Chanel Cleeton was interviewed on the Fresh Fiction blog about this book!
https://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=11271

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba draws you into the shocking history of the Spainish-American War, told through three charismatic female characters. These three women will make you want to go out and fight for what you believe, no matter the cost. I completely adored Chanel Cleeton's mix of actual events with fiction. It is never a bad day when you are reading a fantastic book and learning about history at the same time.

Grace Harrington, Marina Perez, and Evangelina Cisneros are all fierce, strong, no nonsense type of women. Grace takes it upon herself to make her dreams of becoming a journalist come true. When she walks confidently into William Randolph Hearst office one day, and asks for a job. He needs her to get the other perspective, a woman's perspective. He takes a chance on her and she is flung into the roll of cub reporter.

Marina Perez comes from a family of extreme wealth and prestige. She gives up her place in Cuban society to marry the man of her dreams and work his family farm. They believe in a free Cuba! When her husband leaves to join the revolution, their home is burned down and they are forced into the reconcentration camps. Where every day is a struggle. Disease, starvation, and death swirl around you, a constant threat. A place where death appears to be a mercy. Marina becomes a courier between the revolutionaries and the Americans.

The final character to this puzzle is Evangelina Cisneros, who this book is based on. She is a young woman whose beauty has caught the attention of a Spanish Colonel. The Spanish believe anything and everything in Cuba is theirs for the taking, including Evangelina. She fights off the Colonel and she ends up in her worst nightmare, prison.

These three women' lives collide when Evengelina is broken out of prison, with the help from Hearst, and is whisked away to New York. He dubs her "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba" and she becomes a rallying cry for America to join the war against the Spanish. Grace begins to struggle with a question that keeps niggling the back of her mind. Are journalists responsible for the outcomes of the articles they write?

You will be mesmerized by the book and the sheer will power these three-woman possess. Cleeton transports you from twinkling lights of New York City, to the nightmare landscape of Cuba, that the Spanish left in their wake. I fully enjoyed this book. The characters sealed the deal for me, they were layered, had depth and you could see yourself in their shoes. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for allowing me to read this wonderfully written book!

Chanel Cleeton has the most beautiful book covers. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba examines the role newspaper giants, Pulitzer and Hearst had in the Spanish-American War and gaining Cuba’s independence from Spain. The story alternates between the POV of Grace, a reporter, Mariana, a Cuban woman from the wealthy Perez family, and Evangeline, dubbed the most beautiful woman in Cuba and living in a women’s prison.

What I liked: I was a journalism major, wrote for my local and college paper and just am fascinated by the role of media, so I loved the behind the scenes look at two newspaper giants. I wanted more from Grace’s POV and thought at one point she’d go undercover in the prison, like Nellie Bly (a real reporter referenced in the book).

The history aspect is well-done. I always leave her books feeling like I know more about a period of history.

What didn’t work for me: it felt wordy to me at times, I think some of the details could have been cut. It’s also a decent number of characters to keep up with so I wish it had a glossary of who was who.

Who should read it: Cleeton fans will love this solid addition to the Perez family history. Historical fiction fans that want to learn more about the plight of the Cuban people.

The Most a Beautiful Girl in Cuba follows the real life story of Evangelina Cisneros who escaped from prison with the help of American newspaper reporters during the Cuban war with Spain in the late 1890s. While Evangelina’s story is true, the stories of her fictional counterparts, Grace and Marina, are not. Grace, a stunt reporter in New York City is trying hard to make a name for herself in the male dominated newspaper world. She is determined and smart and independent. Marina lives in Cuba, has been disowned by her family for marrying a farmer, and is doing what she can to keep her family alive during the war. Throughout the book, the three women’s paths cross in some unexpected ways. They are all affected by the war in different ways, but learn who they really are and what they really want as a result. A very interesting book with strong female characters.

Chanel Cleeton again takes readers back in time where three women become tangled up in dangerous historical events, a set-up that worked well in her previous work The Last Train to Key West. This time the event is the brewing Spanish-American War of 1898 and William Randolph Hearst wants a scoop for his newspaper. Newbie reporter Grace Harrington may provide a key to publicity but risks sacrificing journalistic accuracy for sensationalism. Hearst latches onto Evangelina Cisneros, a prisoner in a Havana women’s jail, and concocts a plan to free “The Most Beautiful Woman in Cuba.” Adjacent to these storylines is Marina Perez who left her life of wealth to marry a farmer who joins Cuban revolutionaries against the Spanish. All three women deal with love relationships and heartbreak causing Cleeton to sometimes create overly melodramatic moments. That said, fans of historical romance will enjoy Cleeton’s tale that holds a combination of fact and fiction.

The newspaper world of late 19th century New York - particularly the compulsive rivalry between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer - comes alive in Chanel Cleeton's The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. In a bid to "own the news" William Randolph Hearst took up the cause of a beautiful Cuban noblewoman, Evangelina Cisneros and made her an "overnight celebrity' in the mould of a Gilded Age Kardashian,
As the two magnates battle to win the circulation war by influencing foreign policy over the Cuban War of Independence, they also launch "yellow journalism" and its legacy of today's tabloid tales and fake news
Chanel Cleeton's re-telling of this long forgotten history, and of the women journalists who helped create it, is an entertaining and at times breath-taking account of reluctant fame and hubris.
Though closely wedded to the true factual history of the time, Cleeton also creates convincing fictional characters to bring it all to life. Beautiful Girls also feeds into her earlier Cuban stories, including the Reese Witterspoon Book Club Choice Next Year in Havana. with reference to Perez family history.
The covers on these Cuban books are as beautiful and nostalgic as the stories, Chanel Cleeton is taking this specialist corner of history - the American-Cuban legacy - and making it her own with masterful story telling, colorful detail and characters who remain with the reader long after the final page has been turned. Chanel talks about the book and the period on The Joys of Binge Reading podcast.

Once again, Chanel Cleeton has fulfilled my expectations for historical fiction - to teach me something new while telling a good story. Here, it concerns the Cuban War of independence from Spain, which took place from 1895-98. The story has three main characters, one of whom was real. Evangelina Cisneros, imprisoned by the Spanish on accusations of insurrection, was dubbed “the most beautiful woman in Cuba” to raise awareness about the war by reporters, especially those employed by William Randolph Hearst. The two fictional characters are a female reporter and another woman involved in the rebel cause.
Cheeton does a masterful job of interweaving facts into the story. It never felt forced or that it slowed the story down in any way. I had to smile at Hearst’s recognition that Americans would take more interest in one beautiful woman imprisoned than tales of the thousands of regular women and children suffering in reconcentration camps.
The book even spurred my interest in the events to the point that I sought out additional information. I’ve always heard the terms “remember the Maine” and yellow journalism without really understanding what they meant.
I could have done without the romance subplot of Grace and Rafael, but it seems to be a requirement for historical fiction.
My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

Just like in her previous books, Chanel Cleeton masterfully weaves three women's lives together. In The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, we go back in time to the late 1890's when Cuba is being ravaged by the Spanish. Here we meet two women who are jailed, Evangelina Cisneros and Marina Perez and Grace, the newspaper journalist. In their own ways, they are all fighting for the freedom of those in Cuba, Chanel does a beautiful job of bringing their stories together along with enlightening us of the history of that time.

I think you, like I did, will fall in love with these ladies and their love stories and perhaps learn something new along the way.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review. All opinions are my own.

I watched a documentary about Cuba several years ago, and fell in love with the country, and its rich history, so when I had the opportunity to read The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba presented itself I jumped at the chance. This is the first time I've read anything by Chanel Cleeton, and am awestruck by the incredible writing, the talent full of such detail and heart, it is practically spilling off the pages. I was instantly transported back to a unique time in history that I had previously known very little about.

Cleeton did a masterful job with her research, the details captivating, and the exploration and research, especially of Evangelina Cisneros, and the war between publishing giants William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, masterfully done. Though there is a lot of details about the Cubans fight for freedom, I never once felt like I was reading a history book, and much of the book is historically accurate!

I learned so much that I wasn't aware of before! There were moments where my heart literally ached, my mind dazed with the thoughts that these events actually happened. Unbelievable! I have heard about the Cuban suppression and struggle for independence from Spain, but I didn't realize the horrors the Cubans endured at the hands of this power-hungry country. While I was reading I couldn't help but wonder if Hitler took a few notes from the Spanish before pouring out his evil on the Jews during World War II, the parallels undeniable.

What inspired me the most was how strong Evangelina, Grace, and Marina were as they endured the war, each fighting for the freedom of their beloved country in their own ways. I love reading about women who can rise above their circumstances and show their true strength.

I have always been a historical fiction lover, and this novel just made me fall more in love with the genre, and opened my eyes to another historical incidence that I want to learn more about. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is truly a great story that was poetically told by a terrific new author to me that has now gained herself a new fan!

I love Chanel Cleeton’s books, but this one fell short of her earlier titles. The story combines narratives from two Cuban women, one wealthy and one poor, along with a female, American reporter covering the war in Cuba. I enjoyed the perspectives of the women and the introduction to this period of history new to me. The respective romance felt a little like afterthoughts. I wish more focus had been placed on the women and their stories and less on their romantic lives. I usually fly through Cleeton’s stories, but this one wasn’t a page turner in the same way.

Review will be posted on 6/2/21
The year is 1896 and Grace Harrington wants to make it as a journalist in New York City. Many of her contemporaries are interested in settling down to start a family, but not Grace. She is an unconventional woman who wants to be the next big female journalist. She finally lands her dream job with The New York Journal. Meanwhile in Cuba, the story follows Evangelina Cisneros, a young girl imprisoned in a horrible women's jail in Cuba. Evangelina is a real-life Cuban rebel and she longs for a free Cuba. While she may be a rebel, she is actually imprisoned for simply refusing a Spanish soldier. Hearst, the owner of The New York Journal has Grace on assignment to investigate what is going on down in Cuba and Evangelina's plight. Evangelina is considered the "most beautiful girl in Cuba," and many want America to get involved in aiding Cuba towards independence. In comes Marina Perez, a young woman who secretly works for the revolutionaries in Havana. She is the middle man for Evangelina and Grace; however, things don't get easier for these three courageous women, especially as events escalate towards war. The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is a compelling story based on the real-life Cuban rebel, Evangelina Cisneros. History buffs will enjoy this compelling tale and be entertained by some of the unexpected plot twists.

Cleeton weaves the story of three seemingly unrelated women and ties their plot points together nicely. Grace is everything you could want in an up and coming female reporter. The newspaper world is really intense and I enjoyed her gumption, especially because her allegiances are a bit murky at times. This definitely kept the plot moving right along.

Then there's Evangelina in The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. I didn't know much about her prior to reading this novel, but I found her story to be compelling and heartbreaking at times.You have to admire her ordeal in the women's prison and her determination. The people in charge gave her an easy way out if shed lie about what happened, but she was determined not to despite the horrific conditions of the prison.

Marina's story was also a good one in The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba and I love that Cleeton has continued the Perez family's story from her other novels about Cuba. Marina was originally a socialite, but lost everything when she married someone beneath her who ended up being a revolutionary. She doesn't know if he is dead or alive, so she has to do what she has to do to keep herself and her daughter fed and alive.

I can always count on Cleeton to teach me something about Cuba's history when I read her novels. While this wasn't my favorite of Cleeton's novels, I will say The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba is well researched and very informative regarding Cuba's complex and tumultuous history. If you love historical reads about strong female characters, look no further!

Why have I taken so long to read Chanel Cleeton? I am not a huge historical fiction reader but I enjoy it from time to time, especially if it features strong female characters like in The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba. This was told via multiple perspectives, all adding to the overall story. And what a story it was!

Evangelina Cisneros is thrown in jail as a rebel during the Cuban War on Independence. She is dubbed "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba" by the press. Telling the tale of her imprisonment helps raise awareness of the truth of what is happening in Cuba.

Grace Harrington is a young female reporter who lands a job at William Randolph Hearst's newspaper in 1896. She becomes more and more aware of the realities of the war in Cuba and wants to write about the women who often go unseen and unheard.

Maria Perez is a young Cuban woman who gave up her life of privilege and was renounced by her family when she married a poor man for love. Trying to make ends meet while she cares for her daughter and mother-in-law, she becomes a secret courier for the Cuban Revolutionaries in Havana.

We follow these three women's stories, each showing bravery, strength, love and compassion in her own way. I love that this was based on the real Cuban heroine. What an extraordinary woman and life! I thoroughly appreciate reading a work of historical fiction like this that can not only entertain but educate. Cleeton has a gift for story-telling that simply sweeps you away. I listened to this one audio and easily lost myself in the tumultuous time period for hours on end. I must read her previous works soon.

Pros :: Excellent job in telling the story of Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain. Romance, intrigue and great vehicles of learning the past. Multiple emotional scenes of each of the main characters (Evangelina Cisneros, Grace Harrington and Marina Perez) were done well. Interesting second story of the newspaper competition between Hearst and Pulitzer.

Cons :: Unfortunately, this is my least favorite book from this author. It didn’t come across to me the language barrier that Evangelina Cisneros and journalists Grace Harrington would have encountered. There were some confusing scenes, such as Grace mentioning she didn’t like the opera (she was there to accompany her Aunt) yet four sentences later we read she was so enraptured with the music and story line of the performance. A modern day use age of “Then you should go for it” jarred me out of the story. Found the book repetitive, too.

Cover art :: 3 out of 5. Yet another picture of a models backside.

Set in the turn of the century during a fight for Cuban independence, this novel tells the breathtaking stories of three women finding their place in the world. Grace, an aspiring reporter in NYC caught between two publishing powerhouses- Evangelina, wrongly imprisoned in Cuba who gets dubbed “The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba” by the press and becomes a symbol of independence- Marina, a mother trying to protect her young daughter, who works as a courier delivering messages between revolutionaries. Inspired by actual historical figures and events, Chanel Cleeton interweaves elements of history, espionage, diplomacy, women’s rights and even romance to transport her readers back in time. I have always loved learning about real historical events by reading historical fiction...I’m able to empathize with the characters and feel what it must have been like for real people to experience such poignant and critical moments in history. I especially love reading about women’s perspectives which I think often are missing from our history books and can add another important view.

This book both entertained me and educated me- I highly recommend it as well as her other historical fiction books. Thank you so much to @berkleypub + @netgalley for the advanced reader copy!

My summer reading doesn't feel complete without a new book by Chanel Cleeton. She give me the perfect opportunity to immerse myself in a juicy read that is enhanced by the heat from the sun while reading by the pool. I loved this book and can't wait to share it with Cleeton fans or people looking for the perfect beach read.

Another summer, another new Chanel Cleeton book! I loved learning about a part of American and Cuban history I knew VERY VERY little about. Cleeton is great at highlighting parts of Cuban history through the perspective of women from different backgrounds. In this book we learn about the lives of Grace Harrington, a wannabe reporter in Gilded Age New York City and Evangelina Cisneros, imprisoned at 18 and the woman who would become the "beautiful face" that spurred America to help overthrow Spanish rule in Cuba. Marina Perez (of the Next year in Havana and When we left Cuba Perez family) also has a role, helping deliver messages to the press from Cuban revolutionaries in order to free Evangelina. My knowledge of Cuban history was woefully inadequate and I learned so much in this book. The conditions of the Havana women's jail were horrifying to say the least. I really enjoyed Grace's story the most I think. She was an independent girl trying to make it as a female journalist in a very male-dominated profession and wasn't looking for love but ended up finding a dashing guy who didn't want to change her (who doesn't dream of that right?). Highly recommend this one, especially if you are a Chanel Cleeton fan or want to learn more about early Cuban-American-Spanish history. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my early review copy!

Every book highlights a new part of Cuban history for me and immerses you in the story. It’s an easy to follow story highlighting the plight of three different women in various social statuses. Each women shows the hardship of war and how women are usually overlooked. However, what I found key to this story is how it highlighted how essential women are. Wars are often found behind closed doors and women can be found deep within there doing what they need for their families. These three women are heroes and while this story also showed how horrific war is and what it can do to families, it also showed the strength of women.

Grace tem um desejo: se tornar repórter e trabalhar para mudar vidas. E é assim que ela entra no escritório de um dos mais famosos donos de jornal da época. Estamos falando da Nova York de 1896. Contratada para espionar o concorrente, é assim que Grace começa a trabalhar no Journal. Evangelina vive com o pai e a irmã em uma colônia prisional, até que um general espanhol quer tomar ela como amante. E como ela rejeita seus avanços sistematicamente, é presa e enviada para La Casa de Recogitas, uma prisão para mulheres envolvidas com os rebeldes cubanos. Marina casou com Mateo contra a vontade dos pais, depois de algum tempo ele foi embora lutar com os rebeldes e agora Marina, sua filha Isabella e a sogra Luz estão sendo levadas para um campo de refugiados ao redor de Havana. A vida dessas três mulheres vai mudar e se cruzar por conta da guerra que deu início a independência de Cuba.
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Esse é meu segundo contato com a escrita da Chanel Cleeton, já tinha lido seu último lançamento The Last Train from Key West e fiquei encantada em como ela consegue escrever romances históricos que prendem e apaixonam. Não poderia ser diferente ao falarmos de The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, a autora conseguiu nos transportar para uma Cuba que gritava por liberdade.
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Grace é uma mulher que não quer abrir mão de sua independência e é por isso que ela rejeita todo tipo de contato com a nata da sociedade a que pertencem sua mãe e padrasto. Depois de começar a trabalhar como repórter ela tem acesso a histórias de mulheres em Cuba e em como elas estão sendo tratadas. Também temos Rafael, um magnata cubano-americano que está despertando em Grace sentimentos que ela nunca pensou ter.
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Evangeline sempre foi movida pelo seu amor pela família. Ela se sacrificou pelo pai e quando é acusada injustamente e enviada para a prisão as coisas começam a piorar rapidamente. É quando repórteres de um jornal americano se interessam por sua história e Evangeline se torna o rosto que leva a América a pensar mais sobre o conflito que acontece em Cuba.
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Marina, por sua vez, ama a família e Cuba e é por isso que ela apoia o marido a se juntar aos rebeldes. Meses depois ela não sabe onde ele está e se vê em condições sub-humanas em um campo de concentração. E é aí que ela começa a lutar com as armas que possui, fazendo parte de uma rede de espionagem entre os cubanos.
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Esse é um livro que nos faz pensar muito sobre mulheres que viveram em conflitos nos séculos passados cujos nomes foram apagados da história.
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Esse livro ainda não foi publicado no Brasil, mas se você lê em inglês merece muito a leitura.

In The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, author Chanel Cleeton shines light on a period in Cuban history many Americans know little to nothing about. Through the eyes of three very different heroines, Cleeton allows us a glimpse into a war-torn Cuba and a New York City poised to take the world by storm. It's a period in history known as America's Gilded Age, and while I loved spending time there, my favorite parts of the novel are actually those set in Cuba.

Grace Harrington has always dreamed of being a successful journalist, but in 1896, that's not the easiest thing for a young, unmarried woman to accomplish. Fortunately for Grace, two of the city's biggest newspapers are engaged in something of a feud, each desperate to outdo the other, and so when Grace shows up at the office of William Hearst, he makes her an offer she can't refuse. Hearst is looking for a spy of sorts, someone who can get into the office of his greatest rival and report back on what is being covered. Grace isn't fully convinced this is a great idea, but it's her only way to get a foot in the door. Joseph Pulitzer has never shied away from the unconventional and hires Grace right away, obviously unaware of her agreement with Hearst.

Not long after Grace starts working for Pulitzer, the story of Evangelina Cisneros, an eighteen-year-old Cuban woman being unjustly held in a Havana jail is leaked to a member of the press. Suddenly, her plight is all anyone is talking about, and Pulitzer is determined to step in and save her. Of course, his reasons for doing so aren't the least bit altruistic; he knows a story like Evangelina's has the power to make his paper one of the biggest in the country, and he's unwilling to pass up that chance. He plasters Evangelina's picture on the front page, and from that moment on, she becomes a symbol of Cuban independence, a rallying cry of sorts for Americans who want to make a difference.

Pulitzer drafts Grace to help Evangelina gain her freedom, and with the help of Marina Perez, a courier working covertly in Havana, she does what she can to improve Evangelina's situation. But when Cuban civilians are forced into (re)concentration camps by the Spanish, things become a lot more dangerous for everyone involved, Evangelina most of all.

The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of Grace, Evangelina, and Marina. Both Grace and Marina's chapters are well fleshed out, making it easy for the reader to relate to the women, but when the narrative switches to Evangelina's perspective, things take on a bit of a murkier feel. It's almost as though Grace and Marina were telling me their stories while Evangelina's point of view was being filtered through another, blurrier lens. It's not that she was impossible to relate to, it's more that I found myself left with questions about her portion of the novel, questions that have led me to do additional research into her life in hopes of satisfying my curiosity.

The novel's pacing is practically perfect. I was sucked in from the very first page, and I hated to put the book down even for a short time, and Cleeton's ability to imbue her story with a strong sense of time and place is a testament to her skill as a writer. I love when a book takes me out of my own life and into the lives of its characters, making me feel as though I'm experiencing things right alongside them. Not all authors can do this, so it's a real treat when it happens in a way that feels as effortless as it does here.

If you're someone who prefers a bit of romance in your historical fiction, The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba won't disappoint. Romance is far from the central plot of the story, but Cleeton does manage to weave a couple of romantic arcs into the narrative, providing a glimmer of hope in the midst of the darkness of revolution. I loved watching our heroines claim their own happiness even when it felt like the world was collapsing around them.

I wouldn't say this is my favorite of the author's works, but I'm glad I read it. It's a story that needed to be told, and despite the lack of clarity around some of Evangelina's chapters, it opened my eyes to a part of history my American education didn't touch.

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Wonderful book about what is for me a little known part of history. This is an example of why I love historical fiction so much. I find novels like this a great way to learn about historical events and the people who lived them in the context of fictionalized situations and dialogue. Chanel Cleeton once again opens up Cuba to those of us who can't travel there.