*I’d like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“Ana María and the Fox” is the first installment of “The Luna Sisters”-series by Liana De la Rosa. The story focussed on Ana María Luna Valdés and Gideon Fox. Ana María and her two sisters Isabella and Gabby escaped Mexico after the French occupied the territory. The three women find refuge in London at a friend of their uncle’s. Though originally they planned to go into hiding and live abside the London society, her uncle has other plans and wants the women to mix with the ton and aid English support for Mexico. However, Ana María and her sisters are the daughters of a leading Mexican policitican and not truly safe to do and please as they want. So, they drop their last name and pretend to be escaped heiresses in need of company. Introducing, Gideon Fox and uprising PM in the English Parlament focussed on the abolition of the slave trade. Gideon himself is the descendant of an escaped black slave and wants nothing more but rid the world of this injustice. When Gideo meets Ana María he is instantly enthralled by her laughter, her colourfull clothes and her intriguing mind. Though Ana María returns his feelings she feels like her hands are bound as she is already promised to someone else. And Gideon does not have the time or space to engage with the rather scandalous Mexican heiress that could ruin his political career. Yet, destiny has other plans.

Though I love the idea of introducing POC in the Victorian era and discovering other cultures and countries other than English, “Ana María and the Fox” could not win me over. The story sounds promising and rich. From a politicans endevours to end slavery to the daughter of a Mexican politican fighting the French occupation. Everything that could have been was there, but not executed in a way that was interesting and intriguing to read. For the dark subject matters like savery, colonialism and rascism (frankly) the book’s tone is very light which I didn’t find very fitting. A light-hearted book about very serious issues of the Victorian era? That simply does not work for me. Especially, since the book constantly brings up all these historical events, but rarely makes them anything meaningful for the plot. In the end it didn’t matter what Fox or Ana María’s father did politically. The mingling of her uncle, the opinions of the English and more did not transcend into an actual plot. It was mere historical fact bombing mixed with a rather bland lovestory. You tell me that two POC MCs in the Victorian era have nothing to discuss about colonialism or racism? Nothing? I doubt it. And even though I have read a handful of novels with POC characters in the Victorian Era which leaned more light-hearted, their identity was something discussed and important to the plot. But not in this one and it was disappointing.

I am usually a sucker for authors bringing up historical facts and historical figures of their time, but in this book it was just a tad too much. Though I appreciate one of my favourite historical figures to be named, I do not see the value in bringing up so many facts and markers of the time period when it does not matter to the plot. It’s historical name dropping and nothing more.

The romance was ok I guess. Nothing special in my opinion. Ana María and Gideon were not truly interesting MCs. Ana María’s character felt very inconsistent and the relationship to her sisters was not intriguing at all and felt very forced. Gideon was better written, but there was too little about him to carry the story. I admit I enjoyed their more intimate moments and the swoony lovey-dovey bits were written nicely and enjoyable, but it takes more than a third of the book to get to that part and therefore did not save this couple for me. All the matches for the upcoming novels were introduced, but none of them intrigued me to pick up another novel of this series.

The writing felt a bit choppy at parts. In my opinion the author should work on her transitions from dialogue to monologue/inner world parts. Many parts were badly composed and simply jumped from conversation to background info dumping, so the reader knew what was actually going on. I really disliked the dialogue between the sisters, it felt very unnatural and boring.

Overall, this book felt more like a first draft and then an already body of work. Very quickly I found myself skimming through chapters and wanting to skip paragraphs and scenes. Everything is predictable and I didn’t even notice when I skipped a few bits because one could simply tell what would come next. The premise sounded promising but the execution was very disappointing.

(This review will be posted on the 22nd of May on GoodReads.)

A regency era slow burn romance with the French occupation of Mexico as a backdrop . Mexican sisters Ana María, Gabby & Isabel are shipped from the war in Mexico to London with their fortunes for their safety.

This romance touches on a lot of topics that would have been prevalent at the time including the attempt the end the Atlantic slave trade.

I really enjoyed reading from these characters and this definitely filled the Bridgerton itch. Can't wait for the next books int be series!

I thought this was a fun and swoonworthy start to a new series. Ana María and her sisters have been sent by her father from Mexico to London to escape the French occupation of Mexico, and thrust into this new world, she suddenly finds herself with more freedom than she's ever experienced. But she still has the confusing, judgemental path of high society London to navigate, and this is where she encounters Gideon Fox, a member of Parliament with a strict moral compass and high ambitions of doing some real good with his position.

I love the backgrounds of both Ana María and Gideon, that they had strong cultural and political motivations, and the way these sometimes clashed, but more often dovetailed, creating a delicious will-they-won't-they that kept me turning the pages. I loved Ana María's relationship with her sisters, and thought their closeness was one of the strongest parts of the book. I learnt a lot too, about the political policies and world events of the time.

Gideon was a great hero and I was rooting for their romance to blossom. I loved the dramatic elements of the book, too, with several twists and turns I didn't see coming. I am keen to read the future books focusing on Ana María's sisters. I liked how these were set up in this book too, and I'm already invested in the characters. A lovely start to a new series.

I’d heard so much about this book and was really looking forward to reading it. The premise was a welcome departure for most Regency-era romances, with the incorporation of Mexican and biracial protagonists, both of whom had important political motivations. There were certainly things I liked about the book - the discussion of reconciling Darwin’s findings with the teachings of the Catholic Church was interesting, and the discussion of colourism was well crafted and impactful. Overall, though, the book just didn’t work for me and I found it a bit of a slog to get through. I’ll try to explain why below.

While the context of the story (the antislavery movement and Mexican history) was fascinating, in the early part of the book, this information was largely conveyed by the heroine lecturing various English men and women who are portrayed as wilfully ignorant and/or racist. This did get the information across to the reader, but in a heavy-handed, didactic fashion that didn’t do the content any favours. I recently read a Connie Brockway book set in Victorian Egypt where European colonialism and its negative implications were also addressed via conversations between characters, but with a much lighter touch that enabled the reader to draw the correct conclusions for themselves rather than having these spelled out explicitly by the author. That approach was thought-provoking and enabled the reader to evaluate the characters’ actions throughout the rest of the book, rather than being an information dump that explicitly drew moral lines between the protagonists and English society at large (as was the case in Ana Maria and the Fox).

There was a lot of exposition overall in this book - it’s very much “tell, don’t show”. There is frequent repetition of key bits of background information (such as Gideon’s grandmother having been enslaved), as though readers are expected to forget from one chapter to the next. The protagonists repeatedly describe one another as witty and charming, but that really wasn’t coming across to me in their interactions.

Other issues with the writing were clunky wording (“his cravat tie”; “gesture about with her arms”; “his words melted the protections around her resolve”) and incorrect word usage. “Nonplussed” means disconcerted, not unperturbed - the latter is recent North American usage, not standard and certainly not historical; “chuffed” is an adjective, not a verb as used in the book; people are forgiven FOR something, not “of”. These issues detract from the storytelling and pull the reader out of the story. Also, the text repeatedly has Gideon “humming” in the middle of conversations; I think the author means that he is making an “mmm” noise, but as written, it’s very jarring and makes the hero seem socially awkward.

In general, I found the writing leaden with none of the sparkle characteristic of a good historical romance. Despite my best efforts, I only got halfway through the book and couldn’t bring myself to continue. I do appreciate the diverse representation in this book and the inclusion of nineteenth century social justice issues that remain resonant today, and I hope to see more of these in the historical romance genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Whilst this book is full of some wonderful moments and beautiful writing, I didn't fully enjoy the plot and felt it lacking for a historical romance.

It seemed like too many tropes were packed into the story, and my favourite - marriage of convenience - didn't really have a great affect, considering it came up almost at the end and was extremely hurried. By then, the main characters already knew and liked each other, and the reason for the marriage pact coming up didn't make that much sense.

My favourite part was the relationship between the sisters, because unfortunately I just wasn't too invested in the romance. The multicultural and political aspects were also very interesting, but it seemed like the story relied too heavily on those parts, which made the romance and chemistry take a back seat.