STEaMy in STEM 2 | 4.21.23
More sciencey lasses and lads loving one another
I think something that appeals to me about romances with STEM protagonists is that, like historical romance, I could never write something like this- I don’t have the aptitude for those specifics, nor the patience for research. So I really appreciate when talented writers do it for me, and then make the content accessible and exciting to my dumb liberal arts brain. Enjoy this second roundup of STEM romances, and if you missed the first edition, check that out here.
Lady Claire is All That by Maya Rodale. The third book in the Keeping Up with the Cavendishes series (all inspired by if not straight up adapted from popular rom coms) is, yes, inspired by She’s All That/Pygmalion stories. The whole series follows the Cavendish siblings, Americans raised on a horse farm who are elevated to the peerage in England when their uncle dies and their brother becomes the heir. In this one, Claire is in search of a duke (from a previous Maya Rodale book, in fact!) who’s an expert mathematician that she’d like to work with. He’s on his honeymoon, so in the meantime, she falls into step somewhat by accident (or… fate?) with the rakish Lord Fox, who was recently jilted by his fiance and is therefore suffering some reputation damage. He makes a bet with some friends that he can turn nerdy Lady Claire into the belle of the season, but isn’t counting on the fact that Claire has her own plans with him. Namely, learning about her body and how it (and its growing urges relating to Fox) isn’t inferior to her brain. God help me but I love a story about a nerdy girl who captures the heart and mind of a himbo who underestimates himself.
While I know characters like Claire (of which there are many, especially in historical romance) aren’t meant to be read as asexual despite being described as having no urges up until their hero arrives, there’s still something really comforting to me to read Claire as somewhere on the ace spectrum. Reading about women for whom desire is new and strange and whose relationship with their own bodies is distant at best makes me and my own body’s journey feel less isolating. Obviously, in historicals, this sort of arc for a female character has more to do with social expectations and a lack of sex education/education about ones body, but still. Maya Rodale smacks me over the head with quotes like “she had long thought of her body as a mere vessel for carrying around her brain, but ever since that kiss Fox seemed to have woken her up from a long slumber, with hungers and demands.” I also think of my body as a vessel for my brain! I feel you, Claire!
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne. I’ve said before that I love Sally Thorne’s style and the fact that every book she writes is completely unique, but I have to admit, this one was a rough one for me, especially at first. But it’s a Sally Thorne, so I prevailed, and I’m glad I did! TW: there is a LOT of death and body horror (it’s an adaptation/alternate telling of Frankenstein, so you might have already guessed this).
In this book, Victor has a sister, Angelika, who is also his lab assistant. She does a lot of the cosmetic work on Victor’s various projects, and after months of striking out in the dating scene of their little village (she’s a lady scientist constantly buying corpses with her brother who lives in a big weird manor away from the rest of the village… you can’t exactly blame the local guys for not feeling it) she finally decides she’s going to try making her own boyfriend. So while Victor does his nasty full body rebuild, selecting pieces from many many corpses (their shopping scene is… graphic, full disclosure, and it’s like the first scene in the book), Angelika searches for a boyfriend with only minimal cosmetic upgrades, including a bigger… member.
What follows is an often horrific but weirdly sweet and nuanced exploration of personhood, love, family, and identity, not to mention a look at the ethics of necromancy and whatever it is Victor Frankenstein is up to. There’s a mystery, there’s a love triangle (kind of?), there’s a monster and yes I mean Victor Frankenstein but also maybe a little bit Frankenstein’s monster. If you’re a fan of horror AND a fan of romance, this is absolutely the book for you.
This is also a good time to mention/remind you that my ratings out of 5 are for ME and MY interests/taste, I’m not trying to objectively rate books (not that that’s possible anyways). So while this probably won’t be a re-read for me, I can acknowledge that Sally Thorne knows what she’s doing and that for someone, this might be their favorite of hers.
Rating: 4/5
How hot? 🔥🔥
Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood. My first novella collection recommendation! To tide you over until Love Theoretically comes out (Ali Hazelwood’s upcoming third adult romance), I highly recommend checking out these three short, sweet, and, yes, steamy novellas that are lightly interconnected and all about sassy lady scientists and the grumpy men who fall for them. We’ve got an environmental engineer dealing with sexist microaggressions at work falling for her new housemate, a civil engineer and her bakery crush who it turns out is her nemesis, and (my favorite of the three pairings) two NASA aerospace engineers who take on a frozen Arctic tundra!
Plus: multiple characters clearly identify as ace! Sometimes it feels like Ali Hazelwood writes just for me and I love that for us.
Rating Average: 4/5
Individual novella ratings:
Stuck With You 3.75
Under One Roof 4
Below Zero 4.5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending another round up of friends to lovers books! Two sequel posts in a row! Good things come in twos? Anyways. See you next week!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!