Anna's Reviews > The Love Remedy

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of "The Love Remedy" by Elizabeth Everett in exchange for an honest review.

A female apothecary living in Victorian London, Lucy Peterson is struggling. She sums it up pretty well herself with this speech, "I work eighteen hours in the day, my brother has disappeared on me, and my sister is working herself sick. The Guardians* have been protesting outside my shop and scaring patrons, and I've no money to hire an apprentice because my spurious lover stole my formula." Further added to her woes, she has a super-annoying hypochondriac customer who takes up WAY too much of the word count until the end when he suddenly becomes useful. (Lucy might not consider Gentry a major issue in her life, but there's a good chance readers will.)

*The Guardians are a militant group protesting the fact that Lucy and her sister Juliet concern themselves with the issues of women's health, specifically birth control and abortion. This being the Victorian era, even discussing birth control is verboten, so the Peterson sisters are operating outside social norms.

After said formula was stolen by her spurious lover (the son of a rival apothecary) and then a SECOND formula also disappears, Lucy engages help from a Pinkerton-esque agency to investigate and get the formulas back. When she doesn't get the answer she wants, Lucy immediately tries to break into her former lover's shop, only to get stuck in the window. She's rescued by Jonathan Thorne, an investigator who followed her there specifically because he was sure she was about to do something stupid.

Jonathan and his daughter move into a flat above the apothecary shop and he begins investigating the second missing formula. Things progress as you might expect: they all bond emotionally, Jonathan investigates and discovers both the answer to the disappeared formula and the aforementioned disappeared brother. Things generally turn out for the good.

The Love Remedy is an interesting blend of historical romance, political commentary, and a brush of faith/inspirational content mixed in. Both the story and the author's note afterward make it clear that the discussion of women's health issues are important, both then and now, and the author is using her story as a vehicle to encourage discussion.

Another interesting aspect: although it's not a super spicy book, the heroine briefly explores bondage and blindfolding during an amorous scene In most circumstances, this is a dominance thing, (which if that's your thing, cool) but in this context, it's an attempt by Jonathan to help Lucy stay focused in the moment. It was an interesting way to exploring the emotional aspects of kink, rather than just the naughty bits.

That said, the story is not perfect. It can be a messy at times, and if you are a stickler for historical accuracy, you won't find it here. It's more like the author liked the idea of the Victorian era, but found many of the details inconvenient for telling the sort of story she wanted to tell. The characterization is inconsistent too; at times, Lucy seems much too naive for someone shouldering so much responsibility in her particular context. Jonathan's personality makes more sense, but his backstory is SO full of unlikely details. The answer as to where the second formula went seems hard to believe as well.

All in all, the social aspects of the story are the most compelling, especially in how they explore the way that low-income women are affected by their access to health care and their ability to manage procreation. Setting all this in the Victorian era further demonstrates how much work remains to be done, as it's clear that in some ways, not much has changed in over a century.

Recommended for readers who don't mind a political conversation, and folks who want a mildly spicy book with a dash of faith.