Pahinang Pang-Romansa

Where did all the Tagalog Romance Novels go? I remember seeing them in almost every turn, at unexpected places, like a sari-sari store. I also remember them occupying endless bookshelves, an entire aisle, at major bookstores. I'm probably exaggerating, my memory's poorly selective.

But anyway, I'm oddly curious about them. I once bought a book published by UP Press, an anthology of romance stories written in Filipino by Joi Barrios. I think she's wonderful--her writing makes me of something delicate as cat's paws and equally hard-hitting as targeted arrows, all within the same story. Her insights and observations of Pinoy culture shine from the page; nuggets like that always capture the wonderment of the reader in me.