Review: The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba

The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4 out of 5 stars - If you ask me, I'll tell you to read it.

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for this Advanced Readers Copy!

I really enjoyed this book. As someone who loves learning about history, there was a lot to learn about the historical side of this story.

Evangelina Cisneros was a real woman in history. She was determined to be an enemy of the Spanish state, and was put into a women's prison in Cuba.

She was dubbed "The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba" by the New York Journal, a newspaper owned by William Randolph Hearst. This newspaper was in a circulation war with The New York World newspaper owned by Joseph Pulitzer. In order to sell more papers, Hearst was encouraging war with Spain over Cuban independence. I had no idea that we entered the Spanish American War, mainly because of newspaper stories!

I also liked meeting fictional Grace Harrington. She was a strong, independent woman who determined that she wanted to be the next Nelly Bly, a stunt newspaper girl! Grace was asked to help write some of the stories about Evangelina, her escape from prison with the help of Journal journalists.

I really appreciated the Author's Note at the end that told of the research and the truth behind this historical fiction book. It was nice to know who was based on a real story and where the side characters came from.

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