Review: A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Title: A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

Author: Laura Taylor Namey

Publisher: 30th November 2022 by Simon & Schuster Australia

Pages: 320 pages

Genre: young adult, romance, contemporary 

My Rating: 3.5 cups

Synopsis:

Love & Gelato meets Don’t Date Rosa Santos in this charming, heartfelt story following a Miami girl who unexpectedly finds love—and herself—in a small English town.

For Lila Reyes, a summer in England was never part of the plan. The plan was 1) take over her abuela’s role as head baker at their panadería, 2) move in with her best friend after graduation, and 3) live happily ever after with her boyfriend. But then the Trifecta happened, and everything—including Lila herself—fell apart.

Worried about Lila’s mental health, her parents make a new plan for her: spend three months with family friends in Winchester, England, to relax and reset. But with the lack of sun, a grumpy inn cook, and a small town lacking Miami flavor (both in food and otherwise), what would be a dream trip for some feels more like a nightmare to Lila…until she meets Orion Maxwell.

A teashop clerk with troubles of his own, Orion is determined to help Lila out of her funk, and appoints himself as her personal tour guide. From Winchester’s drama-filled music scene to the sweeping English countryside, it isn’t long before Lila is not only charmed by Orion, but England itself. Soon a new future is beginning to form in Lila’s mind—one that would mean leaving everything she ever planned behind.

My Thoughts

A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow was a Reese Witherspoon’s YA book club selection and I can see that it has a range of appealing aspects for its genre. There are many great themes in this book - family, grief, friendship, romance and especially a celebration of cultural diversity from both Cuba/Miami and England. 

‘Redeeming myself ? Is that what I was trying to do? Or was I just trying to fix the one crumbled, burned thing in my life I knew for certain I could make right?’

The main character, Lila is grieving from a lost friendship, a lost boyfriend, and the death of her Abuela. This is a story of family and friends, of the places and people that make a place a home and ways to find healing through these things. This is the story of a journey of self discovery. Apart from the obvious expectations, there were some great surprises in this book. I loved Lila’s passion for baking and how she incorporated her culture into her cooking. For a young person to be so proud of her heritage was refreshing. Then there was the contrast between the two cultures of Cuban and English (loved the tea shop) and I felt this was well done. Likewise, it was refreshing to be in Winchester, England.

“Thing is, when you put something back together it’s never exactly the same as it was before. What if she wants to fix things, but it means everything’s different from how you used to get on? Can you do that?”

 This proved a solid YA read with interesting characters and multiple layers to the story. I had a slight issue with the writing style, but otherwise it was a quick read and enjoyable story. A story of love, loss, and reinventing yourself told through good characters, settings and yummy food. 

‘I was brought up for this place, but I can change my life recipe too.’

This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.