5/5 stars
3/5 spice

Tropes:
Hate to Friends to lovers
Afro-Latinx MCs
Close proximity
Obsessed MMC
Curvy FMC
Spanish nickname and phrases
He takes care of her
Feminism and Activism
Dual POV
Last in series

First off...I will not accept any criticism in regards to this book. If you don't like women unapologetically indulging in their sexual desires... don't read this book. If you don't like feminist messages and diverse characters... don't read this book. If you don't think politics should be in romance... DON'T READ THIS BOOK.

But if you're a fan of ALL THAT and more... then please read this book and the other two in the series.

This book is real and in your face about the historical impact misogyny played(and still plays) in women's healthcare. We have two MCs that disregard the risks in fighting for what is right despite facing backlash, racism, and classism. And in the midst of all this, they are each other's safe space to let go and truly be themselves free from judgment.

"Una Leona, esta mujer. He thought he might never tire of her, if she was his."

I just knew this final installment of Las Leonas was going to be a banger (figuratively and literally). The way Apollo appreciated and took care of Aurora (despite her hating being coddled) was just perfection. He might have deserved her vitriol every now and then, but he was truly enthralled by her passion and convictions. And when your partner can love you in your worst moments... OMG swoon. No matter how hard she tried to push him away, he just became more obsessed.

"Aurora Montalban Wright was a firestorm. They could burn each other down to ash."

And Aurora... my goodness, this woman was a warrior. She made her choices and stood by them. I loved her morals and intensity. Was she prickly and stubborn? Hell yeah. But damn she did she earn (and endure) her stripes. I was rooting for her to stick it to the man the entire time. And luckily, she had a partner who wanted to help her do it.

“From the first moment I saw you, I’ve wondered what went into the making of your grit, and now that I know, I want to burn the world down and rebuild it for you.”

I will never stop recommending this book and series. These are the kind of books that I wish I had as a young adult because damn it feels good to feel seen.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and offered voluntarily.

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke is the knockout finale to Adriana Herrera's Las Leonas series. This series finale follows Aurora, a Black female doctor who routinely bucks societal convention in support of her deeply held convictions, through a season in 1889 Paris. The prior two books in the series, which take place largely concurrently, depict Aurora on the margins, often disappearing from the glittering world of the Exposition Universelle to some mysterious radical undertaking.

Prior to her own book. Aurora is presented lovingly, if somewhat indulgently, by her best friends. They support her unconditionally but perhaps don't fully understand her. A Tropical Rebel is instantly captivating because it suddenly thrusts this enigmatic character into sharp relief. From the first page, I finally understood who this character is and the stakes of her work. We quickly find out Aurora is involved with a clandestine women's health clinic, consulting the marginalized wisdom of midwives and healers to provide care to anyone who needs it, regardless of ability to pay. Aurora is spiky and abrasive because that is how she learned to survive, but we meet her on her way to an assignation with the rogueish Apollo, the first Black man to inherit a dukedom. These characters circle each other as they pursue their causes, finding kindred spirits in their passion for change. That passion also expresses itself in a truly incendiary and swoonworthy romance.

This is exactly the historical romance I needed in 2025. It is the sort of story that shows that we have been here before and can make a way for ourselves, even when social circumstances forces our backs against the wall. I loved every second of this book.

Enjoyed this fun, steamy story so much. Aurora and Apollo are both delightfully rebellious and easy to root for and this was the exactly the kind of escapism I needed this year!

3.5 stars
“I don’t want debutantes,” he told her, with a stubborn set of his jaw. “I want pugnacious physicians who threaten me with scalpels.”

I haven't read the other two books in the series, but this 19th-century romance set in Paris was sizzling. Doctor Aurora Montalban Wright and her friends came from the Caribbean months ago and found love and their purpose. Well, Aurora has certainly found her purpose in helping women in sticky situations. She isn't so clear on the love part. After all, Aurora, at a young age, caused quite a scandal. What type of man would be able to overlook that?

Enter Apollo César Sinclair Robles, a newly appointed duke who cannot deny that the beautiful doctor might just be the perfect duchess for him. But it will take a lot of convincing before these lovers take their relationship public.

Well, the spice was spicy, the banter was entertaining, and I liked both Aurora and Apollo. It's such a relief that we are living in a time where characters in historical romance novels are becoming more diverse. Also, this book gets points for having Apollo be the one who has fallen harder than Aurora. Although the "will they, won't they be together" went on a little too long, that is what the genre is all about.

If I did have a quibble, sometimes the spicy scenes tended to overshadow the important work that Aurora was doing. Her work helping her female patients was quite interesting and quite parallel to issues that exist even today.

Overall, I would be on the lookout to read other titles in the series and/or other books by this author.




Publication Date 04/02/25
Goodreads Review 16/02/25
#ATropicalRebelGetstheDuke #NetGalley.
Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for access to this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to The Hive, Harlequin Trade Paperback, and Harlequin Audio for the advance reader and listener copies. These opinions are my own.

This is book three of Las Leonas, an amazing historical romance series by Adriana Herrera. I have been simultaneously eagerly awaiting this and wanting to put it off because it's the end of the series.

I absolutely adore Aurora, our female main character. She took a bad experience as a 15-year-old and used it as motivation to become a doctor focused on helping women. So much of this book highlights women's health and just how essential reproductive healthcare is. Good historical romances always shine a light on current society, and this does so especially well.

And then there's the duke, Apollo. We saw him turn society on his head in previous books (I recommend reading this as a series in order). And somehow he's even hotter in this book?! It might be the shirtless capoeira that does it.

The two of them together are so amazing. There's such depth and character growth. I want to re-read the entire series at a single go now. And having loved the audio format here, I might choose audio for all three on a re-read.

4.25 stars

Thank you to Harlequin for my arc!

I love this spicy and deeply feminist series, and I think this was my favorite of the set. I love when we get to see the whole friend group together at the end of a series!

Be prepared for some feminine rage (and empowerment!) with this one - Dr. Aurora Montalban Wright runs an underground women’s clinic. I love a strong B-plot in a romance book, and this worked so well for me. I’m also passionate about women’s access to healthcare, and I loved how well researched this part was.

I absolutely love to see a down bad Duke who supports his love interest. Apollo and Aurora start as FWB, we can see how much Apollo wants to protect Aurora when he realizes how dangerous her work is. I love how their romance intertwined with Aurora’s work as a physician, it created some delicious romantic tension to balance the darker plot points.

As for why I rated this 4 starts instead of 5, it mostly comes down to personal preference. I tend to feel like a “this is just physical, no feelings!” trope goes on a little long for me. So I really liked it, but isn’t quite at that obsessed, immediately want to reread, 5 star vibe, if that makes sense.

There’s something so bittersweet about getting the third and final book to a series.
While I’m ecstatic to once again be in the pride of the Las Léonas, I am also a little sad that this will be the last time. That being, said Adriana Herrera gave us the most beautiful (and spicy) send off.
🌺 Historical romance
🌺 Powerful and moving FMC
🌺 The banter- soooo good!
🌺 He falls first.. and HARD
🌺 Dislike (not quite enemies) to Lovers
🌺 Lessons ; ]
🌺 spice, Spice, SPICE
In “A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke” we follow Aurora- who we already know from books 1 and 2 is a pretty stern and somewhat serious character. Aurora was one of the first female doctors and she has a reputation to uphold and a point to prove. We find her in our final installment running an underground women’s clinic and campaigning for women’s bodily autonomy.
In walks Apollo. That’s right, we see Apollo again- our surprise half brother from book one who is now trying to navigate his newly appointed dukedom.
🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺 🌺
This isn’t your momma’s historical romance. Adriana Herrera really turned up the heat for this final book and it was sooooo good. While this is an historical romance so much of this book is (ALARMINGLY) in tune with the current events.
I love Aurora for being such a strong and powerful FMC. I especially love that our MMC see’s her for exactly who she is, accepts her as she is, and doesn’t try and change her.
I found myself getting frustrated with the “will they or won’t they” but hey that’s what’s longing is all about right?
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review

started reading this book and then realized it was part of a series. So I had to stop and go back to the first book in the Las Leonas series. I’m glad that I did. You really need to read the first two books to really get a sense of who the characters in this book are. You need the back story.

Aurora is a doctor. Apollo is a Duke. He was taken with her the moment he met her. She hated him. But her hate was a way to hide her attraction to him. He immediately wants to take care of her and protect her. She is fiercely independent.

Then he decides he wants her as his wife. She doesn’t think that her past allows her to take that role. He doesn’t care. He is ready to give up everything for her.

This was a very good third book in a very good series. I enjoyed the passion that Aurora and Apollo shared. Apollo truly didn’t play about his woman and he wasn’t afraid to let the world know it.

+ I was gifted this arc even though I didn’t read any of the two previous books in this series. And I found as I was reading, I didn’t feel lost. It reads as a standalone. which is nice.

+ I love the romance between Aurora and Apollo. The two of them together are spicy and oh so sensual! I love their chemistry. She’s always slapping his arm or nipping him-I love when characters can do that because I feel like it’s playful and they were so fun together.

+ Aurora is an amazing character because she’s a doctor who is providing women’s health! I love that she’s a strong women in a challenging time. I also love the author’s note in the back explaining her inspiration for the story, the history and challenges of Latina women in the medical field.

Final Thoughts:

I haven’t read a historical romance in a long, long while even though that was my first love that got me into reading books. But this book is exactly how I would want historical romance to be written right now – a strong, female character, and something about history I can learn, plus a spicy, sensual romance! Really enjoyed this one!

I don't know what Adriana puts in her books, but magic must be involved. Every book I read of hers is better than the last and this one is no exception. I laughed and giggled, even kicked my feet a few times, because the chemistry between Aurora and Apollo was INTENSE. Herrera manages to give a HEA while address some hard topics and yet staying within the romance genre. I love how protective Apollo is of Aurora, and even more that she enjoys that. Ugh, all the feels were felt in this book. I need another one by Herrera ASAP.

Historical romance has come so far since I first discovered Beverly Jenkins' Night Song. That original 1994 cover still stops me in my tracks. It changed the way I read those books. It proved that happy endings in historical romance didn't have to be limited by race class or country of origin.

That's why reading A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, the last book in Adriana Herrera's Las Leonas series, feels especially poignant. This series hasn't just pasted diversity onto the usual world of beautiful gowns and betrothals- it's expanded our understanding of what historical romance can be. Through three books, Herrera has crafted a world where Caribbean heiresses move through high society with confidence and agency, where their cultural heritage is celebrated rather than erased.

The series finale delivers everything I expect from Las Leonas: sharp dialogue, sizzling chemistry, and characters who feel entirely themselves. It's the historical romance I dreamed about when I first saw Jenkins' work - one that proves happy endings belong to all of us.

It’s out now! Run and grab a copy. You' won’t regret it.

I truly did enjoy this (don't think there's been a Herrera in which I didn't enjoy...) Aurora and Apollo had chemistry and love to last a life time.

Adriana Herrera is masterful at crafting a gripping historical romance. A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke is the best example of fiction narratives mirroring and providing examples of what happens in the real world. Both the Apollo and the Aurora are dynamic characters that are very relatable and have you rooting for their entire relationship. Even greater than the love story, there is so much reassurance for women and the work that we are capable of accomplishing. Strength continues to guide us, but this story is a reminder that we can depend on others and it does not diminish what we can accomplish.

Our merry cast of Leonas continues to be the most supportive friend group. I'm going to miss this entire series, but Adriana will continue to remain an auto-buy author for me!

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke is the last book in the Las Leonas Series, and it might be the most timely one yet.

Aurora has been using her skills as a physician to help women in an underground clinic and even knowing the risks that come with doing she is determined to help all of the women that come to her. But when Apollo, the new Duke of Annan, finds her in danger he is quick to offer his protection. As the new Duke, and the first Black Duke at that, Apollo is trying to find his place in society. As time passes the pull that Aurora and Apollo have to one another only intensifies.

This book starts with a literal bang and it’s exactly what I wanted! We’ve seen the Aurora and Apollo crumbs throughout the series and they were definitely worth the wait. Apollo won me over in book 1 and I just fell more in love with him in this one. He was so in love with Aurora and even though she was hesitant to feel the same for him, they fell in love with each other in such an honest way.

I loved seeing Aurora be so strong-willed about her work with reproductive health, and it just felt so important to read about it in a historical romance and then look at how this very issue is talked about today.

The Las Leonas Series is what got me into Historical Romance and I’m sad to see it end but their impact on me will be everlasting!

4.25⭐
R🌶️

Another romance trilogy ended this year! Aurora delivered all the feistiness headstrong righteousness I could want for a female doctor while Apollo had to of course be utterly obsessed with her. Maybe a tiny bit long, but these two were so lovely and hot together that it was the perfect way to end the series.

Listen, it really does take a lot to have me sobbing into my kindle at odd times of the day but this book did that repeatedly. What a damn journey.

Aurora, much like myself, is a “difficult” woman, if the societal ideal of a woman is passive and non-confrontational. She was an angry child, a lonely child, and an unprotected child who built armor around her heart to keep hurt out. She’s snappy, opinionated, and lashes out first so she can be the one to control the hurt. I loved her to bits. I cried for her, her childhood, her refusal to be anything but herself (shabby dresses and all!), and the way she slowly lets Apollo in knowing it’s going to hurt when she crashes.

So much of this story is Aurora and Apollo’s story. Obviously. This is a romance after all. But it’s a fierce love letter to every woman, especially women of color, that fought for something better and for the right to their own bodies. Aurora and Apollo don’t have an easy road to an HEA but it’s not because they don’t match each other perfectly (Apollo is her soft place to land and fiercest champion), but because they have an uphill battle to climb with the aristocracy and a society designed to keep white supremacy at the control panel. Neither of them are welcomed by a society controlled by white men, specifically violent white men, but they carve out a different legacy together. One where the women that birthed them are honored and celebrated (a midwifery!!!) and where they help women take control of their own destiny.

I don’t think Herrera could have written a more poignant or more relevant romance right now with bodily autonomy and the legacy of white supremacy and control at the helm. I wish it wasn’t as relevant as it is, but Herrera took the biggest middle finger in the world, wrapped it in a passionate love story, and gave the angry girl, the prickly girl, the difficult girl the happy ending she deserved. And I can’t thank her enough for writing a difficult woman finding a man that loves and champions her against the world.

All the snaps, Adriana Herrera. All the snaps.

This book is EVERYTHING!!! From the minute I met Aurora and Apollo in A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, I knew their story would be my favorite and Adriana did not disappoint! What a way to say goodbye to our fearsome Leonas. I know it's a bold statement but this one was my favorite in the series. There is so much heart in this story. I identified so much with Aurora and her need to serve patients especially in women's health. I appreciate so much how Adriana shows that even though both Apollo and Aurora are both POC, his male status still affords him privilege over Aurora. It's important to recognize that marginalized folks can still have advantages over each other and Adriana did it so well. Would definitely recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and HTP for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.75 stars

All too soon, Adriana Herrera‘s Las Leonas trilogy has come to its spectacular end. Following A Caribbean Heiress in Paris and An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, now the final book is here: A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, in which Doctora Aurora Montalban Wright gets her whirlwind romance with Apollo César Sinclair Robles, now the Duke of Annan.

Why I Chose This Book:
I loved the first two books in the Las Leonas series, and I’ve been desperately waiting to see what Aurora and Apollo’s love story would finally look like. These two have been set up since book one, and it was well worth all that lead-up!

What I Liked:
- Aurora is a physician providing much-needed medical care to women in a time when women’s health wasn’t taken seriously and was wielded against women. It’s far too relevant to this day, especially with the current political nonsense happening in the United States… but it’s nice to see a world here with these networks of support.
- Aurora is so prickly, but she has her reasons. Her backstory! Her feelings about her worth!
- Apollo is the perfect man for her! He offsets her harsher side and takes care of her so well… swoon!
- Self-defense via learning capoeira!
- Discussions around being Black, Latino/a, and getting respect in late nineteenth-century Europe. Using that newfound power to lift up others like them.
- Seeing the previous two couples interacting with Aurora and Apollo here!

Final Thoughts
I knew I’d love A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke, and it did not disappoint! This was such a smart, steamy, and thoughtful novel that is so relevant to today, despite being set in 1889. Aurora and Apollo are so hot and cold, and I loved seeing their dynamic play out here.

The full Las Leonas series was a joy to read and one I’ll return to in years to come. Adriana Herrera is becoming one of my favorite authors, and I’m eager to read all of her other books.

🩺 Am I glad I read it? I am! Apollo and Aurora sizzle on the page in this roaring finale to the Las Leonas trilogy.

Some of my favorite things about the book are fairly small. I love how TROPICAL REBELS completely undoes our conceptualization of Aurora from the previous books as the buttoned-up, easily shocked Leona that Luz Alana and Manuela know her as to reveal this fierce, furious, fire-breathing, secret hedonist hiding a tired, hurting heart. To that end, I think this series is best read in order. Second, I really loved how Herrera tied in the tryst in the prologue and Aurora's asking Apollo for spicy lessons tied in so well with the book's overarching themes. Broadly, this book is about women's bodily autonomy, and Aurora's desire to reclaim and better learn her body ("That night, it made me realize I don't know my body very well...I'd like to explore what brings me pleasure.") was a subtle, smart way to deepen the book's themes. Moreover, it makes the case that while Apollo and Aurora's sex scenes are deliciously, luxuriously explicit, they are also character development for Aurora.

Another thing I loved that isn't so small: that this book is chock-full of women's health-related history across a range of topics. Parts of it had me more emotional and invested than the romance itself, which is less a criticism of the romance and more a lamentable observation of how perfectly, painfully timely this book is.

On the other hand, I finished the book wondering whether I had missed the resolution of Philip Carlyle's plot thread? As I remember it, Aurora's brothers are off investigating his whereabouts, and that's the last we hear about it. A shame since Philip is a major source of Aurora's trauma and is set up to be a main antagonist. A slow middle also dragged my rating down, but overall...

Herrera has accomplished something special with this series.

🩺 Rating: 👍🏼 (liked; 4 stars)

Thank you to Canary Street Press (Harlequin) and Netgalley for the advance copy of this title!

In "A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke," Adriana Herrera masterfully intertwines love and social advocacy in a gripping tale set against the backdrop of historical intrigue. Aurora is a trailblazing doctor running an underground clinic dedicated to supporting women and championing bodily autonomy. Her unwavering commitment to her cause adds depth and strength to her character, making her an inspiring protagonist.

Apollo, recently crowned as the first Black Duke after ousting and exposing his father, is a dynamic and compelling figure. His journey from a position of oppression to one of power makes his character both intriguing and relatable.

The chemistry between Aurora and Apollo is electrifying, and their romance sizzles with intensity, creating a love story that's as passionate as it is profound. Their relationship exemplifies resilience and mutual respect, and their shared journey makes readers root for their happiness.

While Luz Alana holds a special place in my heart, Aurora became my favorite.

This book is a must-read for anyone looking for a story that's as thought-provoking as it is heartwarming.