Quick Stats
Age Rating:
Over All: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Writing: 5/5

I won a copy of this book from the author in a twitter giveaway a little while back, and then I put it off because I could tell it was going to be sad and I was scared.
I was right.
It is sad.
And I cried like a baby.

I read A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow—a cute romance with some heavy underscores—and while Laura Taylor Namey’s writing as just as heartfelt and beautiful, this story is a lot deeper and harder-hitting than ACGGtTaT (wow that’s a long acronym).

Willa, Luz, and Britton have been best friends for years. They are everything to each other. But Willa’s betrayal in the wake of tragedy threatens to destroy their friendship. Now Willa has until graduation—one week—to figure out the truth behind why she did what she did, or lose her friends forever.

Told in split timelines, we follow Willa from the past, spanning the start of her freshman year through the fall of her senior year, and present Willa during her graduation week. There are so many threads of hurt and trauma and tragedy in this book, that it feels like it should be too much, and it does get bogged down in it all at times, but despite there being over a half dozen huge, emotional, aspects throughout the story (as back story and as plot), for the most part, everything flows together quite naturally.
It feels real. Life is messy like that. It is never just one thing that goes wrong or has gone wrong.

This book is a beautiful testament to trauma, grief, family, friendship, and learning to be true to yourself. It is definitely a slower paced read at times, but it is truly beautiful.