This is such an interesting and entertaining historical romance. Lucy runs up and apothecary and someone has stolen her formula for a remedy. She asks Jonathan Thorne to help her find out who the culprit is. This book has fascinating characters and being that thorn is a single father. It adds the fun of a single father romance into this historical romance. I loved all the entry that was involved as well as how smart and strong Lucy is and how Thorne finds himself fascinated by her. All in all, I enjoyed this book from start to finish.

Historical romance with a bad-ass woman main character? Yes, please! Lucy is a scientist who runs an apothecary. She is brilliant but ostracized because she is a "woman doing a man's job" according to many of the men in her town. Some of her medical papers have been stolen and she needs to find the thief while trying to keep her business afloat. She also has to deal with the fact that she's falling for the man who she hired to track down her stolen papers. This was such a well written read, and I loved Lucy so much! I cannot WAIT for the next book!!

Lucy, an apothecartest in the 1840's, is one of the rare women scientists. She is left the business by her father. She is struggling to keep it afloat as her 'lover' stole her formula for throat lozenges and now a special salve for treating baby's croup. She seeks help from Tiernery & Co. which discreetly handles such issues. This brings Jonathan Thorne and his young daughter into her life. Thorne has personal issues, too.
The combination of Lucy and Thorne feeds this tale of two people locked into their personal views. What happens with these two characters? Who took the formula for the salve? You will be surprized.

The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett missed the mark for me. While I loved the romance aspect of the book and the characters, I didn't enjoy the historical elements and certain pieces of the mystery fell flat. I'm also not a big science fan so those pieces went over my head. Otherwise, the story and premise was good.

Let me start by saying I really loved that Everett wrote about reproductive health history and gave the story a purpose. I also felt like she did a fantastic job with the sex scenes. That being said, parts of this story felt awkward and out of place. I really liked the FMC and the MMC but felt like they were not compatible and I really didn't get to know either of them. I struggled to reconcile this very conservative, Christian (catholic?) man with a spiritual but not religious woman who is not at all conservative. I'm not sure how the two fit together and I think that it made the story feel less real to me. I'm sad that I didn't love this book as much of the rest of Everett's work.

An enjoyable and entertaining read with some heavy topics thrown in, but overall, a good read.

This took me a little bit to get into, but I found some of the humor just really on point. The discussions of women working, consent, and pleasure were fascinating. Sometimes I did feel like we didn't delve quite far enough into a topic broached, but there were also a lot of topics presented in a pretty short span. There were a couple comments from the male love interest that felt a little off from a religious standpoint, especially when they would walk them back. Perhaps it was trying to show some character growth, or at least a way of showing not each person has to feel the same for their relationship to work. But again, this circles back to some of the heavier topics would have been nice to give more time to.

I thought the mystery of Lucy's stolen work was going to be a larger portion of the story, and then I found the culprit made me pretty angry. I wanted a good cathartic shouting match. Lucy was such a strong character and sometimes I wanted her to be even more loud, bold, and bright. She was intelligent and more than capable of the work she did, and she did so much because of how much she cares about medicine and her patients.

I know this is related to the author's other work and knowing that will be lighter and funnier makes me want to grab the first one immediately.

This was a solid read with a strong FMC that many will enjoy, despite Lucy sometimes needing a good shoulder shake. Like stand up girl, for yourself and your value!!!! The feminism sometimes feels a bit heavy handed, with some excessive telling-rather-than-showing happening quite a bit. I still appreciated it, but it wasn’t hitting the way I needed it to.

It took me a long time to get through, but I’m definitely interested in checking out Elizabeth Everett’s other work.

Set in the Victorian era, Lucy Peterson is a modern woman who has created a formula for a salve to treat croup. It goes missing, and she believes that her rival apothecary is responsible. Lucy hires Jonathan Thorne, a PI, to investigate. Thorne has his own secrets, and is protecting his young daughter from scorn due to the circumstances surrounding her beginnings.
Thorne and Lucy work together to find the culprit and to regain her formula so she can patent it and save her apothecary. Along the way, they fall in love - unwillingly, but they can't escape it, and know they must bond together to overcome the obstacles in their way based on family and society expectations.

The Love Remedy i the first book in the Damsels in Distress series.
In Victorian England a woman is left her father's apothecary business rather than her siblings together or brother who was convinced he'd inherit it.
For the time period we see strong women playing unconventional roles and excelling at it.
Lucinda Peterson has perfected several medicinal cures including a salve to treat croup. When the formula goes missing, she hires a single father private investigator to investigate its disappearance at what she believes are the hands of her former lover, a rival apothecary.
I enjoyed the descriptions of the apothecary and the natural medicines being formulated. This novel just goes to show women in science doesn't have to be stuffy and boring, but they can be fun and entertaining. A smart woman is not a bad thing. I loved seeing how single dad Jonathan Thorne breaks down Lucinda's barriers as she promises to never love again or let anyone into her space.
This historical fiction romance has women in STEM meeting history, mystery, intriguing situations and slow burn romance. This is a woman ahead of her time not afraid to show her love of male dominated subjects at the time including science, and mathematics. This is my first read by the author and I greatly look forward to seeing what else the author has out.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Thoroughly enjoyed this period romance, with a feminist forward plot with a spunky protagonist learning to protect herself while still letting love in and a gruff but lovable, battered and bruised love interest. A fun light, escapist read into the Victorian apothecary world.

3.5 Stars

The Love Remedy was an interesting story, and different from the historical romance I have usually seen.

Lucy is unique for her time, owning and working in an apothecary. When a formula she's created goes missing, she hires Jonathan Thorne to work at the apothecary and help her uncover who stole it. They were both interesting characters who found a deeper and unexpected connection. I liked them together and could see how they balanced each other well.

Overall the story kept my interest, and I wanted to see the resolution of the mystery of who stole the formula. I do feel, though, that there were almost two many b-plots with everything going on with her sister, brother, Thorne's daughter, etc. Some of them added to the story in the end, but most did make it feel a bit too drawn out. Also, there was a lot of push and pull between them in the last 25%. Though some of the reasons for it made sense, the way it played out was repetitive as they reacted/handled things the same way repeatedly.

Though I had a couple things that frustrated me, I am interested in trying the next book in the series. I did enjoy it overall and am curious to see what's next.

Picture yourself as a woman in 1843 England. Women are expected to stay home and raise a family. But what if you either can’t afford to do that or you want something more, to study something along the lines of science/medicine? Well, you’re pretty much out of luck. A rare few women are venturing into the sciences, and one of them is Lucy Peterson, whose father was an apothecary and taught her everything he knew. She is now officially an apothecary, but is struggling financially, and a group of resentful men have formed the Guardians of Domesticity to protest and threaten women like her or women who have found less rarified ways to survive (nicely referred to as the demimonde).

Lucy has worked hard and is creative in the “lab”, creating innovative remedies, including a formula for a throat lozenge (for “putrid throat”, ha!), that was stolen by another apothecary, a young man she was briefly involved with. Now the formula for her new creation, a salve for croup, has also gone missing, and she’s desperate enough to engage the services of a company of agents to find the culprit. Jonathan Thorne poses as a bookkeeper and starts working at her apothecary, trying first to go through the mess of paperwork in her office.

The Love Remedy is a lovely historical fiction wrapped around a mystery and a blossoming romance. The main characters are wonderful individuals: Lucy and her sister and brother, Thorne, his young daughter Sadie (to whom he is completely devoted), and their neighbor, the delightful Mr. Gentry, among others. Thorne is quite the complex character, a man of noble birth who turned to prize-fighting and is now a private investigator. His character’s transformation over the course of the story is wonderful, as he comes to realize that some of the “don’t’s” he’s been living with are no longer serving him, and that society’s opinions are not always the most important or right thing. The romance between Thorne and Lucy is a slow burn attraction that works beautifully. (Be aware of some very spicy scenes.)

Everett has written a series that I wasn’t familiar with, called The Secret Scientists of London, and a few of the characters from that series apparently pop up here. The Love Remedy looks to be the first in a new spin-off series and I’m looking forward to the next book, as well as checking out the earlier series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for the opportunity to read an advance readers copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I want to begin this review by saying that I'm a huge fan of Everett's writing and I devoured her last series. I appreciate her commitment to gender inclusivity and the amount of historic research she does with each book.
But my god, NOTHING HAPPENED IN THIS BOOK. I dragged myself to finish it (enjoying the discussions of medical developments) but I didn't find any chemistry between our two leads, nor was I really invested in the plotline.

I was looking for something fun and entertaining yesterday going through my … should have read this a while ago list and came upon this book The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett out March 19th and part one of her new Damsels of Discovery series !
STEM Romance with a Victorian setting, a female apothecary treating the poor and a third son of a baronet, prize fighter turned investigator and single father, grumpy and sunshine, … both strong principled people, both have sworn off love both are rediscovering that may be stronger in the end even if it wasn’t what they had in mind.
Lucy(Lucinda) is convinced she’s been betrayed and her former almost fiancee registered a patent for her throat lozenges and is about to register her recipe for a croup salve. She hires Johnathan Thorn to investigate since she the apothecary she inherited from her father who taught her everything can not withstand any more hits and her siblings, employees and regulars are counting on her… Thorn investigates and discovers that despite being a girl father - a daughter to unmarried parents - his convictions when it comes to girls and women need to be more closely examined and revised and his strict rule against coming in contact with beautiful women may have to be reexamined as well.

This was fun to read and at the same time brought so many details about the day to day life of regular people in Victorian London to the surface (no Duke here … and the third son of a baronet has cut off ties to his family).
I enjoyed this book and will definitely look for the next installment in this historical STEM romance series !
Thank you to @berkleyromance and @netgalley for the eARC ! Opinions expressed are, of course, my own.

Important themes, interesting topic, great time period, absolutely beautiful cover... but unfortunately I still felt a lack of connection to the characters, especially our heroine Lucy. I found the dialogue tricky, as much of it was stilted (in the way of the time period) and then some of it felt modern. Thorne came across as a jerk, and I didn't like him for Lucy at all. The pacing was so slow at parts that it was tough to keep going.

The writing was very nice and I think this particular combination of themes was just tough to pull off. I'd love to read the writer's previous works and I think fans of hers will enjoy this one. It just wasn't at the tip top of my list.

Note: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book!

Things I liked:

1. Its quotidian nature. There is something about this book that I can only describe as "slice of life" vibes. While there's a "mystery" to solve, it's not ridiculous or far fetched, oro even the main focus. While there is a HEA, it feels earned by the two protagonists. At its heart, this book is about running a family business and all the messy expectations and struggles that come along with it.

2. It's different class focus. So many stories written in this era follow nobility or are entrenched in privileges befitting nobility. While Thorne is of the upper class and did use it to his advantage throughout the story, the main focus was on Lucy and her family's upper middle class status and business.

3. The discussion of female autonomy and the struggles women had to go through during this era. I'll admit, I was afraid it would be heavy handed, but thankfully, I didn't find this soap boxy at all! (Or, at least until the veryyy end.) The discussion over Katie and the "realization" of sorts that Thorne experienced was so well-done in my opinion. I found myself thanking God (lol) that I did not live during this time; a godly woman I am not...

Things I disliked:

1. For two characters who talk immensely, Lucy and Thorne actually say very little in the second half of the book, hence the third act conflict. The miscommunication trope always feels like a cop-out to me, and the way it was used here irritated me quite a bit, but didn't necessarily ruin the reading experience.

2. Sadie's life was a little too comfortable. Children are highly emotionally intelligent, so even though she is a child, she likely would have been more privy to her own reality than is shown in the book. By that age, she would have likely experienced discrimination by her schoolmates, racism due to her mixed heritage, and classism due to her father's "fall from grace." Not even Thorne's purchasing of new coats and ribbons would be able to protect her from society; her character felt a little too sheltered and naive and "free."

3. There was little to no catharsis following the reveal of who stole the croup formula. Instead of a moment in which Lucy can stand up for herself and read the perpetrator the riot act, she bottles it all up and immediately forgives the person after a couple of pasties and a short bout of tears. Even if the intentions were "reasonable," this was a prime moment to demonstrate Lucy's own autonomy in the face of someone basically trying to take it away... and she does NOTHING!! It was such a disappointing moment for her character.

4. Nothing is ever done about the Guardians. I know this book is the start of the Damsels of Discovery series, so it may be dealt with later on, but I was hoping there would be some kind of resolution or at least an attempt at one with regard to the publication and its nasty followers.

Overall, I did have a positive reading experience and I vibed with Lucy and Thorne as a couple, but it wasn't my favorite and I'm not sure if I will pick up the next Damsels of Discovery novel. This leans much more historical fiction than it does historical romance, so keep that in mind if you pick it up.

Solid 3.5 out of 5 stars, ⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 2.9/5

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the ARC!

There's an increase in interest of Historical Romance at my library, so I figured I would like to keep some new releases on my radar. That being said I was quite please to get a review copy of The Love Remedy. The premise hooked me instantly and I was really excited for this one.

Unfortunately, this was a hard one to get through. The writing style was okay, but I did have a hard time connecting with the characters. Lucy and Johnathan were so forgettable to me I actually had to triple check their names before writing this review. The rest of the story was interesting enough, and I did enjoy the mystery aspect.

Going back to the characters being dull and unforgettable- I also didn't enjoy the spicy scenes very much (and that may just be because I don't enjoy the characters that much).

All in all this book ended up being just okay to me. I do like a few aspects enough to try out some of the authors other works.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of The Love Remedy but I DNF this book a couple of chapters in. I don't know if this author's writing is for me but I think if you like sweet historical romances, you would like this one.

a historical romance but make it a single dad romance too!?? this hooked me instantly. the book also had a mystery premise to it which i thought added to the depth of the story. really had fun reading this!

Gorgeous cover! I have a feeling that will draw a lot of readers in.

The premise was promising, but the execution was lacking. Movement is slow and the scenes don't flow. Clunky writing was a drag. I also failed to connect with any of the characters. I kept forgetting the main characters' names which tells me just how little of an impact they had. I set it aside after reading about a third and haven't been tempted to pick it back up.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.