Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

I loved a dangerous crossing so was really excited for this one, the setting of Cuba was great and I could sense the heat of the place through the writing. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get into it and at 22% DNF. The characters were interesting but the slow descriptive start just didn't work for me.

An intriguing historical book which takes you to Cuba. This book has everything scandal, romance, politics and mystery.
It is written well.
Perfects for fans of historical mystery books

London 1957: Iris Bailey is bored working as a typist at Underwood & Sturrock, she lives with her old fashioned parents in Hemel, Hempstead. Iris is engaged to Peter, he’s studying art and Iris is a talented artist in her own right. Socialite Nell Hardman invites Iris to Havana, her father Hugh is getting married for the third time and she wants Iris illustrate the wedding. Iris’s is to draw pictures of the bridal shower, dinner the night before the wedding and the big day.

Arriving in Cuba a jet-lagged Iris is hit instantly by the heat, she’s taken to the estate and she can’t believe how grand it is. Iris is sharing the guest house with Eugene Stringer, he works for Life Magazine and Joe Garston and he’s the wedding photographer. Nell shows her around the property, there is a sparkling pool and a beautiful garden full of exotic fruit trees.

Iris has no idea how complicated the relationships are amongst the Hardman family, Connie is Hugh’s first wife and is Nell's and her brother Eddie's mother. Hugh’s second wife, actress Jean Summers, is dead, and she has two teenage daughters Lana and Faye.

Cuba is a hostile place, it’s on the brink of a revolution, and there is a big difference between the rich and the poor. Iris can’t believe the Hardman’s live like they do and are planning an extravagant wedding, and other people are starving and dressed in rags? Iris is concerned when a note is left in her room, telling her to be careful about trusting people and she could be killed. After hearing about the suspicions circumstances around Jean Summers death and Iris should to be worried.

I received a digital copy of Island of Secret by Rachel Rhys from NetGalley and Random House UK in exchange for an honest review. It’s a story about seedy side of Cuba, lots of money is made from gambling, girls and drugs. A interesting narrative about a mysterious family and their hidden secrets, set in tropical paradise and four stars from me.

An interesting read that I'm glad to have discovered. I'll definitely be seeking out more by this author.

3.5 stars

"Island of Secrets" was an easy read and the author's writing style just really works for me.

Unfortunately, the plot and characters aren't as good as the writing. There is almost no character development and the resolution of the mystery felt rather over-the-top and the interpersonal relationships just didn't make a lot of sense.

Still, I had a good time reading it simply because the writing just flowed nicely.

A great story. Well written and atmospheric, giving a real feel for 1950s Cuba at a time of great social change. Iris arrives to paint at a society wedding but soon finds herself pulled into the mystery surrounding the death of the bridegroom's first wife.
An unputdownable read..

Atmospheric Mystery.....
Cuba set, 1950’s, Iris -an artist with a gift - is invited to Havana to excercise her craft at a socialite wedding. Atmospheric mystery, detail rich with an engaging and enjoyable plot, well drawn characters and a good sense of place. Escapist reading.

An intriguing historic mystery that sees young artist Iris travel to Havana, Cuba, to draw guests at a society wedding. Everything is not as idyllic as it first seems however. Cuba itself is on the brink of revolution, and then there is the enduring mystery behind the death of the bride's mother. As Iris is drawn in to the secret web of lies and deception, she finds that not everything is straight forward, and some one in the family she is becoming close to is hiding a very dark secret. Iris soon finds her life is at stake, and wonders if she'll ever make it out of Cuba at all.

I did really enjoy this book, it has it all. Scandal, political intrigue, secrets, betrayals and a touch of romance. Put all this in the sultry setting of Cuba and you have a bombshell of a book. Rachel Rhys sucks the reader in from the first page, and you soon find yourself unable to put the book down. I recommend this book to all lovers of historical mysteries and exotic settings.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Island of Secrets proved to be a most engaging read. Set in pre-Revolutionist Cuba in the 1950s, I was intrigued to see this time and place through the eyes of Iris, an English secretary. How would she view the American glamour in this playground for the rich and famous. Include a murder mystery and it proved a highly entertaining read.

‘... if the Cuban government was overturned tomorrow - which it won’t be, by the way, the military will never allow it - and Fidel Castro swept in and declared himself President, nothing would change for people like us. Havana runs on American dollars. No one would be fool enough to mess around with that. Don’t you worry.’

Iris certainly walks in blind to this situation but is desperate to escape her lacklustre life in England. Firstly Rachel does a wonderful job of placing her readers in a lush and tropical environment - you get a feel for everything from the climate and humidity, to Cuban society on the cusp of something big.

‘She does not want to be the person she is in England. Here in Cuba, where the colours sing and the heat burns and there are tiny, perfectly formed birds that dazzle in the sunlight, and Hardmans who live as they please and go where they like in the knowledge there is nowhere in the world their money won’t admit them ... here she sees for the first time how confined her life has been.’

It proved to be the perfect location for a suspenseful tale full of intrigue. There is so much simmering tension between the assortment of characters - who is friend and who is foe? Behind all the glitz and glamour lies scandal and corruption and a murder mystery that will keep you guessing to the very end. Rachel has done a superb job with her cast of characters who are all so complex with seemingly everyone having something to hide.

Overall this is a tale with loads of atmosphere from its tropical location and a star studded cast in the glamour filled 1950s. Spend some time in the exotic location of Havana and watch the story and characters unravel to slowly reveal their secrets.

‘If only , she thinks. If only I could capture this moment in a bottle and stopper up the top, and take it home with me like an exquisite perfume that I could dab on my wrists whenever life gets dull and gloomy.’





This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The quoted material may have changed in the final release.

Unfortunately Island of Secrets was a bit too melodramatic and overblown for my liking.

As I expected with a Rachel Rhys book, there is a great sense of place, that hedonistic escapism that she portrays so well, and I did find the Cuba setting fascinating. I didn't think the plot was all that gripping, though, and I wasn't really that grabbed by the characters. It's certainly readable, but not the ignore-the-world runaway holiday read I was hoping for!

Thwarted in her ambition to study art, Iris works in a typing pool and is being drawn into the conventional life that her parents want for her. However when she is given the opportunity to travel to Cuba to sketch at wedding she jumps at it. Cuba is a shock to Iris in terms of it's contrast to post-War Britain but also the mores of society. As she learns more about the scandalous background of the wedding, she also becomes more politically aware and also realises that the moral lines are far different to her sheltered home.
This is the third novel by Rhys that I have read and it does exactly what I expected it to do. The books are superior modern histories set in a glamorous location with a hint of mystery or crime. They are not high fiction but they are a very superior popular fiction and perfect as a quick escapist read that doesn't dumb down too much. I loved the setting in Cuba, having visited a few years ago, but felt that the political side wasn't developed as much as it could be, the focus being on the society relationships. that is a minor niggle because the book will be far more appealing to its core market if it isn't about American funding of rebels or the development of Cuba prior to the Revolution.

A great read. Set in pre-Revolutionist Cuba. A time of glitz and glamour. A playground for the fabulously wealthy. Iris is invited by a new acquaintance to attend the wedding of her famous father. All Iris knows of him is the mysterious death of his past wife. A wonderful story that you can almost feel the humidity, smell the tropical rain and flowers and sense the tension between the selection of stunning characters. I loved this book. A gripping story with so many secrets and surprises on the way.

1957 London, Iris Bailey, a talented amateur portrait artist, is working in a typing pool for a firm of architects when she receives an invitation from an American acquaintance Nell Hardman to fly to Havana and draw portraits at Nell’s stepfather’s forthcoming third wedding celebrations. Hugh Hardman is a film director, whose second wife, a famous actress Jean Summers had died in dubious circumstances, having seemingly fallen off a yacht and drowned in the Gulf of Mexico. He is now marrying Jean’s daughter, his own stepdaughter, Lana Mickelson. For Iris this is a wonderful opportunity to escape the humdrum, sexist, unreconstructed life of 1950s England for a stay in the sleazy, humid glamourous pre-Revolutionary Cuba. But she is plunged into a dangerous vortex of duplicity, mob-rule, sexual threat and violence, staying at the wedding party’s luxurious house in Cuba, that belongs to Bruce Bonini, a shady American property developer. Although at time she feels utterly out of her comparatively innocent depth, there is a hard-nosed and somehow unbelievable tenacity and curiosity about Iris that allows her to question her subjects and investigate the complex mysteries of the families for the week she is in Cuba and learns more about the death of Jean Summers.
The author (Tammy Cohen) portrays the physical heat and lush surrounding of Cuba to perfection – anyone who has been to the Caribbean will immediately recognise and be taken back to the unique smells, noises and atmosphere of that part of the world. The plot and narrative place are excellent, even though it is a little Godfather-ish (sinister mobster and gaming cartels, Cuba before Castro and a lavish society wedding – all duly checked) and we also wander off in another direction with a tantalising appearance of an idealised family home - Manderley. Despite its implausibility, the story engages the reader entirely and is a pleasure to read.

This was no good for my beauty sleep! I couldn't stop reading until I finished.

Iris a young woman living a mundane life in Hertfordshire is given the opportunity of a lifetime when she meets Nell who asks her to go to Cuba and use her artistic skills to draw the guests at the lavish wedding of her father Hugh an acclaimed Hollywood director to his fiancee Lana who will become his third wife.

Iris has never travelled abroad before and to go to this exotic location is too good a chance to turn down much against her parents' wishes. However things do not seem as they should.

Oh no. There are so many secrets which are being kept by lots of the guests which Iris just seems to get drawn into. After her ordinary life back home and engagement to Peter a local lad this is the stuff of Hollywood movies.

Iris is drawn to Nell who is so bubbly and generous. She forms a bond with Eugene and Joe who have also been summoned to photograph and report on the sumptuous wedding. The events which follow will change Iris's life forever!

I was so drawn into the characters but having read ms Rhys first two books I knew there would be more beneath the surface than it first seemed.

I can't wait for the next book from R Rhys and hope it is soon.

This novel had a great start and an interesting central character in Iris, a portrait artist who gets the incredible chance to visit Cuba on the cusp of revolution. Iris has a talent for capturing people in quick sketches drawn at parties and the socialite Nell Hardman invites her to draw at her father’s wedding. We meet her as she is feeling stifled in her home town of Hemel Hempstead, her reliable, unchallenging role working in the typing pool and living with her parents. This adventure is exactly what she’s looking for and her sense of being restricted definitely explains her actions in the novel. I enjoyed the friendship between Iris and Nell, who enjoy a good laugh together and have an easygoing energy between them.
I also enjoyed the glamour of the setting within the Hardman family’s circle of friends and lifestyle as well as the island itself. Cuba is presented as exotic and beautiful, but that seems like just a surface image. Cushioned by the family’s wealth and social circle it is hard for Iris to see the real Cuba,, but the author manages to convey an air of menace - danger lurking underneath that beautiful veneer. Rhys conveys a sense of unease, leading the reader to believe that the family might not be all that seem. The build up to the revealing of this secret is huge, but then seemed to fizzle a little for me. It was a bit of an anti-climax. The setting and range of well drawn characters are the main strengths here.

Rachel Rhys writing has the ability to transport the reader to whichever setting she has chosen for her novels, creating an atmospheric and immersive experience together with great characterisation. In Island of Secrets , 1950’s Cuba is the destination where along with protagonist Iris you find yourself wanting to watch the sunset along the Malecon in Havana, luxuriating in the sights and sounds this city has to offer. Imagine sipping a cocktail or two as you submit yourself to the almost claustrophobic heat, feel the rhythmic beat of the music from the many bars as you soak up a vibe that oozes glamour and luxury overlaying a sense of danger and sleaziness. This is a time when Fidel Castro and his rebel army are emerging from the underground readying themselves for action in a city that is run on American dollars, a playground for the rich and famous, a place where socialites can party the night away, never far from the poverty that is a grim reality for so many Cubans. Having never visited, this is now a place I’d love to discover.

It is such vivid descriptions of a time and place that really draws you into the novel. Iris finds herself immersed in this glamorous world when she is invited by Nell Hardman to be the portraitist at society wedding of film director Hugh Hardman and his young bride Lana. This will be his third marriage with first wife Connie still very much in the background. Rumours follow this family everywhere, having been unable to shake off society’s suspicions surrounding the death of Hugh’s second wife, actress Jean Summers. Hosting the event is Hugh’s best friend Bruce Bonini, a powerful businessman and gangster type figure, happily lining the pockets of influential Cuban men in exchange for property and land. Residing here for the week amongst Nell’s blended family and the Boninis, Iris is drawn into a world of movie stars, possible espionage and involvement with the CIA which is far removed from her very ordinary life in Hemel Hempstead, her fiancé Peter and her job in the typing pool.

The mystery is introduced with a prologue that revisits the time when local fisherman found the body of Jean, believed to have fallen from Hugh’s party yacht where the extended family were celebrating his birthday. In the present day Iris finds herself in an exhilarating and exciting situation, privy to the strange family dynamics between Hugh’s son Eddie and daughter Nell, first wife Connie , Jean’s mother Meredith and Lana and her sister Faye. With the investigation into Jean’s death now reopened, there is definitely an air of expectance, an unsettling feeling that taints the forthcoming nuptials. A cloak of secrecy binds all these individuals together and Iris is well placed as an artist to see deep into their souls. Working alongside Joe, the photographer and Eugene a once acclaimed reporter, Iris reveals both her intelligence and naivety in her introduction into the world of the Hardmans. Her trusting instinct is quickly thrown off kilter when a typewritten note claiming her new acquaintance Nell kills people becomes the catalyst for events that slowly unravel. Tensions are bubbling under the surface and it’s like waiting for a pressure cooker to explode.

With her expert ability to imagine such believable characters, I loved both Iris and Barbara Bolini, Bruce’s wife. Regardless of her unworldliness, Iris copes remarkably well in the face of unwelcome attention from Eddie and the threatening nature of Bruce. She shows an inner steeliness that belies her innocent nature as she becomes further embroiled in mystery and intrigue. This is the dawning of a new age both for the country and Iris herself. She is awoken to a world of possibilities where women don’t have to be defined by marriage alone and I enjoyed watching her evolve over the course of this novel, blossoming into a woman ready to break free her narrow constraints.

Barbara Bolini is one of those characters that you can’t help but like. Almost always in a drug and alcohol induced stupor she reminded me of Sue Ellen from Dallas! Her dialect is brilliantly captured and she perfectly fits her role as a loose cannon with her unpredictable behaviour. I felt a great deal of sympathy for this woman who is a figure for much derision but whom has suffered much heartache.

I was riveted by the storyline, anticipating the revelation of this family’s secrets and the truth surrounding Jean’s death. I think I was expecting something more explosive rather than what actually happens, which felt more like a damp squib. Up until this point I was mentally rating Island of Secrets as a five star read but have downgraded to 4.5 due to my slight disappointment with the ending. It’s by far from being all neatly wrapped up with a few threads still tangled, leaving it up to the readers imagination as to the future for the Hardmans and Boninis whereas for Iris you know that an exciting life lies ahead.

Island of Secrets is a piece of historical fiction that offers the reader plenty of mystery and intrigue and a hint of romance within a brilliantly atmospheric setting. In m opinion Rachel Rhys has delivered yet another first class read .

I absolutely love Rachel Rhys books and like her previous two I can highly recommend. I just wish I had savoured this book a little bit longer than the one day it took me to finish. My thanks as always to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC.

Nobody does atmosphere like Rachel Rhys, you can smell the mangos and taste the salt on your tongue while reading this book. Great historical detail and a cracking mystery, a lovely book

I loved both of Rachel Rhys' previous novels, and was so looking forward to Island of Secrets, set in Havana.

Set in 1957, Island of Secrets features Iris, a talented portrait artist but working as a typist. She is bored and dissatisfied with her job. Her boyfriend Peter is rather overbearing and she feels that surely there is more to life than living in Hemel Hempstead with her parents. She uses her skills to sketch guests at parties and she is thrilled to receive an invitation from socialite Nell Hardman to come to Havana and draw at the wedding of her father, famous director Hugh Hardman to the much younger actress Lana.

There is some controversy surrounding Hugh for this is not his first wedding, and his second wife, Hollywood actress Jean Summers, died in mysterious circumstances. The family relationship is complicated and there are clearly tensions between them which Iris cannot quite understand.

Iris is not the only ‘employee’ attending – also in the guest lodgings with her is Eugene, a cheery journalist together with the brooding Joe, both there to cover the wedding. Joe is a former war photographer who because of personal issues now focuses on much lighter subjects however there is something about him that both mesmerises and concerns Iris.

With Fidel Castro and his followers gaining support, Cuba is on the cusp of political change, however the businessmen in Hugh Hardman’s circle are convinced that Americans and their money will always be welcome and they continue with their plans for development making the divide between the rich and poor even bigger. It is against this backdrop of corruption and political rebellion that there is a sense of danger. Add in the unease regarding the wedding; the suspicions regarding the death of Jean Summers and it is clear that not everyone is who they seem.

This was such an absorbing read, I spent a few happy hours engrossed in the complex Hardman family dynamics that Iris had to negotiate. Iris had a naivety and with her own modest background she was unaccustomed to such decadence and extravagance and frequently found herself out of her depth in every way. I felt for her at times when she wished for her old life in Hemel Hempstead. Nell had invited her but Iris didn’t know her that well, and convinced that she was being watched, she didn’t know who she could trust.

The sultry heat of Havana, the vivid and evocative descriptions, the differing personalities, many it seems with their own agenda, all thrown together – this is a family with secrets that they don’t want exposed. Rachel Rhys writes such a colourful and captivating story of Hollywood lifestyles, dangerous businessmen all with an unsettling undertone to show the political unrest of the time. I couldn’t help but be drawn in. A fabulous read and I very much enjoyed it.

Generally, I am not a huge fan of historical novels, but I can’t never resist Rachel Rhys’s novels (pen-name of suspense author Tammy Cohen) and her new book, Island of Secrets, was the perfect pick for me to spend a relaxing Sunday afternoon reading. Thanks to the author beautiful writing, I was instantly drawn to this wonderful and riveting story of glamour and secrets set in late 1950s Havana.

The protagonist of Island of Secrets is Iris Bailey, a young talented artist who looks and wishes for adventure and thrill in her life. Instead, she had to give up on art college classes and find a job as a typist in an office full of men who spend their time grading the women working there. Back at home, her parents want her to find a good man, settle down, and spend the rest of her life being a dutiful wife and a mother while her boyfriend enjoys belittling her and controlling her. So, when the daughter of a Hollywood mogul invites her to Cuba to take portraits of the guests invited to his third wedding, Iris jumps to the chance to change her life. However, when Iris arrives to Havana, the appealing lifestyle of the rich and famous is shadowed by complex family relations, secrets, and the mysterious death of the groom’s previous wife.

I really did enjoy Island of Secrets. The plot is captivating, suspenseful, and engaging, full of intrigue and glitz. Everything takes place in the hot, exotic, and beautiful setting of a Cuba about to change politically. Rachel Rhys wrote a fabulous story of corruption, gangsters, and spies, money, mystery, and romance that makes for a fantastic summer read.