Review: The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes (by Chanel Cleeton)

My Rating: 4 stars 

As much as I wish for it to be otherwise, my reading life is off to a late start this year.  I wasn’t able to read much in January or February due to some things I had to take care of in my personal life, so now, heading into March, I’m trying to play catch up with my TBR.  Though I guess if I’m being honest, it’s not that I didn’t do any reading the past 2 months (because I’m always reading something), but rather I didn’t want to spend time writing about it.  In any case, now that I have things a little bit more under control, I’m starting to slowly but surely clear out my ARC list.

 

It's actually a little bit ironic that the first ARC I’m starting with this year doesn’t publish until July, but that’s how things ended up turning out.  The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes is Chanel Cleeton’s latest Cuban-themed historical fiction novel and it’s definitely a good one!  I’ve read most (but not all) of Cleeton’s past novels and especially enjoyed her series about the Perez family, though her other novels (the ones not about the Perez family) have been a hit or miss for me overall.  With this latest one, I’m guessing I enjoyed it so much because the storyline revolves around a lost book and its connection to three women from three different time periods. 

In the present timeline (London in 2024), Margo Reynolds is hired to help her client find a rare book that was written 120 years ago, but there is a huge catch – only one copy of the book is currently in existence.  Though Margo accepts the challenge, she quickly realizes that she may actually be in over her head as other parties interested in the book start to come out of the woodwork and her life is placed in danger.  The timeline then moves to Havana in 1966, where librarian Pilar Castillo lives in grief and anger over the loss of her husband, who was arrested and imprisoned for going against Fidel Castro’s regime.  Pilar comes into possession of the mysterious book when it is turned over to her for safekeeping by a neighbor and eventually becomes more than a source of comfort for her as she endures the difficulties of living under Castro’s repressive regime.  Finally, the third timeline, in 1900, introduces us to the author of the book, Eva Fuentes, a Cuban teacher who is given the opportunity to travel to the United States as part of a summer cultural exchange program at Harvard University. During Eva’s stay there, she experiences both joy and heartbreak that not only end up altering the course of her life, but also provide the inspiration for her novel.

 

I have to admit that I was a bit dubious at first how the story would unfold given how far apart the three timelines were.  It turns out I didn’t have to worry though, as Cleeton definitely knew what she was doing in making Eva’s book the central thread that connected the seemingly disparate timelines together, but in a way that was seamless and made sense for the story’s development.  Given my affinity for historical fiction, no doubt that I enjoyed Eva’s and Pilar’s timelines more -- Margo’s timeline was well done overall, but since the three timelines alternated with each chapter, it did feel a little jarring to jump from an early 20^th century historical setting to a modern day murder mystery setting in 2024.  Things turned out fine in the end though.

 

As an avid reader and also a writer myself, I love learning about the behind-the-scenes aspects of how a particular story came to be as well as the inspirations for certain characters and events, which is perhaps why Cleeton’s latest work resonated with me more than her previous novels did.  Speaking of behind-the-scenes, Cleeton writes in her Author’s Note that The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes is a “love letter to the power of books and the impact they leave on our lives,” which is one of the main reasons why she had Eva’s fictional book be what links the three women in the three different timelines together.  I couldn’t agree more!  Cleeton fans will definitely want to pick this one up, but those who enjoy “books about books” will likely enjoy this one as well.

 

Received ARC from Berkley via Book Browse First Impressions program.

Review: The House on Biscayne Bay (by Chanel Cleeton)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

In her latest work, Chanel Cleeton tackles the gothic theme by centering her dual timeline story around Marbrisa, a glamorous mansion built in Miami, Florida right after the Great War. The over-the-top mansion is a gift that Robert Barnes surprises his wife with for her birthday, but during the inaugural party to celebrate the estate's completion, tragedy strikes and their lives are changed forever.  More than 20 years later, Carmen Acosta has no place to go after the tragic death of her parents in an accident, so she moves into the Marbrisa, the mansion that is currently home to her sister Carolina and her rich husband Asher Wyatt.  Prior to her arrival though, strange things were already happening at the mansion but things escalate soon after, to the point where Carmen's life is in danger.  Is Marbrisa cursed and haunted like people believe it is?  Or are the strange events the result of something more sinister?  

Overall, Cleeton's latest foray into Gothic fiction was entertaining, but I enjoyed her previous works more.  While the writing was good (as expected), the plot was way too predictable, to the point that I already had everything figured out less than halfway through the story, which of course took the "suspense" out of things (not to mention some loose ends never got explained, which created a few plot holes here and there).  The other issue I had was the narrative structure: the story was told in a dual timeline structure, with each time timeline narrated from the first person perspective of its respective protagonist— Anna in 1918 and Carmen in 1941.  The two protagonists couldn't have been more different in terms of age, race, life experiences, circumstances, etc., yet at times, I found it difficult to tell the two narrative voices apart and had to go back to check the chapter heading to remind myself which timeline I was reading.  This got a bit tiring after awhile, though it wasn't to the extent where it prevented me from moving through the story at a decent pace.

As I mentioned earlier, I did enjoy this one, but I have to admit that I was a little bummed that the story this time around had no connection to the Perez family (though I shouldn't have been surprised, since this book and her Cleeton's previous one were both standalone). With that said, there was an indirect link to one of Cleeton's previous novels — a "blink and you'll miss it" reference that I totally missed and only found out about after reading the Author's Note.

Even though I didn't take to this one as much as I thought I would, Cleeton continues to be one of those "go-to" authors for me whose works I will continue to read regardless (though I do hope she writes another book with a Perez family connection at some point).

Received ARC from Berkeley via NetGalley.

The Cuban Heiress (by Chanel Cleeton)

My Rating: 4 stars

After finishing a book last week that left a bad taste in my mouth, I needed a palette cleanser, a book that I knew I would likely enjoy.  Glancing through my options (amongst the list of April "upcoming" reads I hope to get to), I saw Chanel Cleeton's latest historical novel The Cuban Heiress and I knew that would be the perfect choice.  I've read 5 of Cleeton's books so far and while I enjoyed some of them more than others, I've never been disappointed in her ability to deliver the goods (a solid, satisfying read with compelling characters that are easy to root for). 

 

It's actually hard to talk about this story without giving some aspect of the plot away, so this review will be short, brief, and yes, a bit on the vague side (if the little that is mentioned piques your interest, then I definitely recommend picking this one up and reading it for yourself!).  

 

The story is based on a true event – the disaster that occurred aboard the luxury cruise ship Morro Castle during its voyage from Havana to New York back in 1934. Narrated from the alternating perspectives of the two female protagonists, Elena Palacio and Catherine Dohan, the story unfolded in a way that I felt was a little bit of a departure from Cleeton's last couple books -- whereas the focus with those were more on the historical aspects, this time around, the story seemed to lean more into the mystery / suspense vibe (which I'm totally fine with, since it was done well in this case) as well as the romantic relationships (which thankfully didn't overwhelm the story, so I'm fine with that as well).   Though I will admit that I was hoping there would be more emphasis on the historical aspect, especially about Cuba, since that was one of the areas I enjoyed most with Cleeton's previous novels.  While Cleeton does continue to pay tribute to her Cuban heritage in this story, there isn't as much focus on it in the sense that Cuban history doesn't play as heavily into the plot or the characters' lives compared to her previous works (aside from the fact that one of the characters, Elena, is Cuban, and one leg of the cruise ship's journey is to Havana, the primary events that drive the plot in this story actually have nothing to do with Cuba at all).   Not that I'm complaining though, since the story overall was well-written, intriguing, and engaging to the point that it held my interest and I found it hard to put down after I started reading it -- the way that the 2 characters' backstories were presented not only got me invested in how things would pan out for them, but also had me wondering throughout the entire time whether their stories would converge and if so, how?

 

One thing I did miss with this book is the lack of connection back to the Perez family.  Since Cleeton switched to writing historical fiction in 2018 with Next Year in Havana, which was the first book to feature the Perez family, she has included some kind of connection back to the family in each of her subsequent works (the stand alone ones that weren't direct sequels to the original).  For me, this was part of the fun with reading Cleeton's books — identifying that connection and also getting that sense of satisfaction from having remembered the particular character or relation or plot point back to the original story.  

All in all, this was another enjoyable read from an author whose works I know I can count on to get me out of a reading rut or, in this case, erase the disappointment of a previous less-than satisfying read.  I definitely look forward to reading whatever Cleeton has in store for us next!

Received ARC from Berkeley via NetGalley.

Review: Our Last Days in Barcelona (by Chanel Cleeton)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

I've read all of the books in Chanel Cleeton's Cuban series about the Perez family and have enjoyed each one (though some more than others).  Of course, the one that will always be my favorite is the first book from 2018, Next Year in Havana, which introduced us to the Perez siblings and the entire extended family.  Though that first book was essentially from the perspective of the third Perez sister Elisa, it did such a great job laying the story groundwork for this fascinating family that by the end of it, I was hoping we would get additional books for each of the other sisters as well.  That wish was granted in 2019 when Cleeton published her second book in the series, When We Left Cuba, which is from the perspective of fiery and passionate second sister Beatriz (who, remains one of the most beloved characters from the Perez family saga).  After that, as Cleeton indicates in her Author's Note, she took a break from writing about the Perez sisters and instead, came out with 2 novels about the lives of 2 different Perez ancestors — the sisters' aunt Mirta Perez in The Last Train to Key West and their cousin Rosa's grandmother Marina Perez in The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. With her newest novel (which published this month), Cleeton returns to the Perez sisters, this time giving us eldest sister Isabel's story with Our Last Days in Barcelona. 

Picking up essentially where When We Left Cuba ended, Our Last Days in Barcelona has Isabel heading from Palm Beach, Florida to Barcelona in Spain to locate her sister Beatriz, who is involved in dangerous intelligence work with the government.  Once there though, Isabel finds herself partnering with an unlikely ally, Beatriz's friend Diego, with whom she eventually forms a close bond.  But that's not all — in Beatriz's apartment, Isabel discovers a photograph of herself at barely 2 years old, sitting with her mother Alicia Perez in a Barcelona cafe meeting with a mysterious man — though when Isabel asks her mother about the photo, she vehemently denies ever having been in Barcelona.  While looking for her sister, Isabel also unearths additional fragments of the story behind the photograph, which eventually changes her life in profound ways. In an alternating timeline between present day (1964) and the past (1936), the story of Isabel's mother Alicia as well as her father Emilio's cousin Rosa unfold.  Later, both timelines intertwine as Isabel faces some of the same struggles and family expectations that her mother did 28 years ago — in the end, will Isabel choose the same path her mother does or will she follow her heart instead?  

In this novel, Cleeton does the same wonderful job as she did with her previous 4 novels conveying the historical context related to Cuba, though this time, it's the country's relationship with Spain and the civil war that occurred there that provides the backdrop for Isabel's and Alicia's stories.  One of the reasons I like reading historical fiction is to learn about historical time periods, events, people, places, etc. that I didn't know about, which has certainly been the case with Cleeton's works.  Though the Perez family is fictional, Cleeton has done such a great job developing these richly nuanced characters (especially the Perez women) that I couldn't  help feeling as though I was reading about a real family (as mentioned in my review of the first book in this series, Cleeton herself is Cuban-American and actually wove in some of her own family's history as well as experiences fleeing from Cuba into the Perez family story).  Each time I read one of Cleeton's books featuring a character from the Perez family, I feel like going back and re-reading Next Year in Havana all over again (the only thing holding me back from doing a re-read of any book is my overflowing TBR and a dogged determination to get through every single book on the list), since that's the book that kicked things off and first introduced us to the family.  

Speaking of the characters— up until this point, my favorite Perez sibling was Beatriz and while I still love her dearly (especially her fiery and defiant personality), I've also come around to Isabel too now and consider her a favorite as well.  I also appreciated how we were given additional insight into Alicia as a character and the background of some of the things that happened in her life during her youth that eventually shaped the woman she became later (especially in the context of her role as wife, mother, and Perez family matriarch).  I'm not sure whether Cleeton will write another book about the Perez siblings (my guess is yes, as there is still one more Perez sister's story left to tell — youngest sister Maria's), but having followed this fictional family from the beginning, there's no doubt that I will want to read that book as well (if / whenever it comes into being).  While technically it's not necessary to read the previous 2 books about the Perez sisters in order to read this one, I do recommend doing so only because you get the full background of the family history — which, for me, makes a huge difference in terms of reading experience.  Even if Cleeton's next novel won't be about the Perez sisters specifically, I'm pretty sure she will incorporate another character from the Perez family into it — identifying the connection between the characters in each of her books to the ones in the original story (as well as to her other books) is part of the "fun" of reading her novels, at least for me.

Received ARC from Berkeley Books via Edelweiss.

Review: The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

My Rating: 4 stars

So far, I have read all 4 of Chanel Cleeton's historical fiction novels and have enjoyed all of them.  Starting with Next Year in Havana, which first introduced us to the Perez family and their subsequent exodus from Cuba, then later her follow-up novel When We Left Cuba, where she continued the family's story after their arrival in the United States, to last year's standalone novel The Last Train to Key West, and now her most recent release The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, Cleeton not only pays tribute to her own Cuban heritage, she also sheds light on a few little-known historical events that have been fascinating to learn about.  

 

This time around, in her latest work, Cleeton tells the story of Evangelina Cisneros, a real-life Cuban woman who was part of the fight for Cuba's independence from Spanish occupation at the end of the nineteenth century.  At the age of only eighteen, Evangelina  was separated from her family and unjustly thrown into a Havana jail notorious for its squalid conditions.  When Evangelina's situation is brought to the attention of an American audience via New York newspaper reporters stationed in Cuba, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the international spotlight – in addition to being dubbed "the most beautiful girl in Cuba" by the media, she also becomes a rallying cry on the political front for those pushing American intervention in Cuba.  At the same time, Marina Perez is separated from her beloved husband Mateo when he goes off to join the Cuban revolutionaries – shortly afterward, she and her 7-year-old daughter Isabella and mother-in-law Luz lose everything they own when Spanish soldiers burn down their farm and force them into reconcentration camps where, in order to survive, Marina secretly works as a courier passing messages  to the revolutionaries.  Meanwhile, in New York, Grace Harrington lands a dream job as a female journalist at the Journal, run by famous newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, where she hopes to catch that one big scoop that will allow her to be taken seriously as an independent woman trying to prove herself in the ruthless world of news media.   The lives of these 3 women converge and are changed forever when the situation in Cuba becomes most dire and the United States is spurred into war with Spain for control over the territory.

 

Once again, Cleeton tells a compelling story from the alternating perspectives of 3 women whose backgrounds and circumstances couldn't be more different, yet they are brought together with the common goal of fighting for freedom – whether for themselves as individuals or for their country.  As was the case with Cleeton's previous books, the story features strong female protagonists who defy convention as well as the restrictions placed upon them by society, ultimately rising above their circumstances with courage and grace.   Having said that though, there was one slight difference I noticed this time around:  with Cleeton's previous book, which was also narrated from the different perspectives of the 3 main female characters, I had actually liked all 3 story arcs equally – with this one though, I actually preferred Marina's and Grace's story arcs to Evangelina's, which is a bit ironic given Evangelina's story is technically the main arc that everything else revolves around.  It didn't occur to me at first, but after I read the Author's Note -- where Cleeton explains how, with Evangelina's story, most of the sources available, including the autobiography of her life, were written by people associated with Hearst's New York Journal newspaper, which was locked in a fierce circulation battle with the rival paper run by Joseph Pulitzer at the time, so unfortunately, much of the information was sensationalized and likely overdramatized in order to attract buyers, making it hard to separate the true facts of Evangelina's life from the embellished ones – it made sense why Evangelina's story arc felt a bit "off" to me (I realize now that what was "off" with the story was that it felt too incredulous and farcical – by comparisons, both Marina's and Grace's stories felt much more realistic). For me, I would've preferred Marina's story to be the main one — I think the book overall would've been more powerful and emotional if that had been the case.

With all that said, I still enjoyed this quite a bit.  Chanel Cleeton is a great storyteller and writer — when reading her books, it's easy to become absorbed and lose yourself in the stories she crafts based off her thorough and extensive research.  I also love the way she weaves a connection to the Perez name through all of her books (some more subtly than others) — every time I read one of her books, I feel compelled to go back and re-read Next Year in Havana again to find the connection. Cleeton's books have definitely become "must-reads" for me and of course, I look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next, both from a story and character perspective (and yes, I will continue to look for the Perez connection as well)!

Received ARC from Berkley via Edelweiss.

Review: The Last Train to Key West (by Chanel Cleeton)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

Chanel Cleeton is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors.  I read her two previous historical fiction novels (Next Year in Havana and When We Left Cuba) both of which revolved around the Perez family from Cuba, and absolutely loved both books!   After finding out last year that Cleeton would have a new book out some time in 2020, I knew that I definitely had to get my hands on a copy as soon as it became available.  Her newest work, The Last Train to Key West, is a bit of a departure from her previous works in that it isn’t connected (not directly anyway) to the same Perez family, plus the story is markedly different in its depiction of a specific historical event that occurred over Labor Day weekend in 1935 — the devastating hurricane that struck the Florida Keys, one of the deadliest in the history of the United States.  With that said though, one similarity that threads through all 3 of Cleeton’s historical works is that they all feature strong female protagonists who rise above the restrictions placed upon them by society — not only that, but the characters are written in a non-stereotypical yet realistic way that makes them more relatable.   

In this book, the story is told from the perspectives of 3 women whose backgrounds and personalities are very different, but who happen to cross paths when they are simultaneously impacted by the storm and its deadly aftermath.  Helen, a pregnant waitress working at a local diner in the Key West area where she grew up, yearns to escape the abusive marriage she has been trapped in for 9 years.  Mirta, who agreed to an arranged marriage in order to help out her family back in Cuba, is determined to know the man she married as she arrives in Key West with him for their honeymoon.  Elizabeth, a once-wealthy debutante whose family fell from grace after the Wall Street crash, travels from her home in New York to the Great War veteran camps in Key West with the hope of finding the relative whom she believes can save her from her current predicament.  Though the narrative was told from the alternating first person viewpoints of these 3 characters, their voices were distinctive, which is important because this type of structure is not easy to get right on a consistent basis. Chanel Cleeton is one of the authors who does this well — in addition, Cleeton writes in a way that captivates and draws the reader in, which is another reason why I enjoy her books.

I actually devoured this one in 2 sittings and even then, didn’t want the story to end.  I definitely recommend picking this one up, whether for the absorbing story or the strong characters.  Cleeton is an author who doesn’t disappoint and I truly look forward to what she has in store for us next!

Received ARC from Berkley via Edelweiss.

Review: When We Left Cuba (by Chanel Cleeton)

My rating: 4.5 stars

In her first book about the Perez family, Next Year in Havana, author Chanel Cleeton had introduced us to Beatriz Perez, Marisol Ferrara’s great-aunt and also older sister to Elisa Perez.  Even though the focus of that story was on Marisol and Elisa, with Beatriz playing only a supporting role, I still remember quite vividly Beatriz’s strong, spirited, defiant personality – in fact, she was one of my favorite characters from that story so of course, I was absolutely ecstatic to learn that Cleeton’s next novel, When We Left Cuba, would essentially be Beatriz’s story.   While Next Year in Havana was set primarily in Cuba and focused on the time period of the revolution in which president Batista was ousted and Fidel Castro took power, When We Left Cuba is set primarily in the United States and focuses on the aftermath of the revolution, the Cuban exiles living in Florida and their fight to reclaim Cuba, as well as the island’s relationship with the rest of the world under Castro’s leadership.  In addition, this story touched on elements that we would normally find in a spy thriller, as Beatriz becomes involved with the CIA and goes on a few secret missions for them with the goal of killing Castro in order to avenge the death of her twin brother Alejandro and the loss of her family’s home and fortunes.  Story-wise, there was a lot at play here –politics, history (both Cuban history as well as American), romance, espionage, family, culture, etc. – plus quite a few characters, both ones we were introduced to in the previous story as well as new ones, yet not once did I feel overwhelmed by everything that was going on – rather, I was captivated by the story and couldn’t put the book down once I started reading it.  I’m usually not a reader of spy/espionage-themed stories and more often than not, I also don’t take well to stories heavy on American politics, but this book defied my expectations in this area -- both of these themes were incorporated extremely well, to the point that they didn’t overpower the story, which I absolutely appreciated.

One of the biggest draws to this book for me was the character of Beatriz Perez herself – a wonderfully written character who was at once complex, intriguing, and absolutely unforgettable.  I loved her sassiness, her independent spirit, her boldness in following her heart and not caring what others thought of her or her actions, her open defiance of convention and refusal to conform to what society and her parents expected of her (which was to marry someone rich and well-connected, have children, and fade into the role of demure housewife).  Beautiful, smart, funny, willful, and headstrong, Beatriz was the type of person who wanted to be recognized and respected for her own merits, who valued her own independence and freedom and making her own way in the worl               d, who wanted to shape her own destiny and not be a woman needing to be “taken care of” by a man or whose worth in the world could only be defined by the merits and achievements of her significant other.   At the same time, she was also a woman who knew how to love passionately, fearlessly, boldly, devotedly, yet still be able to approach the same relationship with pragmatism and discernment.  In her Author’s Note, Cleeton mentioned that after introducing Beatriz’s character in Next Year in Havana, she had to stop halfway through drafting that novel in order to write the first chapter of this book because Beatriz’s story “was pushing its way out, demanding to be told” – that’s exactly how I felt about Beatriz even before I started reading her story!

Once again, Cleeton does a fantastic job of seamlessly melding historical events with a captivating story while at the same time giving us beautifully drawn, imperfect characters whom we can’t help falling in love with as the story progresses.  While it’s not required to have read the first novel in order to appreciate this one, I would still recommend reading Next Year in Havana prior to going into this one because of the background it provides in terms of the Perez family and what happened to them during the revolution in Cuba.  I enjoyed revisiting some of the characters from the previous story and also seeing how perfectly the timelines from both stories aligned.  I’m not sure if Cleeton’s next historical novel (which, according to the note at the back of this book, is scheduled to come out in Winter 2020) will also be about the Perez family, but even if it’s not, given how much I loved her last 2 novels, no doubt I am still highly anticipating its release.  Historical fiction fans definitely should pick both of these novels up, especially those who are interested in better understanding Cuban history and its role on the world stage.

Received ARC from Berkley Books via Penguin First to Read program