The Playlist

by Melina Lewis

When Jack Pringle, the spoilt and out of control son of one of Cape Town’s wealthiest families is forced by his father to join Maria Alexopoulos on a road trip, he has no idea what he’s in for. Jack’s recent antics have landed him in serious trouble, and he must comply with his father’s rules or he will end up penniless, something he is not used to.
Maria, the head Project Manager for an NGO called Wells for All is about to start her final journey across South Africa to close out her projects and tie up some loose ends. Maria’s recent personal loss and grief make her less than tolerant of Jack, a man twenty years her junior. Unfortunately, she must take Jack with her to appease his father, the NGO’s main donor.
The journey, told with music, across the barren and beautiful countryside will test their resolve, ability to heal and connect. When they are stripped of all they believe they should be, can Maria and Jack find their truth under the African stars.

293 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 13, 2023

About the author

Melina Lewis is a Strategic Marketing and Communications specialist by day and writer by night. Her first book “After you died…” is a fictional novel set in the seaside town of Fish Hoek, Cape Town, where she resides. Melina’s career began in health sciences but quickly leap frogged to something more fun, namely advertising. She has been working on creative copy one liners for over 15 years, and has amassed enough marketing knowledge to contribute towards several chapters of various Marketing Textbooks for South African colleges. Melina now consults to various businesses and is working on her second novel.

Reviews

[_sassy_39 · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Playlist written by the author Melina Lewis is an interesting story. The main character of the story is Maria Alexopolous. She is the head Project Manager for an NGO called Wells For All. Maria is doing her final voyage to all projects. 

Maria thought that she couldn't be on the road forever. For the past few years, she has only put the projects first but now it's time for a break. Her boss Don would welcome her back whenever she wants to come. Maria was about to start her journey but she received a call from Don that Jack Pringle, a spoiled rich kid of David Pringle would accompany her on this journey. 

David is one of the main donors to the NGO and his request can't be ignored. Maria doesn't want to babysit Jack but she has to. Jack has a wild existence. He has too much fun sometimes. Read this story to know will Jack and Maria connect on the trip. 

The writing style of the author is nice. I loved the playlist and some of the artists are my favorite too. The cover photo is lovely and the title is suitable. The storyline is interesting and the author has done fantastic work in this book.

[Penny Haw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Journeys can be great vehicles for storytelling, as this novel proves. Juxtaposing a road trip through southern Africa and the inner journeys of her two main characters, author Melina Lewis takes readers on an adventurous—at times, contentious—ride across the countryside, through villages, and into the fractured hearts and minds of Maria and Jack. There are many layers to the book, including ageism, addiction, privilege, grief, denial, music and corruption. I enjoy stories that examine relationships across generations and which celebrate how much we can learn from people older and younger than ourselves. This was one of my favourite themes in The Playlist. It’s a compelling story about consequences, compassion, and healing. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

[Dominique Fredericks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack is the most insufferable person when we meet him and I just felt so sorry for Maria, who is clearly dealing with some deep-seated personal issues and now has to babysit a spoiled man child. I couldn’t see how he would actually redeem himself.
But as the trip continues they start to learn more about one another.
There is so much that is explored in this story. There’s love, loss and self-reflection and even a bit of action, you really become so invested in this story and these characters. You realize that there’s so much more to them than what you see in the surface and how events in both of their lives have led them to where they end up in the present day. I ended up flying through this book. It was so gripping.
This was the first book I have read by Melina and I really enjoyed it so much.
Great for lovers of contemporary fiction with a touch of romance.

[Mr Pink Ink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now that she's fifty, Maria feels like she has had enough of what she does and has decided to do something for herself, even though she doesn't yet know what. She is about to embark on her final trip across Southern Africa to ensure her projects are running smoothly and to say goodbye when she has a last-minute addition to her journey -the company's main investor has his "troubled" son to accompany her in an effort to "get himself sorted" and not be disowned.

Enter Jack, a spoiled little rich kid with some problems who likes to party all his troubles away; or does his behaviour hide something deep, something irreconcilable?

At first, I did have a little problem getting into the story, especially once we met Jack - I didn't like him from the start - but I really got into it a few chapters later and I got to listen to the accompanying Spotify playlist (also available on iTunes).

This may be the fourth book I've read from this author but it is her first adult work so it me a little while to adjust but her writing style is clear, smooth and easy to read; I did however have a little problem with some grammatical errors the beta team didn't pick up on causing a little confusion in a few sentences, which detracted from my reading experience.

Some awesome things to look forward to in The Playlist:

- It's very own playlist
- Forced proximity,
- Biker boy,
- Age gap romance,
- Theresa the bakkie,
- Enemies to lovers,
- Glamping.

Overall, The Playlist has some super fun parts, some super serious parts and some very interesting, typically South African, characters. We take a nice scenic trip across the country and get to feel the things our MCs do and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.

PS. Please check content/trigger warnings.

PSS. I still don't like Jack, not really....

[Tarryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the premise of this book and the absolute escapism of a road trip through South Africa. It’s got some great moments and character development and was an overall enjoyable read.

[Wendy Bloomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good, entertaining read.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Melina Lewis’s writing style - makes reading easy and enjoyable. This book was a great read and I couldn’t put it down, loved following the playlist and the characters on their journey.

[Meg Orton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Playlist starts with a song for every chapter. Imagine a burned CD from the 2000s written on a permanent marker. A CD collection in one of those flip files that lived in every cubby hole. A soundtrack for every occasion, for every bump of the road.

Maria Alexopoulos is a fifty-something-year-old Greek woman who works for the NGO Wells For All - an organization that brings running water to rural and impoverished communities in and around South Africa. Maria has always loved her job, but she's about to embark on an epic road trip from Cape Town to the Transkei in her old bakkie visiting all of her beloved projects, one last time.

Unfortunately, this road trip wasn't meant to include Jack Pringle - a 28-year-old man with far too much privilege, and an addiction problem. Jack is the son of the NGO's biggest donor, and if Maria wants her charity funded she's going to have to put up with Jack for the next few weeks.

Maria decides to camp across the country to keep him from temptation. Camping was something that she loved doing with her husband, Simon. They also loved playing old CDs on road trips. They had a lot in common, and she had almost nothing in common with Jack. For starters, he's so much younger than her and seems to have had everything handed to him on a silver platter.

Despite this, they fall for one another. Jack starts to understand the appeal of Maria's lifestyle, and Maria begins to realize that Jack's drinking might have something to do with grief. An emotion she knows all too well.

As they drive over potholed roads through small towns and meet interesting characters along the way, their shared grief begins to blend in with the simple joys of the road. As each new chapter begins with a song, the novel's pace remains slow, much like their road trip, and Maria and Jack's journey becomes more than what it appears from the outside looking in. Their love might be unconventional, but it's undeniable, and it's real.

Maria's insecurities over a relationship with a younger man take up many of her thoughts, but as she realizes just how much she underestimated Jack, the age difference no longer seems so important. As Maria works on her tragic past, and Jack begins to find himself again, something magic happens on that dusty road.

The Playlist is a little slice of South African culture, and also a slow-moving story of redemption, and the power of grief. It is also a novel about changing your stars, and the lesson to be learned here is that you always can. This is a beautiful story about the power of music, the road, love, and the art of letting go.

[Mikayla Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: Addiction, Depression, Poaching, Grief, Death, Suicide, Abortion.

Thank you so much to @octomarketingagency and @melinalewisauthor for sending me a copy of The Playlist in exchange for an honest review.

I love supporting local, and this book was as SA as you can get! With a roadtrip starting in my home city, Cape Town, and going around the country before returning to the mother city, and even entering Botswana, a neighbouring country I'd love to visit for its wildlife. As "South African" as this book was, the story itself had no limitations.
Melina Lewis tells us a beautiful story filled with difficult subjects like depression, addiction, grief, and of course, love. I'm not sure what I'd even classify this book as, because I wouldn't really say it's a romance - it's so much more than that. It's just such a raw and beautiful story that I think anyone could love.

Being able to see things from both Jack and Maria’s POV’s definitely helped the story and helped us feel sympathetic towards the both of them, instead of possibly taking either one of their sides. It made the story that much more beautiful and heartfelt and meaningful.

I highly recommend this beautiful story that tackles difficult topics in an impressive way and shows how much difference love and care can make to a person. Sometimes all we need in life is someone to support us and love us to make everything else easier.