A Caribbean Heiress in Paris (Las Léonas #1) by Adriana Herrera

At first, I did not appreciate this book enough. I come to Adriana Herrera's books for extreme spiciness and though this book delivers some, it is still a historical romance.

It occurred to me as I kept reading through the historical events and the behaviors of these women that I was reading with the expectations of a contemporary reader. I will admit to not reading a lot of historical romance because the societal binds that restrict women are maddening to me. So when Las Leonas behaved in ways that made sense to me I didn’t question it, until I was done with the book and looked at other reviews. The number of comments about the feminist take on history made me look back and realize, that is what worked for me here.

A separate and constant shout-out to Adrianna Herrera for taking on the emotional labor of educating all of us about the forgotten or erased histories of the BIPOC people that shaped this world. I am in constant awe of Herrera’s masterful and succinct evisceration of Britain and in this case Scotland as anything other than the oppressors they were.

This is a strong beginning of a series and I am excited to see what the other stories bring. -Sky