A Caribbean Heiress in Paris

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Well-known contemporary romance writer Adriana Herrera pens her first historical romance with A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, the story of an marriage of convenience between two ambitious, strong-willed people seeking to gain control of their lives.

Caribbean-based Dominican/Scottish heiress Luz Alana Heith-Benzan is headed to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 in the hope of selling her rum.  Caña Brava has existed for three generations, and Luz is bound and determined to make sure that it lasts for many more. In light of her father’s recent death, this is a matter most urgent; none of his partners want to deal with her, declaring that they refuse to do business with a woman. Her trust fund is unbreachable, and won’t be released unless she marries.  And marriage is the last thing on Luz’s mind.  So she gathers her friends and fellow heiresses – Manuela and Aurora, collectively known as Las Leonas, as well as her ten year old sister Clarita – and makes the voyage to Paris. Luz has three months to sell the family’s rum. Then she bumps into an irritatingly handsome Scotsman during her first day in France, and her life changes.

James Evanston – Evan – Sinclair, Earl of Darnick (and heir to the Duke of Annan), is running from his family’s terrible reputation when he meets and sparks with Luz.  He, too, has come to the Exposition to sell his booze – whiskey, a brand he’s built from the ground up with no help from his family’s dirty money, and soon he finds himself selling Luz’ rum at his booth. His mother passed away seven years before, something for which he blames his father. The Duke claimed his mother’s estate because he insisted there was no will and promptly ran the estate into the ground with no thought to the safety and security of his four children, but Evan has at last uncovered his mother’s will and had it authenticated. He learns that all the property promised to himself and his siblings has been borrowed against so many times by his father that it’s in hock to the bank.  But everything else – the house, the land on which he’s built the distillery and – will only become his when he marries.

Thus the two business associates agree to a marriage of convenience so they can lay their hands on the hard cash they need.  Naturally, it’s all about business. Well, at least at first.  Now if only Evan can tell Luz the truth about his messy family’s history…

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris has all of the lovely, character-driven warmth one expects from Adriana Herrera, with a strong feminist punch and a sparkly, lively connection between our hero and our heroine.

Luz and Evan are good for each other, and they’re strongly independent people who suit very well.  Their chemistry is delightfully full-blooded and filled with heat but also with intellectual passion and curiosity.  And the other relationships in the book are excellently portrayed; Luz’s friendships with artistic Manuela is particularly delightful, and I adored watching Luz’s stewardship of her younger sister.  Evan, meanwhile, has a half-brother with a dark past who may or may not be more than he seems. Both Luz and Evan are shrewd in business; one of the reasons she agrees to enter into this marriage agreement is so she can continue to operate as an independent person.  They’re a fun couple to follow.

Evan is witty and flirtatious, but also deeply caring about his family and his business.  He’s admirable, if flawed, as a hero, which makes him feel realistically human.

The setting is impeccably researched, and the history of the booze business comes through the page. This book takes us from the Caribbean to Paris to Scotland, and each setting is carefully and meticulously portrayed.

A Caribbean Heiress in Paris is a lovely romance that opens a promising series and adds to Herrera’s long list of successes.

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Reviewed by Lisa Fernandes

Grade: A

Book Type: Historical Romance

Sensuality: Warm

Review Date: 31/05/22

Publication Date: 05/2022

Recent Comments …

  1. excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.

Lisa Fernandes is a writer, reviewer and recapper who lives somewhere on the East Coast. Formerly employed by Firefox.org and Next Projection, she also currently contributes to Women Write About Comics. Read her blog at http://thatbouviergirl.blogspot.com/, follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/thatbouviergirl or contribute to her Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/MissyvsEvilDead or her Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/missmelbouvier

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