A review by serendipitysbooks
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

adventurous emotional informative reflective

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

3.5

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is historical fiction covering the Cuban War of Independence and the Spanish American War, right at the very end of the nineteenth century. It follows three women. Evangelina Cisneros was a real life Cuban rebel who escaped from a Spanish prison. The other two, Grace Harrington, an American reporter in the mould of Nellie Bly, and Marina Perez, a secret courier, are entirely fictional. I loved learning more about Cuban history of this period and especially about Cisneros. While Grace’s storyline, including the battle between the newspaper empires of Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, was interesting it felt a bit much for one book, and detracted from the Cuban stories.

Content Warnings