A Perfect Equation by Elizabeth Everett

I grew up watching screwball comedies from 1930s Hollywood, and it’s one of my favorite movie genres — and one that’s hard to replicate in writing, where you can’t rely on actor’s faces and visual comedy to earn the laughs. But there are a few romance writers out there who, Lord bless them, are giving it a shot and… actually succeeding beautifully? One of them is Elizabeth Everett, whom I only encountered recently, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed her sparkling dialogue and swoony romance. Best read (or listened to) at top speed, for full His Girl Friday levels of screwball delivery.

Sparks fly and variables shift when middle class mathematician Letty Fenley and aristocratic semi-governmental agent Lord Greycliff are entrusted with the leadership and protection of the secretive Athena’s Retreat, a lady’s club where (wonderfully eccentric) women gather to conduct scientific research. Letty and Grey have been at each other’s throats for years — the result of a disastrous misunderstanding between the passionate young woman and the cold, inflexible lord. But working together has them questioning their previous conceptions of each other… and increasingly unable to resist their attraction. Just as animosity is morphing into something more tender, however, Athena’s Retreat is threatened by political maneuvers that put their responsibilities and ambitions at odds. Can Letty and Grey resolve their differences and find a solution that protects everyone?

A Perfect Equation was another wild romp of comedy and romance, building upon the attributes of the first novel and rectifying some of its omissions. As the daughter of a wealthy merchant (and as a disgraced, “fallen” woman) Letty’s struggle to find her place in society felt like it had higher stakes, and I appreciated that Everett took the time in this entry to acknowledge the female scientists who were working before and at the time this series takes place (in the mid-1840s) and to point out why these women were the exceptions rather than the rule for how academically-minded women lived in a patriarchal world. The writing can be a bit on-the-nose, but it’s also energetic and full of fast-moving comedy and drama, so it’s only a minor complaint.

Letty and Grey were compelling and swoony, divided as they are by society, priorities, and misunderstandings that, thankfully, resolve quickly. I loved watching them learn to fight with instead of against each other, and the shift from antagonism to affectionate teasing was beautifully done. And while I’m typically not one for grand gestures, Grey’s plan to win Letty back after he, unsurprisingly, made a mess of things was perfect (and perfectly, hilariously awkward). It proved that he finally understood what he’d lost by denying himself love for so long… and that he was finally ready to embrace all the messy wonder of love.

All in all, this book is a delightful read — I think I zoomed through it in about 24 hours (it would have been far less, if life hadn’t interfered!), and I’m very much hooked. I can’t wait for more adventures in love and science at Athena’s Retreat.

My thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

—b