The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics: Feminine Pursuits

This was poetic and lovely, full of beautiful descriptions that knew exactly how to leave you breathless and then stop just before tipping into tedious.That it also was about two women who loved each other and strived to make a place for themselves in male-centric Regency England made it all the better.Fabulous that it was published by a major publishing house. Now if we could just get Avon to publish more (or any?) Regencies written by women of color, the world would be a better place.I won’t go into the details about the book, I’m sure other reviewers will do a better job than I could, just please read it. It will stand out as memorable, rather than fading into the woodwork of typical Regencies read and forgotten.

Ah, this cover does so much for the book but mostly as a disservice. Yep, it gets the point across that this is a historical read with an f/f relationship...But, I think it also may scare people away that aren't looking for a completely fluffy, harlequin, or overly dramatic romance for their read. Basically, it sells the quality of the story short because this is, in fact, a very high quality story with superb writing. Don't pass it up!Where does the title come from? The romance is between an astronomer's apprentice, Lucy, and the widow of a scientist, Catherine. Astronomy plays a big part in the tale...and to tell you more is a spoiler.What I really liked about the read was that we get the budding romance and lead up to the relationship but most of the book takes place AFTER the couple gets together and we see how they navigate some of the pitfalls of the past. It also reads as a feminist text, where we see our young scientist try to make her way into the male dominated scientific community and how the female characters are automatically discounted despite their talents and intelligence in just about every realm of society. How they react is compelling.The unfolding romance is believable and the narrative includes a few steamy scenes with many fade to black scenes interspersed.In general, the writing of the characters was great, dialogue was excellent, and the overall story was interesting and fun to follow. So many passages were beautifully written, I highlighted numerous ones.Unless I know it's a sure thing, I'm hesitant to dip my toe into the historical genre when it's an f/f romance because so much can go wrong. Without spoiling things, do know this is a happy, more positive story and we get a satisfying ending.Where the story fell down some was towards the ending. There's a conflict created that easily can be cleared up by a conversation...but at least the author didn't make us agonize for more than a day or two in the couple's world. And the ending wrapped up a little too simply and easily.But, overall, this was a really good and satisfying read. Highly recommend. 4.4 stars.P.S. Back to the cover. It's also misleading in another way. The leads have a ten year age gap and one of them, the one on the right, is actually curvy and a little plump while I took the younger to be more plain in looks. One of the leads is also bisexual. Those types of thing makes books and characters more interesting to me but I guess it's not as appealing on a cover.

Stars: 5 StarsFormat: DigitalThe ARC of this book made the rounds among my friends who ended up singing their praises of it, so between that and the synopsis, I preordered this months ago. I may have stayed up until midnight waiting for it to drop and started reading it right away. Not a whole lot of sleep happened. I LOVED this book.Trigger Warning: there is Domestic Abuse but not shown in detail on the page. I might have missed if it was physical but it was definitely psychological. The abuser is dead and gone when we are reading, but you do see the after effects of the years of being subjected to it.Thoughts:- OMG science AND art! Lucy is an Astronomer and loves it, she has an obvious love of stars and math and the natural sciences and Countess Moth is a wonderfully skilled embroiderer- Speaking of Countess Moth, I LOVED her character. She really grew during the story and I found her just as interesting and awesome as the badass astronomer Lucy- A wlw Historical Romance, not nearly enough of these out there- I wanted to strangle Lucy’s brother- I also wanted to strangle Pris- Also most of the Polite Science Guild- Looking back, it’s very good I was not a character in this or it would be a very different story- Has interesting discussions about art verses science and what is considered art and who are artists- The last hurtle made me a little grrr and I thought it would have lasted longer but it didn’t go the way I thought it would and that was a delight- I thought Lucy was a perfect match for Catherine. She was younger than Catherine but older in some ways and they complimented each other well- The cover art is SO PRETTY (I maaaaay have preordered the print version already so I can have a physical copy of it *grabby hands*)Overall, I deeply LOVED this book. I don’t miss any of the sleep lost reading this all night and am holding myself back from rereading it RIGHT NOW (I promised myself I could once the print edition comes out.) Because of this book, I am actually moving up more historical wlw romances up my TBR. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

This hits all the beats of a proper Regency romance, an excellent love story between Lucy and Catherine. Lucy's work, Catherine's work, and the dialogue between Science and Art was fascinating as well. I really enjoyed reading all the parts about astronomy and oscillations and color theory, partly because the author seemed so fascinated with all of them. Other reviewers have pointed out the odd omission of Caroline Herschel from the historical record, which I didn't notice simply because I failed to remember the dates of her existence. It seems deliberate: reference is made to the furthest planet being Saturn, which, had William Herschel's discovery of Uranus never happened, would be true. It still seems strange.Anyway, read it, enjoy it, and then go look up Caroline Herschel, if you didn't already know who she is.

I have my very own aversion gerbil to historical novels and he is determined to stop me reading them. Well, this book took him by surprise.First page, heading 1816....that was almost as far as I got. He had to be squeezed tightly and sat on so I could read the first couple of pages. By page 3, he was helping me turn the page 😀 (we'd both enjoyed the Gentleman Jack boxset)Why shouldn't women be scientists, astronomers, botanists or artists?!. Women's voices and works shouldn't be silenced, stolen or denied by men just because they are women.These themes run throughout the book and feel very relevant - not a historical feel, at all.Loved the astronomy and artistry woven throughout. It is a passion that circles, entwines and ultimately brings everything together.I really enjoyed the book (so did the gerbil 😉)"The gentleman can go hang," Lucy said, as the assistant gasped and dropped her packet of pins. Lucy's determination was set, however. "I am not a songbird. I am an astronomer."

This is such a feminist novel, and I love how unapologetically feminist it is.Lucy Muchelney dreams of being an astronomer, and has spent several years assisting her beloved father with his astronomical work. After her father’s death and her ex-lover’s marriage to a local man, Lucy needs to escape. When she discovers Catherine St Day is looking for an astronomer to translate an astronomical text from the original French, a project her late husband was keen to complete, Lucy turns up on her doorstep for the job. Naturally, because this is a romance novel, the two fall in love – and it’s glorious.This is the first time I’ve read an f/f historical romance novel that’s been specifically marketed as a historical romance novel, and one of the things I loved most about it was how much it felt like a piece of historical fiction. When I’ve read historical romances in the past, such as Katrina Kendrick’s His Scandalous Lessons and Mimi Matthews’ A Holiday by Gaslight, there’s been something about them that doesn’t quite make me feel like I’m in the 19th century.Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed both of those stories a great deal – and I could talk for a long time about how romance, and historical romance in particular, is often a form of escapism, a way for women to imagine a world of romantic entanglements where the men are gentlemen in the truest, most daydream-worthy sense of the word – but I was always aware that they were stories while reading them. The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, on the other hand, felt as though it could have really happened because its focus was on the kinds of people that history has forgotten.Many of the Lucys and Catherines of the world have slipped through the cracks of history, forgotten because revealing their lives would have put them in danger, in a time when homosexuality amongst men was punishable by death, and their lives haven’t been recorded by anyone else because they were lived in secret. In Lucy we have a woman trying to break into a STEM field, while in Catherine we have a woman whose art isn’t recognised as an art because embroidery is seen as a quaint little hobby for housewives to do in their spare time.I love books about women making a name for themselves in STEM – it’s one of the reasons I love The Memoirs of Lady Trent so much – but it was Catherine’s relationship with embroidery I loved most in this book. Her journey is one of self-discovery and self-worth, and I loved the conversations she and Lucy had about the validity of her craft as an art form. Particularly when embroidery and cross-stitch have long been a source of scorn and derision in historical and fantasy fiction, where women talk about how they’d rather be learning to use a sword than learning embroidery because they’re not like other girls™.My only real complaint about this novel would be that I wish the romance had been a bit more of a slow-burn, but because the two women fall for each other fairly quickly it did mean Waite was able to explore what it means to have a healthy relationship; how two adults talk through their problems and how they solve those problems together. This is something we need more of in all genres, whether the romance is a major focus or not. I loved how this story ended and I can’t wait to read more f/f historical romance from Olivia Waite in the new year!

I truly loved this book. If I would criticise once thing it's that it feels like the first 2 books of a trilogy packed into one. And I'm not sure that's a fair criticism for the book when it's publishers that has taught us to expect 3 books for a story arch.But I mention it because usually in the first book you get the meeting and falling in love and in the second the testing of that love against the wider world.Both of this things happen in this one book and at some point the angst felt a bit forced.That said, and out of the way, the rest of this book is perfect. The build up, the development of their relationship, their insecurities. Waite effortlessly makes this people real and complex and flawed.It was a fantastic trip to read it, because it felt like I had the privilege of seeing these people grow into their own and gain confidence to take over the world that is rightfully theirs. And ours.Reading this stories, about lesbians, about women in stem, about women in art, about them finding love and happiness and recognition is something we all need to read about. To insert in our collective imagination that this stories exist, and them push to make them more of a reality.

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is a wonderfully written historical romance.There is little to say about the romance side of it — apart from that it’s really well done. Both characters are well-rounded and complicated and fully fleshed-out. Lucy and Catherine’s dynamic with each other is wonderful: it’s beautifully paced and supportive. While each has their own anxieties and insecurities that affect the progress of the relationship it doesn’t have that horribly “set-up miscommunication” feel.Personally, what I loved the most about The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics was the focus on aspects of women’s’ lives in this time that we don’t get to examine often.One of the central themes of the novel is the fact that, while women have always been involved in what are often traditionally seen as masculine pursuits (such as science and art), their contributions are often overlooked or even stolen by their male counterparts.I really loved Lucy, her devotion to astronomy and her dedication to writing her translation but I was equally interested in Catherine’s pursuit of her art. She’s always been her husband shadow, but she’s a talented needle-worker and designer. She feels that her talent is something simply frivolous, not the ‘real’ artwork that she sees men proudly displaying in exhibits. It’s interesting and tragic that this is still often the case today. Watching Catherine come to see these social constructions — and where she herself falls within them — was a wonderful journey.The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is an amazing novel. It’s got wonderful characters, a beautifully developed romance and an intriguing plotline, all framed within a complex world in which these women survive and express themselves.

When Lucy Mulcheney arrives at Lady Catherine's door looking for a chance, and a job, at proving her ability to translate the stars, Lady Catherine takes a risk in hiring her for a translation of a well-revered book about astronomy. As the two become closer, and they both take on a scientific world of men where there doesn't seem to be room for women with empowered minds and opinions, romance blossoms.This was a sweet, well-told story that delivered all the romance, chemistry and occasional steamy scenes I want in a regency romance. This is the first f/f regency romance I've read and it was actually a lovely change of pace to follow two women for starters but also the absence of a swashbuckling male with loud opinions and a high ego was a bit of a relief.I loved both Lucy and Catherine in equal measure, and I thought the story was well-paced with enough tidbits of information and introduction to new characters to keep the reader interested. I loved how the story explored how hard it was for women, and other minorities, to prove their worth in a society that only ever listened to and valued the voice of a white male. Lucy's amazing mind, and how it was shut down by her fellow scientists, and the attempts to undermine her and destroy her reputation was so anger inducing to read.The source of conflict in this book that drives Lucy and Catherine apart for a little while was a bit simple for me. A simple and well known case of not speaking each other's minds properly and miscommunication blurring everything and making it worse.Overall, a really enjoyable read and I will be reading the rest of the series.