The Waves Take You Home

A Novel

By: María Alejandra Barrios Vélez

Narrated by: Krysta Gonzales

In this heartfelt story about how the places we run from hold the answers to our deepest challenges, the death of her grandmother brings a young woman home, where she must face the past in order to become the heir of not just the family restaurant, but her own destiny.

Violeta Sanoguera had always done what she was told. She left the man she loved in Colombia in pursuit of a better life for herself and because her mother and grandmother didn’t approve of him. Chasing dreams of education and art in New York City, and with a new love, twenty-eight-year-old Violeta establishes a new life for herself, on her terms. But when her grandmother suddenly dies, everything changes.

After years of being on her own in NYC, Violeta finds herself on a plane back to Colombia, accompanied at all times by the ghost of her grandmother who is sending her messages and signs, to find she is the heir of the failing family restaurant, the very one Abuela told her to run from in the first place. The journey leads her to rediscover her home, her grandmother, and even the flame of an old love.

©2024 María Alejandra Barrios Vélez (P)2024 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Barrios Veléz offers a heartfelt and deeply personal debut novel…The Waves Take You Home is a beautiful homage to the values, traditions, and way of life of a small town and its families in Colombia.” —Booklist

“Foodies will delight in the mouthwatering details of paella, pineapple upside-down rum cake, caramel flan, and sweet red wine in a charming novel.” —Library Journal

“A deftly crafted and compelling read from start to finish…” —Midwest Book Review

La Cultura isn’t Lost

This was such a great book of how generations of love and lost isn’t gone.

Gripping hear felt listen!

What an absolutely amazing novel of family ties and deep love and knowing where you come come from. This definitely will not be my last novel by this very talented writer! 😍

A beautiful adventure

The Waves That Take You Home is a fantastic and lovely adventure that I found impossible to stop listening to. It chronicles the life and self discovery of Vi, a universally relatable character who bravely faces the lifelong debates we all go through. How dreams of our parents become our own, how their values become ours, and how we discover and pursue our own dreams while struggling to stay true to the values we came from.

Anyone lucky enough to come upon this book will see the through the eyes of likeable young first generation immigrant who travels from the beaches of Colombia to the bustle of NYC and back. Vi's character and emotions are written with great depth that it would seem could only be written by someone who has lived her adventure. Beautifully written in a light fast paced fun voice while grappling with profound truths and emotion.

Barrios is a rare talent to create a fun yet meaningful vacation book that inspires reflection long after it's over. Also helps that the reader is great, perfectly brings Barrios's characters to life. Listen to this book, you won't regret it.

I enjoyed the performance. The actress who read the book did a fantastic job of voicing all the different characters.

The story was sweet and the start of it really drew me in. Overall, I enjoyed the book but in the later chapters, the story got repetitive and predictable losing the freshness and fun from the early chapters. And sadly, the main character, Vi, became a bit insufferable with some of her decisions.

SPOILER: ………


…….

I wish Vi would have ended up alone. The constant need to go back to her first love, Rafa, made her other decisions seem like they didn’t really matter to her. She had success and was in a healthy relationship with Liam but she struggled cause he didn’t understand her love for her grandmother’s restaurant. Of course, he didn't understand it, Vi never took a moment to explain it to him. Sure, at times she tried but when he would ask her questions about it and say, “I don’t understand, please tell me,” she would t. I wish she did cause Liam loved her and wanted to look towards the future yet she wanted to stay in the past with Rafa.

Amor Antes Que Miedo 😭🫶🏽

Beautiful story! So well read, it gave me chills. Survival, love, new beginnings, grief. So many layers.

Repetitive

The protagonist’s constant indecision annoying. The story was too repetitive and the outcome predictable. I would have rather more depth into the grandmother’s life. She was the most interesting character in the story.