This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
A Hundred Fires in Cuba by John Thorndike is the fictional story of Clare Miller, an American photographer married to a wealthy Cuban business tycoon in Havana, a man she'd settled for after a whirlwind affair with the prominent and revered revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos left her pregnant and alone at a time when such circumstances were unthinkable. When news reaches Clare that Cienfuegos is actually alive, Clare is confronted with the difficult choice of remaining in a marriage with the man who believes her young daughter, Alameda, was conceived by a wayward Puerto Rican, or seeking out a love she'd lost but never truly gave up on; a charismatic legend of a man who is as difficult to hold on to as water in the hand. “I meant that when you died, I had to live with that forever. I thought it was forever. My heart’s still damaged, because in it you’re dead. Here you are, alive, but I have to catch up.”
A Hundred Fires in Cuba is a vivid and wonderfully written book that highlights a time and era when Cuba was at the apex of change, focusing on a woman caught in the cross hairs of two men who are the antithesis of the other: a capitalist and a communist. And while Camilo Cienfuegos is central to the story, it is Clare who is our worthy protagonist, and it is through the narrative of her life that John Thorndike offers us a glorious view of the personal trials experienced in the midst of public tumult. I absolutely adored this book. It has romance with perfectly fleshed out characters, dramatic scenery, tension, and all the right history to appeal to a wide readership. And while I have always been intrigued by Cienfuegos himself, it is Clare that I was grateful to have in the driving seat of this brilliantly engrossing story.
