by KB Meniado
Una & Miguel was my first Filipino YA book, so when I saw a copy of its new edition at the National Children’s Book Fair at the Ateneo Rizal Library last July 25, I almost scared those who were (wo)manning the Adarna House booth (Hi!). I was so excited I was just nonstop gushing over the book displays.
Told in alternating POVs, the story is about an outcast girl and a popular guy ending up together and their bantering and chase in between. Nothing groundbreaking, especially with the impossibly high standards of kilig in KathNiel, JaDine and even AlDub love teams that we have now, except that when I first picked this up as a tween, it kind of blew my mind.
“Wait, what? A Filipino teen romance? With non-celebrities on the cover?!”
I had to get it.
Surely, you’ve heard lines that go along the thought of “You don’t forget your first time…?” PLEASE DON’T CLOSE THE TAB but yes, that is why this book is here.
When I met Una and Miguel and followed their journey to puuuhrpy luuurv—with special appearances of cockroaches, dressed-in-drag and vegetarian friends and places in Manila I’ve actually been to, I knew I was going to remember them for a long time. I recall how just fun it was, imagining being in the middle of the crushing, the chasing, the colliding! (Now, love is just complicated™.)
2012 edition published by Adarna HouseIf you want to be reminded of the first time your heart fluttered, here’s a book that can help you out. ☁
BOOKBED 
Anything to share? :)