The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba

I give this book 5 beautiful historical fiction, romance, story-telling, finding yourself, and unique journey stars! I cannot say enough good things about this book. The writing was phenomenal and the characters were so well developed. They had incredible stories and I couldn’t put this book down. I will definitely be buying it when it comes out and can’t wait to recommend it to everyone.

In The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba we follow 3 women through the years 1896-1898 during the Cuban War of Independence from Spain. Grace Harrington born into an old money family in NYC goes against her family’s wish for her to marry and instead lands a job at the New York Journal working as a journalist for William Hearst. In a time when women aren’t journalists, she begins writing about a woman wrongly imprisoned in Cuba, Evangelina Cisneros. Based on a real woman, Evangelina is put in the Casa de Recogidas, a prison for women, because she thwarted the forced advances of a Spanish officer.

America becomes obsessed with Evangelina through the newspapers where she is called “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba”. Evangelina is able to communicate with the outside world through Marina Perez (yes from the Perez family from the past 3 books). Marina was taken from her country home and thrown into a re-concentration camp in Havana with her daughter and mother-in-law because the Spanish were scared of people in the country meeting and rebelling.

Chanel Cleeton took the best aspects of her past 3 books in this series and put them all together here. The stories of these women unfold slowly and gracefully, nothing is rushed. Characters are fully developed and there are no instant romances (thank you for this!). I rooted for Grace to excel in her career and take control over her life. Evangelina was showed off as just a beautiful face but she had so much more to her. Her concern for her country and ALL women imprisoned there, beautiful or not. Marina’s love for her husband and daughter just poured out of the pages, I felt her grief when her husband went off to fight in the war.

This story is the prequel I didn’t know I needed. Cleeton explored wrongfully imprisoning women for “crimes” like simply being married to a rebel and forcing women and children into re-concentration camps where they died by malnutrition and disease at an alarming rate. She also wove in themes true today such as privilege during a war vs being poor and unprotected and how much influence the news does and should have on what happens in the world (such as an article pushing a country to war).

This book was very well researched and I spent a lot of time looking up Evangelina, Casa de Recogidas, and re-concentration camps in Havana. The Author’s Note really got me started into my deep dive. While this story about a war may sound heavy, it’s truly about the fight for Cuban Independence and for the soul of a beautiful country.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was an eyeopener for me. The impact of journalism in government and public is strong, as shown in the efforts of Hearst's paper to create social consciousness regarding the situation in Cuba during the 1890s. The inclusion of three powerful women characters (one based on the real life of Evangelina Cisneros) made it an interesting read, even though, at times going back and forth between each character in different chapters distracted the reader from the story line.

The author did a good job in researching the situation in Cuba under Spanish control. She also presented journalism of the period in a frank and objective way. This would be a good book club selection as it presents various topics for discussion: women & war; Cuban politics; the media; etc.

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba
by Chanel Cleeton
Berkley Publishing Group
You Like Them
Berkley
Multicultural Interest | Women's Fiction
Pub Date 04 May 2021 | Archive Date 04 Jun 2021

What a great book! Chanel Cleeton is one of the best storytellers I know. She does her research and tells the story. Thanks to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for the ARC. I will recommend it to our patrons.

5 star

I can’t think of anyone better than Chanel Cleeton when it comes to storytelling. The amount of detail, character development, and research that went into this book is amazing. The Most Beautiful Girl In Cuba brings out all of the emotions. My heart aches for the people of Cuba and the awful things they went through to bring freedom to their country. 5 stars is not enough for this latest book.

*Chanel Cleeton can do no wrong.

I need to process this book so that I can write a review that will do this book justice if that is possible. The characters are so well developed and researched that this book deserves 5 billion stars.

Thank you NETGALLEY for this ARC that I will surely put in the hands of my patrons once it is released.

I do want to leave with why Chanel Cleeton is one of my favorites - she researches her stuff. Yes, this may be FICTION but let me tell you, the war, the turmoil, the characters, the places, the spies, the revolution, it was all very real and after reading this nail biting story, I feel like I was there.