Next Year in Havana

by Chanel Cleeton

Frankie Maria Corzo (Narrator) and Kyla Garcia (Narrator)

A HELLO SUNSHINE x REESE WITHERSPOON BOOK CLUB PICK

“A beautiful novel that's full of forbidden passions, family secrets and a lot of courage and sacrifice.”—Reese Witherspoon

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest—until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.

Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

• ISBN10: 1538521482
• ISBN13: 9781538521489
• Publish Date: 6 February 2018
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Format: Audiobook
• Language: English

Reviews

[Marissa Lupe Author]

I have already mentioned, I have a serious soft spot for historical fiction... I devoured, "Next Year in Havana" by @chanelcleeton
It was heart pounding, beautiful, insightful, and amazingly well written ❣️ I felt as though I had gone on a vacation to Cuba.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Goodreads Updates

Historical romances are probably my guilty pleasure reading. The plot of a love that was not meant to be against the turmoil of the 1950s Cuba was right up my alley. I did feel that Marisol’s present-day was necessary to the story, however, I looked forward to listening to Elisa’s tale more.



Kyla Garcia had great pacing and at times the lilt of her voice reminded me of Cassandra Campbell, one of my favorite narrators.


I saw Elisa's bun coming on page 10. Although listening to how it unfolded was still enjoyable.



We took a swerve and the novel suddenly became Taken starring Liam Neeson. I rolled my eyes and imagined the Fonz jumping over a shark. Fortunately, while critical to the stories development was not dwelt on for long.



I would recommend this to someone who likes historical romances but if one is looking for a story with a little more substance I may pass it up.

This review was originally posted on First Impressions Reviews

[Leigha]

Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera disovers shocking truths about her beloved grandmother in this ode to Cuba.

Cuban history is murky for me. While the names of the politicians are familiar – Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Fulgencio Batista – I recall nothing of the actual history, population, and culture. This book explores all of the above elements from the early 20th Century until now. It felt like reading a historical novel about the Cuban people rather than a fiction novel. I’m unsure of the accuracy of the information and representation, but it certainly made me want to learn more about the county.

The setting may have been complex and intriguing, but the characters and plot were not. The romances felt too rushed and underdeveloped to be believable. Marisol and Luis’ storyline suffered the most from instalove. I could believe a connection existed between the two, but not love (and not in one week). The novel did a better job with exploring the complicated familial and platonic relationships, particularly the connection between Marisol and Eliza. I would rather the romance be removed all together to focus more on the two main characters.

tl;dr While a fascinating analysis of Cuba’s struggles, I found the actual story to be insubstantial.

[Rowena]

This book took a little bit for me to get into it because we're introduced to a lot of characters right from the jump and it took a little while before I understood what was going on in both timelines. But once it picked up, it really picked up and I ended up really liking both stories and all of the characters. I'm very much looking forward to Beatriz's book.

[Sam@WLABB]

I have read previous books by Cleeton, but this was very different from her contemporary romances. This book had romance, but this was not a romance. It WAS a beautiful story of love and family and love of country.

Cleeton did an incredible job bringing us to Cuba. She skillfully painted a vivid image of the island and its people for me both pre and post Castro's regime. But what really captivated me and stirred my emotions was all the history in this book. I think I learned some about Cuba back in the 80s, when I was in 8th grade, but this was a totally different point of view of the politics and the effects it had on Cuban citizens and how polarizing it was for many families.

This was a beautiful and emotional story, which caused me to shed tears quite a few times. I really loved the dual timelines, and the parallels between Marisol and her grandmother, and there were quite a few big, beautiful surprises in the the story as well.

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[girlinthepages]

I don't remember where I first heard about Next Year in Havana, but I do remember being struck by the gorgeous cover and feeling a deep compulsion to read it immediately. After a few frustrating weeks waiting for my library hold to come in, I decided to take the plunge and just buy the book, something I'm always a bit wary to do when I'm not familiar with the author. I shouldn't have worried though, because Next Year in Havana was not only the book I wanted, but it was very much the book I needed as well.

Next Year in Havana focuses on a dual timeline between Elisa, a Cuban sugar heiress living in Havana in during the mid-1900s revolution, and Marisol, her granddaughter who is trying to reconcile her Cuban identity with her American one, despite being second generation and born in Miami. As the daughter and granddaughter of immigrants myself, there was so much about Marisol's story that I deeply resonated with: her untethered sense of self that feels a loyalty to two cultures, a deep connection to a country she's never been to but that defines her identity so much, the struggle of feeling like she can't claim her heritage because she looks different than her Cuban relatives or has an accent on her Spanish, the difficulty reconciling a country with dangerous and corrupt policies with the gilded memories shared by her relatives, frozen in time. At times I had to put the book down and just absorb the narrative, as it made me feel seen in a way I haven't before felt when reading.

Based on the cover and synopsis, it may be easy to lump this novel into the "historical romance" or "chick lit" genres, but it's honestly SO much more than that. The bulk of the novel is actually very politically centered, and I learned so much about Cuba's government and history-both past and present- and the country itself was more of a presence than any of the romances were. It was so refreshing to dive back into a history lesson and almost gave me the sense of reading non-fiction at times (in a good way)- I felt intellectually stimulated in a way I haven't since reading a novel in college.

I also really enjoyed the dual timeline perspective. Both Marisol and Elisa's narratives felt quite distinct, and while I preferred Elisa's a bit more (she felt like more of a fleshed out character to me) I appreciated the parallelism between their own stories in Havana- it felt fated but not contrived. I also love how both were able to both critique and love the city and country at the same time, and find the beauty in the hardships and the horror in the paradise- it was truly realistic the internal civil war both felt about their Cuban heritage and the state of the country itself. I especially enjoyed reading both women's relationships with the secondary characters, from Elisa's sisters (more books about all of them, please!) and Marisol's interactions with her grandmother's best friend's family, which showcased the juxtaposition of Cubans who stayed vs. Cubans who left during the revolution.

Overall: Next Year in Havana draws you in with it's beautiful cover and romantic premise, but keeps you reading with its deep political roots and raw emotion. I screamed in delight when I found at the end of my copy an announcement that a companion novel is releasing in 2019, and you can bet this is now one of my favorite adult series, and has reignited my love for historical fiction.This review was originally posted on Girl in the Pages

[kimbacaffeinate]

RTC. Wonderful story. Took me so long to read because I am ill.