THE SPANISH DAUGHTER by Lorena Hughes

Rating: 4 / 5

I received THE SPANISH DAUGHTER by Lorena Hughes in my adult Once Upon a Book Club. I did not know much about this one, but the chocolate theme had me intrigued!

THE SPANISH DAUGHTER Begins with Puri, a young woman who is making her way from Spain to Ecuador. Her father has passed away and she has inherited part of a cocoa estate there. She has made the journey with her husband, but in route someone acts out against her trying to prevent her from arriving at her destination and kills her husband instead.

When Puri arrives in Ecuador she learns that her father had another family and she has several siblings with whom she will be sharing the inheritance. Not knowing who she can trust and who sent the mercenary against her, she decides to pass herself off as her dead husband to give herself time to find out what is going on.

As I said, I didn’t know much going into it, but the opening really hooked me into the story! Puri is put in some awkward positions trying to pass herself off as a man with her new family and the other people around her. She has quite a bit of knowledge about cocoa from her father, but he left her when she was young so she really doesn’t know anything about being part of this family. Not knowing who she can trust makes it quite the family reunion!

I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of this and learning a bit more about the history of cocoa plantations in Ecuador. The mystery came to a pretty satisfying conclusion, though the end did feel a little bit abrupt. The epilogue does help sort that out a bit, though.

Overall this was a fun read and I’m glad to have received it in my box. Reading things I might not have read otherwise is one of the biggest benefits of this subscription for me (the gifts that come with the book are of course a nice benefit as well). If you are interested in subscribing to any of the Once Upon A Book Club boxes, DGREADS10 will give you 10% off your first order!

Reading Challenge:

#AroundTheYearIn52Books – a fiction or nonfiction book that is set during 1900 -1951