Title: The Spaniard's Innocent Maiden Author: Greta Gilbert
Published: March 21, 2017
Genre(s): Romance: Historical
Page Count: 280
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:Benicio Villafuerte sailed to the New World to seek his fortune. But his treasure map is impossible to decipher. He needs a guide, and discovering an innocent native woman in trouble is the perfect opportunity. He'll buy her freedom if she'll help him on his hunt
Tula never imagined the adventure Benicio would take her onfor when their dangerous days explode into sensuous nights, she is brought to life. And soon she embarks on her own questto capture the conquistador's heart!
Any historical romance that strays from the ballrooms of Regency or Victorian England automatically grabs my attention. And The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden especially caught my eye because, hello, a romance set in Mexico where a Spanish Conquistador meets an indigenous woman and they join forces to search for a secret Mexica treasure! The uniqueness of the premise had me totally hooked, and I was only afraid that Greta Gilbert would ruin things with racism or other problematic things. (Which, honestly, seemed very likely and was why I spent several months debating whether or not to read this.)
So, yes. Let’s discuss potential problems with the novel’s premise and how Gilbert avoided them. The big one that I spotted right off the bat was the power imbalance between the protagonists. Benicio is a member of Cortés’ army; Tula is a Totonac woman oppressed by both the Mexica and the Spanish. Benicio’s people are are literally in the process of exterminating and subjugating Tula’s. Not only does this seem to be an unlikely romance, it might just be straight-up unthinkable (see also: Nazi/Jew romances set in concentration camps). Luckily, I think The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden does okay. There were certainly many relationships between Spanish men and indigenous women around this time (hence the existence of Mestizos and Latinos as we know them), and it’s not too far-fetched to posit that some of those relationships might have been consensual. Also, most readers accept that romance fiction offers an edited/santized perspective of history even in the best cases. So there.
More specifically, Benicio himself is very much a “wrong place, wrong time” guy. He ends up in Mexico because he was lured in by the promise of endless gold, which he wanted in order to win over his “one true love,” Luisa. Of course, that’s not really a thing, and Cortés is more interested in conquest than establishing trade relationships with the local peoples. Benicio participates in the violence, but feels that it’s senseless and tragic; certainly, he doesn’t feel that it’s ordained by a higher power or somesuch bullshit. So, clearly, Benicio is a “nice guy” for a European conqueror—I’m not sure how realistic it might be that a common foot soldier would think or behave the way Benicio does in this book, but it’s not too hard to believe. I have read the accounts by Bartolomé de las Casas and Bernal Díaz, so it’s not too unlikely to have dissenting Spaniards among Cortés’s army.
All of this might vary by reader, but I was satisfied with Gilbert’s approach to the somewhat touchy subjects that come along with the time period. The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden does not look at history or relations between the Old and New Worlds with rose-colored glasses. The author is honest about the atrocities of genocide, smallpox, and European greed. These are all issues that the characters have to contend with, and I think they’re handled with sensitivity, for the most part. It also helped me to remember that all of this takes place in the parallel universe of Romancelandia, where everything is just a bit happier and lighter.
That out of the way, I can discuss the story itself. (Spoiler: it’s really good!)
The book opens at the tail-end of a battle between Cortés’s men and some Maya warriors. Benicio chases a Maya priest who reveals to him a treasure map, but then winds up in a fight with a fellow solider. Tula is fishing by the sea and intervenes. The two accidentally fall into a cenote in the jungle and have to work together to climb out. They’re initially very attracted to one another, but Benicio also really wants to find the treasure in order to bring it back to Spain and impress his lady-love. He and Tula strike a bargain, and everything kicks off from there.
Interestingly: this is a highly successful romance where the two characters have no means of verbally communicating with each other for over half the story. The language barrier here is real, and even though Tula eventually learns Spanish (from La Malinche!!! OMG!), it’s a long time coming. Instead, the book coasts by on the initial chemistry between Benicio and Tula, and by nonverbal communication. This doesn’t seem likely to work, but it so does. I’m highly impressed with the way Gilbert was able to so deftly portray the protagonists’ emotions and motivations, and to develop their relationship without any words or discussions of any kind. I imagine that’s not an easy task, but in this book it seemed effortless.
And while I’m not the most experienced category romance reader, I really was impressed all around with the depth and attention to detail present in The Spaniard’s Innocent Maiden—Harlequins tend to be a bit abbreviated. Yet here, the characters on their own were fully developed individuals, and the storyline spans several months and sees the characters travel across half of Mexico and back again. The development of the relationship was subtle and believable, and evolved naturally. Overall, this is just a very high quality story and I’m impressed. This was really, really good.
