Where the Rhythm Takes You

Starred review from March 29, 2021
In Dass’s debut, 17-year-old Reyna is thrown for a loop when her now-famous ex-boyfriend, Aiden, 18, returns to Tobago with his music group and some socialite friends. After the group comes to stay at her family’s hotel, the Plumeria, Reyna and Aiden decide it’s best to avoid each other. Unfortunately, his friends insist on having Reyna help with planning his surprise birthday activities. As she becomes more involved with this new group and reminisces about how she and Aiden first fell in love, she’s forced to face changes to her mother’s hotel, her best friend moving away to art school, and having no direction for herself. As her spark with Aiden reignites, she is plagued with regret for giving up her love of painting as well as a festering resentment of the expectations her deceased mother placed upon her. Inspired by Jane Austen’s Persuasion, Dass interweaves the allure of the source material with the warm tropical winds and scents of Tobago. Readers, even those unfamiliar with Austen’s work, will appreciate this cast of characters with believable motivations and fleshed-out ideas as they realize what they want and embrace second chances for love and for new adventures. Ages 13–up.