“You're incorrigible. I love you. ” —Letitia Fenley “I love you, Letty Fenley. I am sorry I haven’t said it before. I’m even more sorry I couldn’t say it back to you at the Rosewood. Marry me, Letty. Marry me and help me relearn how to live outside my walls.” —William "Grey" Hughes greening laughing giggling wheezing crying throwing up This was something, I must say. I consider enjoying this book more than the first one. Along with Mimi Matthews, Evie Dunmore, and Manda Collins, Elizabeth Everett has established herself as my not so favorite but still highly recommended authors of historical fiction about strong women's empowerment. This novel was a great fit for readers of Ladies Most Scandalous and A League of Extraordinary Women. Letty, talented mathematician whose love aspirations ultimately brought her to ruin, is the female lead of the novel. She is in charge of Athena's Retreat, a social club and sanctuary for female mathematicians and scientists. In addition to a grovel Viscount Greycliff, who had been assigned to look after them, was the unforgiving cousin of the man who damage her reputation. Although Lettie and Grey have a tumultuous past—especially since Grey was involved in her scandal—they must cooperate before it's too late when a gang of men attacks Athena's Retreat, putting the lives of Lettie and the other ladies in jeopardy. Their banter was so much fun. There is a lot of sexual tension, jesting, insulting, and encouraging, and a lot of emotion in their hate-to-hate romance. These two constantly challenge one another and push one another to the limit, which results in some fantastic, chemistry-filled situations. I admire how their developing bond unravels all of their barriers. What I adore most about Lettie and Grey is their willingness to grow, learn, and adapt. They both learn a great deal from one another. Elizabeth Everett's ability to fully develop her characters individually while also developing their romance is among the aspects of her writing that I appreciate the most. Even while her romances have compelling plots, the characters' motivations, backstories, and arcs also strongly move the story. I giggle with joy as I finished this book. Also, I found myself fascinated about Margaret and Grantham because this book also gives us a glimpse of their shocking slash abrupt banter. I'm also excited to see what the author has prepared for us in this series' last installment either. Thus, indeed! I'm going to read A Love by Design right away after this! 💥🏃🏻‍♀️

DNF @ 38%

Thank you to Berkley Romance and Netgalley for providing an e-arc. All thoughts and opinions are still my own.

I've officially reached my limit on the number of jokes I can handle about the heroine being short... unfortunately this historical romance just wasn't working for me. At over a third of the way into the book I still wasn't connecting to the characters nor did I buy into their chemistry or romance. Mostly because there was no chemistry between the characters.

On top of that the plot of the book didn't feel real or high stakes. I love that this series discusses gender roles and highlight women in a time when they had no voice. But this plot just wasn't strong enough to sustain me through this book. Mostly because all of the problems were self inflicted by the hero (he wants to shut down the club in order to secure a title position and disguises it as helping the women).

I'm really sad this one didn't work as I'm always interested in picking up books featuring women in stem. Unfortunately this one was a bit of a flop.