A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

By: Laura Taylor Namey

Narrated by: Frankie Corzo

SELECTED AS A YALSA 2022 AMAZING AUDIO FOR YOUNG ADULTS!

A New York Times bestseller
A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club YA Pick

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.

Critic reviews

"Frankie Corzo smoothly navigates accent subtleties in her narration of this sweet story about life pivots. When devastating events leave Lila reeling after high school graduation, her parents have her stay with family in England for the summer. Lila is comforted when she infuses Miami flavors from home into her cousin's kitchen. She embraces friendships with Orion, a neighboring tea shop clerk, and his friends. But what happens to these connections once it's time for Lila to go home? . . . A formal British accent enhances Orion's charm and showcases cultural differences. Corzo's voice fades out while delivering unfinished sentences as Lila and Orion determine their relationship status, emphasizing the difficulty of the situation."

Cute and cozy 💜

I loved this book, although a YA book, it’s for any age. I loved the imagery and detail whether scenic or describing ingredients! It was a sweet book of a young girl who was hit with life and losses of variety all at once but then goes away and finds herself…a new path to her journey that she would have never known had this road not been paved for her. A sweet book about focusing on the present and not so much about tomorrow ;-)

Smart, Witty, Fresh, Creative, and Intriguing

What a brilliant novel! I loved everything about this little book. I didn’t know of Namey before but I’m super glad that Witherspoon shined light on this book. I highly recommend reading it. Lighthearted and genuine. Definitely one of those that I could listen to again. Oh, speaking of listening, what a brilliant narrated novel! It was a pleasure listening to it!

Warmed my heart

What a warm , wonderful book. Very relatable since i come from the same background.
Filled my heart with warmth

A Cuban Delight

Loved everything about it - it was heartfelt, tender in a completely unsappy way and the Cuban FOOD, wow! Makes me miss my childhood neighborhood and has me thinking I need to get on a plane, land in Miami and drive to the nearest Latin American restaurant or the legendary Versailles in Little Havana. This was a feel-good read all around. I love Lila Reyes!

Here for the food & culture

I picked up this book because I like Reese’s book recommendations, young adult books, and learning about other cultures.

The narration: The main character is a 17-year-old girl named Lila, and the story is told from her perspective. The narrator was a great fit for Lila and did a great job with the Spanish accent when there were Spanish words peppered here and there through the narration (I don’t speak Spanish but it sounded fluent to me). Her British accents were OK, and her male voices were OK, but her male British voices were not that great. What makes great audiobook narration for me is that it adds to the overall experience of listening to a book, or even makes the listening a better experience. The male British voices were distracting because of how unrealistic they were.

The story: Lila has her future planned out, but then life happens, and she goes through some relatable heartache. I enjoyed hearing about Cuban culture and British Culture, as well as the descriptions of food, tea, Miami, and England. However, I didn’t connect with any of the characters. The story line is cute, cheesy, and at times unrealistic, and Lila does some bratty things, too (a teenager going into someone’s kitchen at a business and acting like you know more than them? Rude.). The romance is trope-y and cheesy, and I rolled my eyes more than once. I did like that Lila learned to appreciate a new culture and also learned she wasn’t perfect, took charge, and made changes to her life. That is respectable.

Would I read it again? No. Do I recommend? Yes, if you’re looking for a light, quick read where the best parts are the food and culture descriptions.