This stunning thriller delivers an unforgettable story centered on two sisters who work at a luxury resort in a historic Dominican beach town where the locals have a tight knit community. It starts out intense and never quite lets up. Spanning over a seven-day period, the plot is driven by a phenomenal group of characters whose stories intertwine as they make one bad decision after another. It masterfully explores class, race, and the impact of exploitative tourism. While very intense and dark at times, the overarching message is one of crude reality yet also relentless optimism. Once I picked it up, I couldn’t put it down and will definitely be telling everyone I know to read it.

📕 Ⓑⓞⓞⓚ Ⓡⓔⓥⓘⓔⓦ 📕

Title: The Grand Paloma Resort
Author: Cleyvis Natera
Publisher: Ballantine
Format: 📖
Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
Pub Date: August 12, 2025

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for this ARC and for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review. 

If you have read any of Elizabeth Acevedo works (Clap When You Land is one of my favorites) you will really enjoy this book.

“We honor the past by remaining vigilante in the present”

Set in the Dominican Republic and The Grand Paloma Resort, this books starts out as a simple mystery but instead we are taken on a complicated ride into the history of the DR and Haiti, into the tourist industry and consumerism that drives the life of luxury often desired in places surrounded by poverty. If you have listened to bachata, this book reads like a bachata song; love and passion for the Dominican Republic.

Quick Synopsis:
Laura is in senior leadership at The Grand Paloma Resort where she is the boss to many of her childhood friends who grew up in the near by community, Pico Diablo Mountain. Her younger sister, Elena, is babysitter for a tourists daughter when an accident happens that sends the characters into a week long tailwind trying to uncover the mystery of two missing children of one of Lauren’s friends. All of this happens while a category 5 hurricane comes barreling towards the island. Told in multiple POV this books twists literacy fiction, social justice, and suspense in a book that will keep you reading on edge to find out what happens. I highly recommend this book!!

❓QOTD: have you been to the Caribbean? If so where? And did you stay more local or in a resort?

#litfiction #suspense #beachreads #dominicanrepublic #womenslit #ARCreview

A trip to the Dominican Republic! I was all in, bags were packed, lodging was secure, and I was on my way. Excited to see what would happen in setting so beautiful that my jaw dropped with every single breathtaking detail. The only problem I had was connecting with any of the characters. All the ones I loved had very small parts. I found myself bored at times and the quickness in which everything was cleaned up after a category five hurricane made me shake my head. The history of the Dominican Republic with Haiti caught my attention and my eyes drilled into the pages searching for more fragments to learn. I loved how the history, and the present twisted into every area of life for the people who grew up on the island.

Laura has worked her fingers to the bone as a manager at the Grand Paloma Resort. Building it into a place people come year after year. Every whim and every dream are possible at the Grand Paloma. Some being extremely questionable and shocking, as long as management turned a blind eye to it. When Laura's younger sister, who is a babysitter at the resort, comes rushing in with a young child who is barely breathing and bleeding. Laura sees her life race before her eyes. She begs her friend Vida, a local healer, to come help. Even if that may cause her harm. Laura will stop at nothing to protect her sister and most importantly herself.

The one aspect this book brought to light. Is that tourism brings all kinds of problems. If a man can come in and pay for anything he wants, you know there is a trail of women and sometimes even children left in his wake. It is nauseating to even think about the number of Caribbean women and children who are missing. Yet without tourism how would they survive? Thank you to Cleyvis Natera and Ballentine Books for my gifted copy.

While I didn't love this book, I really did appreciate the light it shed on the mostly hidden costs of tourism. In the vein of The White Lotus, we see the toll taken on those who work so hard to cater to the wealthy. Maybe this was the point, but I didn't really like any of the characters. That made it a little difficult to get into the story.

This was book was okay but I struggled to get into it. I liked the setting and characters but I just don’t think it was for me.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

The Grand Paloma Resort really gives you a glimpse of the drastically different worlds that collide when destinations are known for tourism. The divide between the haves and haves nots is laid bare in this novel, the imbalances impossible to ignore.

This definitely gave me a bit of White Lotus vibes, but a bit more sinister

I really loved her first novel and was excited for this. It was booked as juicy drama at a resort in the Dominican Republic, but with more depth seeking the effects of colonialism and tourism. And it was good. I'm hoping the arc gets another big final edit because some names were switched often and that was confusing. But overall, it was darker than I expected and some of the characters' actions were really hard to understand, but as things were brought to light about their pasts, it made a bit more sense.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. I was intrigued to read this one due to the comparisons to White Lotus. And while it takes place at a resort, I think that is where the comparison ends. The description of the resort in the DR was lush and full of privilege compared to the parts of the DR where the workers lived, which were full of hardship and destitution. The author painted a very vibrant picture of both sides of the Island.

The character development in this novel is strong. There are a vast amount of characters, and even the minor characters have depth. The 2 main characters are sisters and I spent most of the time disliking them both. But even though I didn’t like them, I wanted to c time reading to see where they story took them.

At times I was very disturbed by the subject matter in this one and thought about abandoning it because I was sickened. However, I continued the read and I’m glad I did. This novel gave me a fresh perspective on tourism in the islands and the divide between entitled tourist and poor islander. I know I will continue to reflect upon this novel long after it was completed.

Underneath the glorious setting of The Grand Paloma Resort in Dominican Republic lurks the truth behind all that glamor. We meet the real people who live and work there, and the relationships between each other and the guests. We also learn about the history and culture of this area, climate concerns, and effects of tourism. This book is an interesting and worthy read.

solid, pretty well done thriller with a lot of intriguing and intense settings and formatting. would definitely recommend. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

Laura and Elena are sisters who work for the Grand Paloma Resort, Laura as a Vice President and Elena as one of the resort's babysitters. When one of the children Elena is charged with watching gets injured on her watch, it sets off a chain of events that spreads well beyond the resort and into the community that provides many of its workers. Laura and Elena make bad choice after bad choice, all coming from a place of wanting to do right by others. Their choices result in two local girls going missing. To make matters worse, a hurricane is bearing down on the island.

The Grand Paloma resort is both a mystery and a commentary on the tourism industry, local workers, class, race, and the ways in which beautiful locations are abused by capitalism. I found the commentary interesting and an integral part of the story. Laura, Elena, Pablo and other characters are an illustration of how a person can want to do the right thing but how it can go so terribly wrong. They are all part of system that takes them for granted. I also enjoyed learning more of the history of the DR. I have previously visited on vacation but was not able to spend time outside of the resort because of hotel restrictions.

This is a meaty beach read for White Lotus fans with all the horrifying privilege on display, a large cast of complex and conflicted characters, and even some strong nods to the literary legacy of Edwidge Danticat.

It's a little rough in some places and quite difficult to read with most of the book consumed by the mystery of whether a pedophile got to the two missing children. The book spans several perspectives, but mostly focuses on the two sisters who are not without nuance but very often unlikeable.

It's other characters that save the show. The local curandera called to heal the tourist child's injury, who fears what the ritual might do to her own unborn child. Her ex-boyfriend, a resort employee torn between his local roots and the demands of catering to guests. The mother of the missing children, who is both longtime mistress to a wealthy foreign developer and operator of a prostitution ring from the local bar she owns. The nonagenarian teacher in their tiny mountain town, protecting an intense secret about the town's origins.

It would be so easy for a work like this to adopt a simplified message of Tourism Bad or to paint the wealthy as inherently despicable. A few well placed minor characters demonstrate wielding power for good. And threaded throughout everything is a further awareness not just of tourists, developers and locals, but the history between Haiti and the DR and its repercussions for Haitian laborers at the resort, occupying a rung even below Dominican staff.

The story unfolds over the course of a single week and this trajectory, underlined by the path of the hurricane and its aftermath, does a great job of showcasing how healing begins by excavating the ugliest truths.

CW: pedophilia, assault, domestic violence

The Grand Paloma Resort peels back the illusion of ethical tourism. Within the resort, lush gardens abound. Outside the resort, drought desiccates the land. Within the resort, clean water, WiFi, air conditioning, and a mountain of food wait for wealthy tourists to glutinously enjoy. Outside the resort, meaning in the workers' quarters, the cabins have dirt floors and no air conditioning. The communal toilets are broken, so the stench of sewage hangs over their living space.

Natera writes a fiction that could read like an ethnography. We get to know the lives of Laura and Elena very intimately. The folks of Pico Diablo become characters we deeply care about. Their absence of water after a hurricane and lack of power crushes the soul. The memory of begging for help in the middle of a hurricane and receiving no help rips at the heart. The ways in which hotel workers are forced to serve as sex workers leaves the reader ashamed at ever staying in a resort. The author uses Dulce, the mother of the missing daughters, as the voice that reveals how ubiquitously female hotel workers disappear, how frequently children are trafficked. This is a violence that mushrooms across the Caribe, and at the heart of all that violence and disappearance is a luxury resort with obscenely wealthy tourists.

In this midst of this ethnographic-like text is the story of a green-eyed tourist who wants to purchase young girls - Niña and Perfecta. And when their disappearance finally pushes to the surface, Elena and Laura do everything in their power to obfuscate responsibility.

Their guilt, however, is complicated: "How nice it must be to live with morality and scruples. To have the freedom to choose the high ground that wealth afforded." Laura, the elder sister, will coldly cross any line in order to protect Elena. Without wealth, they are left with a collection of crumby options to choose from. Choosing morality leaves them with the consequences that exceed wrongdoing.

We love these characters, even when they make one terrible choice after the next. And through it all, I have to fight against my inclination to forget that they can't afford - literally - to make moral choices. What is a reader to do with Elena until she owns up to her mistakes?

Having to put this book down to make dinner or go to work was hard. I can't wait to hear the audiobook version!

"She found the idea that the most interesting thing at any resort could ever possibly be the guests absurd." Natera's sophomore novel explores the dramatic White Lotus-esque stories of the staff members at a luxury resort on Dominican Republic. A family drama? A mystery? Contemporary fiction? All of the above?

The Grand Paloma Resort addresses significant issues on race, class, tourism, colorism, and misogyny. Missing persons and a hurricane. I really enjoyed reading about all of the characters within the Paloma resort. The book had me on the edge of my seat, but it was wrapped up really nicely. I really enjoyed this one. I am interested in reading Natera's first book.

The Grand Paloma Resort by Cleyvis Natera is a thrilling ride! I loved how each character played a role in each other’s lives — for better or worse. It did slow down a bit in the middle, and I found myself wondering, when will we know what really happened?! But as I kept reading, it all came together so well. I really enjoyed how the story shows that through a broken past, one can build a better future — not only for themselves, but for their community and culture too.

You’ll definitely want to yell at some of these characters while you read! But stick with it, even when the pace dips — you’ll be rewarded in the end.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the advanced copy!

We get two FMC who keep both a secret from each other.  Once both decide to correct their mistakes we get to learn how redemption and resilience is the way to have a pure and true family relationship.  We also get to see how side hustle's tend to lead to heartbreaks.  This book is the one I will be recommending everyone to read. This is the summer's page-turning thriller.  Can't wait to listen to this on audiobook.
Thank you to NetGalley Ballantine Books  for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

When Laura was fourteen years old her mother committed suicide. Left with the care of her four-year-old sister Elena, over the years Laura did everything to make sure Elena’s needs were met as their absentee father drifted in and out of their lives. Ten years later, after much hard work climbing a corporate ladder not meant for brown-skinned locals, Laura had achieved the highest position for a local at the Grand Paloma Resort for the extremely rich. There, she worked as a manager. However, her insistence on working her fellow locals hard, holding them to strict standards, and berating them for minor infractions gained her many enemies.

Elena was seventeen and had been protected by Laura her whole life. Due to her sister’s job she had the opportunity to attend an elite school but wasn’t happy with her life as a resort babysitter. Restless and bored she began abusing pills to drift into forgetfulness. One day she was babysitting the daughter of a rich set of parents, got high, and the little girl was severely injured. Elena was sure she had died, and knew she had to leave or wind up in jail.

This thought process of avoiding responsibility was the beginning of her problems, as her desire to flee the Dominican Republic to avoid persecution caused her to accept thousands of dollars from a tourist child abuser for the daughters of a local acquaintance. Elena took the money and ran, assuring herself the girls would be fine. They weren’t.

As we read their story, and those of several others who have a part to play in their lives, the history of the Dominican Republic is laid bare. Racial prejudice against Haitians and Dominicans, its infiltration by rich Americans, and the extreme poverty of locals are contrasted with the people’s love for their island, each other, and their history.

I hope those who visit these types of resorts will remember the terrible behavior of rich tourists towards locals and vow to do better. “The Grand Paloma Resort” is filled with love, strength, and resilience. It will show you how to do better.

Recommended for Adults.

When I selected this book, I decided to take a chance on an author that I'd never heard of before. The synopsis sounded intriguing, and I love vacationing in the Dominican Republic. I wanted to like this book; I really did. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

This book was classified as a mystery/thriller; however, I don't know if that's the best categorization. I found the storyline to be monotonous, and the writing style was dry and boring. The storyline was presented from different points of view, which is something I typically like. The author neglected to inform the reader which point of view each chapter was written from, making the storyline sometimes difficult to follow.

I pushed through and finished the book, but I most likely will not read another by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

This new fiction title from the author of Neruda on the Park captured everything that I was hoping it would. This book explored the important yet often overlooked impact of the resort tourism industry on the local communities. It really peeled back the layers to expose the underbelly of what is happening in the Caribbean. I appreciate the conversations that this book could spark and can see it being a great book club pick.