The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics

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.