This review is going to be super annoying to write because for the first 85% of this book, I was so confident that this was going to be a 5 star book and already mentally penning the 5 star review in my head and….then the last 15% of the book happened and honestly, I am so irate. I gave this book 4 stars on Goodreads because the first 85% is so strong and overall, this entire series has been so good and meticulously plotted, with great character arcs and three incredibly engaging romantic pairings. However, the last 15% of this book really just whiffed it for me in a way that was so baffling to me and I just can’t get over it. It really felt like being rear-ended by a car that came out of nowhere. 

Let’s start at the beginning. The final book in The Luna Sisters trilogy tells the story of Gabriela Luna, the youngest of the sisters, renowned for her beauty and charm. This entire trilogy coincides with Mexico’s fight against the Imperial French and this final book finds the characters heading towards the final days of the French occupation of Mexico. As such, this particular book spans both London ballrooms and country estates as well as Mexican villages, complete with not one, but two transatlantic ship crossings. 

Gabriela Luna, eager to avoid money hungry fortune hunters desperate to trap her into an unwanted marriage because of the hefty dowry she carries, decides to return to Mexico, leaving behind one sister to head towards her other one. Returning to Mexico also means she’ll be reunited with her parents for the first time in several years and she’s eager to prove to them, especially her hypercritical, emotionally distant father, that she’s more than a pretty face, only good for making a powerful, beneficial marriage. 

The ship to Mexico finds her unable to avoid Sebastian Brooks, Duke of Whitfeld, a good friend of both of her brothers in law and the utter bane of her existence. He’s also headed to Mexico to look into his mining investments there and has been tasked with keeping a watchful eye on Gabriela during the ocean voyage. Their antagonistic relationship slowly thaws and by the time Gabriela sets foot back on her homeland, she and Sebastian have become reluctant friends, each learning that there is more to the other than meets the eye. 

Mexico does not prove to be the haven she had envisioned, her father is still disdainful and dismissive towards his youngest daughter, her mother refusing to be a sympathetic ally. Still, the time in Mexico gives her perspective, reuniting her with her beloved middle Luna sister, Isabel and Isabel’s adoring husband Silas, and in the course of trying to find her footing in Mexico, Gabriela finds unexpected support from Sebastian. 

A month later, when her father’s wishes to marry her off for political gain come to light, Gabriela finds herself setting sail once more, crossing the Atlantic to return to England in an effort to escape her father’s machinations. It’s on this journey that things heat up between Gabriela and Sebastian, aided by forced proximity (only one cabin turns very quickly to only one bed). They must keep her presence a secret so as to not reveal the fact that an unmarried young woman is sharing a cabin with an eligible young Duke.  The sex scenes are steamy but the way their relationship unfolds is truly beautiful. For the first time in her life, Gabriela is truly seen for who she is, valued for more than just being a beauty. 

“I’ve watched you contort yourself into shapes, cram yourself into molds that could never possibly contain everything that you are. All for the approval of a man who has no interest in understanding you. Could never possibly comprehend your brilliance.” Whitfield’s blue gaze was anything but icy as he stared down at her. “And it’s been maddening to observe, because you should never have to dampen the fire that blazes so brightly inside you. Those who claim to love you should want you to glow.”

Of course, their transatlantic affair is revealed the second they set foot back in England forcing a marriage of convenience between two people who have, rather inconveniently, fallen in love with each other. 

And that brings us to the final frustrating 15% of the book, in which I don’t understand the choices the author makes with regards to the behavior of her Duke. For much of the book, the Duke has a secret, a secret that the readership is in on but one he fails at any point in his TWO transatlantic journeys to disclose to Gabriela. It’s not even a huge secret, I mean, maybe in that time period it might have been but overall, it’s really not a big deal. And it’s galling that a man who admits, at least to himself, that he has fallen in love with his own bride, can’t trust her enough to stand by him with the revelation of this secret. 

This is made even worse by the fact that when he and Gabriela wed and he whisks her off to his country estate, not only is he keeping this VERY BIG BUT NOT REALLY secret from her, he has coerced his entire household staff from the butler to the housekeeper to the maids and footmen to also keep the secret from their new Duchess. I can’t overstate how annoyed I was by his actions and when Gabriela finally finds out, she misintereprets the secret and runs back to London. I am glad that she calls him out on his behavior and is furious with him, not over the actual content of the secret but over the fact that he felt the need to keep this a secret at all and the way he made her feel excluded in their own home. 

The secret not being such a big deal notwithstanding, the fact that this all comes to light so close to the end of the book means Gabriela only has a page or two to vent her anger before forgiving him and declaring her love. 

But this is such a huge thing to do to your new bride, keep a secret from her, and then convince your entire household staff to ALSO keep the secret from their new Duchess. It feels hugely disrespectful and such a betrayal and I don’t think there was enough time left in the book to properly address his egregious behavior. 

That being said, I’m still grading it an A in this review because so much of the book is great, and not just the book, but the whole series. The epilogue is fantastic and I really urge everyone to read this series in its entirety, (yes, even this book, even the last 15%) and also read the Author’s Note because it is a veritable fountain of information about the time period and the real life historical events referenced in the books. 

They are gorgeously written (you can find my reviews of the first two books here and here) and feature a fascinating time period in history that is not often focused on in historical romances. 

Grade: A