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A review by bookapotamus
Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
4.0
I finally hopped on the Cuba train and I do not want to get off!
I got to be part of Chanel Cleeton's blog tour for her new release When We Left Cuba, and I HAD to read this one first. Even though they are connected - they totally work as stand alones and are great stories separately - but there are some fantastic Easter eggs and snippets thrown in that are a great tie-ins for fans of both. I highly recommend reading these in order - but you certainly don't have to!
Next Year in Havana follows two women - decades apart. Elisa, back in the 1950's when Cuba first starts showing signs of the revolution. And Marisol, present day - and Elisa's grandaughter - who lives in America, but travels to a "new" Cuba, to scatter her beloved grandmother's ashes after her death.
I loved this book - it's an epic love story, full of history and love for a country at it's worst, and as the political unrest proves more and more dangerous, Elisa's relationship with a revolutionary becomes more dangerous to her and her family as well.
Marisol meanwhile starts to uncover truths about her grandmothers time is this secluded, almost magical country, to all those not born there - and slowly begins to fall in love with the country and fall for a mysterious man herself in the process.
The juxtaposition of the two women's stories - connected by blood, but even further on this journey by country - is a beautiful tale that keeps you enthralled and engaged the whole time.
I got to be part of Chanel Cleeton's blog tour for her new release When We Left Cuba, and I HAD to read this one first. Even though they are connected - they totally work as stand alones and are great stories separately - but there are some fantastic Easter eggs and snippets thrown in that are a great tie-ins for fans of both. I highly recommend reading these in order - but you certainly don't have to!
Next Year in Havana follows two women - decades apart. Elisa, back in the 1950's when Cuba first starts showing signs of the revolution. And Marisol, present day - and Elisa's grandaughter - who lives in America, but travels to a "new" Cuba, to scatter her beloved grandmother's ashes after her death.
I loved this book - it's an epic love story, full of history and love for a country at it's worst, and as the political unrest proves more and more dangerous, Elisa's relationship with a revolutionary becomes more dangerous to her and her family as well.
Marisol meanwhile starts to uncover truths about her grandmothers time is this secluded, almost magical country, to all those not born there - and slowly begins to fall in love with the country and fall for a mysterious man herself in the process.
The juxtaposition of the two women's stories - connected by blood, but even further on this journey by country - is a beautiful tale that keeps you enthralled and engaged the whole time.