I’ve been excited about this book since Adriana started tweeting about it and it did not disappoint!

Luz Alana is in charge of expanding her family’s rum business after the death of her parents, and there’s no better place to introduce the world to her delicious spirits than the Exposition Universelle in Paris.  Evan Sinclair, Earl of Darnick, is there to do the same thing: to sell his family’s whisky and cement the last piece in his plan to take down his father.  When it becomes apparent that both of them need to wed, and quickly, it makes sense that the two would enter into a marriage of convenience.  But the chemistry between them is undeniable – can Evan convince this leona that he’s worthy of her love?

This was so delightful – full of history and times and places we don’t often get to see in historical romances.  Luz Alana and her friends are smart, fun, and self-assured, and I’m looking forward to each of their books.  Evan is definitely the first of the two willing to admit he’s in love, and I love a book where the hero falls first.  He’s thoughtful and protective, and the way in which he wants to shield Luz Alana from the harsher realities of some elements of their story evolves as she demonstrates to him how she wants to be treated.

The story is very insta-love: it’s days from their meeting to their marriage, and yet they’re not wed until at least 40% of the way through the book.  I prefer a marriage of convenience that happens as close to the start as logically possible, so I do wish that this element had been introduced faster. 

There’s a lot of plot threads here for the book’s length, and to me, the subplot about

Luz Alana’s trustee going off the deep end

could have been easily eliminated.  I also think that Adriana is still working through adjusting from writing mostly contemporary to historical – at times the language feels a little stilted, like she’s deliberately choosing words that feel like they belong in a historical romance rather than a simpler word.

Overall, though, this is wonderful.  Smart, sexy, and a really delightful romp.  I cannot wait for the rest of this series!

Thank you Harlequin and NetGalley for the ARC!

CW:

deceased parents, racism, sexism, abusive/manipulative father, gun violence