Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

62 reviews

broccoli_j's review against another edition

emotional inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

„We cannot stand up in a church and make vows. But we can stand up publicly and declare that we are important together.“

This book is a love story.
A love story between two women.
A love story between women and womanhood.
A story about love between artists and their art, scientists and their science and about appreciation for the joy and connection that you can feel in the middle of these two!

The publishing of the book „The Lady‘s guide to celestial mechanics“ leads to a beautiful love between two very unlike women. But only in this relationship do they discover exactly what, except for Lucy’s book, connects the two of them. And even further, which of these things connect them to other women.

If you are looking for a heartwarming book with a young scientist and a strongheaded artist, who had to find herself aber her husbands death, you will absolutely love this book. It has well written spicy scenes but also covers the mundane realities of (forbidden) relationships. It connects friendship and allyship and community in a grander aspect than just in what is written on the page!

Especially the second half of this book will have you crying, laughing, hoping and swearing. Happy reading!

Content Warnings

yourbookishbff's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I loved this. Angsty with well-developed characters that felt so authentic. My ONLY gripe is with the plot/time jumps that always caught me off guard, and the way time would be "summarized" in a sentence or two (vs just jumping forward, which would actually have felt less awkward?). I ONLY note this because it pulled me, personally, out of the story a few times. This is an absolute beautiful love story that gave me all of my favorite chest-achey feelings. I can't wait to read more by Olivia Waite.

Content Warnings

blewballoon's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This was absolutely lovely! I had been wanting to read this book ever since I saw a youtube video by Bernadette Banner where she redesigned romance novel covers to be more historically accurate. I am so glad I did! I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator was excellent. I loved the protagonists, they were both interesting, passionate, and complex in their own ways. I loved the exploration of the often overlooked women's contributions to arts and sciences. There were some great steamy scenes, but plenty of substance in all the other areas of the story.

There was one instance of a sort of miscommunication trope, which I typically dislike, but in this case it was more of a "these two people are having two different conversations." So, they were actually trying to communicate but just completely misinterpreting each other, which makes sense in context.

Content Warnings

3frenchtoast's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

analenegrace's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I purchased this for a romance book club I'm a part of and wasn't expecting to particularly enjoy it because I don't usually love historicals, although it, especially LGBTQ+ historicals, has been growing on me. But instead, I loved this book so much. It has everything I have come to appreciate from a historical romance novel, a lot of romance but also a lot of another plot that is unique and allows the characters to grow. For example, some of Cat Sebastian's books that I have read this year had that in spades!

Both Catherine and Lucy were beautiful characters that developed so well, I loved seeing their romance develop, leading their confidences and, even, their feminism to grow. Catherine especially felt so earnest in her emotions as she realized her sexuality in comparison to Lucy's early childhood knowledge of her sexuality. Their relationship felt real and honest while being beautifully written; the prose in this novel is gorgeous!

The plot itself was so engaging that although the romance was fantastic, the plot made the book for me. I personally struggle in science, so I loved that Lucy wrote the expanded translation to be for the common woman, especially with the knowledge at the time that women would not have had access to certain levels of education. I loved the twist with

Olrean being a woman and a black woman

at that! I particularly enjoyed that the book did not stray from the classism, racism, and especially misogyny of the time, with Catherine somewhat acknowledging her privilege at times, and her husband's use of his privilege as a white man in the times. It felt both realistic in that she did not fully see the issue with the colonization etc but did see it somewhat.

The side characters also added to the book so much, with each feeling fleshed out and thoughtfully created. The diversity was well-written, and I especially enjoyed Mr. Frampton and his pushing and support of Lucy

even when he could have had the fame himself.

Catherine's "Aunt",

who turned out to have been her mother's lover, was another character I greatly enjoyed because it showcased lesbian/queer women's history and constant existence.

I highly recommend this book and will definitely be checking out other books by this author!

Content Warnings

wilybooklover's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful medium-paced

3.5

Content Warnings

rionstorm's review

Go to review page

hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

I was excited about this book at the start, but found it really slow going and difficult to stick with when I got into it. I loved the detail about embroidery and the celebration of traditionally feminine crafts/areas of study/pursuits, but the romance didn't feel very compelling to me.

Towards the end

the two main characters' relationship becomes very hot and cold, for reasons that, again, didn't feel very compelling, and seemed to be put in purely to have some conflict/angst

. The use of miscommunication as a plot device also didn't feel well utilised, and ended up feeling frustrating in a way that was annoying rather than gripping. There were also just So Many Academic Men that I couldn't keep track of them.

I'm sure that this book would be extremely loved by some people, but it just wasn't for me.

Content Warnings

rtaire's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Content Warnings

sofipitch's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

My main issue with this one was the B plot was not super interesting. It took up a good portion of the book, which yay feminism but I'm sorry I'm hear for uhhh not that 🙈
Otherwise good, sex scenes were hot but could have been longer, some had a fade to black that had me pouting

Content Warnings

ember_eyes_are_for_tigers's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

In comparison to the books that I’ve read in the genre since now this book was so much better. And, it wasn’t because it was a sapphic love story (although, that might have contributed to my overall enjoyment).
Of course, this isn’t without saying that the book has some pitfalls. Lucy, the main character, sometimes feels a bit bland and just a canvas for things to happen (whilst I enjoyed Catherine’s character much better and felt she was developed much more in depth), and there is a small issue with the pacing.
However, the writing is incredible. It’s lyrical and poetic in just the right points that makes the love story that much more romantic.

Content Warnings

More...