Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - An Island Princess Starts a Scandal

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera

37 reviews

emfass's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This one did not capture me as much as A Caribbean Heiress in Paris for whatever reason, but YES PLEASE to Adriana Herrera writing historicals and just anything, really. LOVED reading about a sapphic historical romance!

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meganbyrd77's review against another edition

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emotional lighthearted reflective

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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bookish_afrolatina's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I've read this book twice this year and would not be surprised if I reread it again any time soon. An Island Princess Starts a Scandal is a tantalizing yet tender book about a couple of Latinas trying to bloom in a patriarchal garden (super relatable, huh?). Book two of the Las Leonas series follows Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan, a talented artist and vivacious woman who inherited an incredible piece of land from her grandmother. After reluctantly accepting a man's proposal, Manuela seeks to experience a summer of debauchery and bliss with her friends in Paris before committing to this duty.
Cora Kempf Bristol, Duchess of Sundridge, is a known hardass who believes she only needs a few things in life: to be have the same (or more) power in business as her male peers and to protect her family and friends. That is, until she meets the bewildering and beautiful Manuela. The same woman who happens to stand between Cora and her pursuit of a strategic parcel of land. The "princess" promises to hand it over for a price: proper monetary compensation and a series of thrilling sapphic adventures while she's in Paris.

This story is full of lusty longing and tender devotion. These two have an immediate infatuation that is playful but also intense! I loved Manuela's constant curiosity and sense of style. Being the "fun" friend does often come with an assumption of foolishness and, while Manuela can sometimes be foolish, I'm glad she got a chance to push those around her to take her seriously. She has pain she hides behind her mischievous smiles. I also liked that Cora had to confront how she was playing into the patriarchy by trying so hard to "measure up" or outdo her male counterparts in business. It can be hard to straddle the line between fighting back against a sexist society and seeking to be as powerful as men.

Once again, Adriana Herrera created an addictive story with nuance, passion, and beautiful dialogue.

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triple_m's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Manuela and Cora are very cute and had excellent banter and chemistry. I also loved how they each had such supportive friends and sweet moments with their respective chosen families. I love seeing positive female friendships in media.

I’m not gonna lie though, I did get a little secondhand embarrassment at the climax but it’s okay we love her even when she’s messy lol.

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bookishmillennial's review against another edition

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emotional funny informative reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews because I don’t like leaving them. I enjoy most books for what they are, & I extract lessons from them all. Everyone’s reading experiences are subjective, so I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not, regardless of the lack of stars. Find me on Instagram: @bookish.millennial or tiktok: @bookishmillennial

I adored Manuela and Cora's love story and this is considered a historical romance classic in my eyes!

Adriana Herrera gave us a delectable story of:
-age gap
-workplace romance
-forced proximity
-sapphic sexual awakening
-so much steam! I would say 3.75/5 for how much steam there is!
-"it's just sex" (while they fall HARD)
-"fight for me/us/yourself!"
-existential crises and being forced to examine what they really want out of life, and what truly gives them purpose and joy

This takes place in Paris in June 1889, as Manuela has traveled there with her best friends, Las Leonas: Luz Alana (launching her rum Cana Brava into European markets) and Aurora (endeavoring to forge some connections with other lady physicians). Manuela is eager to live her best life in Paris and fully embrace her sapphic desires before she is married off to a man from Venezuela who promised to prevent a scandal that involved her family. Manuela recognizes the sacrifice she is making for her family, but she is resigned to her reality, so long as she can have fun in Paris before she has to leave this fantasy.

She clandestinely meets Cora (Chilean) one night, and then realizes Cora is a businesswoman who is hoping to buy Manuela's land from her in order to move up in the business world (Can you tell I'm not really a business honey? LOL I'm so cringe, I know). Manuela agrees to sell the land to Cora, under one very specific condition: that Cora takes Manuela around Paris to indulge her sapphic adventures! Cora is extremely hesitant at first, because she was involved in a bit of a scandal after her late husband passed, and Cora is hoping to re-introduce her stepson back into society smoothly. She doesn't need a scandal like this, though she eventually agrees and introduces Manuela to the rest of her queer community in Paris!

Their banter is delicious, the tension is OFF THE CHARTS, and the way they both deny how deep their feelings become is so fun to watch it unravel! I admired how Herrera presented the themes of sexism in business, how Cora was trying to play by the rules of the patriarchy and how it was not serving her, and how Manuela felt like an object to be traded, not a full person with autonomy and hopes and dreams of her own! Though this takes place in 1889, I felt the relationship dynamics could still translate well into today's society: how Manuela asked Cora to examine how the business she ran truly made her feel, and how that affected her holistically is a conversation I see so many couples having, especially millennials.

Anyway, I will continue to read anything Adriana writes, and this series is just such a delight overall!

This excerpt provides Manuela's family backstory of why they left Santo Domingo and went to Venezuela:

"Baluarte was a piece of land in Puerto Cabello, on the western coast of Venezuela, that Manuela’s grandfather had purchased shortly after arriving in the country seeking exile. Twenty-five years earlier—when Manuela had only been three years old—her family had been forced to leave their native Dominican Republic for opposing the ruling government’s plan to annex the country back to Spain."

Quotations that stood out to me (possibly minor spoilers so look at your own risk):
Everything about this place was a fantasy, including the women etched in the paper: she knew this. But for a moment she allowed herself the luxury of wondering what it would be like to have that. A lover who would lay her on the grass for lazy, toe-curling kisses. A life and love that could live and breathe in the sun.

This was not a place for girls too scared to be on their own. This was a place for women who knew what they wanted and were taking bold steps to obtain it.

What kind of person, what kind of woman, was free enough to display her preferences so brazenly? “One who probably knows all the secret places I am desperate to discover.”

It seemed to her the scope of a man’s gaze when it came to femininity was limited to that of the mother or the vixen.

A woman could only be truly good if she was devoid of any sensuality, and if it was present in her, then it had to be taken—and afterward, succinctly punished.

This woman truly was every one of Manuela’s fantasies come to life. “You find art with women making love intriguing, then.” That raspy, alluring voice was like a siren song to Manuela. There was heat in those lavender eyes, and Manuela ached to be scorched. Be bold, Leona, she told herself, smiling at the nickname she and her friends had given themselves in finishing school. “It’s intriguing, but I think arousing is a better word.”

This shyness was irritating. She was never like this. She strove to always be the boldest person in a room. But she was usually in rooms where people were shocked easily. There was no precedent for this place or this woman.

This artist understands that women are only mysterious to those who don’t deserve their naked honesty.”

When the three of them were together, adventure always ensued.

She knew her friends didn’t understand her, but they wanted to see her happy regardless. That was their friendship in a nutshell: unconditional.

Manuela didn’t have that kind of fortitude. She’d thought she did when she’d dreamed of the art school with her grandmother. But all those years when their family had to beg and borrow, the humiliations they had all endured to keep up appearances, had broken something in her. She didn’t have the strength to give everything up for her convictions. To turn her back on position and a life of comfort to pursue a passion that even her parents dismissed as unimportant. She painted because it was like air to her, but was merely breathing truly living?

“When a man is exacting, he’s called a fearless leader, fit to be a general. When a woman does the same, she is a harpy.” She was being overly sensitive, but her nerves where on a razor’s edge today.

Content Warnings

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

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emotional informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Really enjoyed the first 75% — the third act breakup and resolution felt clunky to me!

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carriepond's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

In An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, we meet Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan, a Venezuelan heiress who has convinced her parents to let her spend the summer with her two best friends in Paris during the 1889 Exposition Universelle. Manuela sees it as her last summer of freedom before she returns home to marry a man she barely knows in exchange for her family's financial security, and she intends to use that freedom to meet like-minded women, i.e. women who love women. She soon meets Cora Kempf Bristol, Duchess of Sundridge, a powerful businesswoman interested in buying a parcel of land Manuela's grandmother left her when she died. The pair strike an unusual deal-- in addition to paying a much higher price for the land, Cora also will show Manuela the side of Paris she longs to experience before she enters her loveless marriage. Of course, business quickly mixes with pleasure, and then love.

Okay-- I really loved this. It was so fun and interesting to read a story set in late 19th-century Paris from this perspective, where queer people and brown people could find a supportive and loving community in one another. I really enjoyed that the obstacles placed in front of our lovers felt very authentic (no contrived and unrealistic miscommunication here!) and I also like that Herrera both addressed the very real oppression and societal strictures that women, especially queer women, faced but also had them find ways to find agency and power within those strictures. And the female friendships and community-- chef's kiss. Also, there were a lot of sexy scenes in here- wowza.

I had a lot of fun reading this, so I guess I should read more historical romance (and definitely more books by Adriana Herrera!)

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hannahmichele5's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

A little too heavy on the back stories of various side characters for my taste but you can tell how well researched the history is so I respected it. But, in true Adriana Herrera fashion, the steam was hot hot hot so it was worth it. Manuela can step on me!

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Adriana Herrera’s books are top tier. This is a brilliant queer historical romance and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to hear about Manuela’s story. The latine culture and history within these books are absolutely gorgeous, and truly they have been a wonderful addition to my library. Brava! Absolutely incredible. I’m pretty much speechless.

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sydapel's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Though I struggled with the pacing in this (it's somehow both sluggish and haphazard), it's really such a well constructed characterization of Manuela and Cora. In particular, I love Manuela's growth from materialistic and sheltered to boldly choosing herself and her art over comforts. Herrera does such an amazing job of weaving in the lesser known history of Paris at this time, which imbue her characters with so much more depth. I really love this series and can't wait for Aurora's book!

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