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Play
Not yet published
Expected 13 Oct 26One night was supposed to be enough.
Years after walking away from the concert halls that once knew her by another name, Zella Mondesir has built a quieter life in Chicago. She teaches music, works toward the final stage of her doctorate, and keeps the brilliance that once made her famous carefully contained.
She has no intention of returning to the stage.
She has even less intention of becoming involved with Patrick Bianchi again.
Patrick is raising a daughter, taking ownership of the restaurant he helped build, and carrying more responsibility than he has room to name. The guarded woman he shared one unforgettable night with should have remained a memory. Instead, Zella begins appearing at Prime, and the distance between them becomes harder to maintain.
Their attraction is immediate. Trust takes longer.
As Zella’s unfinished score draws her back toward the world she escaped, the identity she buried begins to surface. At the same time, Patrick is holding onto a truth that could alter everything between them. With family, ambition, and old wounds pressing closer, they must decide whether what began in secrecy can survive being fully seen.
Set against Chicago’s restaurants, classrooms, galleries, and concert halls, Play is an emotionally layered slow-burn romance about reclaiming authorship, rebuilding trust, and finding a love that does not ask you to become smaller.
Play is the second interconnected standalone in The Reset Novels and the sister story to Pause. It can be read as a standalone, but readers may enjoy the series in order.
Years after walking away from the concert halls that once knew her by another name, Zella Mondesir has built a quieter life in Chicago. She teaches music, works toward the final stage of her doctorate, and keeps the brilliance that once made her famous carefully contained.
She has no intention of returning to the stage.
She has even less intention of becoming involved with Patrick Bianchi again.
Patrick is raising a daughter, taking ownership of the restaurant he helped build, and carrying more responsibility than he has room to name. The guarded woman he shared one unforgettable night with should have remained a memory. Instead, Zella begins appearing at Prime, and the distance between them becomes harder to maintain.
Their attraction is immediate. Trust takes longer.
As Zella’s unfinished score draws her back toward the world she escaped, the identity she buried begins to surface. At the same time, Patrick is holding onto a truth that could alter everything between them. With family, ambition, and old wounds pressing closer, they must decide whether what began in secrecy can survive being fully seen.
Set against Chicago’s restaurants, classrooms, galleries, and concert halls, Play is an emotionally layered slow-burn romance about reclaiming authorship, rebuilding trust, and finding a love that does not ask you to become smaller.
Play is the second interconnected standalone in The Reset Novels and the sister story to Pause. It can be read as a standalone, but readers may enjoy the series in order.
408 pages, Kindle Edition
Expected publication October 13, 2026
About the author
Vatalini Sahar
4 books8 followersVatalini Sahar crafts romantic fiction with a “candlelit noir” pulse, intimate, atmospheric love stories where desire and honesty collide. She is the author of Pause, a contemporary romance that threads grief, obsession, and hard-won hope through the lives of two people learning to love without the masks. Known for character-first storytelling, Vatalini’s work favors flawed but empathetic leads: intelligent yet humble, reserved until safe, and fiercely loving despite old wounds.
Her pages hum with tension and restraint, lush settings, and tactile motifs of silk and broken glass, signaling both vulnerability and strength. Expect slow-burning heat, moral complexity, and endings that feel inevitable because the characters earn them.
Vatalini’s forthcoming books include Play, a companion to Pause that deepens its world and asks what healing requires, and Queen of the Night, a darker, operatic romance that explores power, performance, and surrender. When she isn’t writing, she’s storyboarding scenes, annotating lyrics, and collecting small sensory details that make a kiss feel like a confession.
For updates, bonus scenes, and early reads, join her Substack and find her on socials @vatalinis
Her pages hum with tension and restraint, lush settings, and tactile motifs of silk and broken glass, signaling both vulnerability and strength. Expect slow-burning heat, moral complexity, and endings that feel inevitable because the characters earn them.
Vatalini’s forthcoming books include Play, a companion to Pause that deepens its world and asks what healing requires, and Queen of the Night, a darker, operatic romance that explores power, performance, and surrender. When she isn’t writing, she’s storyboarding scenes, annotating lyrics, and collecting small sensory details that make a kiss feel like a confession.
For updates, bonus scenes, and early reads, join her Substack and find her on socials @vatalinis
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