I really enjoyed Josephine , she is tenacious . Very inspiring.

This story did not grab me and pull me in....I could not get into it....

I really liked this novel. Likeable and believable main characters. A believable plot. A lovely romance.
Some people might be offended by the anachronism, especially in dialogues, but I didn't mind those.

This story tells of the great struggles and strides women have taken to be recognized, respected and accepted in their chosen field of career in a man's world. Now being seen as worthy opponents equal to the same treatment as their counterparts, instead of being belittled by their opposites, who believed their places should be in the bedrooms and taking care of their children and homes. Josephine wanted nothing and no one to stand in her way of her progressive move. She is a complex girl when it comes to romance, a bit naive in her dealings with Van Percy, and romantic relationships on a whole, which leads to some turbulent times. This book not only tells of the female struggles for an education, equality and acceptance, but Josephine’s struggle with her budding attraction for Nicholas. Filled with intrigue, and villains who would stoop at nothing to get their way. This book has been an eye opener and an interesting read.

Writing a novel is an incredibly challenging thing to do, and having your first completed manuscript is something to be immensely proud of. There are so many skills to learn and it is unreasonable to expect that a first time novelist would have these down pat from the start. With those thoughts in mind, I commend Renee Dahlia for this first effort.
No it's not perfect. Some of the dialogue is well and truly wrong for that period in history and my mind did boggle a little over the sandwich scene. I felt that having the hero jump into thoughts of marriage at the second meeting was a bit of a stretch too, but this story also has its positives.
The setting, in Amsterdam at the end of the 19th century, is an unusual one and I liked that. I felt more focus could have been given to life in Amsterdam at the time because that would have helped to set this story aside. As it was, the story could pretty well have taken place anywhere once we'd been introduced to women studying medicine at a time when women didn't.
That, by the way, is also a positive - I liked the focus on women encroaching on what had previously been regarded as a man's world and doing it well.
While I do feel the story could have been tighter, smoother, better, these are all things that come with practice, with learning to proof read and edit more diligently, and with developing a good critique network. In the meantime this is not a bad first effort.

This was a very good novel, well written as well! An author whose books I will be looking for in the future. It had emotions and enough depth that I feel satisfied. Loved it!

To Charm a Bluestocking has an appealing premise: it's 1887 and Josephine Tobinbury is about to complete her studies as one of the first women to graduate in medicine from the Municipal University of Amsterdam. In order to protect herself from the attentions of the villainous Professor van Percy she writes to her father and asks him to provide her with a fake beau. Complications arise when her 'fiancé' arrives and proves to be less biddable than she had imagined.

Bluestocking is written in an appealingly breathless, full-tilt style that carries the reader along and doesn't encourage the paying of too much attention to the plot. The author obviously has a love for her subject matter, explaining in the afterword that the inspiration came from her own great grandmother who was an early 20th-century medical graduate. The book includes some interesting particulars about pioneering women doctors, historical events in Amsterdam, and 19th-century medical techniques.

However, the same attention to detail hasn't been paid to 1880s social mores or language. It's a convention in some historical romance writing to disregard any attempt to make dialogue sound historically accurate, perhaps with the idea that readers will connect more with characters who sound like they're from the modern day USA rather than the historical period in question. It's a stylistic choice I always question because there's nothing that throws me out of a story set in 1887 faster than writing like - to quote some examples from To Charm a Bluestocking - "Don't stress. They are just scared that we will show them up"; "Your father asked you to do market research for him?; and "The whole place had a good vibe."

Josephine is an appealingly practical heroine who is just the person to have around if you've been caught in a towering inferno or had your nose broken by an evil-doer. Speaking of which, Professor van Percy is a rather fun Black Hat of a villain, fond of making theatrical speeches and at one point literally twirling his moustache.

The hero, Nicolas, is something of a nonentity, although I did enjoy his pride in Josephine's achievements and support for her medical career. The two of them fall in insta-love and don't have much chemistry while clothed, but there's one enjoyably sensual sex scene. There are also a couple of would-be erotic scenes which are horribly unsexy, including Nicolas being weirdly aroused by Josephine eating a sandwich.

'The sound of her masticating filled the room and it took all his effort to look away from her lips as they worked on her food. It was not much of a stretch to imagine her mouth on him.'

There's also a very painful scene where the pair have sex in a moving carriage while she has a recently broken nose and he has a broken ankle. This is presented as pleasurable for the characters but just sounds horrific.

On the whole, this is a quick and moderately entertaining read, but something of a waste of an excellent premise.

ARC, NetGalley, honest review, etc. I was all set to declare this "a bit of a turd, realy" and pan the hell out of it, but then I read the author's website and found out it was her very first novel, and based off her doctor ancestress, a pioneer in the field of medicine, to boot, which has me downgrading this to "could have used some extremely stern editing."

That isn't to say this isn't a hot mess. Things I like in romance novels: bluestocking heroines, unconventional settings (Amsterdam!), fake betrothals/marriages of convenience, rakes being reformed. Things that were in this novel: all of those things. Things this romance novel carried off well: none of those things. OUR HEROINE calls her cool spy dad for a fake fiance to get a creepy professor off her back; OUR HERO turns up, we are told that he is a great spy, and they fall in instalust, straight from central casting, with inconvenient boners galore.

<blockquote>The role of the dissolute young rake was one that he had played to perfection during those political assignments earlier in his career. Nights spent at balls with the wives and mistresses of grand players in this game of international politics. Nights spent listening carefully to the threads of conversation to pick up little pieces of intrigue. Many of the ladies were sadly neglected by their power-hungry husbands and all too willing to give up their husband's secrets for a few hours in the arms of a handsome young man.

Was he ready to give that up for one woman?</blockquote>

But the spying is mostly an informed ability; the creepy professor says "lol nah, you guys aren't betrothed, there's no way" and OUR HERO'S internal response is "shit, I had not planned for this extremely likely situation, what do I do? Ha ha!" Also, the pacing of the romance was off to the point that I kept shouting at my Kindle "they've only known each other for two days!!! that's not long enough!!! they don't have that kind of chemistry!!! she has exams to study for!!!!"

Another point to pick at was the... this is Well-Researched, in the sense that, as my roommate would say, the author read twenty Wikipedia pages to write this one paragraph, and by god, you're gonna read them too. (The sort-of works cited at the end of the book is actually pretty interesting, I definitely want to read some of her sources.) But the effect is not organic at all--very clunky, very "As you know, Bob,,,"

The writing is pretty clunky in points, too. There's a spy stuff plot, which I do not find particularly compelling even when done by established, excellent authors. The one bit of emotional goodness that emerged from said plot, however, was the burn reveal scene. Read it, you'll see.

As for the spicy bits, they were all right, but the one thing that caused me to have to suspend my disbelief to the extreme was<spoiler>--look. There's a bit where the designated villain kidnaps our heroine, cholorforms her, and forces her marriage, and then, because she is now his wife and therefore his property, he beats the hell out of her, to the point where her face is covered in bruises and her nose is broken. She sets her broken nose herself. Our hero rescues her, and they bone down... while she's still injured? Immediately afterward? I don't know about y'all, but I would not be feeling particularly randy if I'd just had to put my own nose back in place after an extremely traumatic experience.</spoiler>

Weak chemistry, poor pacing, Still, the whole series is a very interesting premise, and maybe our author will improve a few books down the line? Here's hoping.

The story follows Lady Josephine who is studying medicine in Holland. She is in her final year and ready to complete her exams, only to find one of her professors, Professor Van Percy, forcing her into a relationship. Fortunately for Josephine, she has two other female friends who are also finishing their studies. They convince Josephine that she needs to distance herself from Van Percy. Her solution is to write to her father to find her a "fake" fiancée. This is where the story becomes interesting as Nicholas (Lord St George) arrives, only to through Josephine into a spin, as she finds herself attracted to him. Nicholas also finds the situation one that he wants to change, making the farce into a reality.
Both characters were appealing and Nicholas, is all the more attractive, for trying to uncover the true story behind Van Percy. The secondary characters are also appealing and it will be interesting to see if they appear in further stories.
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

:- I absolutely adored this historical fiction. The book takes you in the past with its captivating and beautiful prose. The story was a tale of courage, bravery and romance. This book entrances you. The book is a must read for every one.

Lady Josephine moves to Holland to become a doctor. She has made two friends who are also working hard in their 4th year to graduate. Professor Van Percy is trying to intimidate Josephine ithat she will marry him when she graduates. She writes to her father and he sends a "fake" fiancee to put off Van Percy. Lord St George shows up to play the part. They have a chemistry between them that is not fake. As the story goes on Nicholas finds that the assignment he was sent to do other than to be a "fake" fiancee for Josephine will involve the same people. Thsi si a good story and gives you a look into how hard it was for women going to school at the time.

Thank you.
Enjoyed it.
Will purchase copies for family and friends

Wow, this book was amazing! I loved how the author mixed historical facts with her story and made me feel with those young women, trying to find their way in a world that was reluctant to allow women to learn and to study.

The story kept me on my toes, I loved the main characters a lot and I loved how they interacted. I was so proud of Nicholas for not being an ...idiot and underestimating Josephine but I loved how he enjoyed her intelligence, that he was willing to change his ways, to learn how to accept her independance and how proud he was of her and everything she achieved.

Sometimes in between I was seriously upset because of the things that happened and because I feared for some newfound (book)friends of mine and to say that I detest Van Percy...well, that's probably the understatement of the century.

I also loved how Claire, Marie and Josephine as the only female students in their year worked together and stood together against their not always sympathetic fellow male students. It took a strong personality and a strong will for women to study medicin in those times even though the University of Amsterdam was more open and more welcoming than for example the british Universities but there were still many men (and women) who thought that no woman should have a place there. Wasted time because a woman should marry and have children and shouldn't meddle with all those stupid things that would get her nowhere useful - at least in the eyes of many people. unfortunately many of their fellow students shared this view and were harassing them whenever they could.

Where Nicholas was supportive and proud of Josephine and not just because it was part of his job, it is her professor Van Percy who treats her with the least respect and who constantly harrasses her. Well, that's why Josephine's father sent Lord Nicholas St. George over to help her and pose as her fake fiancé, didn't he? The only question is - did her father have something else on his mind when he chose this very handsome, very charming and utterly irresistible and most distracting man as her fake fiancé?

I really loved how open both, Nicholas and Josephine, were to their feelings even if they were not totally happy in the beginning about this potential deviation from their set course. No games of cat-and-mouse, just open minds and honesty. Josephine, being shy, bookish and due to her unusual hight (for a woman) not very confident, nees some time to adapt at the idea of a not that bad looking man caring for her but you can feel her grow and get more confident and you can feel the steel at the core of her personality that made her pursue such an unusual and difficult career. I really loved to see her spread her wings and become more confident.

A wonderful and gripping book that I couldn't put down and that lets me hope for another book by this author - and soon, please!