Our Last Days in Barcelona

FINALLY! Cleeton takes us back to the Perez sister I’ve been looking forward to! This book is billed as about the oldest sister, Isabel, but it encompasses Isabel the stories of other women in the family as well. Isabel’s life has always been about the duty to her family. After they were exiled from Cuba, Isabel married Thomas because her family decided it was the best thing for all of them. As a very unhappy wife, she uses the excuse to find Beatriz to flee to Spain on a desperate search for her younger sister. While there, she discovers secrets about her mother and her aunt, as well as truths about herself. I love that we learn more about Isabel with this book, but I love that we got more of Beatriz in this one. So far Beatriz has been my favorite character in the Perez books. It’s also fascinating to get some insight into their mother with this book. I can only hope that Cleeton continues the series and tells their mother’s story, because it seems like there’s a lot to that woman we haven’t yet learned. Isabel’s story isn’t as full drama and intrigue as Beatriz’s story. Isabel does what she’s told, until she realizes that will never be a life that will bring her happiness. While she realizes she has a “duty” to her family, she also realizes she cannot achieve that goal while she’s miserable. Her ending was nicely wrapped up with a bow, which is my favorite type of ending. This one was an extremely satisfying book, but I can’t help but hope there are going to be more books in this series.