Book Review

I Thee Wed by Celeste Bradley

B+

Genre: Historical: European, Romance

Archetype: Beta, STEM

That shrill, high pitched noise you all heard on April 14 was me shrieking with joy as I read the back cover of I Thee Wed and realized that it involves not one but two scientists who fall in love in 1818 over arguments about Lamarckism while a six-year-old Charles Darwin periodically shows up and wreaks havoc. I could not have been more thrilled if someone had given me a pony (though I don’t have any place to put a pony). Happily, the book lived up to the squee. This book was so much fun, I want to eat it. But then it would be gone, so I’m just going to read it again instead.

This is the fourth book in the Wicked Worthington series, and I haven’t read the other ones so I can attest to the fact that you can jump right into the series with this book if you so desire. The hero, Orion Worthington, comes from a chaotic but loving family, the Worthingtons. The Worthingtons are not unlike Julia Quinn’s famous Bridgerton family, if the Bridgertons were crazed but affectionate hippies who ingested a lot of ‘shrooms. The house is run down and everyone is an artist of some kind and the dad only speaks in Shakespearean quotes.

Orion loves his family, but finds them challenging, since he is a scientist who craves order and quiet. He also seems to be on the Autism Spectrum, and he learns the proper reactions to social situations by carefully memorizing rote answers to social questions. Orion has a younger sister, Attie, who also seems to be on the Spectrum. Orion is a great mentor to thirteen-year-old Attie, carefully teaching her how to navigate the world of what they call “Other People.”

Orion gets his big break when preeminent scientist Sir Geoffrey Blayne invites Orion to live and work with him. Upon moving into Blayne’s home, Orion quickly realizes that he is being set up to marry Sir Blayne’s daughter, Judith. Alas, Orion falls instantly and madly in lust with a visiting relative from Italy, Francesca. Francesca loves cooking, baking, and science, and struggles to find a place in the scientific world as a woman. Her Italian family always complains that she’s too much like her deceased English father, so she comes to England hoping to fit in – but in England she’s far too, well…Italian.

I disliked that Francesca was so stereotypical. She lets out exclamations in Italian when she’s angry or excited, she waves her hands around, she’s very excitable, and as I mentioned that she loves to cook. Geek alert – one of the things she’s specifically said to cook is Bolognese sauce with tomatoes, which is probably an anachronism. The earliest known recipe for that sauce does not include tomatoes and is from 1891. There are many variations on the sauce, and tomatoes were used in other things in Italy at the time, so it’s not impossible that Francesca’s family cooked this sauce in the manner described, but it’s improbable. I gave this meal a skeptical side eye.

giphy

However, I have to admit that stereotype or no, Francesca is pretty fucking delightful. She’s warm, she’s funny, she’s smart, and she totally gets Atti (who follows Orion to Blythe’s house because Atti wants to keep the family together by sabotaging any marriages or new jobs). For all her sense of whimsy, Francesca has a rock-solid core of common sense. She’s an excellent scientist who stands up for herself against bullying and mansplaining and Orion cannot fail to notice that she’s also smoking hot.

Suddenly Orion can’t concentrate on his work, and Francesca is all distracted and flustered, and being biologists, they both recognize sex drive when they feel it. So what are two biologists to do but try out some sex, purely for practical reasons? They decide that they won’t have intercourse, so Francesca can stay a technical virgin, and they won’t get caught, so Orion can marry Judith. They will simply have a tidy mutual orgasm and be on their way. What could possibly go wrong?

Look, I think I can just be honest here and admit that there is almost no possibility for this book to be an epic fail where I’m concerned. There’s just too much catnip. Happily, the book is very well written, given the caveat that it’s very much on the whimsical side of the historical genre. I realize that I’ve used the word “whimsy” or some variation of it far too many times in this review, but that’s how the book felt to me – not too twee, not too cutesy, but very whimsical. The hero’s family lives a bohemian life that I found implausible (if they really don’t keep servants, then trust me, they don’t have time to pursue the arts even if they set a minimal standard of housekeeping) and the main characters spend a lot of unchaperoned time together, plus there’s that suspicious sauce recipe. If you are willing to overlook that kind of thing, you’ll have a great time with this story. If not, you’ll bang your head against the wall. It’s not a documentary, that’s for sure.

While I’ll accept a fantastical approach to historical romance, I do care about the science being done right. I very much enjoyed the arguments between Francesca and Orion about Lamarckian theory and about the value of “pure” science versus applied science. I happen to have an evolutionary biologist living right here in my house (my husband) so I ran some of the arguments past him and he thought they sounded plausible for the time period. Certainly the argument over what kind of science is best is timeless, and very funny, although it turns into Orion and Francesca’s first serious fight:

“You do not think studying inherited traits is worthwhile science?”

“Science is discovery. Knowledge. What you are doing is no more than counting bunny toes.”

She sniffed. “Tell me, Mr. Worthington, what study are you engaged in that is so very important?”

“I – rather, Sir Geoffrey is trying to separate alkaloid compounds from plants using solvents.”

She tilted her head. “Why?”

He blinked. The answer was so obvious that at first he didn’t know what to say. “Because no biologist has ever managed to do it!”

“So, say you managed to separate the compounds. You stand in the center of the laboratory with a beaker of nice, pure compounds in your hand.”

Orion frowned. “Yes,” he agreed cautiously.

“What is it for? Is it meant to be a medicine? To be a poison? To shine shoes?”

 

And…it’s on.

This book has a good amount of plot (why is Blythe acting so weird, will Orion marry Judith like he’s supposed to, will Francesca get kicked out for her scientific research, what will happen to the bunnies that Francesca is studying, will Orion get his compound distilled before Atti and Charles accidentally blow up the lab) but mostly it’s an excuse to throw a lot of fun, interesting characters into close proximity and see what happens. Judith is a side character, but she has by far the most interesting character arc, one that really deserved its own book (I love her). Plus, there’s a side plot between two gay characters that is simply screaming for its own book.

Thirteen-year-old Atti has her own interesting character arc. She is opposed to her siblings marrying because she doesn’t like change, but she accepts Francesca because Francesca accepts her (and Atti sees Orion marrying Francesca as the least objectionable possible outcome of Orion’s situation). Francesca often operates as a buffer between Atti and Orion and Other People, because she can relate to both Atti and Orion’s way of seeing the world and to the way Other People engage socially. Francesca is also completely accepting of Atti and Orion. She has an ability to see people for who they are and deal with them on those terms.

The dynamic between Francesca and Orion’s family is charming, too. Francesca is able to simultaneously argue about Ophelia with Orion’s dad, teach Orion’s mom how to make pasta sauce, and give Atti chopping encouragement (when Atti minces basil into mush Francesca praises her for cutting it so evenly and turns it into pesto without missing a beat). With her mix of scientific thinking and her sense of fun and imagination, she is a perfect bridge between the exuberant, chaotic family and their scientific son. Francesca veers close to the manic pixie dream girl trope, but she dodges it by a slim margin on the basis of being a complex character with significant agency who takes action to get what she wants and who ends the story with a glowing science career ahead of her. Having said that, the ending would have been improved had it shown her having a scientific moment of triumph equivalent to the one Orion gets.

This story also includes clothes porn (that ballgown, OMG) food porn (much bread, much pasta, many cakes, now I’m hungry), science porn (counting bunny toes!) and actual sexy times. I’m giving this book a B+ with the caveat that I was highly biased in its favor for catnip reasons. It’s not consistently historically accurate (which frankly I don’t care about that much in this context, but I know many readers do, and with great justification). Some potentially offensive tropes (plot moppet, manic pixie dream girl) I feel were avoided by a narrow margin – the characters were simply too layered and too decisive about their own lives to fit into any one category. I was swept up in a cloud of stunning ballgowns, lovely subplots, and bunny toes, and I’m still smiling over this book a week later. I eagerly await more Worthingtons.

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I Thee Wed by Celeste Bradley

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  1. elaanfaun says:

    I have loved every book in this series and I just checked my library holds and this one is “In Transit”. SQUEEEEE!!!!

  2. Mac Betty says:

    Yep, this pretty much hits ALL my buttons. Even though I promised myself I wouldn’t buy anything from amazon this month, I’m heading there right now to get this…

  3. Crystal says:

    Oh, bloody hell. It’s a historical Romance novel with scientist hero and heroine and the hero and his younger sister may be on the autism spectrum.
    MY ONE-CLICK FINGER IS VERY VERY ITCHY NOW.

  4. Cerulean says:

    As a feminist scientist who loves to cook – this is my catnip!!

  5. LauraL says:

    Oh my, I am willing to suspend my disbelief for a book with a scientist hero and a scientist heroine. Sounds like a fun read and I haven’t read a Celeste Bradley book in too long.

  6. Six-year-old Charles Darwin wreaking havoc? Sounds like a hoot! And it reminds me, is anyone familiar with the Athenian mysteries of Gary Corby? Nico, the twenty-year-old hero/sleuth (one reviewer called him a “gumsandal”), is–in the words of his creator–“the dumbest guy in the room.” His girlfriend, the real-life priestess Diotima, is a genius, and his twelve-year-old kid brother is Socrates. Yes, you read that right. They’re hilarious, just a bit bawdy, and there’s a lovely romance as well. The lengthy “Author’s Notes” at the end of each book are as entertaining as the novels themselves, and you’ll learn quite a bit about ancient Greece in the process. I highly recommend them! I interviewed the author on my blog. Here’s a link, in case you’re interested: http://www.shericobbsouth.com/blog/2014/05/28/an-interview-withgary-corby/

  7. Kareni says:

    This sound like a very fun book! Thanks for the review.

  8. Friday says:

    I’m not allowed to buy any more books this month – so it’s on the list for next month. Thanks Carrie! I adore the Pink Palace of Bitchery, but you guys are murder on my bank account.

  9. SB Sarah says:

    @Friday: You’re not alone – managing the Pink Palace is expensive for us, too!! The sales are particularly tempting every day. But I’m very glad you’re here!

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