Book Review: Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: February 6, 2018
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Publisher’s Description:

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.

Marisol Ferrera’s grandmother Elisa’s final wish was for her ashes to be scattered in Cuba, where she grew up until her family was forced to flee to America. Next Year in Havana alternates between the present day, in which Marisol travels to Cuba with her grandmother’s ashes and when her grandmother was a young woman in Cuba. It’s two love stories for the price of one. Elisa’s forbidden love is Pablo. Once in Cuba, Marisol falls for Luis, the grandson of her mother’s childhood best friend.

I learned a lot about Cuba’s history from this book as Elisa’s story takes place during Fidel Castro’s rise to power and I enjoyed Elisa’s storyline. However, I felt like Marisol and Luis’s relationship was contrived. I didn’t feel like there was any chemistry between them. And the speed at which their relationship progressed seemed unrealistic, even for a romance novel. There are three more books in this series but Next Year in Havana didn’t grab me enough to make me want to read further.