Want Books: Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos


Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

I really can’t believe that I didn’t know about Marisa de los Santos’ new book until Chachic added it to her wish list. I can’t believe it. And I call myself a fan. Hmph.

But I think I have heard about her writing a new book, shortly after I read (and swooned!) over Belong to Me. I remember feeling sad that there would be no more Cornelia and Teo (swoon!), but because I’ve loved her writing so much, I know I want to read other books she’d release. And now a new one is upon us. :)

Falling Together by Marisa de los SantosFalling Together by Marisa de los Santos
William Morrow and Company, Released October 1, 2011

What would you do if an old friend needed you, but it meant turning your new life upside down? Pen, Will, and Cat met during the first week of their first year of college and struck up a remarkable friendship, one that sustained them and shaped them for years – until it ended abruptly, and they went their separate ways. Now, six years later, Pen is the single mother of a five-year-old girl, living with her older brother in Philadelphia and trying to make peace with the sudden death of her father. Even though she feels deserted by Will and Cat, she has never stopped wanting them back in her life, so when she receives an email from a desperate-sounding Cat asking her to meet her at their upcoming college reunion, Pen goes. What happens there sends past and present colliding and sends Pen and her friends on a journey across the world, a journey that will change everything.

Marisa is half-Filipino, and she always had little Filipino flavors in her books (such as Teo being half-Filipino and the pancit cooking scene in Love Walked In). In her Amazon interview, she said that some parts of the book was set in the Philippines, and that got me even more excited. I love what she said here:

In Falling Together, Pen goes to the Philippines in search of her friend, but I think she finds more than that. She sits in a banca boat with a school of jackfish shoaling beneath it and thinks, awestruck, “All this time, every second: this.” She experiences the world as big and small at the same time. While I sit at my desk, drive my children around, sleep under my roof, all the time, every second, there is another version of home, my home, vibrantly alive and unfolding itself thousands of miles away. The least I could do was put it in a book.

I like that even in her interview, she sounds so eloquent. :)

Anyway, I haven’t seen a copy of this yet, but since this book is not YA, I have a feeling it will be a bit more expensive than usual. I hope they release a paperback version of this soon. In the meantime, I will content myself with the excerpt (which is, frankly, too short). :P

6 Thoughts on “Want Books: Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos

  1. I remember you every time I see Belong to Me on the bookshelves. I really have to start reading her soon.

    • It may be because of my big crush on one of her characters, Teo? Haha. I hope you get to read her soon — start with Love Walked In, then Belong to Me. :)

  2. I still haven’t read Belong To Me! I should read that before I pick this one up but I love that her new novel is partially set in the Philippines. I immediately thought of you and Celina when I saw the trade paperback yesterday (P720 is really expensive!) I wonder why the hardcover wasn’t available?

    • Belong To Me had a lot more going for it than Loved Walked In. I loved the twist there, and the characters and the new setting. :) Anyway, I saw Falling Together yesterday at Bestsellers, and yep, P700+. I wonder if Fully Booked will carry this and if it will be slightly cheaper there? Haha. I wish. I can’t remember if Belong to Me was released in hardcover, but I know Love Walked In was. Maybe it’s because it’s NBS that’s why it’s in paperback?

      Anyway, I can still wait. =D Haha.

  3. Pingback: Want Books: I’ll Be There « Chachic's Book Nook

  4. Pingback: Want Books: The Song of the Quarkbeast by Jasper Fforde | One More Page

Post Navigation