My Review

You know how you go to a book festival, hear an author on a panel, and think, “If their writing is half as good as their speaking, this is going to be a treat.” Well, in this case, Caridad Piñeiro doesn’t just deliver—she knocks it out of the park.

Back in February, I had the absolute joy of moderating several panels at the Coastal Magic Convention. Caridad was on a few of them, and let’s just say there may have been some extra fun at the bar afterwards (but who can really remember the details?). What I do remember clearly is thinking: This author can spin a story. And, oh my, she sure can.

The Family She Never Met pulls together all the things I love in a good read—family divisions, long-held estrangements, layered personalities, touches of romance, and those rich multigenerational threads that make a story feel so real. The premise is simple but powerful: a young woman travels to meet the grandmother her mother hasn’t spoken to in decades. What unfolds is a cascade of emotions that tugged me right in.

I took this book on vacation and promised myself I wouldn’t devour it in one sitting. Did I stick to that plan? Nope. Well, I stretched it into two days, but only because I forced myself to slow down. It was that good.

A heartfelt, engaging, and beautifully told story—I can’t recommend it enough.

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Book Summary

Jessica Russo knows nothing about her mother’s family or her Cuban culture. Every time she’s asked about it, her mother has shut down. But when the Cuban grandmother she’s never met sends her right-hand man, Luis, to offer Jessica the chance to come to Miami and meet her estranged family, she can’t help but say yes, even as she knows it will pain her mother.

The woman that Jessica meets is nothing like what she expected. Her grandmother is successful, intelligent, determined, and all too willing to take blame for what has happened to cause the estrangement, and, more importantly, to try and set things right. As Jessica spends time with her grandmother in her beautiful island home, she learns about her family’s history and what caused the schism between her mother and grandmother.

As days with her grandmother turn to weeks, Jessica is determined to find a way to heal her fractured family. And in the end, Jessica might just learn something about herself and what it means to embrace the many facets of her identity.