance. I could see enemies-to-lovers, forced cohabitation, second chance romance, etc.
What I Loved
I loved the author's writing style! I love how it's an easy read, in that it feels like the author is a friend who is telling me a chika about herself. I was entertained in the first few chapters and even found Atom swoon-worthy, and I was so kilig at first. Emphasis to at first, because everything went downhill when it was revealed that Atom was actually Crayon Venz's BULLY.
What I Didn't Like
In my opinion, this book should have a trigger warning. There are several mentions of bullying, a scene where Crayon was physical assaulted, and "magpapakamatay" was also casually and, in my opinion, insensitively overused in dialogues.
I don't know if I missed it or what, but I wasn't given the reason why Crayon was given this unusual name and how this unusual name was also incidentally given to twins CK and CX. I watched a movie with this kind of coincidence, where they were both named Alex because their parents were exes and promised each other that they will name their child as such. I was waiting for something like this, and I was kinda disappointed that I just had to accept that Crayon is a common name in that world. Idk.
It also took me a month to finish this because I had to constantly stop reading to contain my feelings and not get irritated by Crayon and Atom. The irritation I felt was alternating between Crayon and Atom, who were both emotionally immature people who forced themselves into loving each other. I'm not even sure if that can be considered as love.
Atom consistently gave grand gestures to Crayon and forced her to be his GF without her saying anything. They became a thing due to peer pressure, and I was willing to gloss over that because it's a fictional story, and I thought Crayon was just a "pakipot." But again, the reveal that Atom was Crayon's bully made me cringe at his advances.
I don't get what happened to Charm. Atom easily dismissed her as a cheating ex, and that's it? But Charm still isn't over Atom and is willing to physically assault Crayon over her obsession with Atom. But she also magically disappeared once Atom told her that he was already in love with Crayon. That was a weird move for a supposedly crazy ex-girlfriend.
Adding in my initial thoughts by Page 113 of the book...
I changed my view of Atom from kilig in the first few pages to disgust. I kept wincing at Atom's "sweetness" in the succeeding chapters. As a bullied girl myself, I can't believe how Crayon handled things... I'm mad. At Atom, Chynna, and all the people in Crayon's HS. Time doesn't heal all wounds.
That said, I find that everything was so easily resolved, from Crayon so easily forgiving Atom for being the bully that LED TO HER CHANGING SCHOOLS despite NO REMORSE from Atom and Chynna (her other bully), who were both laughing about it in front of her. And she was mad, not because of that, but because she was jealous. As a bullied person, I can't imagine myself sitting at the same table as my old bullies, who were laughing at my predicament, without wishing ill on them.
Also, Atom saying that he liked Crayon as Venz but didn't pursue her because he is popular while she is not is UTTER BULLSHIT! He let everyone make fun of her without even having the decency to at least stop them from doing so. He enabled them and I don't buy that as a guy liking a girl. Just... no.
I also find that the relationship issues of their parents, who I find to be disturbed people, magically resolved. I find CX fixing his relationship with his parents as a rather convenient way to kick him out of Red and Crayon's house, and his parents had their hoe phase rather than go to therapy to sort out their child's loss which leads to them neglecting CX. As of Red and Crayon's parents, I find the lack of self-respect of the mother appalling, though it was for the better, I guess, since their father returned to her by hurting herself in living together with the mistress and philanderer.
That said, I believe that everyone should start therapy, especially Crayon. She mistook her attachment to her and Atom's memories as still loving Atom and didn't let herself entertain her growing feelings toward CX over her attachment to those memories. She could've let Chynna and Atom rot in hell, especially since Atom was stupid enough not to see that Chynna was just acting and she was just wearing makeup and prosthetics.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2024
in fairness this is better naman compared to other stories i’ve read of the same genre. i liked how easy it is to read. walang any pretentious or lazy attempts on sounding makata. natapos ko lang in one sitting.
kinilig ba ako? on some parts yes. other parts naman ay annoyed ako. ung pagkakagusto kasi nung dalawang bida felt forced. and i realized the male lead is a red flag halfway through. hindi lang dahil sa past nila ha? but on how badly he made Crayon feel nung naging sila na—being set aside and making her doubt whether sila pa ba.
sayang din ung part about their past connections being revealed. i was actually hoping for some kind of drama but it was such a letdown. ang bilis naresolve.
i also hate the reason behind their reconciliation, na it was just brought by Atom’s discovery of a secret, not primarily by a realization na mahal talaga nya si Crayon. na kung hindi niya pa nalaman iyong nalaman niya, hindi pa siya babalik. tsk.
i could have rated this higher if only it ended differently.
kinilig ba ako? on some parts yes. other parts naman ay annoyed ako. ung pagkakagusto kasi nung dalawang bida felt forced. and i realized the male lead is a red flag halfway through. hindi lang dahil sa past nila ha? but on how badly he made Crayon feel nung naging sila na—being set aside and making her doubt whether sila pa ba.
sayang din ung part about their past connections being revealed. i was actually hoping for some kind of drama but it was such a letdown. ang bilis naresolve.
i also hate the reason behind their reconciliation, na it was just brought by Atom’s discovery of a secret, not primarily by a realization na mahal talaga nya si Crayon. na kung hindi niya pa nalaman iyong nalaman niya, hindi pa siya babalik. tsk.
i could have rated this higher if only it ended differently.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews