Author
Las Leonas, Book #2
Heat Factor: It seems like there’s gonna be hanky-panky starting at the halfway point
Character Chemistry: Instant connection
Plot: Manuela wants to have fun. Cora wants Manuela’s land. Manuela will sell it, if Cora shows her some fun first. What’s a little bribery between lovers?
Overall: I could not get into it
To celebrate Women’s History Month, every Saturday in March we’ve prepared a Saturday Smutty Six list of some of our favorite heroines. This list is organized in roughly chronological order.
This week: Activists
TL;DR – Hester is the shit. Her home is a station on the Underground Railroad, she is an activist and leader in her community, she only buys products made by people who are anti-slavery (even though she’s on a budget and it would be cheaper not to), and she’s doing just fine.
Annabelle is sort of a reluctant activist, because she’s a suffragette primarily because she has to be in order to afford going to Oxford. On the other hand, she’s an awesome activist because she’s breaking down academic walls by attending university, proving that women are just as academic-minded as men. Enjoyed the angst and the power dynamics between Annabelle and the Duke.
Cassandra is a proto-feminist who really doesn’t have time for Ashmont-the-himbo, but also social constructs are what they are and as much as we might wish it otherwise, they can’t be smashed overnight. Enjoy a thoughtful approach to the “compromised but feminist” histrom heroine in a non-obnoxious Shakespeare retelling.
We recommend this book a lot, but that’s because Daisy Swann is so awesome. She’s a chemist. She’s starting a make-up empire. And she integrates her love of make-up into activism: by helping herself (and other women) feel beautiful, she develops the confidence to step into spaces previously barred to women. The scene where she and her friends crash a snooty restaurant is especially delightful.
Bernie is fighting to keep her family property–and Eli Zorn is preparing to help tear it down for his Fixer Upper tv show. As it turns out, Bernie has big dreams to help provide a safe space for bullied kids…and Eli is just the guy to help her realize that dream.
Julia moves to Texas to be with her boyfriend, who ends up not being her boyfriend anymore. Just when she’s pulling together a life with good friends and getting settled at her AMAZING job, everything gets put on the line when Rocco comes in to evaluate whether Julia’s organization should continue its work in the community. Loved every single character in this beautifully written book!
Heat Factor: Each novella has at least two sex scenes, but I don’t think the stories quite cross the line into erotic romance. Bonus points for lots of explicit consent.
Character Chemistry: Sizzling. In every story.
Plot: Woman propositions Duke. Duke agrees to sexytimes. “But we can’t have anything more.” Everyone wants more.
Overall: Sexy and fun
In honor of Latinx Heritage Month, we’re highlighting awesome romances by Latinx authors that also feature Latinx characters. For the record, some of these books are our all-time favorites, and should be read any time you can get your hands on them.
Book titles link to Amazon.
Julia’s family is warm and loving and supportive…but they are far away in NYC when she is dumped in Texas after moving there with her then-boyfriend. At least she has her job–until the foundation’s future is put at risk by corporate cuts. Rocco is the consultant responsible for evaluating the foundation, and can easily see the enormous benefit to the community. However! If he votes to save the foundation, he loses his job as a consultant. This book features just a ton of healthy and truly sexy dynamics and the writing just leaps off the page.
Rep: Afro-Dominican author, Dominican-Puerto Rican heroine
Roxanne Medina needs to be in control. After all, that’s how she pulled herself from her humble beginnings and became a billionaire. But she also wants a baby, and she doesn’t want that baby to be saddled with all the baggage with which her childhood saddled her. What’s a billionaire to do? Buy a prince to use as a stud, of course! Lopez plays with gender roles and creates really interesting dynamics as these protagonists fall for each other and also rescue the hero’s bankrupted country.
Rep: Latinx author, heroine with Latinx heritage, hero from Spanish-speaking European monarchy
In the mood for a sexy work romance? Look no further! Marty and Jay have explosive chemistry, which they valiantly try to fight…until they don’t. There is a definite power differential between the protagonists (in terms of race, gender, class, and age, so we’ve got pretty much the whole shebang), and Polanco handles their negotiation of this dynamic particularly well.
Rep: Afro-Dominican author, Afro-Dominican heroine
Lina is doing just fine after being left at the altar, but she’s still a small business owner with small business owner concerns. So when the opportunity arises, she sets aside her antipathy toward her proposal partner – the almost-brother-in-law who she thinks convinced her fiance to bolt – in hopes of getting something better for herself when she wins the job at the end of the proposal. Little does she know that she’s also in the running for a totally awesome HEA. Also, there are a gazillion awesome Brazilian cultural references in this book.
Rep: Afro-Brazilian author, Afro-Brazilian heroine
PS: We seriously love us some Mia Sosa – here’s a quick and dirty primer we wrote about her books.
As many of Zapata’s heroine’s are, Sal Casillas is a hardworking woman from humble beginnings, the child of blue collar immigrant parents, but she’s also the best women’s soccer striker in the United States. When her childhood crush becomes her coach one season, she goes from unable to talk to him, to enraged by everything about him (talk about being let down by a personal hero!) to his best friend. Sal is fierce, and following her romance is kind of awesome.
Rep: Mexican-American author, Latinx heroine
PS: Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burns. If slow burns are your jam, here’s more info on Zapata’s other books.
To round out our list, here’s a historical romance! Emilia Cruz, suffragette, helps to support her family by writing sensational stories under a pen name. Ruben Torres, rising literary star, pays the bills by running a gossip paper and writing mean literary reviews under a pen name. Of course, he is dying to expose the true author of these very naughty stories that have taken the island by storm…that is, until he actually gets to know Emilia (and gets over the fact that she has a tendency to push him into nearby bodies of water). Of course there are some shenanigans as everyone’s secret identity is revealed, but the characters and setting really shine.
Rep: Set on an imaginary island in the Spanish Caribbean. Latinx hero and heroine.
Looking for more Latinx romance? We kept this list to six, because of alliteration, but we made a longer list at Bookshop.org.
Do you have a favorite Latinx romance novel? Let us know what it is – especially if it’s not on our list! We’re always looking for recs!
Heat Factor: It’s bordering on a slow burn, but not TOO slow.
Character Chemistry: There are so many ways these two are complimentary for one another that it’s hard to summarize.
Plot: Julia left NYC with her ex and moved to Dallas only to get dumped and left with a spacious apartment and a new job at a charitable foundation she absolutely loves. However–the consultant hired to take the company affiliated with the foundation public is super dreamy, etc, and it’s a big hot mess because Julia and Rocco want to make a big hot mess with each other while their jobs are on the line. It’s a whole thing. Hard to explain. Better just read it.
Overall: This book was really, really good and I highly recommend it.
Continue reading “Review: Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera (2020)”
The Smut Report 