Audiobooks 12/10/20

Your girl’s podcast obligations for the year are put to bed and that means it’s 100% pleasure reading for me right now! I knew I had to finally pick up this highly recommended book because hello, Latinas in England + tea is the most my jam.

When we first meet Lila Reyes, she’s super grumps. She was supposed to take over the family panadería with her sister, move into her first apartment with her bestie, and live happily ever after with her boo thang, pero… Instead, her best friend bailed on her, her boyfriend dumped her right before prom (rude!), and she’s still grieving the sudden loss of her abuela pretty hard. Concerned for her mental health, her parents ship her off to England to stay with family against her will in the hopes that the trip will clear her head. Lila agrees to go but she sure isn’t happy about it, landing at Heathrow with a scowl, a stank attitude, and not a single sweater packed in protest. Our girl is pure Cubana, Miami born and raised; she not used to or prepared for the people, the weather, and the quaint countryside setting she’s to call home for the next three months. But then!!! Just when she’s decided England isn’t her cup of tea (wink wink), she meets Orion, a teashop clerk who appoints himself her personal tour guide and shows her all that she’s been missing.

I was low-key annoyed with Lila at first for being so salty about the trip while I’m stuck inside praying for a vaccine. Pobrecita Lila, so burdened with this all-expenses-paid trip to one of my favorite places in the world! But I found my frigid heart melting right along with Lila’s as she began to let loose and find herself, especially when she got to flex in the kitchen and show off those finely tuned baking skills. There’s a lot to love in this cinnamon roll of a book; the romance is sweet and faith-restoring; the idyllic country setting made me long for strolls down cobblestone lanes, lunch at a local pub, and a proper afternoon tea; all the pastry talk made my mouth water for scones, buns, pan Cubano, and pastelitos with guava and cheese. But what really set this book apart for me was Lila’s relationship to her family, especially with her sister and abuela. Those dynamics made me long for my own hometown with all it’s sunshine, Latin flavors, and the people in it. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to this book; it’ll make you want to call a person you love, whip up a sweet, buttery treat, and perhaps even dare you to bet on yourself.

Read by Frankie Corzo (Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton, Incendiary by Zoraida Cordova, Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro)