WHERE THE RHYTHM TAKES YOU

Reyna still has feelings for the hometown boy who left to become a global pop phenom—but now he’s back staying at her family’s hotel and nothing will ever be the same.

When Reyna’s Mummy got sick more than two years ago and passed, the Plumeria Hotel became a lovely yet suffocating weight atop Reyna and her future. Now 17 and without much help from her relatively carefree father, Reyna essentially runs the hotel, leaving no time for her friends, her art, or boys. But Aiden isn’t just any boy; he’s the Grammy-winning songwriter for the soca EDM trio DJ Bacchanal, and he has only gotten cuter in the years since he left Reyna and Tobago for life in the States. When Aiden, his band mates, and their glamorous friends book the luxury villa at the Plumeria, Reyna’s relentless focus on work won’t be able to protect her from potentially being hurt again. Dass uses flashbacks to build dramatic tension in the story as readers see past relationships develop and present ones frayed by the sense that Reyna’s future is both limited and lonely. Jane Austen fans will enjoy this reimagining of Persuasion while some readers may be frustrated by the will-they-won’t-they element. Reyna communicates and narrates with an earnest and relatable amount of self-doubt and a propensity to deny obvious truths. Most main characters are Afro-Caribbean.

A love story with classic beats and a unique rhythm.