I am Flora, Flora is me.
I recognized way too much of myself in Flora, always feeling like a hurricane. Feeling like I left way more destruction in my way then anything else.
The fact that I have been dealing with a lot of grief lately made sure that I cannot review this book subjectively. Because I feel Flora's pain.

Nonetheless, it is a good read and will tell people to read it to understand parts of me better.

Unfortunately was bored most of the way through this book. Found Flora to be very overdramatic and not relatable due to her lack of empathy for other characters. The faking dating trope was used differently here to make her realise her feeling for another person only it wasn’t convincing at all. There was far more chemistry with Bas than with Gordon. The hurricane part of the plot should have been scary and yet I didn’t feel an ounce of Flora’s fear, probably because I didn’t feel any of Flora’s attachment to Gordon. Their relationship was just too bland, the only sense of romance I got was during their photoshoot and that was half for show anyway.

A beautiful tale of family, friends to lovers, finding yourself halfway across the world and how metaphors can become reality. I really enjoyed this YA book, with cute characters and plenty of culture.

I absolutely loved A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow So I was excited to see this continue. The life stories and relations to the characters and lifes storms really made for a great read.

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!

i loved the first girls guide book, so i was incredibly excited for this one and it didn’t disappoint!

flora was a brilliant main character, and i love how it explored her grief and anger, and her not knowing what she wants to do in the future and how to do it without disappointing her family. the romance actually wasn’t my favourite part of the book, as i preferred to see her healing.

however that doesn’t mean i didn’t enjoy the romance. although this was meant to be a love triangle, to me it seemed obvious who she would end up with, and i wasn’t mad about it! and the other love interest became a brilliant best friend to her, which she truly needed.

The second book in the series does not follow immediately in the timeline of the previous one, but the gap is not too long, making the flow of the story seem a little more natural.
In the previous book, Lila ended up coming to the UK, and it is not much of a spoiler to say that she built a life in that area. Flora (the sister of the male protagonist in the previous installment) decides to do just the opposite and flee to Florida when her emotions go a little haywire. I would not recommend picking this up without having read the first, even though, technically, it can be read as a standalone. Flora's predicament and her behaviour (previous and current) are described well enough, but I think I felt like I knew her better because I had witnessed more of her interactions the first time around.
Once in town, Flora starts to explore her own interests and lucks into a fake dating scheme that might just about work for her. The romance in this is more realistic than some others I have read for this age group and made sense overall.
The best part was that it rounded off the previous story as well, wrapping up the familes' happily ever afters in a bow. I would recommend this to fans of the genre.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience

3.5 stars

I really ought to have read A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow before reading this; I think this story would have had more of an emotional impact upon me had I known more of Flora's backstory. I do think that the depiction of grief within this story is well done, and while Flora could be quite a frustrating character, as she was very self-absorbed, I think this can be forgiven considering what she's been through. Girls are allowed to be angry as well and I liked how the author showed this, and showed Flora's character development as she slowly moves forward in her life.

Love triangles aren't my favourite trope, and while this one wasn't done badly by any means, I still don't think it was necessary. It was obvious from the beginning who Flora was going to end up with, and I don't understand why that wasn't carried out to its full potential and the other love interest could have just been a friend? I also think that given the nature of what Flora's going through with her grief, figuring out her feelings for two different people at the same time meant that you couldn't be fully invested in either.

Overall, an enjoyable read, but I would definitely recommend reading A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow first!

"A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak" by Laura Taylor Namey is a whirlwind of emotions, travel, and self-discovery. The story is a delightful journey filled with romance, humor, and personal growth.

This book was a cosy YA, friends to lovers story of self purpose and self love. It was fun to read about lives of teenagers in both England and America. There was loss in this book as well which I thought was covered really carefully and well. This coming of age story was really sweet and recommended especially if you’re a lover of also photography and fake dating!

Unfortunately, due to technical issues I couldn’t read this book as when I went to download it it didn’t transfer over to my kindle and I didn’t realise until I went to read it today and it was not on my kindle so unfortunately, as I cannot read download this book. I can’t give this book a full review even though I was utterly gutted when I found out that I couldn’t read this cause. I’ve read the first book in the series and I was so looking forward to this book so I’m really sad that I couldn’t pick it up and read and review on my website.

Felt like this shouldn't have been sold solely as a companion novel that could be read separately as I felt you really needed to have read the previous novel in order to connect to the characters at all.

“She’s a hurricane, my family said. Good, cause Miami knows what to do with those.”

let me just start off by saying how wonderful it was to come back to this set of characters who i absolutely adored in ACGGTTAT. To see Lila and Orion? I was melting and kicking my feet each and every second they appeared.

Ok enough about them. This isn’t their book, it’s about Flora Maxwell. (Orion’s sister). From the last book itself, I was always intrigued by Flora’s character, and especially more when our author let us know the next book would be hers. And it did not disappoint.

There are quite a few similarities between the initial beginning of the two books (ik I’m reviewing this one but, it’s hard not to include the other as well on here). The themes of grief and how it affects one are so well done here.

if I had to badly explain the plot, it would be this: a grieving girl takes off to Miami in hopes of fixing her life away from her childhood best friend and ends up fake dating a big-shot photographer.

oh, and i have made a concession: love-triangles are tolerable. aka this is the only other book i like with this trope.

Flora is a character you want to protect, scream at, and love for eternity (read: unlocks your motherly instincts, maybe that’s the side effect of her losing her mother?) the way she becomes a hurricane is slightly concerning but it was good to see her character arc. the hurricanes are a very poetic view of flora tbh.

then there’s mr. childhood bestie gordon. seeing him again was so wonderful and their relationship>>> i will forever love this guy

and we can’t forget about big-shot photographer baz. he is the therapist we all need in our life. and perfect boyfriend material imo.

now i ain’t spoiling who she ends up with, but i do know she learns to cope with her grief and understand herself a lot better. just go read the book ;)

Genuinely found this book very cheesy, and I was close to cringing at some lines. Maybe it's just me growing up. However, I do love how this book actually caters to the young adult genre and keeps the romance clean and spice-free.

After meeting Flora in A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, I was looking forward to this, but unfortunately it took me so long to get into. For a good portion of the start of the book, I was really struggling to keep reading as Flora was behaving so immaturely and the story seemed to be going in random directions.

I did persevere, however, and it got better the more I read. Flora does start to develop as a character, and her grief is explored very well and realistically. I do wish the other characters were more fleshed out though, especially Gordon.

I didn't particularly care for the love triangle in the book, but I did like both Baz and Gordon, and the fake dating element was fun.

We met Flora in A Cuban Girl's Guide and I fell in love with this girl's story of wanting to be seen and ending up in trouble because of the storm of feelings inside her surrounding her mother's progressing Alzheimer's. I loved that this time we got to see Lila's hometown of Miami and all the culture infused into it. Through Flora's eyes, I saw a boisterous Cuban family welcome into their fold a girl in need of healing and love despite her past mistakes.

I expected Baz to be an entitled guy seeing as he came from photography royalty. He was down to earth as was revealed the more he interacted with Flora. I loved their photography sessions, and how in detail it was all described.

I loved Gordon, his architectural know-how, and how patient he was with Flora. He did get frustrated at some point, but he took care not to put pressure on her. Still, he was the sweetest, always looking to alleviate her stress and let her breathe.

There was so much about photography and architecture coupled with lessons about family and learning to grieve in a healthy way, all with self-discovery and a dose of love thrown in the mix. I loved it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak' by Laura Taylor Namey.

'A British Girl's Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak' by Laura Taylor Namey is the second book in the series. You don't need to read book 1 but I have.

I'll be honest, I suffered from the same problem I had with book 1. The first part was amazing and I felt like it was a good pace with a good plot but then... it just fizzled out. I felt disappointed by that but maybe this book just isn't for me.

This is a beautifully written book all about Flora, featured previously in the first book, A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. As I loved the first book, I had a strong feeling I would love this book too, and I really did. Learning more about Flora in this book allowed me to look back on her personality in the first book and see the development in her character, especially around new trauma which happens prior to the events of this book. I loved the reversal of locations (going from England to America) and loved learning more about Lila’s family. Flora’s trauma was very carefully explored and she learns that it isn’t healthy to let everything build up, and that she should confide in her friends, and I could really relate to a lot of different characters in this book. I would definitely recommend this book to any fans of the first book, and the series to anyone looking for a fun, cosy (but sometimes deep!) look into the lives of teenagers in England and America, and how friends and family are there to guide their way in life.

Book Review 📚
A British Girls Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey - 4/5 ⭐

A companion novel to A Cuban Girls Guide to Tea and Tomorrow. This book contains some fantastic description, all amazing in depth and some heartwarming characters.

There is a great mix up of location, bettwen England and Miami. Using both locations to contrast the differences between family, culture and the weather (duh, clues in the title with that one). But Laura went above and beyond with her descriptive writing. It isn't far fetched and completely unbelievable, it's real and everyday.

I utterly adored Flora and her entire character. She's such a mess but she's a realistic mess. So much of what she is going through is relatable. She, herself, became a hurricane. She was out of control and emotional! With what she went through its understandable. But it's all perceived so well. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey Laura took us on with this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for allowing me to read this ARC - this is an HONEST review from my own personal opinion.

I really enjoyed the companion novel, a cuban girls guide to tea and tomorrow and was very excited to read this when it was initially announced, I and was not disappointed. I loved seeing the story through Flora's perspective, and thought the constant theme of grief was well handled and explored throughout the story, making Flora more realistic and relatable.

The fake dating trope is also one of my favourites, and was very excited to see it take shape, although I would have liked it to be amplified and more of a central role, as I felt Flora and Baz had great potential, but the tension wasn't fully developed. I also felt the relationship between flora and Gordon was fun, and had great potential too, but the chemistry lacked, and that may have been due to his long absences in the book. There were a lot of moments where they would have really good chemistry and then it would disappear again and not seem like they were very close friends, despite being told repeatedly they were inseparably close.

As with the first book, there were a lot of food descriptions, which I adored, and a lot of characters from Lila's story also reappearing, which was lovely to see. The British slang was still a struggle for me, as it felt misplaced and cringey, but that is more due to the fact I have never personally called anyone a 'bloke' or referred to a cup of tea as a 'cuppa.'

Overall, this was another cute and enjoyable read, with a great message for anyone struggling with loss or simply not feeling like they are progressing as they should be with their grief.