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A review by bookish_afrolatina
A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This is now my favorite book of the Leonas series and absolutely one of my favorite reads of 2025 already!!!
Adriana Herrera brings us an amazingly smart and resilient heroine finding the love she deserves with a head-strong, passionate, and dedicated man who will never stop fighting systems of oppression. I feel like the characters in this book (and the series as a whole) are whole people with rich lives.
Aurora's background hit me hard and I related a lot to her feelings of abandonment and shame. Something that brought me a lot of joy was the way Herrera showed the truth about being a Black woman (in any time, really) who is forced to put up a shield and take any hits that come our way; we need tenderness and care and love. We deserve to be adored, too.
The chemistry between Aurora and Apollo is off the chartsssss!!! These two can't keep their hands off of each other. I think that this is probably the most explicit of the three books, too, but I might reread them all just to make sure lmao!
If you've never read Historical Fiction before, I highly recommend this series, any books by Beverly Jenkins, and books by J.J. McAvoy.
Adriana Herrera brings us an amazingly smart and resilient heroine finding the love she deserves with a head-strong, passionate, and dedicated man who will never stop fighting systems of oppression. I feel like the characters in this book (and the series as a whole) are whole people with rich lives.
Aurora's background hit me hard and I related a lot to her feelings of abandonment and shame. Something that brought me a lot of joy was the way Herrera showed the truth about being a Black woman (in any time, really) who is forced to put up a shield and take any hits that come our way; we need tenderness and care and love. We deserve to be adored, too.
The chemistry between Aurora and Apollo is off the chartsssss!!! These two can't keep their hands off of each other. I think that this is probably the most explicit of the three books, too, but I might reread them all just to make sure lmao!
If you've never read Historical Fiction before, I highly recommend this series, any books by Beverly Jenkins, and books by J.J. McAvoy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Abortion, Death of parent, and Abandonment