Find Me in Havana is told in a series of letters, giving this based on a true story a more realistic feel to it. Full of heart and some mystery, the pages in this book will fly!

I was intrigued by the book because it was about a real Hollywood actress. However, I did not know it was an epistolary novel. This made it hard for me to follow along. I would have liked it better if it was told in a narrative format. Still, I recommend this fans of Platinum Doll!

This book was basically The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo but based on real people. Unfortunately, those people were just as flawed and not as likeable as Evelyn. I had a hard time staying invested because I just couldn't agree with some of the decisions being made in this book. 3 stars.

‘Find Me in Havana’ by Serena Burdick was such a beautiful, heartbreaking story. Based on the true story of Cuban-born singer Estelita Rodriguez, ‘Find Me in Havana’ centers around a woman and her daughter, and is told from dual perspectives. It was a touching, stunning story full of history, and just incredible. Highly recommended.

An absolutely stunning book. I was riveted from beginning to end. Thank you for allowing me to read and review this. An absolutely spectacular book about a little known (to me) real-life person!

I didn't realize Estalita was a real person, and went down a bit of a rabbit hole reading about her in other sources.

I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't hang together for me -- I felt like we were jumping around too much and then when we caught up into real time, it felt rushed. It kept me reading, and the dynamic between mother and daughter was interesting, but I just was left feeling a bit unsatisfied.

This book was very captivating! I love books that can put me back in time and make me forget where I am. The characters in this book really came to life for me.

Based on true events, this historical fiction is incredibly sad.

I quickly captivated at the beginning, to learn what life was like in Cuba for the young, 9-year-old Estelita. But quickly, the mood became heavy - like a smoke-filled bar where pleasure can be found, but also sorrow and melancholy.

I would have loved to see a happier resolution for Estelita's death, but alas that is a challenge when working with a factual account. But, thankfully, there is a happy ending for Estelita's daughter, Nina, otherwise I think I would have been depressed for weeks.

An interesting tale, but not for the faint of heart.

I picked up this book because it gave me vibes of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and I absolutely love that book. What I didn’t realize was that the Cuban actress and daughter in this book were real life people and this story is based on real life events. The daughter met the author some 20 years ago and agreed to a series of interviews and to allow the author to tell this story as close to her recollection as possible. In a way to honor the star her mother was.

Estelita Rodriguez, a singer that fled Cuba with her mother to try and find fame in NYC found herself instead with a movie contract and starring in Westerns. She married four times. She had a daughter. She faced misogyny and racism. But she was determined to make it, no matter the cost. That cost was usually paid by her daughter Nina, who didn’t always have a mom to make her feel cared for or safe.

Lets get the trigger warnings out of the way. ALL.OF.THEM. Seriously. This book was a series of unfortunate events and it’s unnecessarily graphic. Sexual assault, drug addiction, child neglect, domestic abuse, kidnapping. The list goes on. This was not an easy book to get through. I kept hoping for a moment of light, for some character growth to happen, and that was just never the case. The bad just kept on coming.

Most importantly though I honestly spent most of this book disliking Estelita because she’s just a terrible mother. Any time a job offer would come up, her daughter was her last priority. When a new love interest was around, same thing. Even when the worst happens to her daughter, she’s not the hands on mother Nina needed. And quite often she’s upfront about that to her own daughter, telling her she’s not her priority. I felt for Nina because she was just a child in a horrible situation. Or series of them.

While this could’ve been like Evelyn Hugo, the potential was there, for me the author didn’t get me to fall in love with these flawed characters or their story. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking story. I just wish the execution would’ve captivated me in the way I was hoping for. Knowing that this is based on real life though, I’m glad I read it.

I enjoyed this mother-daughter-grandmother saga, This is a story bases on the true events of Estelita Rodriguez’s life. I did not know about this actress and her life. It is told in letters between mother and daughter. This book was intense and tragic. I was hooked early on in the story from the beginning. This story goes back and forth between California and Cuba. Its a story where you keep listening or reading hoping for a happy ending.
I loved the audio of this book. The characters were life-like. Even though it was a historical fiction it wasn't overloaded with facts. I highly recommend this story.

Thank you to the author, Net Galley, and publisher for the ARC of this Audio book for an honest review.

This is a super fun read. I really enjoyed this one!

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Actress Estelita Rodriguez lived the American dream. Her young daughter called John Wayne “Uncle Duke.” Her smile and voice captivated audiences on stage and screen, and her lighthearted laugh and beauty made her a member of Hollywood’s elite. But what was the price of that dream? Serena Burdick’s stunning and heartbreaking novel answers that question.

The starlet navigated revolution, kidnapping, and violence while sprinting towards a dream she had been chasing since she first sang in a Cuban nightclub at the age of nine. Shortly after, she left behind family and country for the Copacabana Nightclub, only to find a world dominated by men and their desires. As Burdick explores the deep scars of this journey, she conjures breathtaking images of Hollywood’s Golden Age while exploring the devastating impact of sexual violence perpetrated by husbands, fathers, and soldiers alike.

The author built this story from interviews with Nina Lopez, Estelita’s daughter. Burdick carefully works her way through the decades that defined this mother and daughter. Each chapter alternates between the two voices and layers love, confusion, and longing as the pair work to overcome the forces that keep them apart.

Estelita’s tragic story captures the most beautiful and most painful moments of motherhood, artistic drive, and limitless ambition. More importantly, it explores the ceaseless destruction of sexual violence and finds hope in unexpected places. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced reader's copy.* This one was pretty dark in tone. Multi-generational Cuban family story centering around a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Reminded me a lot of The Actress and The seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo with a bit of Chanel Cleeton thrown in for the Cuba history aspect. This wasn't a light or happy read - deals with mental health, parental neglect, sexual abuse and rape, drug abuse and death/loss of a parent. You definitely want to be in the right mood to read this book but it does end on a more happy positive note - it just takes a long time to get there!

Find Me in Havana is based on the true story of actress/singer, Estelita Rodriguez.This is historical fiction set in 1936 about a Cuban woman, Estelita , and her mother. Each chapter is a letter or journal entry written to the other woman. Estelita's talent was supposed to be her way out of a life of poverty ,but in reality it becomes a different tragedy.
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

There were some good – and not-so-good things about Find me in Havana. The characters and storyline were interesting, and I appreciated that it was historical fiction set in Cuba, Miami, and Hollywood instead of Europe during WWII. I must admit that I hadn’t heard of Estelita Rodriguez, and I enjoyed researching her life as I listened to the book. But that’s where the pros stopped for me. To be brutally honest, I should have reviewed this book immediately after I finished it, because I’m having trouble remembering the details. I can, however, tell you how it made me feel. I don’t shy away from sad books, but this one was downright disturbing from beginning to end. I wish I’d read the book rather than listening to it, because the narration was tedious, and the timeline was confusing. The pacing was plodding, and I had to push through to finish it. So, while the book included some fascinating history, it just didn’t work for me. 3.5 stars.

I didn't know what to expect going into this book but WOW it blew me away. Easily one of my favorites this year. A story told by a daughter about her relationship with her mother and the women in her family, the dreams that never were, and how these beautiful and strong women all were at the mercy of the men in their lives in one way or another. Very beautiful and tragic

Based on real life events of Cuban actress, Estelita Rodriguez, this story tells how she escapes the overthrow of the Cuban government with her mother and forges a life in Hollywood. Told from her daughter, Nina's, perspective this story tells of the her mother's beauty and talent, in addition to her failed marriages, Nina's kidnapping by her father, and Nina's charge that her mother was murdered.

Although Nina's life was not perfect, through this story, we get so much history on the instability of the Cuban government in the 1930s and how hard it was for a Hispanic actress to break into the Hollywood scene. I enjoyed the story and it was more interesting that Burdick was able to use primary sources and interview Nina to tell the story. Other sources do not state that Estelita was murdered, but died tragically young due to a suspected medication mishap. I'm glad Nina was able to find a voice to tell her mother's story through Burdick.

Find Me in Havana is a fabulous story! It was a breath of fresh air reading about a different setting and time period than the normal historical fiction. I will be looking up her previous books!

Find Me in Havana is a fictionalized story about the life of a Cuban actress in the 50’s, Estelita Rodriguez, based on true events and interviews with Nina Lopez, Estelita’s daughter. This was such an immersive read, which not only delved deep into the life of an actress who struggled with her career, but also her role as a daughter and mother, and her struggles to keep her marriage together.

The novel alternated between 2 narrators – Estelita and her daughter, Nina. Since young, she had dreamt of one day living and performing in the US. Her dream came true when, at 15, she came to the US with her mother, to perform in Copacabana as a headlining singer where she fell in love and married Chu Chu. She moved to acting as a career with her mother, who Nina called Grandmother Maria, helped manage her career when they were in Havana, until she was old enough to manage her own. Her success led her to New York and Hollywood, where she worked hard, determined to make a name for herself.

Nina who grew up watching her mother’s career rise, was always in awe of her, but jealous and envious of people who got to spend more time with her mother. Nina was constantly questioning and doubting Estelita’s love for her, oftentimes felt like she was a burden to her mother’s career. There was a lot of self-blame and doubt in Nina.

The highlight of Nina’s story for me was when she and Estelita had to go to Cuba, when Estelita’s father was taken by Fidel Castro’s men. It was there that Nina got to meet her aunts and cousins, one of them whom which she felt closest to – Josepha. They played, eating figs, exchanged stories and shared secrets. It was with Josepha that she felt to being closest to a family, who could make her laugh and comfort her. But still, she never was able to share her deepest, darkest secret of the night that Alfonso, her stepdad, lay his hands on her.

The strength of this novel wasn’t only in the storytelling, but also how the complicated mother-daughter relationship between Estelita and Nina was captured. As much as Estelita tried to show that she loved Nina, Nina oftentimes felt abandoned; her life with her mother, filled only with empty promises. She pined for the mother’s love, but realized soon enough that she wasn’t alone in that – men and women flocked to Estelita, wanting and craving for her attention, which Estelita would freely give. To her, it was part of her job, to keep her in a job. And it was obvious to Nina and painfully, to Estelita too, that Nina had always been and will always be, secondary to her career.

Always marrying and falling for the wrong men who treated Estelita nothing more but an object to own and desire, her relationship with Nina suffered too, and she left the duties of caring for Nina to her mother, her pillar and strength. It was painful to see how much Nina craved for the mother’s love but hardly ever received it. Nina spent the rest of her time in a convent, often feeling alone and empty. I felt her loneliness, pain, but her acceptance at the end, set her free.

And there was also Grandmother Maria, the glue the reason for Estelita’s success. Estelita relied on her for everything – strength, advise, guidance; she never did anything without seeking her approval, everyone feared and respected Grandmother Maria, she was integral to Nina and Estelita’s lives. As much as Nina didn’t like Grandmother Maria, she realized without her, her relationship with her mother wouldn’t have survived.

The story certainly didn't read like it was told in series of letters ; they felt more like diary entries. That aside, I found the whole novel captivating, heart-wrenching and beautifully written. Another brilliant work by Burdick. I enjoyed this as much as The Girls with No Names.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin for the invitation to read this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

A fascinating and beautifully layered tale of love, sacrifice and the ties that bind us to the ones we love, Serena Burdick’s Find Me in Havana is a captivating tale based on true events rich in emotion, pathos and atmosphere.

Estelita Rodriguez was just nine years old when she got up on stage and started to sing. From that moment on, she became determined to make the stage her own and although her career started in an unremarkable Havana nightclub, Estelita vowed to use her talents and God-given gifts to see the world and to broaden her horizons. Estelita’s drive and determination drove her from Havana to New York and Hollywood and she fought hard to become a star. Despite of all the losses that she had endured and all the pain she had suffered, nobody could take her success away from her. Not her family or her ex-husbands or the Cuban Revolution which claimed so many casualties in its wake.

Thirty years later and Nina is completely blindsided by the news that her mother Estelita died in mysterious circumstances. Nina is not prepared to let this rest and vows to leave no stone unturned in her quest to avenge her mother’s death and discover the truth. Nobody is going to stop Nina from finding out what really happened to her mother, but as she lifts the lid on Estelita’s past, she discovers the many sacrifices her mother made and all the agony she had gone through in order to make her dreams a reality and become a success in her own right by playing by her own rules.

Find Me in Havana is a book that is sure to stay with you long after you read the last page. A sensitive and poignant exploration of the bond between mother and child, the ambitions that drive us and the courage and resilience that propel us forward to make our dreams a reality, Serena Burdick has penned a mesmerizing page-turner that touches the heart and will have readers eagerly awaiting her next book.