Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

The Cuban Heiress by Chanel Cleeton

9 reviews

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

This was a fun and fast read. I liked the mysteries and intrigue and trying to figure out what happened. To my surprise, I also really liked Harry and his romance with

Catherine

. They had a lot of chemistry, and he worked well as the "noble thief" archetype. Elena and especially Julio received less development and characterization - I would have liked to learn more about them and especially Julio's political activities and how Elena, being from a wealthy family, felt about them. The setting of the lavish ballroom society escaping the Depression was a fun one to explore. I really liked seeing Havana, but I wish we had seen much more of it.

That kinda sums up my feelings on this book as a whole - a lot was introduced but was rushed in the execution, and I wanted to spend more time on various ideas. Elena could have used more characterization - who was she outside of her relationships? I would have liked to see more of the crew conflicts that led to the final horrific ending of the fire too. Julio and Harry gave us little snippets, but I was left feeling like that part of the plot was underdeveloped in spite of being the reasoning behind the big set piece at the end. On the flip side, I thought the epilogue added nothing and would have liked to see an exploration of

Elena and Ava's

relationship in its place.

Some of the twists were clever and a nice change of pace, while others were a little perplexing.

I liked that the murder in the beginning turned out not to be the point of the mystery at all. However, I didn't like that the connection between Elena and Katie was sprung on us when we'd been experiencing Katie's first-person POV for so long.

That was another thing - why was Katie written in first person and Elena in third? It felt like it was just so that the novel could open with the exciting line about the dead woman (Elena) in third person, rather than being justified by the plot or structure.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

Moderate: Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Car accident, Alcohol, War, and Deportation

fkshg8465's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Fun and easy to read. Dashing women and a dashing man. A scoundrel. Character ingredients were right. Setting was romantic (in a heroic sense, though there was romance on the ship). Storyline was good enough to be rooting for the heroes. Villain was a huge louse - really hated him. Adequate tension. But it still fell a little short for me because there were just too many things going on and hinging on each other - Cuban politics, Great Depression, multiple fires, cat thief, etc. would’ve preferred a more simple set of parameters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.5

Finished reading: May 24th 2024

“It's a delicate balancing act to keep all the lies I've told straight, to keep everything from going up in flames.”

It's no secret that I consider Chanel Cleeton to be one of my favorite historical fiction authors, and her stories haven't let me down yet. I've been meaning to read The Cuban Heiress ever since it was published last year, but somehow once again it took me longer than expected to do so. I'm SO glad I finally did pick it up though, because I ended up having an absolutely fantastic time with this story! There is just something about her writing style that draws you straight in, and I literally flew through this book. The Cuban Heiress uses a dual POV structure, where we switch between Elena and Catherine during their journey aboard the SS Morro Castle. I found both women to be intriguing from the very beginning, although Elena's story was the more gripping of the two. The active cheating in Catherine's POV was not my cup of tea, although with everything explained in the end and Raymond being such a despicable character it is quite easy to forgive her. The plot is less intricate than some of her other books, but between the writing and the characters I was more than entertained. I do always love a story set on a ship! There was mystery, there was intrigue, there was romance, there was revenge, there was murder, there was an explosive ending... And a lightning-fast pace to get you there. I also loved that it was partly based on real events! The Cuban Heiress was yet another winner for me and I've yet to rate her stories below 4.5 stars. Recommended! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

keelirae113's review

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body horror, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, and Abandonment

chelseylb1988's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Death of parent

jilliebeen2003's review

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

kimveach's review

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is a super fast read.  I finished it in one sleepless night.  I loved the mystery, the 1934 setting, and the story based upon the SS Morro Castle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcohol and Dysphoria

emmas_bookshelf's review

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have enjoyed and learned something from all of Chanel Cleeton’s historical fiction books and this was no exception! One thing I did think was a bit different about this one is that while political tensions in Cuba are certainly mentioned, they’re much more in the background than being a focus of the story. The actual focus here is the POVs of two women on a round trip cruise from NYC to Havana in the midst of the Great Depression, and unraveling the mystery of why they’re on the ship and what their missions are. It was very twisty and intriguing! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

readingwithcats's review

emotional hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Sadly, I didn’t love this one as much as I usually do Cleeton’s novels. I felt like the strong sense of time and place that she excels at were missing here. Plus, the male characters, especially Julio, were so poorly developed that the romance aspects fell completely flat for me. Here’s hoping we spend more time in Cuba in her next novel.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Gaslighting