Review: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

Title: The Last Train To Key West
Author: Chanel Cleeton
Series: Stand Alone
Genre: Contemporary/Historical
Published By: Berkley (June 16, 2020)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
My Rating: 4.5 Stars!


Book Description:
In 1935 three women are forever changed when one of the most powerful hurricanes in history barrels toward the Florida Keys in New York Times bestselling author Chanel Cleeton's captivating new novel.

Everyone journeys to Key West searching for something. For the tourists traveling on Henry Flagler's legendary Overseas Railroad, Labor Day weekend is an opportunity to forget the economic depression gripping the nation. But one person's paradise can be another's prison, and Key West-native Helen Berner yearns to escape.

The Cuban Revolution of 1933 left Mirta Perez's family in a precarious position. After an arranged wedding in Havana, Mirta arrives in the Keys on her honeymoon. While she can't deny the growing attraction to the stranger she's married, her new husband's illicit business interests may threaten not only her relationship, but her life.

Elizabeth Preston's trip from New York to Key West is a chance to save her once-wealthy family from their troubles as a result of the Wall Street crash. Her quest takes her to the camps occupied by veterans of the Great War and pairs her with an unlikely ally on a treacherous hunt of his own.


Over the course of the holiday weekend, the women's paths cross unexpectedly, and the danger swirling around them is matched only by the terrifying force of the deadly storm threatening the Keys.

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This author never ceases to blow me away with her amazing stories. Stories that transport you back in tome to another world, another place and another time. When women were still viewed as less than a world very much in turmoil. 

Her endearing characters are so real, so raw, and so darn relatable. You want to know them, you feel like  they are friends and most of all, you end up caring greatly for them by the time their story is over.

This time her story takes us to Key West in the lives of three very different woman and the story takes place over a long Labor Day weekend during a time in our history much of the world has forgotten about during a storm, many remember. A story about three woman who are even though they are different, are still very much the same. All struggling to make something of themselves and to be different, to be strong and independent and most of all, to be happy with their life and choices.

I adored all these women. Their heartache was my heartache and their joy, my joy. I became so invested in their future and I wanted only the best for them. I truly loved every single page of their stories and I couldn't of asked for a better ending for them all.  

I love this author and she has quickly become a favorite and for good reason. She truly is talented at all that she writes and knows how to make a story, to make characters, come to life. 

*All thoughts and opinions are my own and were not influenced by the author or publisher. I was not compensated for this review.*