Is love something you go looking for, or does it find you?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to that question, but rather plenty of ways to explore it. And Adriana Herrera does just that in her 2022 historical romance novel A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, the first installment in her Las Leonas series.
The year is 1889. With her two best friends in tow, Luz Alana Heith-Benzan departs from Santo Domingo with three hundred casks of rum and hopes of expanding her family’s business. James Evanston Sinclair, Earl of Darnick, schemes to ruin his unscrupulous father and the inheritance his mother left to him, including a distillery. Sparks fly when the two heirs meet in Paris. And upon realizing the two of them can help each other, Luz Alana and Evan agree to enter a fake marriage that allows them both to get what they want. But the more time they spend around each other, the more their feelings grow and the more they realize they don’t want to walk away.
There’s a lot to like about this rivals-to-lovers romance. One of them is how the author takes familiar tropes and presents them in ways that are new and refreshing. For example, while the two rivals take digs at each other, neither of them say or do anything with the intent of hurting the other, and neither of them ever takes it too far. There’s a lot of care and consideration for each other, even in the beginning. And the fake-marriage trope doesn’t end with the two getting divorced and then realizing they want to be together.
One thing that stood out to me is how anti-colonialism solidarity serves as a backdrop for the two lovers’ partnership. Luz Alana is a black Latina woman whose ancestors were enslaved, and Evan is a Scotsman whose country was both victim and perpetrator of colonial oppression. The story is not an oppressor/oppressee romance, rather a romance between two people wishing to break free of a system that has embedded itself into every corner of the world. It can be incredibly difficult to write a work of fiction that touches on themes of racism, misogyny, and systemic exploitation without turning it into a lecture, and the author threads the needle perfectly in that regard. The book never forgets that it’s a romance, but it’s also not afraid to show how these characters are affected by those things. And when the characters do talk about it, it always feels organic, like it makes sense they would be talking about these things with these characters at this point in the story.
Any weak elements of the book boil down to personal nitpicks. In the chapter where Luz Alana meets Evan, there’s a point where the author randomly describes Luz Alana’s dress as she’s stomping over to Evan. I would’ve moved that description to earlier in the scene, maybe as a way of showing how Luz Alana prepared for the day’s events, but that’s just me. There’s also a missed Chekhov’s Gun opportunity: the story has numerous references to Luz Alana keeping a gun strapped to her leg for personal protection. And there’s an opportunity at the end of the story where the gun could’ve been used, but it wasn’t. Lastly, I would’ve liked to see more of Luz Alana with her friends, particularly for an installment of a series based on a group of friends. There’s a line in the first chapter that says, “if one was to ever find herself setting sail for the Continent in search of a fresh start, one must do so with her two best friends at her side.” It’s a great line that reminds me of the first line of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. But it’s undercut by the fact that we don’t know much about Luz Alana’s relationships outside of her romance with Evan. We never learn how the three friends met, there’s never a reflection of memories they share, and there isn’t anything in particular that binds them together as friends.
Overall, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris is a solid historical romance novel that reflects on the past with the values of the present and hopes for a better future. If you like rivals-to-lovers stories with anti-colonialism solidarity and appreciation for women running their own businesses, this book is for you.
Final rating: 4/5
Many thanks for reading.
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