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thepaperreels's review
5.0
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Yep. That's just me the whole time. Dawn Lanuza brings out the romantic side of me everytime!
"You ever felt like there are two versions of you, and they dont exist in the same place."
I have been a fan of Dawn Lanuza ever since I read her first book, The Boyfriend Backtrack, which by the way is a great life choice because not only did I enjoy that smart and sweet story, I also got the chance to meet our main character in The Hometown Hazard, Jules. I have to say though, because we're totally being honest here, that the blurb of this book caused a double take from me. The girl-being-younger-than-the-love-interest (no matter how much the age gap) is something I avoid aggressively. So. If you're like me, I'll tell you right away that THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BOTHER YOU.
The book started off with Jules waking up because of a phone call from her parents saying that somebody has broken inside of their house and apparently, the intruder was very interested at Jules' room. Could Jules know who the culprit is? Jules being the caring daughter decided to go home to her hometown which she left long time ago because of an incident. From here we meet her loving parents and of course the swoony daredevil, Kip. All grown up and enjoying his new hobby: sneaking into offices and running from people. Just like from Dawn Lanuza's first novel, she made another set of characters that are authentic and fun. They are a hard bunch to let go. Jules is the definition of a likeable character. I like the fact that she's matured and her background story agrees with her. I mean, you don't expect me to like a character who says she graduated from law school but don't act like it. Stuff like that are very important. You can see though from the first part of the story that Jules' character is pretty flawed. She have fears and issues that she needs to overcome. Plus, there's the fact that she's running away from something that happened years ago and it's affecting her future. And this is where Kip comes in. Kip is.. wow how do I describe Kip? Well he's my favorite guy by Dawn Lanuza. He's the right amount of dangerous and swoony. He's all mysterious but I liked that about him in every page, the author keeps peeling off a layer from Kips mysterious personality.
The romance is set in a pace that is believable and its just my favorite thing! No instalove. No love triangle. No unnecessary dramas. I think what makes The Hometown Hazard stands out from other love stories out there is that ITS NOT JUST A LOVESTORY. There's also a mystery that is going on plus a huge revelation about our main characters past. It's truly such an incredible story!
Written in a very easy and witty way, The Hometown Hazard is penned not to only entertain but to tug at your heartstrings. Dawn Lanuza just keeps getting better and better! Hilarious, romantic and real.. Readers need to make room for The Hometown Hazard in their shelf.
Yep. That's just me the whole time. Dawn Lanuza brings out the romantic side of me everytime!
"You ever felt like there are two versions of you, and they dont exist in the same place."
I have been a fan of Dawn Lanuza ever since I read her first book, The Boyfriend Backtrack, which by the way is a great life choice because not only did I enjoy that smart and sweet story, I also got the chance to meet our main character in The Hometown Hazard, Jules. I have to say though, because we're totally being honest here, that the blurb of this book caused a double take from me. The girl-being-younger-than-the-love-interest (no matter how much the age gap) is something I avoid aggressively. So. If you're like me, I'll tell you right away that THIS IS NOT SOMETHING THAT SHOULD BOTHER YOU.
The book started off with Jules waking up because of a phone call from her parents saying that somebody has broken inside of their house and apparently, the intruder was very interested at Jules' room. Could Jules know who the culprit is? Jules being the caring daughter decided to go home to her hometown which she left long time ago because of an incident. From here we meet her loving parents and of course the swoony daredevil, Kip. All grown up and enjoying his new hobby: sneaking into offices and running from people. Just like from Dawn Lanuza's first novel, she made another set of characters that are authentic and fun. They are a hard bunch to let go. Jules is the definition of a likeable character. I like the fact that she's matured and her background story agrees with her. I mean, you don't expect me to like a character who says she graduated from law school but don't act like it. Stuff like that are very important. You can see though from the first part of the story that Jules' character is pretty flawed. She have fears and issues that she needs to overcome. Plus, there's the fact that she's running away from something that happened years ago and it's affecting her future. And this is where Kip comes in. Kip is.. wow how do I describe Kip? Well he's my favorite guy by Dawn Lanuza. He's the right amount of dangerous and swoony. He's all mysterious but I liked that about him in every page, the author keeps peeling off a layer from Kips mysterious personality.
The romance is set in a pace that is believable and its just my favorite thing! No instalove. No love triangle. No unnecessary dramas. I think what makes The Hometown Hazard stands out from other love stories out there is that ITS NOT JUST A LOVESTORY. There's also a mystery that is going on plus a huge revelation about our main characters past. It's truly such an incredible story!
Written in a very easy and witty way, The Hometown Hazard is penned not to only entertain but to tug at your heartstrings. Dawn Lanuza just keeps getting better and better! Hilarious, romantic and real.. Readers need to make room for The Hometown Hazard in their shelf.
operativealyssa's review
4.0
The Hometown Hazard is a book shrouded with mystery and sprinkled with a bit of romance. It has character development, mystery that will keep you flipping the pages and an easy going pace. I love that the author went out of her comfort zone to write this book. It’s completely different compared to her previous work.
If you have read Ms. Dawn’s debut novel then you’ll be familiar with the protagonist in this book. Jules is the no-nonsense friend of Regina. She’s very serious and she’s the type of woman who always has plan B up to Z prepared if plan A failed. But in this book, we get to see a different side of her. I love how Jules went through a character development in this book. She went out of her shell and I guess we have to thank Crispin (his name never fails to amuse me. LOL) for that development. Kip is the main guy in the story. He’s the younger brother of Jules’ best friend and he’s also her childhood friend. Kip’s outgoing, impulsive and a daredevil. His personality reminds me of Leslie. It’s like I’m seeing a male version of Leslie with a mysterious aura around him. Kip is the polar opposite of Jules. It’s like they’re sun and moon. But as the famous adage goes, “opposites attract each other.” And that’s what happened in this book. I honestly didn’t like Kip in the first half of the book. There’s something about him that irked me when I was reading the first half of the book. I can’t pinpoint what it was since I myself can’t understand the reason why I didn’t like him. My best guess was that I hated how he acted in the first half of the book. I’m that one lone girl among the sea of fangirls who didn’t swoon over his character.
What I love in Dawn Lanuza’s books is that it always has a believable love story in it. That kind of love story that you would really see in real life and maybe experience it yourself. The pace of the romance in this book was okay. Okay in a sense that it’s not too fast nor too slow. It’s the kind of pacing that I want to see in a contemporary book
The highlight of this book is the mystery that surrounds the plot. I like the feeling of unraveling the answers in the book. This book made me feel like I’m Sherlock Holmes. The reason why I like the mystery in this book was that it made me feel like I’m part of the Kip-Jules tag team. It made reading interactive in a way that I’m also solving the mystery with the characters.
The Hometown Hazard is a must read for those people that loves to expose secrets and unravel mysteries. It’s a book that has a realistic love story, characters that went through character development and intriguing plot.
If you have read Ms. Dawn’s debut novel then you’ll be familiar with the protagonist in this book. Jules is the no-nonsense friend of Regina. She’s very serious and she’s the type of woman who always has plan B up to Z prepared if plan A failed. But in this book, we get to see a different side of her. I love how Jules went through a character development in this book. She went out of her shell and I guess we have to thank Crispin (his name never fails to amuse me. LOL) for that development. Kip is the main guy in the story. He’s the younger brother of Jules’ best friend and he’s also her childhood friend. Kip’s outgoing, impulsive and a daredevil. His personality reminds me of Leslie. It’s like I’m seeing a male version of Leslie with a mysterious aura around him. Kip is the polar opposite of Jules. It’s like they’re sun and moon. But as the famous adage goes, “opposites attract each other.” And that’s what happened in this book. I honestly didn’t like Kip in the first half of the book. There’s something about him that irked me when I was reading the first half of the book. I can’t pinpoint what it was since I myself can’t understand the reason why I didn’t like him. My best guess was that I hated how he acted in the first half of the book. I’m that one lone girl among the sea of fangirls who didn’t swoon over his character.
What I love in Dawn Lanuza’s books is that it always has a believable love story in it. That kind of love story that you would really see in real life and maybe experience it yourself. The pace of the romance in this book was okay. Okay in a sense that it’s not too fast nor too slow. It’s the kind of pacing that I want to see in a contemporary book
The highlight of this book is the mystery that surrounds the plot. I like the feeling of unraveling the answers in the book. This book made me feel like I’m Sherlock Holmes. The reason why I like the mystery in this book was that it made me feel like I’m part of the Kip-Jules tag team. It made reading interactive in a way that I’m also solving the mystery with the characters.
The Hometown Hazard is a must read for those people that loves to expose secrets and unravel mysteries. It’s a book that has a realistic love story, characters that went through character development and intriguing plot.
inahreads's review
4.0
This has been the second book I’ve read from Dawn and I’m really happy to say that this doesn’t disappoint. If I may say so, The Hometown Hazard is better in terms of dynamics and depth of the story compared to her debut, The Boyfriend Backtrack, which is actually related to this book. The MCs are friends.
This book really went beyond the usual Filipino Chick-lit formula. It has different elements that added and built up the story in an excellent way. The story hits close to me since it’s set here and obviously the characters were Filipinos so it’s really easy to get into. I also liked how each aspect worked well together.
The romance was written really well. It wasn’t too cheesy but it definitely made me swoon several times. It wasn’t instant and I loved how it was slowly built up. Not to mention the raw chemistry between Kip and Jules, LIKE PLEASE CAN I HAVE MY OWN KIP OMG!
The story was amazing and I was hooked from the start. The pacing was great as well. I also think that the writing was excellent! I am definitely looking forward to more of Dawn’s works!
This book really went beyond the usual Filipino Chick-lit formula. It has different elements that added and built up the story in an excellent way. The story hits close to me since it’s set here and obviously the characters were Filipinos so it’s really easy to get into. I also liked how each aspect worked well together.
The romance was written really well. It wasn’t too cheesy but it definitely made me swoon several times. It wasn’t instant and I loved how it was slowly built up. Not to mention the raw chemistry between Kip and Jules, LIKE PLEASE CAN I HAVE MY OWN KIP OMG!
The story was amazing and I was hooked from the start. The pacing was great as well. I also think that the writing was excellent! I am definitely looking forward to more of Dawn’s works!
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