Marriage of convenience between BIPOC characters (she’s Mexican, he’s Black, a grandson descended from a formerly enslaved woman) set in 1860s London? Yes, please. What’s great about Ana Maria and the Fox is that while the location/time period is familiar in historical romance, what’s actually driving Ana and Gideon’s story is an entirely different set of geopolitical forces — the Second French Intervention (aka the Franco-Mexican war).
Ana’s father sends her and her two sisters to London to get out of Mexico. They’re there sort of as goodwill ambassadors hoping to enlist the help of the British to expel the French. While in the care of a family friend and their uncle Arturo, Ana and her sisters end up meeting Gideon Fox, who’s a member of Parliament.
The dynamics among the sisters are super relatable and de La Rosa does a good job of giving readers just enough to be excited about the next book. Ana and Gideon’s relationship is very much one between equals. The story lags a bit in the middle, but once the action is on, it’s on and it’s a sprint to the finish.
If you loved A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera, this is one you’ll wanna consider for your TBR.
Get ANA MARIA AND THE FOX from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
If you end up loving Ana Maria and the Fox, Liana de la Rosa has two other indie pubbed Victorian romances:
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