The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics
Ratings26
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings26
Average rating3.9
As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. It isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go. Showing up at the Countess’ London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away. Catherine St Day looks forward to a quiet widowhood once her late husband’s scientific legacy is fulfilled. She expected to hand off the translation and wash her hands of the project—instead, she is intrigued by the young woman who turns up at her door, begging to be allowed to do the work, and she agrees to let Lucy stay. But as Catherine finds herself longing for Lucy, everything she believes about herself and her life is tested. While Lucy spends her days interpreting the complicated French text, she spends her nights falling in love with the alluring Catherine. But sabotage and old wounds threaten to sever the threads that bind them. Can Lucy and Catherine find the strength to stay together or are they doomed to be star-crossed lovers?
Series
3 primary booksFeminine Pursuits is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2019 with contributions by Olivia Waite.
Reviews with the most likes.
Ughhh this was so delightful and sweet and exactly what I needed right now. I'm so glad this is going to be a series.
Started reading this for the romance, but stayed for the science!
Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the science aspect of this story. The way this story shed light on the fact that the discoveries and contributions of so many women in science were hidden behind the names of their male counterparts was a frustrating but important reminder. The revelation near the end was also great!
However, I found the romance aspect of this book to be somewhat lacking. I liked reading about Lucy and Catherine separately, but when they were together I didn't feel much chemistry. All the heartfelt moments between them felt forced, like I was supposed to believe that they love each other, but alas I just couldn't buy into it because there wasn't any believable chemistry. That combined with the third act that happens—as typical of many romances—left a bitter taste in my mouth because I found it jarring and unnecessary.
But this was still a solid read for sure. I'd also recommend the audiobook for this because I think the narration was done really well :)
Let me start by saying that there were things this book did extremely well. The way it addressed the sexism, racism, and homophobia of the time period was excellent, and Waite is a talented author with a gift for uniquely lovely turns of phrase.
For all of these, I gave it an extra star.
Unfortunately, the romance itself was terrible. In short, it was poorly paced, poorly executed, and quite frankly boring as hell. I didn't even get a chance to enjoy the lack of a Big Misunderstanding, because a seemingly neverending series of Small Unnecessary Dramas took its place.
With that said, I quite liked both Lucy and Catherine as characters! I loved the general story and message very much, and the secondary characters were all terrific. They were well developed, and I am looking forward to seeing more of one in particular.
In conclusion, I think I would have enjoyed this book MUCH more, had the author not tried to force it to be a romance novel. The romance was not the driving force of the story, and to spend so many unnecessary words on it made the story drag on interminably. If the romance had been a subplot, allowing Lucy and Catherine's passions for their respective projects to shine and breathe life into the story, it would have been much stronger.
I do have high hopes for the next book in the series, though, and I will be giving it a shot! Fingers crossed for better relationship development and significantly less (metaphorical) U-hauling.
