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A review by oofie
The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 - liked it a lot
This book tells the story of Violet Waterfield, Countess of Cambury and widow. Violet is a brilliant biologist, doing groundbreaking work on inheritance. Except she also lives in the Victorian era, where women aren't allowed to do things like science. To go around this, she's enlisted her best friend, prolific rake Sebastian Malheur, to act the scientist and give lectures on her work.
This works for years until it finally is too much for Sebastian. He know Violet's brilliance and he can't stomach being seen as the genius he knows she is any longer.
This throws their longstanding friendship into tumult as Violet tries to think of a way through this. She won't stop doing her work, nor does Sebastian expect her to. And when Sebastian professes a years-long love for her, Violet has to think of what that means for both of their futures.
I liked this book a lot. Violet isn't particularly outgoing, charismatic, or a people person at all, but she's absolutely brilliant and dedicated in her work. She begins as someone who is told she's selfish, as someone who sees no issue with hiding her work, and morphs into someone who is proud of who she is and what she's accomplished.
Violet's a great character, but f***ing SEBASTIAN. AH. We love an emotionally intelligent, loving, and consensual KING. He is always noticing Violet's reactions and never pushing where he shouldn't. He respects her, and he loves who she is as a person. He's absolutely a feminist as well. He's just a f***ing shining STAR. Consent, kindness, and emotional intelligence are always sexy as hell, and it was such a pleasure to get to know him as a character.
A cool thing about this book is that is the author speaks to the invisible position of women in math/science/academia in it, but she notes that this is historical. Like women were involved, but rarely, if ever, mentioned or credited in their work. I didn't really know about that before this book, so I'm grateful to the author for writing a whole book about it.
If you like Victorian romances, feminism, strong FMCs, and genuinely good love interests, this book is for you.
This book tells the story of Violet Waterfield, Countess of Cambury and widow. Violet is a brilliant biologist, doing groundbreaking work on inheritance. Except she also lives in the Victorian era, where women aren't allowed to do things like science. To go around this, she's enlisted her best friend, prolific rake Sebastian Malheur, to act the scientist and give lectures on her work.
This works for years until it finally is too much for Sebastian. He know Violet's brilliance and he can't stomach being seen as the genius he knows she is any longer.
This throws their longstanding friendship into tumult as Violet tries to think of a way through this. She won't stop doing her work, nor does Sebastian expect her to. And when Sebastian professes a years-long love for her, Violet has to think of what that means for both of their futures.
I liked this book a lot. Violet isn't particularly outgoing, charismatic, or a people person at all, but she's absolutely brilliant and dedicated in her work. She begins as someone who is told she's selfish, as someone who sees no issue with hiding her work, and morphs into someone who is proud of who she is and what she's accomplished.
Violet's a great character, but f***ing SEBASTIAN. AH. We love an emotionally intelligent, loving, and consensual KING. He is always noticing Violet's reactions and never pushing where he shouldn't. He respects her, and he loves who she is as a person. He's absolutely a feminist as well. He's just a f***ing shining STAR. Consent, kindness, and emotional intelligence are always sexy as hell, and it was such a pleasure to get to know him as a character.
A cool thing about this book is that is the author speaks to the invisible position of women in math/science/academia in it, but she notes that this is historical. Like women were involved, but rarely, if ever, mentioned or credited in their work. I didn't really know about that before this book, so I'm grateful to the author for writing a whole book about it.
If you like Victorian romances, feminism, strong FMCs, and genuinely good love interests, this book is for you.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility