Reviews

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

beet_queen's review

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

tscibs's review against another edition

4.0

Although the ending wasn’t what I thought it would be I still enjoyed the book overall

barbaraskalberg's review against another edition

3.0

3.5
I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did the first. I'm not sure I fully bought into the character like I did her sister. The history is fabulous, though.

melkbasullivan's review

adventurous medium-paced

3.5

brittknitsokc's review against another edition

3.0

When We Left Cuba tells the story of Beatriz Perez, whose brother was killed during the revolution and who is trying to make a life for herself and find ways to help her country after fleeing with her family. I started it right before a busy time at work, so it took me a long time to get through it and might have affected my opinion of the first half of the book; it seemed to start out slowly and I had trouble getting into it. When I got to the middle, I had more time and finally got hooked. I enjoyed the pace from the middle onward and the fact that the story followed Beatriz to interesting places. The book is similar to The Time in Between, in that it’s about a woman spy, but some of the writing was a bit too cheesy and predictable. I think I would have enjoyed it more if there was more background history about the revolution and how people were actually fighting back, but I think some of that might be in the companion book, Next Year in Havana, which came out first.

alexandriastoehr's review against another edition

4.0

I loved Chanel Cleeton after Next Year In Havana. I had high expectations for When We Left Cuba. This book takes Betrice's story after she left Cuba. I enjoyed the book however it was not the page turner that Next Year In Havana was.

k_co_124's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

elmattcrews's review against another edition

4.0

"I never imagined it was possible to miss a place this much ... Each day I wake up here, [home] feels a little farther away."

What perfect words to sum up my feelings of living abroad and far from home. My heart breaks every day that I'm away from it, from my family. But I'm here now, life is like that sometimes.

The first 100 pages are slow but then it gets good, really good. I'm sad about some things, but like I said, life is like that sometimes.

:(

"I always envisioned us living close together, our homes within walking distance so we could stop by for afternoon chats with ease."

My thoughts exactly as I was growing up. I envy all of you that live near your family. Never take it for granted.

quiltmom14's review against another edition

2.0

Started off as a solid 3 and I hoped would move to 4 stars, but devolved to 1 star instead so...average 2. This is a romance novel with a bit of historical fiction. I wouldn’t call it an Historical Fiction book.

kdailyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Infidelity, War, Gun violence, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism