A review by warlocksarecool21
An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera

funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-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

4.0

An Island Princess Starts a Scandal is a fun sapphic romp. While I don’t think everything in this book was for me, I appreciate it for what it was. Sapphic books (especially with non-white protagonists) aren’t as popular, and this book explores so many important themes of female desire, pleasure, and the queer community that it’s definitely worth a read. Manuela was a really engaging main character. I liked how she constantly subverted the expectation that she was this naive silly girl, but she was so smart and talented. Her passion and excitement for art was so cute, and I loved that part of her character. I also really enjoyed the exploration of art, trade and women’s financial independence throughout the story. I really liked Manuela’s development and she learned to live for herself. 

I enjoyed Manuela and Cora’s relationship, I thought they had excellent chemistry and the tension in the beginning was 🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻. The smut scenes were fine, I thought they were well-written I’m just too asexual to really enjoy that kind of content 😂. But if you like spicy books you’ll like this. I don’t think this specific type of romance is for me, I definitely like more plot-focused books with a romance subplot. I found myself wishing we got more out of the side characters (although I didn’t read this series in order so that might be my fault). But I did enjoy this book for what it was, and I really liked Manuela and Cora’s relationship. 
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