A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke

I love this authors writing style so much! I love how Aurora was able to really let go and enjoy her femininity, sexuality, and independence. I love a strong and sensitive MMC who LOVES his woman. I really just thoroughly enjoyed this book (and trilogy overall) 🥰🥰

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera is a historical romance set mostly in Paris during the 1889 Exposition Universelle, about a Dominican-Mexican doctor and the duke who falls for her. On the closed door/open door/in the room/in the bed heat scale, this book puts you in the bed with the main characters.What I lovedThis is the third book in Adriana Herrera’s Las Léonas trilogy, and I have loved every book in the series. Herrera gives us three best friends, each having her own adventure. By the time it’s Aurora’s turn to be the heroine, her friends Luz Alana and Manuela have found their own partners and the circle of the three friends has expanded to include Luz Alana’s husband, Evan, and Manuela’s partner, Cora. Evan and Cora often serve as a Greek chorus for the hero, Apollo, and it’s delightful.Apollo himself is an incredibly dreamy hero. Aurora has been running herself ragged tending to patients both night and day. She has neglected her own needs. Apollo notices her taking care of others and not taking care of herself, and takes it upon himself to take care of her.Aurora is a fierce doctor, the first woman licensed to practice medicine in Mexico, collaborating with colleagues in Paris to establish a network of women’s clinics. She dedicates herself to her work. Her growing attraction to Apollo gets her out of her head and into her body.Adriana Herrera always gives us a delightful cast of supporting characters and here she gives us Brazilian boxing club owner Gilberto and his Vietnamese partner Minh, whose mother farms lavender in the French countryside. Apollo’s body man, Jean-Louis, is a giant who Apollo appoints to escort Aurora on dangerous night patient visits but whom Aurora quickly wins over to doing what she asks more than what Apollo does.I feel like I’m not doing the book justice here.Adriana Herrera writes love scenes that tie the emotional and physical relationships of the main characters to each other in a way that both titillates and tugs at heartstrings. The more Aurora and Apollo get to know each other, the more each of them impresses the other with their commitment to helping the people they serve: patients in Aurora’s case, and tenants in the duchy in Apollo’s case.Romance readers love a broken character, and I especially love the way Aurora is broken, the way she is constantly fighting to prove her worth while also caring deeply for her patients.What I wanted more ofI found myself lingering over this text rather than devouring it, I think because I didn’t want Las Léonas to end. There’s nothing I wish Adriana Herrera would have included in this book that she didn’t. I just hope she keeps writing historicals.What I need to warn you about.The clinics where Aurora works offer services that were perfectly legal in Paris in 1889, but also those that were not, especially contraceptive services and abortions. Abortions and abortion aftercare are discussed in the book. Herrera has a note about this at the beginning of the book, so definitely look at an ebook preview or the first few pages of a physical copy to read that. Aurora is put in physical danger and there is reference to poor treatment at the hands of a peer in her past as well as reference to the same peer continuing this behavior in the book’s present.Who should read this bookLovers of historical romance. People who want a historical romance that isn’t set in England or during the Regency. Readers who want to see fierce Afro-Latina women defying the limitations society tries to put on them and finding love. Readers who love found family.Book: A Tropical Rebel Gets the DukeAuthor: Adriana HerreraPublisher: Canary Street PressPublication Date: February 4, 2025Pages: 432Age Range: AdultSource of Book: ARC via NetGalley, Purchase

I know that Bridgerton is overused as a comparison when it comes to historical romance. But I am not being generic here! The first time I watched the TV show, I had this bright and bubbly feeling that only comes from witnessing the creation of something entirely new. Adriana Herrera has tapped into that magic with this series. She doesn't just fit into this niche of reimagining regency stories. Her writing feels like the fulfillment of my highest hopes for this movement of diverse excellence. It feels like a revelation.Aurora is an heiress who is determined to play by her own rules. She refused her brother's martial machinations, became a revered doctor in the upper echelons of society and runs an underground pro-choice medical practice. Oh, and the infamous Duke of Annan is absolutely in love with her! The poor man is several steps behind with wicked smart beauty as he tries to juggle his new role as Duke and his need to protect Aurora from the authorities. But OMG the way he loves her. It takes a lot of humility (and usually an argument or two to do the humbling) but he learns about the dangers women face and the importance of Aurora's work.

All work and no play makes Dr. Aurora Montalban Wright ready to make poor decisions. Between running a women's clinic out of a brothel during the day and performing secret, illegal house calls for the suffering women of Paris at night, she finds herself at her wit's end and at the door of a certain Duke of Annan to blow off some steam - despite her best judgement. And newly minted Duke Apollo César Sinclair Robles is only too happy to oblige, if only to have something else to think about besides the overwhelming expectations placed on him by a society that balks at the idea of a man of color joining their esteemed ranks. As the lioness and her charming suitor grow ever closer - despite the threats of the past and the pressures of the present - will the star-crossed lovers-of-convenience be able to carve out a fairytale ending for themselves/ Or will Aurora's secrets and desire for independence, and Apollo's duty to his family and his title, keep them apart forever?I am so sad that this series is over (at least for now?) because I am completely smitten with the way Adriana Herrera writes historical romances. This book especially struck a chord with me as a recently graduated female physician who struggled with the idea of needing to work harder and smarter than my male counterparts, and who may or may not have tried to use working myself into the ground to make up with perceived feelings of needing to make up for the flaws in my life. I also appreciate that Adriana can take a sultry and sizzling historical romance and also present a complex and nuanced novel on difficult, historically relevant topics (in the case of this book, abortion, grooming, and women's health) that feels very poignant and relevant to today's concerns as well. All-in-all, if you've loved the banter, pining, fighting, reconciling, redemption, and philandering of the other books in this series, you're really going to love this installment too!

Fantastic. The final Leona is the best book of the three. There is so much here to absorb and to be absorbed by. In Belle Epoque France, Doctora Aurora Montalban, a Black woman from the Caribbean, works to serve women who need services and help that the male medical establishment routinely fails to provide, sometimes in opposition to existing laws. She has a fractious relationship with the new Duke of Annan, the first Black duke in England (his backstory is covered in book 1). This couple together are fire (so much fire) and yearning and inevitable. They both have lived through trauma before arriving in France, which rears its ugly head in the story.The look at the effects of colonization, misogyny, misogynoir, racism, classism and xenophobia is unflinching, but at its heart, this is a book about love, friendship, family (both born and made), and taking up room in the world unapologetically. This may take place in the late 1890s, but it is more relevant today than ever.I received a complimentary copy of A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke in a Goodreads giveaway. All opinions are my own.