The Secret Scientists of London series continues with this match between a bridge engineer and an earl. The two were childhood sweethearts with a bitter separation. This STEM romance reaches an unexpectedly dramatic climax and ends with a happily-ever-after that brushes aside the real concerns of both characters.

Yes! Another great book from Secret Scientists of London series made me swoon as much as I expected!

An unputdownable, addictive second chances romance between Margaret and George ( Earl Grantham) gives you enough excitement, hooking you up, pushing you to turn the pages faster! The women rights, chauvinism, equality matters are adroitly questioned just like the previous books! The feminism vibes reflecting power of women perfectly and it’s truly inspirational to make the readers chant for Athena’s Retreat to rise and shine!

Here’s the quick recap of plot:
Widowed, determined, independent Margaret Gault is the founder of her own engineering company, moving to England after her father in law’s rejection to declare her as his next heir of the company. After the betrayal of her first love George Willis, she married another man and stayed by his side till his death, pursuing her happiness in Paris.

Her return to England to become part of Athena’s Retreat, forcing her to confront with her old flame. George Willis is not the same bastard boy abandoned by his own father. Now he is powerful and wealthy man who has great connections with powerful people.He is the Earl Grantham.

Grantham uses his charm to make her forgive his past mistake but Margaret is determined enough not to make the same mistake. She’s hired by a company to design a challenging, nearly impossible project. Her secret founder is Victor Armitage is part of the political group Guardians of Domesticity. He’s political arch nemesis of Grantham. Accepting his money could give enough recourses to Margaret to live an independent life and compete with the other engineers from opposite sex who have more chance to get approval from other companies not because of their brilliances!

George has to convince Margaret to believe in his own parliamentary reforms and support him. But firstly they have to get over their differences and try to let bygones be bygones. Could Margaret forgive his betrayal? Could they have second chance for love and work side by side for the greater good of their nation?

It’s smart, moving, inspirational historical/ political romance reading and it’s also my favorite one of the series!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

I'd read the first in this series "A Lady's Formula for Love" over a year ago, haven't read the 2nd yet ("A Perfect Equation") but I think any of these can be read as a stand-alone, though readers will probably get greater enjoyment from the continuing adventures of the cast of characters if you read in order.

In any case, I found the humor, particularly between Grantham & Maggie was enjoyable, and enjoy the cast of women scientists, but this installment just seemed pretty good to me, not one I'm going to shout from the rooftops - the story trundled along, there were the usual issues in a historical story for women, the romance was nice, though the obstacles between Georgie & Maggie were fairly flimsy. I did enjoy their relationship and intelligent conversation. The friendship between Grantham & Kneland was also good fun.

Overall: good, I think readers will get what they've come to expect from this series, but I don't feel overly effusive about this installment. I will probably go back and read #2 in the series "A Perfect Equation."

A Love By Design is a fabulous final instalment in Elizabeth Everett’s The Secret Scientists of London series, giving us the stories of Margaret and George, and a real series high point, as we get a lot of tension and a whole lot of fun in the process. This is a can’t-miss for historical romance fans who want a little fun and charm in their lives to warm up those midwinter doldrums.

Margaret Gault has moved back to the scientific women’s compound Athena’s Retreat in London, and she refuses to melt into the walls the way all ‘good widows’ are supposed to. Seven years after her husband’s death, she’s closed the family engineering firm in Paris and moved back to England, gearing up to launch the world’s first all-women owned and staffed engineering firm. Unfortunately, her investors will do anything to maximize profits to the detriment of her employees. When Maggie chooses to take an engineering commission from a politician who is strongly opposed by several members of Athena’s Retreat, havoc descends.

George – Georgie - Willis, Earl Grantham, most often called Grantham, has a reputation behind him but he’s determined to do what he can to bring about a better world. An uncouth outsider to the ton who earned the nickname “The Untamed Earl”, Georgie has spent years pining after his childhood friend – a fact made quite difficult by the fact that she’s now working for his political rival, who stands in opposition to the reforms he’s trying to get through Parliament.

Georgie decides to charm Maggie into dropping her support of Sir Royce Geflitt. That involves, among other things, very close contact, which brings up a whole lot of positive and negative memories. Once upon a time, Maggie and Georgie were childhood friends who longed to be together, but their bitter estrangement has lasted decades. Can they find friendship – and even love – under the pressing ongoing weight of their career struggles and political engagements?

What a great hero Georgie makes, and what a firm heroine Maggie is. Together they’re dynamite – longing for one another but refusing to give in because the consequences for what they really wish for could be simply too dire. The tension is fun, the slow burn toward romance is great. Neither of them have forgotten their youths and the possibility of what might have been. It’s a great little romance, and they’re very easy to root for.

The peeks into engineering and architecture are fun, and they seem historically well-researched and trenchant without overwhelming the narrative at large.

The lives of the other characters march on, and Everett continues to do a good job of interweaving the characters’ lives together. Arthur and Violet now have a daughter named Mirren, and Georgie, after courting Violet for a while during her book, has settled into the role of being Arthur’s friend and Mirren’s ultra-indulgent honorary uncle. He delights in winding Arthur up, calling Mirren “Georgie” and getting under Arthur’s skin by producing and threatening to produce lavish gifts (ponies, anyone?)

This series has been enjoyable from start to finish, and if you’ve begun it, this volume proves it’s well-worth continuing to the conclusion. Romantic, with characters who are easy to root for, Love by Design is skilfully-engineered to make you happy.

Buy it at: Amazon, Audible or your local bookshop
Visit our Amazon Storefront

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the review copy. While Elizabeth, the author, is a friend, and we share a publisher, that in no way biased my love for this book, which is authentic and fully my own!

What a beautiful conclusion to this swoony, suspenseful, science-filled series. The historical detail and intellect woven into the story, the complex friend and family dynamics, the awareness of class and marital privilege, it made for such a fresh, vivid, moving historical romance. Margaret/Maggie is my favorite kind of heroine—a little prickly, very much on her own, and so unapologetically determined to find her way and make a life for herself. Grantham is the hero of my dreams—a feminist, an admittedly imperfect man who wants to learn how to be a better friend, son, brother, lover, and who isn't afraid to be held accountable to recognize his privilege and aches to use it for good.

I just love this world Elizabeth has built for us, and while I'm truly going to miss it, I'm very happy to hear a spin-off is coming next, so share my delight in knowing this world really isn't ending, and be sure to pick up this third installment when it's out, January 17!!

Can we all just agree that Elizabeth Everett is the undisputed carriage scene champion of the world? A LOVE BY DESIGN is a smart & sexy Victorian romance with a brilliant, independent heroine who refuses to live by the misogynistic, backwards rules for women in society in 2022. Did I say 2022? I meant Victorian England. (But you can pardon me for making such an understandable mistake!) Maggie and George as second-chance lovers is blissful, and the way that they overcome their problems with respect and compassion? Mind. Blown. Also, not giving away any spoilers here!!, the grand gesture is *chef's kiss*.

If I had to go live alone in the forest, A Love By Design is one of the books I'd take with me. And not only because I'd hope I could glean some engineering principles that would help me construct a basic shelter. I'd take A Love By Design because it nourishes the heart and mind. I felt warm reading it. I felt more hope for the world, and I felt wiser as I absorbed the courage and insight of the characters. A second chance romance between childhood friends pulled in different directions, A Love By Design creates an exquisite emotional tension as they struggle to come back to each other and to find new ways of being themselves, and being together. Margaret Gault is brilliant, iconoclastic, and self-contained, a bit too willing to go it alone. Earl Grantham is charming and supportive, hard-headed but soft-hearted, gloriously unthreatened by female intelligence and self-determination, capable of entering into a truly interdependent relationship, which is exactly what Margaret needs in order to risk opening her own heart. It's a delight to watch these two complex, driven, strong, vulnerable, evolving beings face the most difficult truths and reach their profoundly satisfying, well-deserved happy ending. The novel is wonderfully written--I was underlining sentences left and right--and it's vividly evocative of time and place. Everett explores the barriers faced by women in the Victorian era, and the damage done by codes of masculinity, in ways that resonate powerfully today, showing the on-goingness of patriarchy, and also the on-goingness of joyful resistance to its norms. Lest my emphasis on the novel's nourishing. nutritional qualities give the impression that it should be consumed dutifully and has the savor of broccoli, I must make it very clear that A Love By Design is also FUN. Somehow Everett delivers a moving, mature, politically relevant tale with wacky, irreverent humor and off-the-charts sex appeal. There's a ton of witty banter, not to mention hilarious sequences of physical comedy involving wildlife. I laughed aloud at Grantham's antics with Arthur; their dynamic is so funny, and so, so, so sweet. And the PINING, people. And the HEAT. Maggie and Georgie have a slow-burn but when everything finally bursts into flames... oh, my heart! Sweat beaded on my forehead. The intimacy is scorching and intense, and deepens the characterization and furthers the story arc in all the right ways. This whole series is extraordinary, combining science and pure magic, chock full of unforgettable characters and scenes, and A Love By Design may be my favorite installment yet. And that's really saying something. Instead of five stars, I want to give it a whole glittering firmament! Highly recommended!!

Absolutely wonder. Elizabeth does again with a stellar historical romance. I think she is one of the sharpest voices in the HR game right now

In this third installment from Athena's retreat, Madame Margaret Gault has returned to London from years in France to set up an engineering firm, hoping that her talent and continental reputation will overshadow the misogyny rampant in Victorian society. She is distracted and attracted, however, by childhood friend, Georgie, now the Earl of Grantham and thwarted by mysterious goings on in the group backing her latest project. The novel does an excellent job blending steamy romance, proto-feminist strong characters, and humor into a very entertaining, very readable package.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

CW: death of a parent (past), toxic relationship with parent (past), sexism, death of a spouse (past), kidnapping, gun violence

This is the third book in the series. While there are slight spoilers for the two prior books it can be enjoyed entirely as a standalone

I would recommend if you're looking for (SPOILERS)

-m/f historical romance
-second chance romance
-estranged childhood friends to lovers
-hard one and the soft one
-golden retriever hero
-virgin hero
-STEMinist heroine
-opposites attract
-competency kink

This was a quieter read than the two previous books in the series. Maggie and Georgie were just pining away and trying to figure out how to deal with their past. I really appreciated how they admitted that they had grown and dealt with what happened. Things were not easy, especially for Maggie. Trying to find her place in a man's world, and recognizing that marrying Georgie might make that even more difficult.

I enjoyed how gone Georgie was on Maggie. Respecting her, loving her engineering brain and jus wanting to be with her. Also his friendship with Arthur slash antagonizing him by being the most doting uncle. Honestly i wanted to hug Georgie and give him the world.

These two loved each other for the things that the world gave them a hard time about. I adored their connection and just how softly their romance grew. And the peak at Arthur and Violet's HEA. This series continues to be a favorite.

Steam: 3.25

Disclaimer: I am friends with the author but it did not impact my review

I bounced between four and five star for reasons but it has one of my favorite microtropes and I cannot shake it. I think I’m going somewhere in the four range but rounding up because like I said _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

I think my reread will be even better because the foundation of the novel, at least Margaret’s plot, is kind of stressful and not necessarily exciting to read about (you’re basically just biding the time until it all imploded). But it’s handled very well and there’s major nuance to the arguments made which I really appreciated. Now that I know how it all wraps up, I can focus on other stuff for round two. Because the end “grand gesture” was very unique and I loved the framing of it.

I did tend to skip the architecture/engineering bits because my brain isn’t made to understand anything about the fact that building a bridge is possible like how did the workers stay up in those days lol?? Idk bridges stress me out and honestly so do tunnels like how do you just blow a hole and not have everything collapse?? Especially underwater tunnels (yes I did just traverse the Lincoln Tunnel and no I still can’t fathom it).

I also just can’t compare it to book two‘s easy simplicity because that book will most likely remain my favorite forevermore in the series. This one felt more stylistically similar to book one, especially the culmination at the ending. It also wasn’t as steamy as book two (okay I can’t stop comparing sue me) and I do think there were definite areas to add more scenes between the two. It’s also super slow burn so it makes you wait which can be good but can also wear you out if there’s not enough at the end to balance out!

I think this is an incredibly thoughtful book. Even when I was annoyed, I begrudgingly understood exactly what work the book and themes were doing. Again, now that I understand it as a whole, I think I can accept some of the parts that bothered me/weren’t to my tastes. This kind of reminded me of Portrait of a Scotsman by Evie Dunmore. It’s kind of a wildcard book and I think it’ll make you think. This one ended better for me than Portrait, but I feel like the overall feels are kind of similar? It’s doing a lot of work to discuss women‘s internalized emotions/struggles/places in society.

Full review to come!

Thanks to NetGalley, Berkley, and Elizabeth for the eARC! All opinions are honest and my own.