A rip-off of PHR's Martha Cecilia's Sweetheart 2: Lavender Lace
Reminded me of PHR's Martha Cecilia's Sweetheart 2: Lavender Lace.
Martha Cecilia: Rigo dela Serna, an engineering student from a family with a humble background (may pag-aaring talyer)
Jonaxx: Sibal Riego, an engineering student from a family with a humble background (mga mangingisda) - but he's actually related to a rich family
Martha Cecilia: Lacey Bernardino, the rich girl whose mother died and whose father got sick
Jonaxx: Snow, the rich girl who's mother abandoned their family and whose father got sick
Martha Cecilia: Rigo and Lacey had an age gap. (at the start of the story, Rigo was 21 and Lacey was 16)
Jonaxx: Sibal and Snow had an age gap. (at the start of the story, Snow was 17 and Sibal was 21 something)
Martha Cecilia: Lacey leaves town and six years later comes back for a job.
Jonaxx: Snow leaves town and comes back five years later for a job.
Martha Cecilia: Lacey is with her gay friend, Steve, who is mistaken as her boyfriend. Their car breaks down while in her old hometown. The mechanic who showed up to the scene is Rigo.
Jonaxx: Snow has a potential fiancee. The engineer employed for a renovation plan in Costa Leona is Rigo.
Martha Cecilia: The mansion owned by Lacey's family is pawned to Rigo. In order not to totally lose the property, she has to marry Rigo.
Jonaxx: (Let me see if I find this on other books in the series)
Martha Cecilia: Lacey's friend, Yda, says that her son is Rigo's. She also tells her that Rigo is only out for revenge.
Jonaxx: Sibal tells Snow that at first he wanted to exact vengeance on her, but decided agaibst it in the end. While later in the story, Katarina would lead Snow to believe that she and Sibal have an affair.
Martha Cecilia: In the past, Lacey's father had filed a case of attempted rape against Rigo. Rigo was rebuked by the whole town and was unable to finish school there.
Jonaxx: Snow's Tita Marem was antagonistic towards her niece's relationship with Rigo. She cut off the latter's scholarship, his job, and even threatened a case against him.
Martha Cecilia: Lacey's father had attempted to rape Rigo's mother in the past.
Jonaxx: Snow's Tita Marem had a deep rooted hatred for Sibal's father, Achilles.
Martha Cecilia: Lacey lived with her Auntie Fe in Manila.
Jonaxx: Snow and her Auntie Marem.
I got the impression na sa kuwentong ito, lahat ng babae liban kay Snow ay tila pinapalabas na malandi o dinedescribe in such a way para mainis ka sa kanila at mas kampihan mo ang bidang babae. It's like the literary cousin of "I'm not like other girls" phenomenon. I really can't stand the slut-shaming in this story. And by the way, what an underhanded way of making readers favor the female lead.
Kahit wala siguro 'yong element na 'yon sa story, 'di ko pa rin magugustuhan ang kuwentong ito. The main characters themselves leave little to be desired.
Ewan ko kung may split personality o bipolar ba si Sibal o 'di lang maka-decide ang author kung ano nga ba talaga ang character ng male lead n'ya. He seemed like a jokester in the first few chapters, and then he became dark and brooding the next chapters.
Snow would have been a good heroine, if not for her insecurity for every other female in the novel. It's just appallingly ugly to me that a woman has to tear down other women just to make herself feel superior.
The story's angst potential was wasted. I was left disappointed by this story.
8.8 out of 10 would not recommend.
According to the Wattpad grapevine, the author said she doesn't read novels. Pero sa tingin ko, kung anumang kakapiranggot na mga libro ang nabasa niya, sigurado akong isa sa mga 'yon ang Lavender Lace ni Martha Cecilia.
P.S.
I wonder if the rest of this author's whole series will be influenced by Martha Cecilia's Sweetheart series (and maybe even a little bit of the Kristine series).