#acggttat

I was reading "A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow" by Laura T Namey, knowing that there is going to be a movie adaptation of that book, and I loved it a lot!

So I drew the book cover in my style & with the movie version of the main characters!

Uhhhh big awesome news?! A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow is being adapted for the screen by Ace Entertainment, starring Maia Reficco as Lila and Kit Connor as Orion!

I have a special place in my heart for this book and this cover, being the first in my career. I remember reading the manuscript on the plane to SCBWI and serendipitously meeting Laura at the sign up tables the next day. What a ride, girl!

Note: I have never really done a book review before, so I apologise in advance if this is more random ramblings than insightful comments or deep character and plot analysis or smtg. Also, spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

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So, I guess I gotta start by saying that this was a really enjoyable read. It's not a literary masterpiece or anything, and was kind of predictable, but it was wholesome and heartwarming and nice. It was a feel good fluffy story, with just the right amount of angst mixed into it that it didn't make me feel extra sad, but enough to drive the story and make it interesting.

For some context, I am a simple person; it doesn't take much to please me in a story as long as it stays away from a very small handful of tropes and themes that I despise. HOWEVER, I have a very short attention span. A book really has to captivate me to stop me from skipping paragraphs or chapters, or simply just skipping to the end to find out what happens and be done with it. ACGGTTAT did that.

The thing about this book is that a lot of emphasis is put on the experiences Lila faces, both in Miami and in Winchester. The ending was predictable enough: Lila and Orion getting together and making things work despite living in two different continents. So my impatient ass wasn't desperate to know what happened in the end, and instead could just enjoy the journey that Lila went on over the summer. It was well written, made me feel like I was there, and when Lila said she fell in love with England, I could imagine why.

My favourite thing about the book, though, is definitely learning about the Cuban culture. I'm not Latinx, or am from a place that gives exposure to Latinx culture at all really, so I loved reading about it and learning about some of the history and traditions and of course, the food. It was mind opening, and you can tell that this was personal, that the author really put a piece of herself into it. If I ever wrote a book, I would want to be able to do that. Tell a story that shares a part of my heritage and my identity with the world. I've also been meaning to learn Spanish, though I haven't really found the time, so now I have a few more words to add to my word bank and hope that I'll remember them.

Let's take a moment to talk about our main characters tho. I may not have faced a trifecta loss like Lila, but I do see myself in parts of her, the way she's stubborn and ambitious, has trouble handling change, and can sometimes be not aware of how her fire may affect people, like with Andrés and Stefanie. Her character arc was nice; she doesn't lose her drive or her ambition, it just changed along with her, and she becomes more aware of herself and works to better herself.

Her dynamic with Orion was also something I quite liked. Orion himself is such a great character. I've never been big on the mysterious, bad boy type of MCs, I much prefer kind, sensitive, a little goofy, a bit of golden retriever energy kind of boys. Orion is definitely the latter, but he also has darker depths. Him and Lila complement each other well. He slows her one track mind down, and she gives him hope and someone to fight for when he has grown to just accept what is given to him. I love how they are from two different worlds, but share their lives with each other and teach each other about their cultures.

But most of all, I really liked that Lila and Orion didn't have to kiss, or do anything extremely passionate, for us to see how they love each other. You can see the way their relationship progresses slowly, how they grow close day by day, and gain feelings for one another. They both long acknowledge their feelings for each other before they have their first kiss, which is something I don't see too often. And it was pretty realistic for them to want to hold back knowing that their time would come to and end soon, but it also didn't make their romance any less real, just because they were "friends". If you get what I mean.

Since we're on the topic of characters, I really wanna talk about how they're being portrayed in the upcoming movie by Maia Reficco and Kit Connor. I don't know much about Maia, just because she doesn't have many acting projects under her belt yet. Pretty little liars original sin was her big breakout role, but I personally can't handle horror/thriller yet, so I won't be watching pllos for a while. However, I have watched some of her interviews, and whatever clips I could scrounge up that wouldn't give me nightmares, and I think that she would make a great Lila. I can see how she can portray Lila's sassy and bold personality. Obviously, I'm a huge heartstopper fan, so I know more about Kit, and I 100% think he'll be a great Orion. He did such a good job with nick nelson, and I can see some similarities between the two characters, so I don't think he'll have any problem with portraying Orion accurately.

Completed Book Aesthetics

"Goodnight England."

"Good morning Miami."

BOOKS I’VE READ IN 2021

Completed Book Aesthetics 2021