This whole book is a story about rebellious women before their time, outsiders and outcasts chafing against a patriarchal system. Waite crafts a friendship first, a relationship second, and a romance third, ensuring we know and love the women before they can do the same for one another. You might think such a slow-burn romance would be frustrating, but I never once begrudged them their time getting to know one another. I’m usually not a fan of the epistolary format, but their exchange of letters is one of my favorite parts of the narrative, especially the ways in which Agatha so carefully considers her every word, slowly opening up through their connection. It helps that the social element, involving women’s suffrage, divorce laws, and the clash between press freedom and religious libel had me as intellectually stimulated as it did emotionally invested.Įven though Agatha and Penelope don’t confess to their mutual attraction until the 70% mark, their friendship – with its undercurrent of romantic tension – more than carries the novel. Admittedly, I cracked the spine on The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows with more than a little trepidation, fearful that there was no way I would enjoy beekeeping as much as astronomy, but the truth is that Penelope’s passion had me absolutely fascinated. Like The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics before it, this second Feminine Pursuits novel is the very definition of a slow-burn romance, full of friendship and flirting, questioning and queerness, and as much social tension as sexual. I adored Agatha and Penelope so much, I would have resented Olivia Waite for forcing us to bid them adieu if I didn’t love her so much for introducing us in the first place.

The worst thing about a slow-burn romance is not the frustrated longing for that first kiss, but the melancholy certainty that such a lovely, delightful, heartwarming story must come to an end. Title: The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows

The Christmas Chevalier by Meg Mardell