Before Ever After by Samantha Sotto

Title: Before Ever After 

Author: Samantha Sotto

Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction

Published: 2011

Rating: 4/5

I chanced upon the book Before Ever After at the National Bookstore's new books section and really got curious because the author is a Filipina. It is not everyday that I see a internationally published novel written by a Filipina so it made me extremely curious and proud. I didn't buy book though, the book came my way with a little bit of coincidence and manipulation just like what the story of the book is about.

A little bit about the author first, she is Samantha Sotto a Filipina and full time mom who wrote her novel at Starbucks to pass time while waiting for her son to get off from school. Her writing career started when she finished reading The Timetravellers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and felt unhappy about the ending. She fiddled with the idea on how she wanted the story to end and then started writing her own love story. After a year she finished the book and sent it to literary agents abroad and eventually landed a deal with no less than Random House, one of biggest publishing houses in the world. She became the first Filipina to be published by the famous publishing company. She gave this advice to aspiring writers who dreams of being published by Random House: "Stop dreaming and pursue what you want. The amount of creative talent in this country is huge and there is absolutely nothing that is stopping us from showing the world what the Filipino can do."

A short synopsis from the hardcover book jacket:Three years after her husband Max's death,she feels no more adjusted to being a widow than she did that first terrible day. That is, until the doorbell rings. Standing on her front step is a young man who looks so much like Max–same smile, same eyes, same age, same adorable bump in his nose–he could be Max's long-lost relation. He introduces himself as Paolo, an Italian editor of American coffee table books, and shows Shelley some childhood photos. Paolo tells her that the man in the photos, the bearded man who Paolo says is his grandfather though he never seems to age, is Max. Her Max. And he is alive and well. As outrageous as Paolo's claims seem–how could her husband be alive? And if he is, why hasn't he looked her up? – Shelley desperately wants to know the truth. She and Paolo jet across the globe to track Max down–if it is really Max– and along the way, Shelley recounts the European package tour where they had met. As she relives Max's stories of bloody Parisian barricades, medieval Austrian kitchens, and buried Roman boathouses, Shelley begins to piece together the story of who her husband was and what these new revelations mean for her "happily ever after." And as she and Paolo get closer to the truth, Shelley discovers that not all stories end where they are supposed to.

The book started where most stories would end and then you get to travel back to the beginning. It took me quite some time to digest the first few lines. The author really injects lots of adjectives that I got distracted with what she was trying to say. After a few pages, I got the hang of it and got hooked. Shelley is perhaps one of the most beautiful heroine I've read in books. Max is also a guy I'd like to meet in real life. The story seems to be a typical love story but you'll be surprised with its complexities. I have a penchant for stories within a story and this book has lots of beautiful stories within the main story. The little stories are like mini fairytales and full of history about Europe.I am really surprised where the book took me, it made me backpacking around the beautiful countryside of Europe and it made me travel through time from the middle ages and back to the present.  It is a very inventively written and keeps you guessing until the end.

I really love the book and I hope that the author would write more books. It also made me realize that I should patronize more local authors.