This book was one of my most anticipated books of 2023 after I fell in love with the author’s storytelling in A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. I was so excited to read Flora’s story. I know it’s called A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak, but WOW does the author lay the heartbreak on thick.

This story isn’t just about romantic heartbreak, though there is a big helping of that. It’s also about the heartbreak of losing a parent, of not knowing what to do with your life, of feeling like everything in your life is going wrong.

Flora’s grieving her mother who passed from early onset Alzheimer’s. She’s also deciding what she wants to do with her future while emotionally struggling with giving away her mother’s piano. When her best friend Gordon admits his feelings for her and everything at home feels like too much, she hops on the next flight from Winchester to Miami.

I’m a friends-to-lovers stan, and was rooting for Flora and Gordon in ACGGTTAT. There’s a bit of a love triangle twist, a handful of misunderstandings, and an actual hurricane that keep them apart for most of the story. But the cinematic rom-com reunion in the finale is so worth it!

I recommend this book to fans of messy and complicated characters, emotional and realistic stories about grief, and slows-burn romance.

(Apologies for the very late review)

I really enjoyed the first book in this companion series, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, so requesting an ARC of A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak seemed like a no-brainer. I understand that this is meant to be a companion novel to the first book, and in no way is a direct sequel (though we do get some cameos from past characters). However, I think the difference in the main characters between the two books was really jarring to me, and really impacted my overall enjoyment of this second story.

Following Flora, the little sister of the love interest from the first book (Orion), the plot is a bit of a mirror the the previous book in some ways: reeling from the death of a beloved family member, Flora heads to Miami to live with family friends to process her grief and find herself. I adored the snippets of the Reyes family and their bakery that I saw in the previous book, so I thought “great!” The premise worked well for Lila moving to England last time, so it should again, right?

Unfortunately, Flora as a main character really grated on me. I totally get that she’s dealing with a lot of grief and has a very *big* personality, especially compared to Lila, but her constant bad and selfish decisions felt grating after a while, especially given that she’s 17ish (I think? Definitely out of high school) and felt like behavior I’d see in a younger YA (or even middle grade) novel to me. Don’t get me wrong, female characters SHOULD be allowed to be angry (which Flora definitely is) but it’s just not my cup of tea in how she expressed herself. Coupled with the fact that I wasn’t as interested in her hobby as Lila’s (photography vs cooking) and a messy love triangle that honestly never felt like it had stakes, this novel just wasn’t for me.

I still highly recommend the first book in this series, and it can totally be read as a standalone!

This book was a little bit of a let down. I LOVED A Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow but I never could get into this one. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that Miami never felt special like England did in the first book. I did love how messy the book let Flora be.
I will give this book another chance in a few months & see if my opinion changes.

Absolutely captivating! This book is a masterpiece that kept me hooked from start to finish. The characters were so well-developed. I couldn't put it down! Highly recommend to anyone looking for an enthralling read.

A followup to Cuban Girl’s Guide, I went into this one so excited to read Flora’s story. I was a bit let down with the story I got. Dealing with the grief of her mother’s death, Flora feels lost and adrift, leaving her family and home to escape to Miami, hoping that a change will help her figure out what she wants.

Having dealt with the same grief as Flora, I understood her desire to escape and need something new. What I struggled with was the way she treated her family without sparing the thought that they were going through the same grief. I had a hard time pulling up sympathy for Flora. That, coupled with the romance that felt lackluster, left me feeling just okay about the whole story.

There’s a lot of growth and healing in this book, but it was missing the charm of the first, the spark that made me feel for all the characters.

A companion to the first book that knocked my socks off with its delightful characters and banter, this one was a little less enthusiastic but not in a bad way- just different. Maybe it's my aversion to the influencer/social media world and this overblown celebrity-dom culture that's more of an annoyance to focus on in a story personally than it being a detraction for the book itself. But we heart Gordon.

Ultimately Flora is an angry girl who has lost her mother and lost her way. She's cut up about the fact that she willfully didn't arrive in time to say goodbye to her mom with her family which leads to soul searching in Miami with its intersection of art/photography, weather, romance, and a touch of food. And coming of age stories are always strong when you build strong characters as Namey does well. Delightfully fun with settings to match the vivid characters.

This is an Gnat YA novel featuring Flora who experiencing internal and external conflict to find peace. Than you for the opportunity to read and review this sweet novel.

1. This romcom opens at a funeral. And not in a cute or sweet way.

2. The timeline, even when it runs true, is a bit hard to follow.

3. Flora is, at best, an unreliable narrator of her own story. She makes mistakes the reader is supposed to understand were caused by her grief, but even she says, "I'm bad news. I'm a disaster."

4. Flora's friends and family and love interests treat her like a dangerous hurricane. She's not. But to be fair, she treats herself that way.

5. Dealing with grief is unique to each person. It's not a straight line; it's not a journey with an ending. And it's certainly not a romcom. I love how Gordon tries to draw Flora out with smiles, and how Baz tries to help Flora refocus using photography. But it's a Flora problem.

6. "There's a healthy way to reframe stuff, so we can see past it and move on." - Baz "God knows I have a million more examples. But sometimes even a million doesn't add up." - Gordon

7. What it takes for Flora is an actual hurricane.

8. Should you read this? If you're looking for a light, fun romcom, this isn't it. If you're ready for dealing with grief and trauma, this could be your book.

Grief, first love, and discovering the art in your own messiness — all set against the vibrant backdrop of Miami. There were lines in this book that just left me breathless. Beautiful!

A great follow up to the previous title in this series! I loved the quirkiness of the characters and some of our past favorites. I will definitely get this book for my YA collection.

What a fun YA contemporary romance! I loved the juxtaposition of the British girl in Florida, the photography hijinks, the love story and family wounds getting healed. Another really fun and heart-warming romp from Namey!

A BrA British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak is a brilliant follow-up to Laura Taylor Namey’s A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. This companion novel follows Flora Maxwell as she runs away from her home town of Winchester to Miami, where she must wrestle with her grief over her mother’s death and her uncertainty over the future.

Laura Taylor Namey has a way of writing about grief in a way that is heart-wrenching while still allowing her books to feel ultimately hopeful. This is visible in all of her books, and A British Girl’s Guide is no different. Flora’s character arc is intricately tied to her feelings about her mother’s death, but the tone of the book is ultimately about growing up, healing, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and allowing others to care for you.

The romance centers around a love triangle, which features a friends-to-lovers storyline that is absolutely adorable, but I absolutely loved the way that Flora’s familial relationships are centered just as much as her romantic ones. Gordon is a wonderful love interest, but the story is fundamentally about Flora’s character growth and her interactions with all of the people who are important to her, rather than just her love interests.

A Cuban Girl’s Guide is one of my favorite YA contemporary books of all time, so I went into this book fully expecting it to be a 5 star read, and I’m so happy to say that it did not disappoint. I would recommend this to anybody looking for a YA read dealing with grief, family, or coming-of-age themes.

This was a great sequel to Cuban Girl's Guide. I enjoyed reading about Flora and her experiences and thoughts surrounding her family. I also enjoyed seeing Miami through her eyes and getting to know the Flores family more!

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricane's and Heartbreak follows Flora, who goes to Miami to deal with the struggle of losing her mom and try to figure out what she wants to do with her life (something we all struggle with). I enjoyed Flora's story tremendously aas well as the love triangle romance feeling very realistic. I enjoyed this one quite a bit and found it to be a lighthearted and easy going read.

In this sweet sequel to A Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, Orion, Lila, and Flora are struggling to deal with the passing of Orion and Flora's mother. Flora, whose family has always compared her to a hurricane, is thrown when her best friend Gordon professes he is in love with her. Afraid that she will ruin that relationship just like she ruins everything else, Flora takes off for Miami to stay with Lila's family for a little while. She has always relied on photography as an escape, something just for herself, but a fake dating situation with a professional photographer leads to some new thoughts on how she might have what it takes to make a living with her art. Sweet, filled with sweet treats from Lila's family's bakery, and friendship in many forms. Definitely recommend for Rom com fans, whether you've read the first or not.

I'm a sucker for a good teen romcom, and when I saw the cover of A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak I knew I had to check it out. One, I am a current Florida resident, and two, I love a good love triangle. Never having read Laura Taylor Namey before, I was pleasantly surprised by her book.

A lot of romcoms are great, but a little fluffy. By this, I just mean they are predictable, and sometimes do not have much meat to them. Nothing wrong with that, of course, because sometimes I just need to feel good when I finish a book. Namey did a thing here though. This book took that fluffy romcom portion and intertwined it with really deep-seated trauma and emotions with Flora trying to deal with her past, come to terms with mistakes she had made, and grow into a new person. This is an honest-to-God coming-of-age story.

I really enjoyed the "side" characters in this book too. While they were side characters and Flora was obviously the main character, these side characters really formed this perfectly crafted ball of perfection. Each character brought something huge to the plotline and we got to see all the characters really progress in their own storylines and lives. While I love Gordon, I have to say I was cheering for Baz the entire book. I won't give anything away, but the ending kind of threw me. I was pleasantly shocked by it and happy I didn't really see it coming. I honestly thought the story was going a different way, and I truly appreciated that because a lot of romcoms are predictable to an extent.

A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak flows so well and I went from laughing out loud to trying to (unsuccessfully) hold back tears. I felt the entire spectrum of emotions while reading Namey's novel and I am totally hooked now. I cannot wait to read more of her work. This is an absolute must-read for everyone... do not be fooled by that RomCom categorization and colorful cover. This book digs deep!

As a fan of A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, I was interested to see how this companion novel, set in Miami, would turn out. This one navigates grief in interesting ways, but I found myself wanting more. I appreciated the mistakes the main character makes and found that her relationship with photography is well-written, but I didn’t find any of the characters very memorable. The love triangle was a bit of a miss for me as well, and I would have liked to see more development for Gordon’s character especially. That said, this is an emotional and heartwarming story with beautiful writing that I’m sure fans of the author’s previous work will enjoy.

A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey delivers an unexpected love triangle but ultimately, I couldn’t get past the writing style. This novel acts as a sequel to A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, but it also stands alone, so no need to read it beforehand.

Plagued by grief
We met Flora Maxwell on the day of her mother’s funeral. She’s supposed to give a speech, but when the moment comes, she ends up running away instead, too emotional to confront her feelings. But it’s not grief that’s holding her back–it’s guilt. Guilt because she wasn’t there the day her mother died, and because she lied to her dad about why.

In the first chapter, she plays up this lie as some deep, dark secret, which she feels is crushing her. I assumed she would carry this secret close to chest, and throughout the story we would slowly learn more and more pieces until it’s finally revealed. I expected good storytelling, but no, that was too much to ask for. Instead, she blurts out her secret to her whole family in Chapter 2, completely destroying the tension.

She immediately runs away to sunny Miami to stay with her brother’s girlfriend’s family so she never has to face the consequences of her own actions. And her dad just… lets her. I know she’s technically an adult, but her family’s reaction didn’t ring true to me. My parents would have loaded me on the next flight home. Instead, she spends the rest of the novel in Miami, working through her issues.

Unfortunately, the book lacked focus. Sometimes, it feels like a book about the grief of losing your mom. But more often, it felt like it was trying to be a romance instead. It would have been better off choosing a lane and sticking to it. I would’ve preferred the grief lane, because I’ve read enough terrible love triangles to last a lifetime.

Unnecessary romance
In the opening chapter, we meet Gordan, a friend Flora has known since childhood. He takes her out on a picnic and asks her out. Immediately, I struggled with this, because I felt no connection to the character, and so I felt nothing when Flora sadly rejects him. Later in the story, when he inevitably shows up in Florida, Flora finds herself catching feelings.

But she’s already met someone else in Miami: Baz Marín, the son of the famous photographer. Flora needs him to shoot her friend’s wedding after her photographer backed out. At first, he refuses, but then it turns out that he needs something from her too… a fake girlfriend. So, they strike a deal.

Based on the tropes that we all know and love, it seems obvious that she’ll fall for Baz. He’s sexy, and they bond over deep conversations about photography. What’s not to love? But as the story goes on, it becomes really unclear who she will choose. Neither love interest is developed enough for you to root for them, so the love triangle is unpredictable, and yet…passionless. The story tries to focus on both the romance and the grief storylines and it does as much of a disservice to the romance as it does to the grief plot.

Flora. Just Flora.
I don’t think I can emphasize enough how much I disliked this main character. I found her personality grating. She’s bold, brash, and this leads her to outbursts in almost every situation. I mean, she blurts out her deep, dark secret with almost no provocation. She flies to another country to avoid dealing with her family. She yells at random strangers gossiping about her family. I’m sorry, girl, but I am not letting you off on the grief card. Do better.

Other reviewers have read and enjoyed this book, but sadly, I’m simply not one of them. But if you enjoy drama queens, photography stories, and hot Cuban boys, you just might give it a try.

Thank you @simonteen for the digital ARC & @simon.audio for the audiobook. I really enjoyed this story about Flora in Miami. Flora is still dealing with her emotions and healing after her mom passed away. Although I lost my mom at a much older age, I connected with a lot of the feelings that Flora has. This is a post-high school coming of age story where Flora is not sure what direction to go next. Gordon and Baz both seem to have their path figured out and Flora's experience in Miami helps shape her next step. Oh and there's a fake dating situation involved, which is always fun. I absolutely loved all the Cuban representation and Spanish in this book. This was a great follow up to A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. Although A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes & Heartbreak can probably be read as a standalone, it is best read after A Cuban Girl's Guide to thoroughly understand all the characters involved. The audio was great and I enjoyed hearing all the accents.

I really enjoyed Flora's story! I loved the parallels to Lila, the callbacks to CUBAN GIRL'S, and I especially loved the emotional journey Flora goes on in this book. It's such a beautiful look at processing grief & figuring out the future, and honestly? I relate to Flora's hurricane-ness!