An apothecary’s shop was the equivalent of a pharmacy shop in 19th century London.
Lucy runs one but has been cheated out of two of her formulas. Enter Thorne who has a lot of baggage who is hired to retrieve the cherished recipes.
There is a lot that happens and some was predictable while other parts were a surprise.
Many of the themes still resonate today but one that is the strongest is most people are searching for love. Any kind of a partnership without it is just it worth it.

Lucy Peterson, an apothecary, hires private investigator Jonathon Thorne when her formula for a salve to treat croup goes missing. While he is uncovering the culprit behind the remedy's disappearance, Lucy gets to know Thorne, his daughter, and more about his intriguing past. A stoic, ex-prize fighter and a passionate apothecary who society considers scandalous turns out to be a perfect match.

• Lucy is both talented and incredibly caring. I'll never tire of reading about heroines who are doctors, midwives, or work with medicine and/or herbs in any way. Herbalism and women's reproductive health are both special interests of mine, so Lucy was a character I instantly connected with and rooted for. The apothecary scenes could be quite heavy and emotional, but they depict the reality for a healer.
• Victorian era single dad trope - can't get enough of it.
• Sadie, Thorne's daughter, is an absolutely lovely part of this story. I love the ways Lucy bonded with her and that Sadie became interested in the sciences.
• As an anxiety sufferer myself, there's pretty much nothing I love more than when the love interest sees the MCs panic or anxiety struggle and helps them in some way. The times when Lucy's brain couldn't shut off and Thorne knew what to do were really beautiful to read!
• Gorgeous steam! The teeeeensiest bit of kinkiness. All of it just really suited these two.
• The conflict between Lucy and Thorne is well done and tackles issues that are very relevant today. I really admire Elizabeth Everett for taking this on--especially as it is (somehow) a controversial topic even today.

Thank you Netgallery and to the author Elizabeth Everett.

Sadly I am DNFing at 50 percent. I feel no connection to the characters and am too bored to finish the story. I’m super sad because I wanted to love this so much between the tropes and beautiful cover I thought this would be amazing but it’s not working for me.

I am not usually a big fan of historical/historical romance books, but I thoroughly enjoyed "The Love Remedy", the first of the new "The Damsels of Discovery" series by Elizabeth Everett.

Lucy Peterson, owner of an apothecary shop in London, must seek out help in the retrieval of her missing formula for a new salve for treating croup that she has developed in order to help keep up her shop, which is struggling financially. She believes that her old beau Duncan, whose family runs a rival apothecary, is behind the missing formula, as he took off with her formula for a cough lozenge that she developed, and which his family began making and selling in their shop. After Lucy seeks out help from Tierney & Co, agent Jonathan Thorne takes on the case, acting as a bookkeeper for Lucy's business while he investigates the theft. After he and his young daughter, Sadie, move into the upstairs of the Peterson's shop while he investigates the missing formula with Lucy, they find themselves falling in love.

"The Love Remedy" was a quick read, with a cast of enjoyable characters, including Thorn's adorable daughter Sadie, who has an interest in science, and whom Lucy and her sister Juliet get her father to enroll her in a girl's school that focuses on the sciences, and Lucy's customer Mr. Gentry, who is constantly ruminating on the many ailments he believes he has, and who Lucy takes under her wing as both a friend and an assistant after he lost both his wife and daughter. "The Love Remedy" also deals with a number of issues at the time, including women's rights, the difference in the treatment of men and women in society, the way society negatively looks at women interested in the sciences, and differences among the social classes. My only complaint- the wording in the sex scenes between Lucy and Thorn was a little cringy (I get it, it was trying to keep with the wording of the period, but just, NO). Overall, it was an entertaining read and I look forward to the next book in the series, as well as checking out her previous "The Secret Scientists of London series).

This was totally a case of me judging a book by it's cover and I am so glad I did. This book is beautiful inside and out. I love the Victorian time period and the whole concept of apothecaries so much. The main character, Lucinda, is such a perfect, strong, feminist heroine. I loved getting to know her. I also loved grumpy Thorne. They had fantastic chemistry. Is is hot in here or just me?

I was very happy with this book. It was more than I was even expecting considering it also mentioned women’s rights and a woman trying to make it on her own. I am a sucker for a good regency romance and this one was no exception. In fact, the exception here was the fact that this book had a MMC that wasn’t decked out in titles! I can appreciate the trauma both the MCs went through that led them where they were in the beginning. The only thing I didnt like was the miscommunication/noncommunication trope.

I found the synopsis for this very appealing, and began reading with high hopes.

The concept of an apothecary as a career has always struck me as oddly appealing, but reading this pretty much cured me of that. Teeth can be impossible to remove without an oral surgeon because they can literally break apart, and I don’t even want to imagine what other horrors the professional life of a Victorian apothecary was comprised of, but I was immediately drawn into this one.

*The we-can-never-really-be-together vibe
*Beauty and the Beast
*”I will never fall in love again” mindset
*women in STEM
*feminism

Lucy and Thorne are both terrific MC’s.

The STEM is here, but, alas, the STEAM is not.

During my reading, reading about other characters, I wanted to read Ms Everett’s Secret Scientists of London series, along with adding the future titles of this series to my tbr. The Love Remedy was my first time reading Ms Everett, and I’m looking forward to changing that soon 🙂



Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for the DRC

Lucy is a female Apothecary whose latest remedy recipe has been stolen by her erstwhile beau. When her next remedy recipe also goes missing, she blames him and hires a private investigator to get to the bottom of it. Jonathan Thorne is a former champion prize fighter turned private investigator who is trying to give his daughter the life he thinks she deserves.

This book got off to a little bit of a slower start for me - I would have liked to see just a little more tension between Lucy and Thorne in the first half. But the second half of the book really hit it's stride! I liked the evolution of their relationship and thought they had some pretty good chemistry in the second half. As always with Elizabeth Everett, the spicy scenes were 100% on point and perfect for the characters in my opinion. Also: Sexy Glasses. Need I say more?

I do think Lucy needed to have a bit more character development - she was a bit self sacrificing but then also got upset with her siblings for making their own life choices that affected her, despite her never asking them for help. I don't love a self sacrificing character and I don't know that we really got any resolution or growth from Lucy in that sense.

I also always love the way that Elizabeth Everett includes women's suffrage and specifically reproductive rights into her books - she made a point at a panel I saw her speak at that women back in history had more reproductive rights than we do right now in America and I always just sit with that. These issues were being thought about back then and a part of society so I always appreciate it's inclusion - even when it's just a conversation about condom use.

Thank you to Berkley and Netgalley for the eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Elizabeth Everett's The Love Remedy, a historical romance, is not at all what I was expecting, and I was excited about it all through the first half of the book. The characters are unique and interesting. Lucy is the rare female apothecary in Victorian England, who diagnoses maladies, creates curative compounds, and even performs dental surgery. But the business her father left her is in financial dire straits, and her ex-lover has deprived her of needed funds by stealing her formula for tastier and more effective throat lozenges. Now she can't find her newest formula, intended to relieve tired mothers by reducing the symptoms of their babies' croup.

When she can't find proof that her ex is to blame, Lucy seeks the services of a private investigation firm masquerading as a bookkeeping service. The agent assigned to her case is the brawny and imposing Jonathan Thorne. He used to be a champion prizefighter who lived high and partied hard, while collecting a multitude of injuries that changed the beauty of his face and the tenor of his voice. But he left all of that behind when his lover died, leaving him with a 2-year-old biracial daughter.

In the second half of the book, however, it becomes clear that the initial spark between Lucy and Thorne is sexual in nature, and that the restrictions both parties have imposed on themselves--for different reasons--and their lack of meaningful communication will make it almost impossible for them to connect in a romantic way. That's when I found it less entertaining, Thorne does solve the case, but it seems like an afterthought. Lucy's siblings, especially her physician sister, are part of the plot but underused. And the ending is abrupt and unconvincing. Having said that, I really enjoyed Thorne's relationship with his precocious 9-year-old daughter, as well as the emphasis on feminism and women involved in STEM occupations in Victorian times. And the book cover is to-die-for. This book is the first in a series and includes some characters from a previous series (which I didn't realize). If you enjoy a period romance/mystery with an emphasis on character rather than mystery or romance, along with steamy sex scenes, this one may be for you.

My thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

The love remedy was certainly not what I thought it was going to be. But I think that’s a good thing. This book covered things that are important and problems that should be discussed. Even if they are uncomfortable and let me tell you this book felt uncomfortable at times. The author managed to capture Victorian England so perfectly that I felt like I was there. The description and word choice all encapsulated the unpleasant period in which the book was written, because it was unpleasant and being a woman was bloody hard.
Going into this I was NOT expecting it to be so profound and historical, I did enjoy those aspects, they just felt unexpected. Perhaps the title alluded to a more light hearted plot, but I enjoyed it all the same.
Lucy was an excellent protagonist and I really felt like the characters were having important discussions in regard to questioning the status quo. Perhaps something that can be applied to our current time.
Overall this story was written in the way that it wasn’t overly romantic. The characters didn’t feel romantic, they were practical- or perhaps the author managed to capture what romance would have truly looked like in the nineteenth century. Albeit uncomfortable at times. A truly profound read that leaves the opportunity to reflect and of course question “the way things are.”

—Thank you so much to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the chance to review an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a power couple. They were so freaking amazing. Their occupations were unique. The cover was what pulled me in, isn’t it stunning?
I’m so excited to read more of Elizabeth Everett’s work.

I enjoyed Elizabeth Everett’s first series so I was excited about starting this one too. I enjoyed parts of The Love Remedy, like the apothecary setting and the feminist themes throughout, but there were other aspects that weren’t as satisfying. Finding out who had stolen Lucy’s formula was one of those things, once the mystery was solved it then felt as if it was brushed under the rug. Lucy was a delightful FMC who I really enjoyed. Her romance with Thorne was sweet and sexy. Although, their ending was lacking, I wanted more from him. Overall, this was a good read, but not Everett’s best work, I am looking forward to what’s next in this series though!

I loved the premise but I didn’t feel any chemistry between these characters.

Lucy Peterson, with her older brother, David and younger sister, Juliet, has been continuing her father’s legacy as an apothecary. She and Juliet apprenticed with their father and then attended the college of medicine. They are both accepted members of the Society of Apothecaries but that doesn’t stop The Guardians (a male hate group) from standing outside of their establishment protesting the unnaturalness of women holding a career or caring for women’s health.

Lucy’s heart is still stinging for falling for the lies of Duncan Rider. Not only did he promise marriage after their being intimate but he left with her formula for throat lozenges, which are currently making a small fortune for Duncan’s rival apothecary shop. Now her formula for croup medicine is also missing. A medicine parents would desperately pay a fortune for to soothe their sick children. A formula which would be all the difference to Lucy’s financially struggling apothecary.

Lucy engages the services of Jonathan Thorne, a private investigator, to find out if Duncan stole the formula and if not him, then who?

THOUGHTS
I really liked the idea of this story which features the struggles of the first women who were stepping into a male dominated field when women were still expected to be wives and mothers, or if they were of a class that need to work, they were to be governesses or chambermaids. Being an apothecary or learning science or medicine was more than just an uphill battle for women. If they could find someone who would allow them admission and a graduation, trying to find patients willing to trust a woman was almost impossible, especially when they were focusing on the care of other women. Good to see that nothing has changed.

What I didn’t like here was the main characters. Yes, I understand we need characters to grow but let’s start with the simple fact that these two didn’t really have chemistry which makes it hard to root for them. Lucy is a bright, and very overworked, woman and initially, she falls for a pretty dimwit who is Duncan Rider. Really? First, you don’t question that a rival apothecary is trying to court you. And then, you let him take your very promising formula for lozenges so he can help you experiment. How pretty is he since Thorne pegs him as a dimwit within two minutes? I am disappointed that Lucy fell for this moron while fighting for women to advance in science fields. Shouldn’t she at least be offended that he is a “respected” apothecary while she has more intelligence and has to fight for respect? She then falls for Thorne, and we will get to his issues in a moment. Lucy has horrible taste in men. Lucy also has a case of middle-child syndrome where she won’t ask for the much needed help from her sister and her brother. While she works herself to the bone worrying about the family business, they go off doing things that interest them.

Thorne is supposed to be hot/grumpy but the more we learn about him, the less I like him. Thorne is the third son of a Baron and ended up as a boxer known as The Gentlemen Fighter, boxing to get out his anger issues. Between the boozing and debauchery, he met a former courtesan and had a child with her. After her death, he sobered up for his daughter and has become almost militant with the avoidance of drink, dancing and song, looking down on Lucy and her siblings, if they have a little fun. If I can’t handle drinking, no one should enjoy it. We also learn that some of those prejudices that Thorne learned as an aristocrat’s son are firmly in his psyche. He admits he would never have married his daughter’s mother since she was a former courtesan and men don’t marry their mistresses. And while he has no problem falling into bed with Lucy, we see those same thoughts arise about her, that a woman you married wouldn’t have condoms, let alone use them.

Thorne’s only redeeming grace is his love of his daughter. Thorne doesn’t get redemption until someone he thought he admired points a damning finger at his daughter since she is an illegitimate child of a former courtesan and mixed race. This person thinks she should realize her lowly future, and accept it, while Lucy and her sister had the young girl accepted to a school of science which challenged her and allowed her to dream big. Once Thorne realizes that someone is wrongly judging his daughter does he look inward to his own judgmental prejudices towards Lucy. I say it’s a little to late buddy.

We met several characters in this story which appear to be part of a prior trilogy also incorporating the hidden worlds where women were secretly learning science. It was an interest plot point but Lucy and Thorne were not drawing my into this world for more stories.

The Love Remedy is a mixed bag for me.

On the "pros" list, there's the science, the feminism, the independence, the sibling dynamics, Sadie, and the absolutely gorgeous cover.

On the "cons" list, there's the insta-love (for two people who swear they're not going to fall in love, they get moving fast), the lack of development/development of convenience for most secondary characters (sorry, Katie), the weird "romances" with other people, the conclusion to the mystery of who stole the croup formula, and the rushed ending.

I really did want to like this book. As a scientist myself, I'm loving the trend of STEM romances, and this one is historical fiction to boot, but, for me, there are more misses than hits in this one. I probably won't be picking up Book #2.

3.75/5 ⭐️ 1.5🌶️
If you are fan of historical romances where the female main character is in STEM or breaking free from the norm, like the Bringing Down the Duke series or A Ladies’ Guide to Mischief and Scandal or the Sirens of Sussex series, plus many more, then I think you will also enjoy this book. The FMC and her sister are a part of a secret society of such academically inclined ladies and she hires a private investigator to help find who stole her medical formulas.
Overall, I found this enjoyable, finishing it in one day. I however, did not love it as much as I love this author’s other book, A Lady’s Formula for Love. Though I did enjoy some guest appearances from characters from that series. I think the plot basis was a little weak, like the setting up the FMC and love interest, and the reason why she hired him barely played a role throughout the story. I also thought the fears and misbeliefs of the two characters were interesting, playing nicely against each other. However, I think it could’ve been developed a little more, it felt a little shallow. I loved the secondary characters though. They were my favorite parts.
So, while I may not have loved this one as much as I have others, I still enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone searching for more like those books I mentioned in the beginning. Plus, I think this one might be a tad spicier than the other historical romances I usually read. So that might be good for anyone looking for that.
Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing an advance reader copy of this book for my honest review.

Another amazing lady scientists in history romance. Oh the longing! The pinning! The meddling, precocious daughters!

I’m so thankful there are companion books to look forward to.

If You Don’t Read This You Will Regret It

Quote:📖
Why can’t being happy be easy?

Thoughts: 💡
Oh my lord I adore this! The characters were incredibly endearing and I found myself laughing out loud so many times. There are parts that felt so poignantly heartbreaking and relatable that I had to question if the struggles were really so similar between a modern woman and one from Victorian England.
The presence of the overtly stringent patriarchy and the way that they capitalized on common issues with propaganda was both historically accurate and modernly relevant.
I loved that the characters were all multifaceted with relatable flaws and believable circumstances that initiated the changes and development in their character. Every character in this book made an impact from the smart, science-minded, and savvy Peterson sisters, to the taciturn and practical Thorne, to the humorous and ever curious minded nine year old Sadie.
The plot was smart and well pieced together, and the story incredibly well edited; but it was the characters that stole the show.
After all, it’s always fun to see a grumpy male lead fall for the beautiful and brilliant scientist.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Poignant Insights
⚜️ Relatable Struggles
⚜️ Hilarious Quips & Banter
⚜️ Humors Antics
⚜️ Steamy Angsty Longing Filled Slow Burn
⚜️ Positive Representation & Diverse Cast of Characters

Important Note:✨
This has a great and satisfying ending, but I need more because it’s honestly just that good!

Full Content Warning:⚠️
This book briefly touches on the racism, sexism, and poverty that was rampant for the time period; but it’s addressed in a very tasteful manner.

Stats:📊
🌶️🌶️
Characters 💙💙💙💙💙
Historical Romance: Victorian England, Female Scientist (Women In STEM), Grumpy Sunshine, Single Parent, Getting Revenge
POV: Dual 👩‍❤️‍👨

This was... okay. I felt that this had so much potential and it just wasn't executed as well as I'd hoped.

The first few chapters were really confusing to me. I honestly didn't know where I was or what was going on. I couldn't stop reading, though. The book is very slow and quite boring, but I was still very intrigued. I liked the premise enough to keep going and see it through.

While I was bored, I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed the writing, the language, the setting, their outfits, etc. I loved the apothecary and Lucy's motivation for it. But the chapters were choppy, things happened without thorough explanation, especially by the end. One minute he believes she'll marry Duncan Rider and the next chapter he's proposing? What is going on?

I thought the relationship development wasn't as good as it could have been. Their reasons for not being together were outright childish and stupid and immature. I didn't care for it. "I will never be with a beautiful woman again" was so corny and a weird conflict for your character to have. The sex scenes were meh, a sprinkle of salt if you will. No chili flakes, no paprika, not even black pepper. There were one or two lines and moments where my jaw dropped but that was it.

Thorne was fine. Apparently he was ugly, but Lucy didn't care about looks. There's not a lot we learn about Thorne besides his cycle of issues---his baby mama who died, his past of prize fighting which never really gets a good story, and his daughter. His and Sadie's relationship was really sweet. I loved how much he loved her and enjoyed those parts. I liked how Sadie grew on Lucy, too, even though she claimed to hate kids.

Lucy was also fine. She was a hardworking woman who cared passionately for her work; it was her livelihood. The little twist with Juliet was fine, I guess. Everything was just fine. I didn't care much for what was going on. Half the time I didn't know where I was.

So I'm pretty disappointed because the premise was promising but the execution was flat to say the least. Blown tire flat, skidding across the asphalt.

This start to the new series was everything I hoped it would be. 2 broken people who’ve sworn off love, trying to put themselves and each other back together, with Everett’s usual dose of wit and social justice. I loved it and I can’t wait for the next!

Love it! Historical romance is one of my absolute favorites. I love that Lucinda is strong and sassy and the mystery thrown in was a perfect touch for this story.