Solo flees Trinidad for New York to carve out a lonely existence as an undocumented immigrant, and Mr. Chetan remains the singular thread holding mother and son together. But soon, Mr. Chetan’s own burdensome secret is revealed, with heartbreaking consequences. Love After Love interrogates love and family in all its myriad meanings and forms, asking how we might exchange an illusory love for one that is truly fulfilling. A lot of themes are explored in Love After Love with love being the grounding theme. Persaud showcase the different forms of love and the different ways we love or show love. I have to admit, I enjoyed hearing from a 40 year old women about what it is like dating at that age in Trinidad and Tobago- it was so well done and I find we don’t read a lot about “older” Caribbean women dating and finding love. There is the theme of friendship and what that "should" look like, and I felt Persaud did just a spectacular job of taking us into a real genuine friendship between Betty and Mr. Chetan- I think that was so well explored and I wanted more of it. I’ve always felt off to the side, like I’m watching on. An extra in everyone else’s story. But here I am and here she is and I finally get the lead role and while I don’t know how this story ends, this is how it starts: outside the station, commuters bustling past in their effort to catch the 17:58, her hand in mine” The above quote from Betty is also disturbing, especially in light of current events (BLM protests) as it stirs up a dangerous form of thinking, which involves a person's fair complexion as being redemptive despite them being abusive. Yes, Betty is a character and not a real person but her mindset in this specific context and the blunt manner in how she was written regarding the abuse she suffered was distasteful.

I can’t help but think that if I had read this book as a teenager, when my problems seemed never-ending, perhaps my life would have been different. The representation of a healthy relationship between two teenage girls is something that I missed, but I’m glad that many other teenagers will now be able to read this story and feel heard. They will be able to hold onto this book when things are difficult for them. This is the main reason I have felt this book so close to my heart and why I would recommend it to everyone who has experienced growing up as a queer teenager.At times I saw the complete flaws in each of the three main characters armour, but I also saw their strengths. If you have read teen romance or contemporary novels before, you will probably find yourself, like me, predicting most of the plot. But the sweet and beautiful romance is so worth the journey that it’s almost nice not to have any nasty surprises along the way. Byrne’s writing is flowery and perhaps a little excessive for some, yet I only found that it spoke to me, and reminded me of the way I enjoy writing: lots of dramatic metaphors and romanticism.

The separation of the book into two parts – love and after – was really effective as it allowed the readers time to fall in love with Poppy and Ash and their relationship, making Ash’s death and the resulting grief all the more heartbreaking. I also really enjoyed the lore surrounding the reapers and felt that Byrne did a really good job of explaining everything you needed to know about this world without overwhelming the reader. I won’t go into too much detail on the next point but I will say that the ending fits the book perfectly. Such a portrayal misrepresents a large sector of the country and has Trinidadians like myself feeling alienated when Caribbean literature like this should have me feeling connected. Khan consciously explored such issues while working on the script; one of them being the painful story of the death of his six-month-old sister, Shereena, when he was four. He grew up keeping his sister’s teddy in the bottom drawer of his desk. “I don’t really remember anything about her,” he says, “but growing up there was always a sense that someone was missing.”

It’s true to say that at the first two chapters I found the writing style very different as when there was dialogue there was no speech bubbles “. I soon got used to it and you know what......it really didn’t matter because it was formatted so well my old brain adapted to it good good. And yes, I said “good good” twice as in the dialect of Trinidad some words do get added on twice. I’ve learnt a lot from just how it’s written. Trinidadian English as we know it, Spanish, slang expressions, idioms, French/Creole words, some Indian/Asian influence and a lyrical twist of phrase and it’s spoken with ease.