The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

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Title: The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics
Author: Olivia Waite
Series: Feminine Pursuits #1
Published by: HarperAudio
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Morag Sims
Length: 8 hours and 27 minutes
Genres: LGBT, Historical Romance
Source: Libro.FM
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Spring, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Book Depository ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

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?

My Review:

4 stars — Ah yes, another review I wrote in short form, and now I’m too lazy to expand and make it more readable…you get what you get.

I LOVED the nerdy stuff, and was fascinated by how complicated it would be to be a woman with intellectual pursuits in this time period.

I also thought all of the LGBT stuff was interesting from such a different perspective.  I never considered how one might go about having an LGBT relationship in this time period while remaining safe.

The narrator was really solid!  There were times I absolutely adored her — she had great diverse voices, great emotions, great pacing.  Some of her voice choices for secondary characters weren’t always my favourite, and some of her accents were a bit strong for me, but in general I loved her and will be looking to listen to her again.

Lucy was spunky, bright, bold…I appreciated who she was.

Catherine was so damaged, but I think that made it all the more satisfying to watch Lucy open her eyes to possibilities — until she was growing on her own without help.

The major conflict was a bit frustrating to me.  I feel like I didn’t quite understand the motivations behind both of their thinking.  I know they were just missing each other and making assumptions and all that crap, but I was a bit confused.  I wonder if this is where my lack of experience reading historical romances comes in.

The two of them together had fantastic chemistry, and the steamy scenes were definitely hot.

Loved learning about different things, and now I want to take up embroidery…you know, in all my free time.  *rolls eyes*

I will definitely be wanting to read more from this author.