Empowering Women – dinipandareads

It’s the first Monday of a new month and we’re back with another Goodreads Monday, a weekly meme started by @Lauren’s Page Turners. This meme invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you want to! I’ll be using a random number generator to pick my books from my insanely long GR Want-to-read list.

This week’s book is When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton. I do remember adding this earlier in the year because of how much love it was getting on bookstagram. I hadn’t heard of Cleeton before though! This book has a rating of 4.05 stars with 8k+ ratings and over 1k+ reviews, so it seems like a pretty well-loved book!

In 1960s 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 by 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 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 the island she loves, but also the man who has stolen her heart…

Why do I want to read it?

Ever since watching Dirty Dancing but especially after watching Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, I grew a slightly smol obsession with Havana, Cuba. Yes, I was viewing this place through rose-tinted glasses, but I was still swept away. Saying that, this book sounds seriously up my alley! I’ve always loved historical fiction especially when it’s mixed with a little bit of romance, but especially when it involves strong and empowering women! Many of my booksta friends who’ve read this have really loved it and that makes me even more keen to pick it up! I don’t know if I’ll get to it this year, but it’ll definitely depend on my mood. I know that Cleeson had another Havana book that was published before this, but I don’t think they’re connected or a series? I could be wrong though, so if you’ve read either of these, please let me know!

Have you read When We Left Cuba? Is it on your Goodreads TBR too?
Leave me a comment and let’s chat!

I’ve been looking for a weekly meme to do on Mondays and haven’t been able to find anything until now. YAY! Introducing: Goodreads Monday, which I just stumbled across on Emer’s page: A Little Haze Book Blog. This weekly meme was started by @Lauren’s Page Turners and invites you to pick a book from your TBR and explain why you want to read it. Easy enough, right? Feel free to join in if you’re feeling it!

This week’s book is: The Alice Network by Kate Quinn.

In an enthralling new historical novel from national bestselling author Kate Quinn, two women—a female spy recruited to the real-life Alice Network in France during World War I and an unconventional American socialite searching for her cousin in 1947—are brought together in a mesmerizing story of courage and redemption.

1947. In the chaotic aftermath of World War II, American college girl Charlie St. Clair is pregnant, unmarried, and on the verge of being thrown out of her very proper family. She’s also nursing a desperate hope that her beloved cousin Rose, who disappeared in Nazi-occupied France during the war, might still be alive. So when Charlie’s parents banish her to Europe to have her “little problem” taken care of, Charlie breaks free and heads to London, determined to find out what happened to the cousin she loves like a sister.

1915. A year into the Great War, Eve Gardiner burns to join the fight against the Germans and unexpectedly gets her chance when she’s recruited to work as a spy. Sent into enemy-occupied France, she’s trained by the mesmerizing Lili, the “Queen of Spies”, who manages a vast network of secret agents right under the enemy’s nose.

Thirty years later, haunted by the betrayal that ultimately tore apart the Alice Network, Eve spends her days drunk and secluded in her crumbling London house. Until a young American barges in uttering a name Eve hasn’t heard in decades, and launches them both on a mission to find the truth…no matter where it leads.

Why do I want to read it?

I am a sucker for historical fiction and especially ones that are set during the WWII period, so when I heard the rave reviews for this book, I knew I had to get my hands on it immediately. I don’t recall reading many books from an American’s perspective during this period, let alone an American woman, and I like the fact that it covers both WWI and WWII. The women also sound like they’d be good, tough characters and ever since reading The Nightingale earlier this year, I’m excited to read more about the role women played during the war(s). I don’t know why I haven’t picked read this yet, especially since after The Nightingale all I wanted to do was continue my historical journey. But I am hoping to read it this year and possibly next month because I’m already pretty booked out with a lot of buddy reads this July!