Manuela del Carmen Caceres Galvan wants one last adventure before she returns home to Venezuela and to an arranged marriage to a man who won't promise fidelity. Not only is she enjoying time in Paris with her friends Luz Alana and Aurora, she is also intrigued by the opportunities available to women who enjoy the company of other women. One night she ventures into Le Bureau to find a woman with whom she can explore sensual pleasures, but when she discovers a room filled with gorgeous erotic art, she also encounters a mysterious and attractive woman with lavender eyes and a beautifully fitted men's suit.

The next day, Manu has a meeting with a prospective buyer for her grandmother's seafront property, hoping that the money could offer her a way out of the arranged marriage. When the buyer, Cora Kempf Bristol, the Duchess of Sundridge, turns out to be her mystery woman from the night before, Manu proposes a change to their deal: she asks for four times the amount the Duchess offered, as well as adventures of a sapphic nature. Cora is intrigued but hesitates to open herself up to the possibility of love after being destroyed by it before. Her island "princess" might just prove to be irresistible, though...

Book 2 in the Las Leonas series by Herrera really lives up to the promise of the first book in terms of sensuality, steam, and sisterhood. By setting these books in 1889 at the time of the Exposition Universelle in Paris, she offers a new glimpse into the bohemian, artistic society there that welcomed expatriates as well as people of every sexuality. Cora is a character already familiar with the openness of this society, with many female friends in the artistic community, but Manuela quickly finds her footing there as well, given that so many of the women she meets are Latine as well.

I really, REALLY appreciated how Herrera used this area of history to showcase characters that have far more nuance than the stereotypical "spicy Latina" narrative. Manuela, for example, is lively, adventurous, and expressive, but she also possesses intelligence and wit, compassion, and a deep appreciation for life. Cora, a native Chilena who is the more buttoned up of the two, appears both as a ruthless woman of business and a caring friend and lover, and while past experience has made her wary of prioritizing her personal life, she eventually finds a way to do so. Together they create a deeply nourishing intimacy and find ways to support each other, even when they argue.

Herrera's writing style adds to the way she reclaims romance from the heteronormative perspective. Her language and descriptions in sex scenes upends some of the traditional ways such interactions are described, especially in her use of garden imagery (echoing Manuela's artwork). She also gives her characters the opportunity to reexamine how they have adhered to patriarchal social norms and to find more inclusive ways to move forward. (I don't want to get too specific as that would lead into spoiler territory!)

We of course get to see more interactions between Manuela and her Leonas, including a nice setup for Aurora's story in book 3, and these three ride-or-dies are friendship goals. I love how they support each other but also check one another as needed, and they prove to be a tighter family than any of their own blood ties. We need more friendships like this on the page!

I really loved book 1, A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, but this book was just sheer joy, seeing so many Latine women find their paths and passions in a world that gave them room to breathe. Five stars.

Thank you, Canary Street Press and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

I love Adriana's work and have been on the edge of my seat for each book in this series basically since she announced it. It was such a delight to return to the Leonas and to learn more about the pieces of history that those in power have chosen to try and overlook. Adriana's incredibly successful about building out a super immersive world and cast of secondary characters.

The primary storyline here just felt a little underdeveloped to me. There's a few plot tools/character traits that I think could have been more fleshed out, and a lot of the mid-relationship growth between Cora and Manuela seems to take place off-page.

This is still an incredible read, though, tender and swoony, and I cannot wait to read Aurora and Darnick's book - and hopefully, more historicals from Adriana! I've particularly enjoyed her entries in the Like to F... series and would love to see characters from those pieces revisited.

This is my second Adriana Herrera title (I think) and I just want more and more.

Herrera is fantastic at giving all the feels, the build up, the spice, all while keeping a steady pacing for a solid story. It isn't perfect, there are times when I wish the characters were a little more fleshed out, however so many other elements are where they need to be that I am willing to forgive this.

This is a book that I want to both physically own a copy of, and re-read again, and again.

I enjoyed my time reading An Island Princess Starts a Scandal. As a Latina, reading historical fiction featuring sapphic Latinx characters was such a joy, and Adriana Herrera offers a well-researched and fully-imagined world of Paris and the colorful characters who reside there.

If I have any qualms about this book, it's that it didn't feel as if the story had been fully developed out of the history. Manuela and Cora are both compelling, but at times they feel more like archetypes rather than fully-realized characters. That said, I was still swept up in their love story and will be happy to recommend An Island Princess Starts a Scandal to friends and fellow readers.

Thank you to Canary Street Press and NetGalley for providing me an advance review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.