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A review by tshepiso
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
4.5
The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics was hit! While I had some problems with the structure of the romance as the plot dragged a tad and the romantic conflict between our leads could have been more elegantly constructed overall it was a great story.
What really endeared me about this book and Olivia Waite's writing in general was its focus on our characters passions. I love romances that dive in to the interests and careers of the protagonists and ties their love story to their vocations. Waite does this brilliantly as our protagonists Lucy and Catherine are an astronomer and artist respectively. Throughout this book we see Lucy fight for a space in the scientific community in London with the passionate support of Catherine. Parallel to this we see Catherine's journey to viewing herself as an artist and take pride in her skills in the fabric arts heavily bolstered by Lucy.
What made the romance so compelling was the unbridled support these two women had for each other's lives and passions. They give each other the confidence to unabashedly pursue avenues that a patriarchal world has told them they have no right to. They love each other through their art and its a beautiful thing to see unfold.
I also loved the philosophical conversations woven throughout the novel about the nature of art and science. This book is honestly very contemplative filled with meaningful discussion about topics like the necessity of making science accessible the intricacies of translation and what it means to be an artist and that was honestly such fascinating things to chew on in the unexpected avenue of a romance novel.
But don't get it twisted The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics is at the end of the day a romance. and its romance was compelling throughout. I cannot wait to dive into more into Olivia Waite's books because if they're anything like this one I'm sure to have good time.
What really endeared me about this book and Olivia Waite's writing in general was its focus on our characters passions. I love romances that dive in to the interests and careers of the protagonists and ties their love story to their vocations. Waite does this brilliantly as our protagonists Lucy and Catherine are an astronomer and artist respectively. Throughout this book we see Lucy fight for a space in the scientific community in London with the passionate support of Catherine. Parallel to this we see Catherine's journey to viewing herself as an artist and take pride in her skills in the fabric arts heavily bolstered by Lucy.
What made the romance so compelling was the unbridled support these two women had for each other's lives and passions. They give each other the confidence to unabashedly pursue avenues that a patriarchal world has told them they have no right to. They love each other through their art and its a beautiful thing to see unfold.
I also loved the philosophical conversations woven throughout the novel about the nature of art and science. This book is honestly very contemplative filled with meaningful discussion about topics like the necessity of making science accessible the intricacies of translation and what it means to be an artist and that was honestly such fascinating things to chew on in the unexpected avenue of a romance novel.
But don't get it twisted The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics is at the end of the day a romance. and its romance was compelling throughout. I cannot wait to dive into more into Olivia Waite's books because if they're anything like this one I'm sure to have good time.