When We Left Cuba

Author: Chanel Cleeton

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 341

Publisher: Berkley Books

Published: April 9, 2010

Book Description: In 1960’s Florida, a young Cuban exile will risk her life–and heart–to take back her country in this exhilarating historical novel from the author of Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick. Beautiful, Daring, Deadly. The Cuban Revolution took everything from sugar heiress Beatriz Perez–her family, her people, her country. Recruited by the CIA to infiltrate Fidel Castro’s inner circle and pulled into the dangerous world of espionage. Beatriz is consumed but her quest for revenge and her desire to reclaim the life she lost. As the Cold War swells like a hurricane over the shores of the Florida Strait, Beatriz is caught between the clash of the Cuban American politics and the perils of a forbidden affair with a powerful man driven by ambitions of his own. When the ever-changing tides of history threaten everything she has fought for, she must make a choice between her past and future–but the wrong move could cost Beatriz everything–not just island she loves, but also the man who has stolen her hear…

Rating: 3 1/2 Stars

Review: When We Left Cuba is the follow-up to Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana. This was my second attempt at this book and I was definitely in a better frame of mind this time around and was happy to stick with this one.

This book, follows Beatriz Perez and how she will do anything to fight for the Cuba she once knew. Beatriz ends up working for the CIA and happens to fall in love with a Senator that she has no business having this type of relationship with.

This book has everything, romance, intrigue, action. This will definitely satisfy a lot of boxes for most readers, unless you just love Sci-Fi/Fantasy only.

I really ended up enjoying this one. It was a little slower than Next Year in Havana, but still none the less very good. I know this is a topic we learned about in school, but I am enjoying hearing Cleeton’s stories of this time well into almost current times. I hope she continues to write more about the Perez family.