After her beloved grandmother dies, a Cuban-American woman travels from Miami back to Havana and unearths a treasure trove of family secrets. If you love stories that go back and forth in time, this is for you. In 1958, 19-year-old Elisa falls in love for the first time—with a dangerous revolutionary. In 2017, Elisa's granddaughter Marisol travels to newly-open Cuba, ostensibly to write an article on tourism, but really to learn more about her grandmother and the complicated country she loved. I didn't know much about Cuba, then or now, before reading this, and really enjoyed the experience.

The standalone sequel to Next Year in Havana delivers a tale of politics, history, and love. Beatriz Perez was forced to flee her beloved homeland of Cuba for the refuge of Palm Beach, and will do whatever it takes to help her family and the country she still sees as her own, including begging the CIA to put her to use as a spy—something virtually unheard of in the 1960s. But her offer is too good for her government to refuse, and she soon finds herself uncomfortably close to Castro and other dangerous men, seeking precious information the U.S. can use to bring down his regime. Things get complicated when she falls for a handsome and politically ambitious U.S. senator, a man who will change her life—though perhaps not in the way either of them hoped. A page-turning story of love and revenge, though not necessarily in that order.

In this standalone novel from the author of Next Year in Havana, three women’s lives become entangled over the course of Labor Day weekend, 1935, when the storm of the century slams into Key West. The story is told from three perspectives, that of three different women who seem to share little in common, but whose lives are about to intersect in ways no one could foresee. Helen is a Key West native, poor and pregnant, fleeing her abusive husband. Mirta is Cuban, newly married to a man she barely knows, and just beginning her honeymoon. And Elizabeth, who’s come south on a dangerous search for a long-lost loved one. A captivating novel about a little-known historical event.

Extra! Extra! Cleeton brings Cuba’s 1896 struggle for independence from Spain roaring to life in her smashing historical novel inspired by real events. In New York City, journalist Grace Harrington dreams of following in Nellie Bly’s footsteps, but is stuck writing puff pieces for William Randolph Hearst. In Cuba, Marina Perez (member of Cleeton’s fictional Perez family), disowned by her family after marrying her love, carries secret messages for the revolutionary cause in her washing. And historical figure Evangelina Cisneros is “the most beautiful woman in Cuba” (a moniker she hates), wrongly imprisoned for resisting a Spanish official’s advances. Eager to outsell his bitter rival Joseph Pulitzer, Hearst pounces on Evangelina’s story, seeing an opportunity to sway American opinion on the Cuban struggle—and sell a boatload of papers in the process. After he sends Grace to get the scoop, the three women’s stories come crashing together for an exciting conclusion.

Cleeton’s installment in the Perez sisters series features love, lies, and spies against an irresistible Barcelona backdrop. Resuming where When We Left Cuba leaves off, the story begins in 1964 with eldest sister Isabel traveling from Cuba to Spain on a rescue mission. Her glamorous—and estranged—younger sister Beatriz may be in trouble. But once she arrives in Barcelona, her search expands to involve not just Beatriz but long-buried secrets of her family’s past, which she hunts down with the help of Beatriz’s handsome friend. In satisfying alternate chapters, Cleeton shifts the story to 1936, when the girls’ disappointed mother, Alicia, leaves Cuba to seek solace with her parents in Spain after she makes an unwelcome discovery about her marriage. The storylines brilliantly converge—with a tied-with-a-bow ending. In her don’t-miss author’s note Cleeton says she initially resisted writing Isabel’s story, but the spirited eldest Perez sister is now her favorite. For fans of Cleeton’s Next Year in Havana and Lara Prescott’s The Secrets We Kept.

Sara says: "Summer Reading Guide author Chanel Cleeton brings us aboard the real-life SS Moro Castle in the glamorous 1930s for a historical fiction thrill ride. (Note to eager googlers: hold off on researching the ship until after the dramatic conclusion to avoid spoilers!) Two women come on board this Cuban bound luxury cruise with more than a vacation in mind. Catherine, an apparent heiress hiding her past, seeks refuge in a wealthy fiancé's arms. Elena, a Cuban immigrant clutching a smuggled gun, hides in dark corners, intent on revenge. I was surprised when I found out just how these two narratives collide, and enjoyed the mix of old world elegance and chilling suspense worthy of Ruth Ware."

Told in a duel timeline, The House on Biscayne Bay is a suspenseful tale about two women and the glamorous waterfront Miami estate that intertwines them.

This historical novel features three strong women linked across time by one extraordinary book. In 1900, Cuban teacher Eva Fuentes travels to Boston as part of the Cuban Summer School at Harvard, an ambitious cultural exchange program. She makes friends, falls in love, and writes a book. In 1966 Havana, librarian Pilar is given the book by her neighbor, who begs her to keep it safe before fleeing Castro’s Cuba. And in 2024 London, a mysterious client hires Margo to track down the only copy of Eva’s novel, and she quickly learns it’s a book some people are willing to kill to get. This pageturner has a little bit of everything: little-known history, mystery, espionage, and family secrets, plus a second chance love story and pervasive love of literature. I picked this up at a moment when I wanted a story I could escape into, and it delivered.