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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
An interesting story about Cuba’s fight for independence from 3 different women and POVs.
A story of The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba standing up for her country and calling for America to help Cuba defeat the Spanish and give Cuba the freedom they desire. Every part of this historical fiction book gave me insight into life during a war. The camps that citizens were forced into, the prisons they lived in, and the love they lost and found during a time of unrest all brought the story to life and gave me a new view of Cuban history.
The story newspaper moguls, Hearst and Pulitzer, fighting to be the biggest paper in New York during the Gilded Age was interesting. I loved Grace and the fact that she stepped outside of the usual woman roles by becoming a stunt writer. She pushes the boundaries and succeeds in reaching her goals.
Chantel Cleeton writes about the women in Cuba with a style that pulls the reader in, brings Cuba to life, and teaches the history in a fictional book with as much truth as possible.
The story newspaper moguls, Hearst and Pulitzer, fighting to be the biggest paper in New York during the Gilded Age was interesting. I loved Grace and the fact that she stepped outside of the usual woman roles by becoming a stunt writer. She pushes the boundaries and succeeds in reaching her goals.
Chantel Cleeton writes about the women in Cuba with a style that pulls the reader in, brings Cuba to life, and teaches the history in a fictional book with as much truth as possible.
It’s 1896 and New York City’s Park Row is a battlefield between two rival publishers: William Randolph Hearst (New York Journal) and Joseph Pulitzer (New York World). It is a time of “yellow journalism” when the press often greatly exaggerates and even creates the news. Socialite Grace Harrington wants to be the next Nellie Bly and finds herself as a “stunt girl” reporter for Hearst. When word of beautiful, eighteen-year-old Evangelina Cisneros’s imprisonment in Cuba for her role in an attack of a Spanish colonel reaches the desk of Hearst, he finds his latest top story. In a series of articles, Evangelina’s plight is splashed on the front pages generating widespread support for the Cuban revolutionaries. In addition to selling more papers, it serves Hearst’s agenda for getting the United States involved in Cuba’s fight for independence.
While conditions worsen in Cuba, Marina, the third lead character, is struggling to keep her daughter safe. She is the estranged daughter of the Perez family, sugar barons who have sided with Spain. Her husband Mateo is fighting for Cuban freedom. Marina is risking her life as a courier for the rebels. As efforts are made by Hearst to free Evangelina, the lives of the three brave women come together. Soon Grace finds herself in Cuba, far from the ballrooms of the Astors and the Vanderbilts.
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is the fourth historical novel by Chanel Cleeton which delves into Cuba’s turbulent past. Each includes a character from the fictional Perez family yet you don’t have to read the other three books before reading this latest one. The story of real-life Evangelina Cisneros is intertwined with the two excellent fictional characters of Grace and Marina which makes for a wonderful story of heroism and love of country.
Rated 4.25 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
While conditions worsen in Cuba, Marina, the third lead character, is struggling to keep her daughter safe. She is the estranged daughter of the Perez family, sugar barons who have sided with Spain. Her husband Mateo is fighting for Cuban freedom. Marina is risking her life as a courier for the rebels. As efforts are made by Hearst to free Evangelina, the lives of the three brave women come together. Soon Grace finds herself in Cuba, far from the ballrooms of the Astors and the Vanderbilts.
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is the fourth historical novel by Chanel Cleeton which delves into Cuba’s turbulent past. Each includes a character from the fictional Perez family yet you don’t have to read the other three books before reading this latest one. The story of real-life Evangelina Cisneros is intertwined with the two excellent fictional characters of Grace and Marina which makes for a wonderful story of heroism and love of country.
Rated 4.25 stars.
Review posted on MicheleReader.com.
Gosh this took me 6 months to read. I’m not sure why I couldn’t stick with it. I usually love her books. But it finally clicked. She touched on the “newsies” story a bit and I’d LOVE a historical fiction about that bit of history!
4.5 Stars
Chanel Cleeton offers an interesting novelization of the lives of Evangelina Cisneros, Marina Perez (of her famed Perez family), and a fictional character, writer Grace Harrington, who is working for William Randolph Hearst. Set in Cuba during the precarious period just before the Spanish American War. Cisneros was the face of the Spanish oppression of Cuban separatists, made famous by Hearst coverage of her imprisonment after her purported resistance to a sexual assault by a powerful Spanish colonel. The Spanish had accused her of trying to entrap the officer, who was attacked by rebels who came to her defense. She was incarcerated in the horrific women's prison, the Casa de Recogidas in Havana.
The audiobook, narrated by Frankie Corzo, Holly Linneman, and Rebecca Soler is excellent.
The blog review contains photos of Cisneros and links to other sources about this era in Cuba.
Chanel Cleeton offers an interesting novelization of the lives of Evangelina Cisneros, Marina Perez (of her famed Perez family), and a fictional character, writer Grace Harrington, who is working for William Randolph Hearst. Set in Cuba during the precarious period just before the Spanish American War. Cisneros was the face of the Spanish oppression of Cuban separatists, made famous by Hearst coverage of her imprisonment after her purported resistance to a sexual assault by a powerful Spanish colonel. The Spanish had accused her of trying to entrap the officer, who was attacked by rebels who came to her defense. She was incarcerated in the horrific women's prison, the Casa de Recogidas in Havana.
The audiobook, narrated by Frankie Corzo, Holly Linneman, and Rebecca Soler is excellent.
The blog review contains photos of Cisneros and links to other sources about this era in Cuba.
Thank you so much to Netgalley & Berkley for the ARC of The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba.
I became obsessed with the Perez family and the Cuba saga by Chanel Cleeton earlier this year when I first read Next Year in Havana. I love how Cleeton gives her main characters so much depth and that they are all strong female leads. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba felt more historical than the others did, and for the first half of the book it made it a little slower for me. I really liked all three women in this story, how their stories overlapped and what they brought into this book. Marina was my favorite, hands down. Her story was so heartbreaking and you could just FEEL the love she had for her family, her country, and the hope she had for her future despite the hardships they were facing. I didn't cry in the first three books, but Marina made me cry in this one. Grace was definitely a spit-fire character who was not scared to go after what she wanted and I always love a girl who is taking control of her own life. Evangelina became an unexpected hero for her country and I spent SO MUCH TIME researching her after I finished this story.
The research was definitely done for this book. The issues of the women left behind in Cuba, the re-concentration camps, and the war waging on in NYC between newspapers are topics I have never explored in a book before, let alone all of them weaving together to create such a strong story as this.
This was probably the heaviest out of all of the Cuba books for me, but the soul in this story is REAL. I definitely recommend this if you enjoyed the other books by Chanel Cleeton.
I became obsessed with the Perez family and the Cuba saga by Chanel Cleeton earlier this year when I first read Next Year in Havana. I love how Cleeton gives her main characters so much depth and that they are all strong female leads. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba felt more historical than the others did, and for the first half of the book it made it a little slower for me. I really liked all three women in this story, how their stories overlapped and what they brought into this book. Marina was my favorite, hands down. Her story was so heartbreaking and you could just FEEL the love she had for her family, her country, and the hope she had for her future despite the hardships they were facing. I didn't cry in the first three books, but Marina made me cry in this one. Grace was definitely a spit-fire character who was not scared to go after what she wanted and I always love a girl who is taking control of her own life. Evangelina became an unexpected hero for her country and I spent SO MUCH TIME researching her after I finished this story.
The research was definitely done for this book. The issues of the women left behind in Cuba, the re-concentration camps, and the war waging on in NYC between newspapers are topics I have never explored in a book before, let alone all of them weaving together to create such a strong story as this.
This was probably the heaviest out of all of the Cuba books for me, but the soul in this story is REAL. I definitely recommend this if you enjoyed the other books by Chanel Cleeton.
Thank you so much to Netgalley & Berkley for the ARC of The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba.
I became obsessed with the Perez family and the Cuba saga by Chanel Cleeton earlier this year when I first read Next Year in Havana. I love how Cleeton gives her main characters so much depth and that they are all strong female leads. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba felt more historical than the others did, and for the first half of the book it made it a little slower for me. I really liked all three women in this story, how their stories overlapped and what they brought into this book. Marina was my favorite, hands down. Her story was so heartbreaking and you could just FEEL the love she had for her family, her country, and the hope she had for her future despite the hardships they were facing. I didn't cry in the first three books, but Marina made me cry in this one. Grace was definitely a spit-fire character who was not scared to go after what she wanted and I always love a girl who is taking control of her own life. Evangelina became an unexpected hero for her country and I spent SO MUCH TIME researching her after I finished this story.
The research was definitely done for this book. The issues of the women left behind in Cuba, the re-concentration camps, and the war waging on in NYC between newspapers are topics I have never explored in a book before, let alone all of them weaving together to create such a strong story as this.
This was probably the heaviest out of all of the Cuba books for me, but the soul in this story is REAL. I definitely recommend this if you enjoyed the other books by Chanel Cleeton.
Posting my review to Goodreads now and will post to Instagram on publication date 05/04/2021.
I became obsessed with the Perez family and the Cuba saga by Chanel Cleeton earlier this year when I first read Next Year in Havana. I love how Cleeton gives her main characters so much depth and that they are all strong female leads. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba felt more historical than the others did, and for the first half of the book it made it a little slower for me. I really liked all three women in this story, how their stories overlapped and what they brought into this book. Marina was my favorite, hands down. Her story was so heartbreaking and you could just FEEL the love she had for her family, her country, and the hope she had for her future despite the hardships they were facing. I didn't cry in the first three books, but Marina made me cry in this one. Grace was definitely a spit-fire character who was not scared to go after what she wanted and I always love a girl who is taking control of her own life. Evangelina became an unexpected hero for her country and I spent SO MUCH TIME researching her after I finished this story.
The research was definitely done for this book. The issues of the women left behind in Cuba, the re-concentration camps, and the war waging on in NYC between newspapers are topics I have never explored in a book before, let alone all of them weaving together to create such a strong story as this.
This was probably the heaviest out of all of the Cuba books for me, but the soul in this story is REAL. I definitely recommend this if you enjoyed the other books by Chanel Cleeton.
Posting my review to Goodreads now and will post to Instagram on publication date 05/04/2021.
Libby audio. MMD SRG 2021. My favorite of her’s thus far. I did not know much about the relationship between Spain and Cuba.
2.5 stars. The historical part was interesting but the characters were hardly developed at all (very one dimensional) and the prose was painfully stilted at times. Hence the rating.