Title: A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak
Author: Laura Taylor Namey
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: September 26, 2023
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Summary
After her mother dies from a long illness, Flora doesn’t know what to do with her life. Winchester, England has always been her home, but it’s strange without her mother. She feels like a chaotic hurricane, not able to manage her emotions. After a particularly bad scene with her family, she decides to escape to Miami.
But going to Miami doesn’t immediately fix all of Flora’s problems. She still doesn’t know what to pursue when she goes to university. And now, romance is added to the mix. She just met a cute new boy, Baz, but also starts to see her best friend Gordon in a new light. A hurricane seems to be an apt comparison for all the things she’s feeling.
Review: A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak
Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advanced copy of A British Girl’s Guide to Hurricanes and Heartbreak by Laura Taylor Namey to review! While this book is a spin off to A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow, it didn’t feel too confusing to not have read the first book. There were just some character backgrounds I was missing, but the plot still made sense.
You do get a sort of classic YA love triangle in this book (which I still argue is more of a love angle, but I digress). It does reflect the choices that Flora is making in life in general, though, so the plot device does work in this instance. It’s sort of a “which path will she choose” kind of story, and that’s something a lot of teens will be able to relate to.
This is also a story about Flora trying to grapple with her grief and learning that being messy is okay. She realizes that she doesn’t have to have it together all the time, and that allowing herself to just feel is okay too. An overall really heartwarming message to have in a YA romance.
It’d be fun for me to go back and read the first book now that I’ve read this one, I think. Even without it, the characters are well fleshed out, and just make the book an overall delight to read. A romance you definitely won’t want to miss this fall!
4/5 stars