I have been a Laura Taylor Namey fan ever since I read A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. And this sequel companion novel is exactly what I needed. I instantly fell for Flora and how she feels like this whirlwind. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.
Summary
Winchester, England, has always been home for Flora, but when her mother dies after a long illness, Flora feels untethered. Her family expects her to apply to university and take a larger role in their tea-shop business, but Flora isn’t so sure. More than ever, she’s the chaotic “hurricane” in her household, and she doesn’t always know how to manage her stormy emotions.
So she decides to escape to Miami without telling anyone—especially her longtime friend Gordon Wallace.
But Flora’s tropical change of scenery doesn’t cast away her self-doubt. When it comes to university, she has no idea which passions she should follow. That’s also true in romance. Flora’s summer abroad lands her in the flashbulb world of teen influencer Baz Marín, a Miami Cuban who shares her love for photography. But Flora’s more conflicted than ever when she begins to see future architect Gordon in a new light.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
It was an almost instant love affair with A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak. You will always hook me with friends to lovers so I had high hopes. Immediately I was connected to Flora. To all the ways she feels the guilt and grief of her mother’s passing. Each moment she feels like this tornado, this hurricane, in her family, her friendships, and her world. How sometimes when we’re hurting, processing, a soft touch is just what it would take to break us. We can feel like we can only push people away and that one kind gesture would be too much.
Wow have I felt like that before. Having witnessed someone in my family suffering from dementia, A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak was even more emotional. If you love YA Contemporary stories with characters who think they’re a mess and struggling to choose. It can feel like as teens we are supposed to make these large scale decisions about our whole life. That these choices are, once written, set in stone. A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak navigates both of these – a compelling character and one stuck between choices.
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A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak was a delight. Find A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, & Blackwells.