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Queen of the Universe: A Novel: Love, Truth, Beauty
What happens when climbing the ladder of success means compromising everything you believe in…including yourself?
This debut novel by an actress and pageant title holder gives a window into the hidden rungs of that ladder, and on the pain that comes with slipping and falling.
Cleo is young, beautiful, talented and--until lately--lucky in love. But in the cut-throat world of international beauty competitions, she has to make the biggest decision of her life. She passionately wants to see how far she can go and what she can achieve. And to prove her estranged film director father that his family has done better than just survive without him. Her road is riddled with frustrations, dashed hopes and the age-old question-- what is the price of fame and fortune?
As the competition heats up, Cleo must navigate the dirty tricks contestants use to turn the odds in their favor. And ultimately, she must ask How much is her own integrity worth?
Set against the rich backdrop of Manila's glittering urban life, Queen of the Universe is about remembering who you are in the dizzying world of beauty contests and celebrity, told by an international influencer, model, actress and former Miss Universe.
This debut novel by an actress and pageant title holder gives a window into the hidden rungs of that ladder, and on the pain that comes with slipping and falling.
Cleo is young, beautiful, talented and--until lately--lucky in love. But in the cut-throat world of international beauty competitions, she has to make the biggest decision of her life. She passionately wants to see how far she can go and what she can achieve. And to prove her estranged film director father that his family has done better than just survive without him. Her road is riddled with frustrations, dashed hopes and the age-old question-- what is the price of fame and fortune?
As the competition heats up, Cleo must navigate the dirty tricks contestants use to turn the odds in their favor. And ultimately, she must ask How much is her own integrity worth?
Set against the rich backdrop of Manila's glittering urban life, Queen of the Universe is about remembering who you are in the dizzying world of beauty contests and celebrity, told by an international influencer, model, actress and former Miss Universe.
288 pages, Paperback
Published November 14, 2023
13 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 21, 2023
There were TOO MUCH GRAMMATICAL ERRORS and it was hard to follow as there was so much going on. :( I wish it was edited thoroughly before it was published, especially since the storyline was promising.
September 24, 2023
I can see how Cleo's character is similar to Pia's. I understand that this is Pia's first book but the editors should not havr missed the typos.
February 4, 2024
Rating: 7/10
Pia will always be an icon of persistence and determination. Her protagonist greatly resembles her humble beginnings as a model and an actress who provided for her family at such a young age. I admire how the story is about a woman who would never trade fame and stardom with a tainted integrity. Everything that you achieve in life must be earned fairly and through hard work and dedication.
I was just disappointed that the publication of this book seemed a bit rushed. It contained grammar, spacing, capitalization, and spelling errors. It would have been better if it would have been proofread before it came to bookstores.
Pia will always be an icon of persistence and determination. Her protagonist greatly resembles her humble beginnings as a model and an actress who provided for her family at such a young age. I admire how the story is about a woman who would never trade fame and stardom with a tainted integrity. Everything that you achieve in life must be earned fairly and through hard work and dedication.
I was just disappointed that the publication of this book seemed a bit rushed. It contained grammar, spacing, capitalization, and spelling errors. It would have been better if it would have been proofread before it came to bookstores.
September 21, 2023
as ms. pia's first novel, this was actually not bad. it's a perfect summer-y beach read. it's a feel-good, girly, quirky book.
what i didn't like: there were so much characters in chapters 1-8. it was overwhelming to keep track of them. technical problems too (i dont know if its intentional but some sentences aren't capitalized at the beginning). i hate owen's character. i wish they played with cleo's love interest a bit more. if it wasn't for the ending, I'll give this 3 stars.
but yea, nonetheless, its a great read. i couldn't put the book down for the last half of it. love her writing style, funny filipino references. and super duper love the ending.
💐
what i didn't like: there were so much characters in chapters 1-8. it was overwhelming to keep track of them. technical problems too (i dont know if its intentional but some sentences aren't capitalized at the beginning). i hate owen's character. i wish they played with cleo's love interest a bit more. if it wasn't for the ending, I'll give this 3 stars.
but yea, nonetheless, its a great read. i couldn't put the book down for the last half of it. love her writing style, funny filipino references. and super duper love the ending.
💐
February 17, 2024
I love the story. Talks about finding your place in this world, bravery, honesty, lies, & choosing to do what is always fair and right. It also gave me an insight on how the pageantry industry works.
I imagined Pia being Cleo the whole time. It felt like this is her own story with a twist.
I rated it 3 stars only because the proofreaders did Pia dirty. So many grammatical errors, misspellings, and missing words to understand the sentences. They only had 1 job and they failed.
However, this is still a good book to begin with! Kudos to Pia for writing her first book!
I imagined Pia being Cleo the whole time. It felt like this is her own story with a twist.
I rated it 3 stars only because the proofreaders did Pia dirty. So many grammatical errors, misspellings, and missing words to understand the sentences. They only had 1 job and they failed.
However, this is still a good book to begin with! Kudos to Pia for writing her first book!
October 2, 2023
It was an easy read however, there were too many plot points in my opinion. Cleo’s journey as an actress was well written but I felt like her beauty queen story was rushed.
I feel like there were so many topics that the author wants to cover in one novel that could probably have been expanded into a trilogy. I would have loved to see more dialogue between characters. Injecting Filipino culture was a good point though.
I feel like there were so many topics that the author wants to cover in one novel that could probably have been expanded into a trilogy. I would have loved to see more dialogue between characters. Injecting Filipino culture was a good point though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2024
“Queen of the Universe” 👸 by Pia Wurtzbach ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Can’t say I loved it but I absolutely enjoyed reading this lighthearted novel about a young lady who is trying to be successful in a career she later didn’t know she’s chasing the wrong dream. Quite the humor and loved the wholesomeness of the story. Worth my time. Could’ve been better if there weren’t any typos. Ntl, I liked the Filipino feel while reading it, now, that I’m not in 🇵🇭 ☺️ #piawurtzbach #queenoftheuniverse ♥️✨👑
Next stop: The Inheritance by #noraroberts 😬
Can’t say I loved it but I absolutely enjoyed reading this lighthearted novel about a young lady who is trying to be successful in a career she later didn’t know she’s chasing the wrong dream. Quite the humor and loved the wholesomeness of the story. Worth my time. Could’ve been better if there weren’t any typos. Ntl, I liked the Filipino feel while reading it, now, that I’m not in 🇵🇭 ☺️ #piawurtzbach #queenoftheuniverse ♥️✨👑
Next stop: The Inheritance by #noraroberts 😬
January 26, 2025
Oh my God everyone complaining about Grammatical Errors that I didn't even see. (Must've been reading a revised version). In any case I liked it so much because of the little Ideologies in it. I wonder if people caught the allusions to the Kingmaker in Malacanang, or the value of Family, or the scheming of Beauty Queens. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
October 25, 2023
The story line is fun, there are interesting plot twists, but I was not impressed by the writing itself. Errors, typos, and overall the characters were a bit annoying…
January 12, 2025
Bought myself a copy as it was written by Pia but this is just meh
February 8, 2026
the typos are too much to handle...and I expected too much as well. This could have been written better but it seemed rushed and boring.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2024
Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. Views are my own.
I am only halfway through the book and I am not impressed. There are a lot of grammatical errors throughout the book and the writing style felt like someone on wattpad wrote this story.
The beginning is quite slow, and Pia seems to be building a foundation to where the main character was before she started pageantry. I liked that we got to see a glimpse of what showbiz must be like to actors and actresses. As someone who is interested in understanding show biz and have my own favorite celebrities in the PH, I really enjoyed this part of the book!
However, the writing and how Pia communicates to us as the reader needs improvement. I don't think she does a good job of setting up the reader to understand what is fully going on or providing context enough to validate some of the things the main character says or does. Some of her words come off as mean or uncalled for without correct context. It seems like the character is making their own judgemental comments. For example, there is a character in this book that the main character has a playful love/hate relationship with, or so that is what I think Pia is trying to get across. There is a part of the story where she gets out of the van and as the reader it is made unclear how her hair looks. As the cameraman starts snapping pictures of her, Pia mentions that the cameraman is "lazily taking a picture" and the cameraman comments to main character "nice hair" - as the reader i have no idea what kind of tone or voice the camera man has... is it condescending? is it upbeat? To me, even if the cameraman is lazy, i still don't have a clear idea of what tone of voice he's using. and then cleo the main character uses this moment to retort "I've been through hell. my hair should be the least of your concerns. it is good as it is" and as the reader there is no real suggestion that warrants this type of comment to the cameraman.. this is just one of a couple examples throughout the book and im not even finished with it!
I think the storyline is great, but the execution and maybe another round of edits and drafts should have been in order BEFORE publishing this book.
I am only halfway through the book and I am not impressed. There are a lot of grammatical errors throughout the book and the writing style felt like someone on wattpad wrote this story.
The beginning is quite slow, and Pia seems to be building a foundation to where the main character was before she started pageantry. I liked that we got to see a glimpse of what showbiz must be like to actors and actresses. As someone who is interested in understanding show biz and have my own favorite celebrities in the PH, I really enjoyed this part of the book!
However, the writing and how Pia communicates to us as the reader needs improvement. I don't think she does a good job of setting up the reader to understand what is fully going on or providing context enough to validate some of the things the main character says or does. Some of her words come off as mean or uncalled for without correct context. It seems like the character is making their own judgemental comments. For example, there is a character in this book that the main character has a playful love/hate relationship with, or so that is what I think Pia is trying to get across. There is a part of the story where she gets out of the van and as the reader it is made unclear how her hair looks. As the cameraman starts snapping pictures of her, Pia mentions that the cameraman is "lazily taking a picture" and the cameraman comments to main character "nice hair" - as the reader i have no idea what kind of tone or voice the camera man has... is it condescending? is it upbeat? To me, even if the cameraman is lazy, i still don't have a clear idea of what tone of voice he's using. and then cleo the main character uses this moment to retort "I've been through hell. my hair should be the least of your concerns. it is good as it is" and as the reader there is no real suggestion that warrants this type of comment to the cameraman.. this is just one of a couple examples throughout the book and im not even finished with it!
I think the storyline is great, but the execution and maybe another round of edits and drafts should have been in order BEFORE publishing this book.
September 15, 2024
The entire book reads like a First draft. The sheer amount of grammatical and typographical errors is unbelievable. Even a couple of character's names were spelled incorrectly in various parts ("Dom" became "Do" and "Erik" became "Eric"), and paper-wise, there were at least a couple of pages that were cut shorter than the rest.
The storytelling itself reads more like a blog, especially when it comes to transitioning scenes and episodes. The latter part felt like it had run out of steam - the buildup to the most awaited pageant leads to a very underwhelming drop, as though it had been hastily written simply to finish.
The overall takeaway lesson is good, though.
The feel of the book, binding, pages, cover has superior quality. If Pia Wurtzbach writes a second book, she needs much better editors so that the work itself can match the herculean marketing efforts as they did with this one.
The storytelling itself reads more like a blog, especially when it comes to transitioning scenes and episodes. The latter part felt like it had run out of steam - the buildup to the most awaited pageant leads to a very underwhelming drop, as though it had been hastily written simply to finish.
The overall takeaway lesson is good, though.
The feel of the book, binding, pages, cover has superior quality. If Pia Wurtzbach writes a second book, she needs much better editors so that the work itself can match the herculean marketing efforts as they did with this one.
September 20, 2023
This was an easy read, and I'd say a good book especially for a newbie author. If you like the works of Sophie Kinsella and Lauren Conrad, I'm sure you'd like this one, too.
Love how the author delved into certain topics that are important in our society. There were certain allusions where I was like, "oh my gosh she actually went there 👀", but I'm glad she did.
I also like how the 'love story' aspect is not the main focus of this book (tbh, it could have done without it), but I like how it is a story about dreams, hard work, and all the complications in between.
Oh, and the ending had me ✨shookt✨
Love how the author delved into certain topics that are important in our society. There were certain allusions where I was like, "oh my gosh she actually went there 👀", but I'm glad she did.
I also like how the 'love story' aspect is not the main focus of this book (tbh, it could have done without it), but I like how it is a story about dreams, hard work, and all the complications in between.
Oh, and the ending had me ✨shookt✨
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews