The Love Remedy by Elizabeth Everett is a fascinating historical romance that is sure to entertain romance readers with its’ powerful & intelligent woman at the helm & an intriguing hero to match. I would also say if you appreciate more modern values but wanted to try a historical romance, this is a great suggestion for you.

This is book #1 in The Damsels of Discovery & I am excited to continue reading more from this author.

The Love Remedy is great for fans of…
❤️ Historicam Romance
❤️ Women in STEM
❤️ Single Dad
❤️ Forcef Proximity
❤️ Victorian Apothecary Meets Private Investigator

I always love reading historical romance with characters that are ahead of the time. I appreciated the showcasing of women & their knowledge of science, biology, apothecary & so much more. Even though it is a historical romance, the emphasis on women’s rights & health felt so relevant & important to today.

If you are interested in intriguing apothecary along with romance & curious mystery, The Love Remedy is a great recommendation!

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

A wonderful start to a new series. This has one of the steamiest h*mping scene's I've read in a very long time! The last third of the book dragged for me a bit and I was disappointed that there was no epilogue

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.

4.5 stars — I loved The Love Remedy! This historical romance is well written, well researched, and deals sensitively with issues of women’s health and women’s rights that are as relevant today as they were in the 19th century. The main characters and their emotional journeys are both believable and relatable, and Ms. Everett has done an excellent job in making them sympathetic to modern readers while still maintaining historical sensibilities.

The plot avoids many of the familiar tropes of historical romances set in the 19th century. To begin with, both main characters are working-class, in their lifestyle if not (in Thorne’s case) by birth. There are no balls, house parties, or soirees; no fake engagement or forced marriage; no huge misunderstanding that could easily be solved with a simple, adult conversation. There is, however, a problem that Lucy needs to have solved if she is to keep her family from sinking into poverty, and Thorne is the inquiry agent she hires to solve it. Lucy and Thorne feel like real people, dealing with real, everyday struggles, loving their families, working out their different views of the world, and doing their best to survive. Their romance isn’t the stuff of high drama, but it’s highly satisfying nonetheless.

And it is set in a London that is diverse and alive, with characters of various ethnicities, races, classes, and gender identities… again, well-researched and written believably. If your mental picture of 19th-century England is based on older traditional historical romances (particularly when it comes to racial diversity), this novel’s milieu may come as a surprise to you—but trust me, it’s more accurate.

Speaking of diversity, I particularly appreciated Ms. Everett’s nuanced and sympathetic approach to her characters’ faith in God. This isn’t a Christian romance in the subgenre sense of the term; it’s not primarily intended for a Christian audience, and it doesn’t preach or hold up Christianity as the best or only true way to think, believe, and live. Instead, The Love Remedy accurately reflects the fact that people believe in God in a variety of ways and to varying degrees, from not at all to deeply. Some people are sustained by their faith; some find it constraining. Although 19th-century London was far more diverse culturally and spiritually than many historical romances portray it, at the time and place when The Love Remedy occurs, the majority of religious believers in London were probably following some form of Christianity. Ms. Everett’s characters are a completely believable mix in this regard; they hold differing interpretations of Christianity, and their participation in it ranges from disinterested to devout. Thorne, a recovering alcoholic, is also a practicing Methodist; he finds Methodism’s strict rules helpful in staying sober. Lucy is not a regular church-goer, but she does believe in God and strives to see the good in everyone, and this belief is reflected in her life and her business practices.

A final note: Ms. Everett explores several women’s issues in the course of the book, from the right to study and practice science and medicine, to contraception, abortion, and the right to control one’s own body. Lucy’s views on “restoring menses” and the question of when human life begins may trouble those in the pro-life/anti-abortion camp as much as they resonate with those in the pro-choice camp. Her beliefs in these matters are, however, historically accurate.

I enjoyed The Love Remedy so much that I immediately bought the first book in her earlier, related trilogy, The Secret Scientists of London. Some of the characters from that series appear in The Love Remedy, and I can’t wait to read A Lady’s Formula for Love. I’m also looking forward to the next book in the Damsels of Discovery series.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this advanced copy through the #BerkleyBesties program. All thoughts are my own.

Though I have quite a backlist of Regency novels on my shelf, I don't often reach to pick them up before any new contemporaries that come my way. But even though I've been disappointed before by apothecary novels, I'm still always drawn in by the idea of women scientists and the antics they get themselves into.

This was okay, I didn't feel too strongly about it either way. I struggled to find the chemistry between Lucy and Thorne and wished there was a little bit intimacy between the two other than their draw to each other. It felt like the actual mystery of the novel took a bit of a backseat and I wished there was more focus on that. I also wish there was more of a focus on the general doings of an apothecary rather than the discussions of anatomy (I know that Sadie was in school for science but I felt like there was too much focus on animals). This cover is beautiful though and like most, I did enjoy Thorn's daughter Sadie.

I'm curious to see what other books are planned in this series, but I'm not going to make any promises.

3.5, rounded up. I wish the mystery of Lucy’s missing croup formula hadn’t fizzled out, but I suppose the solution was (somewhat) obvious in the end. I do love the amount of agency Lucy has in running the apothecary; Elizabeth Everett balances this well within the historical context. I also think Lucy and Thorne make a solid couple and support each other well.

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.