Thank you author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

Ok I love historical romance! I did feel like the story was kind of slow at points but overall I had a good time. Firstly! The banter is just so fun! The bickering and blushing is just my favorite!

Oh my gosh at one point the fmc’s best friend said she was looking at the mmc in a lobsterish way and I audibly laughed

Also can more people talk about how finding out your gender identity or sexuality affects your art?! Like wow!

I love that the author said she wrote this story to see her relationship was represented, I mean awe! Then, how her husband is a historian so there’s a bit in the back about how they collaborated and where. I love them!

This worthy sequel to last year’s “Artfully Yours” moves the action to Cornwall and follows the romantic fortunes of Kit Griffith, known previously as Kate Holroyd, and Muriel Pendrake—the intrepid, intelligent, world-traveling botanist who made her first appearance in “The Runaway Duchess.”

Muriel has traveled to St. Ives, Cornwall, to collect seaweed—not because she enjoys studying seaweed, beautiful as some of it is, but because the stodgy male chauvinist in charge of a forthcoming talk that Muriel has agreed to present in New York has declared that seaweed and British women are a natural fit. She travels in the company of her old friend James, a doctor with a secret, and they are returning to their hotel when a near-accident leads to Muriel’s dramatic encounter with a semi-conscious Kit. It’s 1888, and most of the bicycles in town are the old-fashioned penny farthings, with a huge front wheel and a tiny back one. One thing leads to another, and soon Muriel—who has never mounted a bicycle in her life, not even the kind that Kit rides, which we would now consider standard—agrees to accompany this devastatingly handsome young rake (or so she thinks) on a cycling trip around the Cornwellian coast.

As usual in Lowell’s novels, the characters draw the reader in with their complex inner demons, and the pairing of a formerly heterosexual (if nonconformist) woman with a trans man gives the romance an interesting twist. If anything, I would have liked to see the author push the relationship farther, making Kit less dominant and Muriel more the supremely self-confident scientist of the earlier book. But it’s the late nineteenth century, after all, and perhaps that would have been a bridge too far.

I will be interviewing this author for the New Books Network (link below) around the time of the book’s release in June 2024.

Kit is starting over at the seaside and with his new life he's lost his will to paint. Along comes Muriel, a Victorian woman who doesn't fit the mold and is on the hunt for Kit- the only painter she believes can capture her work as a botanist. When Muriel makes Kit an offer he can't refuse they set out to train Muriel as a cyclist, and the prize is Kit's painting skills. As they spend more time together Muriel and Kit realize they are headed into uncharted territory... Are they willing to risk it all for love?

This Victorian bicycling STEAM romance features a trans artist and a botanist. Muriel is seeking to commission an artist who can capture the intricacies of seaweed for illustrations for an upcoming lecture, and she’s determined that the artist that she wants is someone who produced a beautiful botanical rendition of a flower. Convinced the artist must be someone who resides in Cornwell, a seaside coastal town that is an artist haven of sorts, Muriel finds her artist when she is literally nearly run over by Kit on his bicycle. Since breaking from the group of women artists he was once associated with, Kit doesn’t do those sorts of intricate still-life paintings anymore, but agrees to produce the requested artwork–in return for Muriel partnering with him on a bicycle touring challenge put up by a rival cycling team who thinks that 1. their classic penny-farthings are better than Kit’s new fangled sleek safety bicycle, and 2. that women can’t ride as well as men.

This very clever historical road trip novel features forced proximity, lots of wonderful character, development, teasing banter, and a wholly believable setting for the sensitively-handled existence of trans people in a time period we may not have previously given much thought to. Muriel, with her queer best friend, never understood that her own sexuality expanded being attracted to anyone other than what society expected (men), and that discovery and her awakening that is one of the loveliest and most authentic parts of this novel.

I received a free advance reader’s review copy of #AShoreThing via #NetGalley courtesy of Berkley.

A Shore Thing is a wonderful LGBTQIA+ novel! Set in England by the sea a botanist and a cyclist fall in love and break some barriers!

This was such a charming read! So fun to read a lovely queer romance, and the characters and their relationships with identity were so genuine.

I loved that this historical romance had such a strong sense of time and place - the last couple queer historicals I've read have been very casual and hand-wave-y about a lot of setting details so this was a great change of pace in that sense. In terms of story pace, not so much. The book felt a little all over the place and the plot meandered and dragged through the middle section in particular. Kit and Muriel were great individual characters though, and they had good chemistry together. Always here for more stories of queer love and life, no matter the time period!

I was hooked from the cover and thought it worked well as a love story. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how they worked in the Victorian time-period. I thought the romance element had everything that I was looking for and thought it was beautifully done and realistic. Joanna Lowell has a great writing style and I was hooked from the first page.

gosh this book was truly an experience to say the least. i have always wanted to find historical romance books that include characters that are like me, but it's so far and in between, as most people won't write such a story because of the complexities of trans and queer identities in history. this book not only gave me that, but handled it so beautifully.

lowell's writing truly captivated me very early on and drew me into this characters and their growing relationship. and to find out that she wrote it with her transmasc partner only made it that much better. i adored the way it handled everyone's identities and how those things interconnect, how transmasculine individuals still do have connections to that femininity they once lived as and how that interconnects itself. it truly was so well written, kit was so well written and i adored him, his annoying teasing charm to the complexities of him as a trans man in a world that just wasn't necessarily made for someone like him. i adored muriel and her growth to letting someone in again, and it showing how she learned about kit and his life. just a really beautiful book, truly. my heart swells.

thank you to netgalley and the publishers for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

A queer Victorian romance centered around a trans former artist and a botanist who end up on a cycling adventure together.

I did struggle a bit with getting into the plot and staying there. But the story overall was very cute!

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley and NetGalley for the eARC!

I was really excited to read a historical romance with a trans main character, and I really enjoyed this! It was a bit of a slow start for me (there was a ton of talk about bicycling, which was relevant to the plot but didn't grab my attention). Muriel Pendrake, unconventional female botanist and widow, goes to St. Ives in Cornwall to commission a painting from artist Kit Griffith. Specifically, she wants a painting of British seaweed that she can use to illustrate a talk she'll be giving in a few months in New York City. She runs into Kit (literally, it's a pretty adorable meet-cute) who, unfortunately, has been dealing with a major creative block and can't paint her seaweed for her. Kit plays the rake, so Muriel is a bit wary of the attraction they share, but she agrees to go with him on a very long bicycle tour with a local cycling club in order to win a bet. Along the way, they explore their attraction, and Muriel learns that Kit was assigned female at birth but left the London art scene for small-town Cornwall so that he could start over as the person he has always known himself to be. Their romance was very sweet and I enjoyed their banter quite a bit. I also loved the queer and trans representation here, which is especially meaningful in reading the author's note - there are some lovely parallels between Muriel's relationship with Kit and Lowell's relationship with her own partner. I could have done with a little less bicycle talk, but overall this was a fun historical romance that addresses topics related to gender and sexuality in a thoughtful and sensitive way.

An unusual Victorian romance featuring an artist who can't paint and a botanist determined to prove herself. Trans man Kit has broken with the society of women artists who were also his best friends, and he hasn't painted anything since. Muriel is preparing to give a talk to a scientific society about seaweed, and wants to commission Kit to illustrate her research. Somehow this leads to the two competing against a cycling society in a high-stakes bicycle race around Cornwall. The plot is a little messy but enjoyable, with a satisfying ending for everyone involved.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

A Shore Thing is the perfect book for someone looking for queer Victorian fun! Our main characters are loveable and enticing with both their secrets and complexities held dear only for the other to slowly unravel the truth. I loved the way that conflict was handled as it never blew up to angering degrees that I couldn't personally justify while still feel dramatic and fitting the narrative. It's clear early on that despite the newness of their connection, these characters understand each other and have all the right pieces to make a relationship work, it's just a matter of putting them together just right. All around a fun read and I have a few people in mind that I would highly recommend this to!

Joanna Lowell's captivating novel, "A Shore Thing," paints a vibrant portrait of love, art, and the complexities of identity. Set in the idyllic Cornish landscape, the story follows former painter Kit Griffith as he navigates a new path in life. Kit's carefree existence is disrupted by the arrival of Muriel Pendrake, a determined botanist in need of illustrations for her work. Intrigued by her offer, Kit agrees to help, unaware of the profound impact she will have on his life. As Kit and Muriel embark on cycling expeditions together, their shared experiences kindle a deep connection. However, their blossoming romance faces obstacles from both the past and societal norms. Kit's former artistic identity weighs on his mind, while Muriel's aspirations draw her toward New York. Lowell's writing deftly captures the beauty of Cornwall and the complexities of human relationships. Through Kit and Muriel, she explores themes of self-discovery, the pursuit of dreams, and the transformative power of love. As summer draws to a close, Kit and Muriel are faced with a choice: embrace the unknown or retreat to the safety of their past lives. Their decision will shape their destinies and leave a lasting impression on readers. "A Shore Thing" is a heartfelt and thought-provoking novel that celebrates the power of love, the pursuit of passions, and the resilience of the human spirit. Joanna Lowell's evocative prose transports readers to a world where the lines between art, adventure, and romance blur, leaving them with a profound sense of possibility.

Really well done. I like the historical notes at the beginning and end to help readers place this as historically possible fiction rather than escapist fantasy. The love story is sweet and delightful, and the plot doesn't hinge on either the characters' gender identities or a fabricated misunderstanding.

I was really excited for this one -- I will always be down for a queer historical romance, that's just top tier to me. However, I think Joanna's writing style just wasn't for me. It felt really clunky and after starting and stopping a few times, I just decided to not finish it.