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A review by alexajsbookshelf
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
4.0
This was probably my least favorite Chanel Cleeton novel so far, but you have to take that with a grain of salt because I still gave it 4 stars and would rate it over many of the other books I’ve read this year.
I really loved the plot of Grace Harrington as a journalist trying to make it in a man’s world in the 1890s; the fact that she had to work twice as hard to get half as far still hits hard today. I also enjoyed all of her commentary about journalism becoming more of a spectacle than honest reporting. That’s another thing that is still true with certain forms of news media.
I guess I didn’t read the synopsis for this book well enough because I didn’t realize until the end that Evangelina Cisneros (aka the titular Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba) was a real person. I’m amazed by the research Chanel Cleeton must have done to bring her to life in this book, and I really enjoyed reading about her role in Cuba gaining independence from Spain.
Marina Perez sort of slowed down the story for me. I felt like I couldn’t connect with her as well as I could connect with the other two women, and it felt as if she was only included so that this book would be tied to the other books about the Perez family, even though it didn’t feel like “Marina’s story” at all.
Always nice to learn some new history and read some of Chanel Cleeton’s writing at the end of the day, though!
I really loved the plot of Grace Harrington as a journalist trying to make it in a man’s world in the 1890s; the fact that she had to work twice as hard to get half as far still hits hard today. I also enjoyed all of her commentary about journalism becoming more of a spectacle than honest reporting. That’s another thing that is still true with certain forms of news media.
I guess I didn’t read the synopsis for this book well enough because I didn’t realize until the end that Evangelina Cisneros (aka the titular Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba) was a real person. I’m amazed by the research Chanel Cleeton must have done to bring her to life in this book, and I really enjoyed reading about her role in Cuba gaining independence from Spain.
Marina Perez sort of slowed down the story for me. I felt like I couldn’t connect with her as well as I could connect with the other two women, and it felt as if she was only included so that this book would be tied to the other books about the Perez family, even though it didn’t feel like “Marina’s story” at all.
Always nice to learn some new history and read some of Chanel Cleeton’s writing at the end of the day, though!