The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics

Feminine Pursuits

De: Olivia Waite

Narrado por: Morag Sims

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?

©2019 Olivia Waite (P)2020 HarperAudio

just what I wanted

A good LGBT historical fiction novel.
It is a pretty predictable story, but it is a good one. My only issue is there were many points throughout the book 'Where I wondered who's perspective are we are reading from?' It did flip-flop between the 2 main characters. But didnt make it obvious who's perspective we were reading from. Which made it awkward at times.

Be still my rapidly beating heart

This was a beautiful story of love and raw ambition in the face of adversity that prevailed as it always will! I love reading stories that bring light to the amazing work and triumphs of women, who, since the beginning have always been considered the weaker, meeker sex. This was empowering to read and I thoroughly enjoyed the love and bond that grew between Catherine and Lucy. Their love and support of one another despite what others -to include themselves- believed was an unstoppable force that continued to build momentum over the course of the story. I'm so glad to have stumbled upon this jewel in search of my next read. Great work Olivia Waite!

FANTASTIC FANTASTIC FANTASTIC

Stars: 5 Stars
Format: Digital

The 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!!!

A Sapphic’s Review of The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics

To be frank, I would not say that this book is some grand and epic romance, but I would also say that it doesn’t need to be. Just as romance can be found in grand gestures as much as in the small moments that many forget, The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics carries a lovely weight and depth despite it’s perceived stature. Waite weaves a metaphor throughout the book for its subjects, often and poignantly returned to that gives more depth to the emotions and relationships evoked.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Sims’ narration is very pleasant and I appreciate the character and variety she gave to each character that spoke.

The only thing I can say that I disliked was that it ended. Unfortunately, all things do. But I shall certainly listen to this again.

Wanted to start it all over again

I loved reading this book in print. Listening is even better. Perfect characters. I didn’t want it to end. And now I’m considering starting it again.

A new favorite!

This book really hooked me hard, what a lovely historical romance, and now I'm dying to find more.
Lucy and Catherine is just an incredibly lovely pairing, and they are so well written.
I can't really comment on historical or scientific accuracy, but from a listening point of view, it's just feels so incredibly well written, and the attention to detail is simply fantastic.
Morag Sims narration is just impeccable, and really elevated the experience.
And this is one of those book, that I will listed to again in a month or two, I loved it.

struggled to finish

I love the idea of this story. What nags at me is the predictable main character conflict. I had to stop several times and wait for my eyes to stop rolling. But even at those points it was due to the realistic nature of the issue. made it feel a little less fantasy and too much like my reality.

AMAZING

I absolutely loved this read. It was the perfect mix of charming old fashioned english life, with empowering women making strives and lots of steamy lesbian romance to add on top. One of my absolute favorites.

So good I was nearly crying

It is such a wonderful feeling to hear a love story that is tender, encouraging, supportive, consensual, and smart! History, science, art, and love. What's not to like?

Enjoyable enough but lacking passion

I stuggled to finish, it lacked passion and one love- interest's voice sounded too old.