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scribblinaway's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
jackiehorne's review against another edition
4.0
See full review at: http://romancenovelsforfeminists.blogspot.com/2016/05/gender-coding-for-space-race-barry.html
isitcake's review
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Oh so this is the original Lessons in Chemistry. Same types of characters - they're both obsessed with their work - and it's set in the 1960s when sexism was alive and well and Dr. Charlotte 'Charlie' Eason is treated with far less than the respect she deserves by most men. Luckily she knows how to play the system too and she uses her good looks to her advantage. Parsons is generally a good guy - he evaluates women on their skills equally to men - he just doesn't advocate for them as much as he should. He's more focused on the space missions being a success rather than the politics behind them. This was short and sweet and I loved how it was set in the early space missions. Extremely unique story.
Parsons hires Charlie to "head up" the computing dept, but she's still forced to report to a man, Hal. They both keep their relationship professional at first but then agree to nightly meetings a motel to have sex, with the rule they won't mix work and personal lives. Of course that doesn't work out and they fall for each other. But Charlie feels betrayed after a job to create in-house computers for the first in-space docking of 2 objects when Hal outsources the job to the industry, a company called Maynard. Charlie expresses her concern that they won't create all the necessary backups and failsafes like ASD will but only Parsons listens to her. She breaks it off with Parsons because he knew this was happening and didn't do anything to stop it. Weeks pass as they prepare for the mission. Parsons becomes increasingly thin and haggard with all the guilt he feels. Then the mission happens and the Maynard computers do miscalculate. Charlie manages to catch it and her computing department saves the day. It ends up making Hal resign and she takes over. She also reconciles with Parsons and they admit they love each other, Parsons first by saying a physical relationship isn't enough for him.
There's also a bit of backstory with each of their families. Parsons is from a big Oklahoma farm family so he was ridiculed in college for his "Okie" accent and told maybe he should go into ag engineering. He also had an older brother, George, who died in the war which devastated their family.
Charlie is from a family of geniuses, they're all tenured research scientists who look down on her for going into non-academia. When they visit the ASD campus with Charlie, Parsons gets involved and its great seeing how he cares and defends Charlie against her family.
There's also a bit of backstory with each of their families. Parsons is from a big Oklahoma farm family so he was ridiculed in college for his "Okie" accent and told maybe he should go into ag engineering. He also had an older brother, George, who died in the war which devastated their family.
Charlie is from a family of geniuses, they're all tenured research scientists who look down on her for going into non-academia. When they visit the ASD campus with Charlie, Parsons gets involved and its great seeing how he cares and defends Charlie against her family.
lapon's review
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
violetsto_'s review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
a sharp and swoony space race workplace romance! sweet, sweet idiots (who are otherwise geniuses) to lovers.
“Whenever you’re in the same room, something crackles between you. You’re not looking or touching, but you sort of shift around and talk to each other, even when you aren’t addressing one another at all. It’s like you’re a binary star system, locked in orbit.”
pov: dual third person
characters: charlie and eugene have such chemistry! they have an exciting push-pull and a hot, hot, hot secret relationship outside of work at fictional nasa. charlie is a woman in stem that kicks ass in her field and wants to do something important. we see her struggle with lack of appreciation and professional recognition, except of course from our beloved eugene who sees her worth immediately! and eugene is married to his work (surprise) and will do whatever it takes to get the work done, until other things start to become more important.
He pursed his lips and exhaled. “You’re bright.”
“Noted.”
“No.” He waved her sarcasm off. “Beyond being smart, which you obviously are, you’re… competent. More so than any man working here. Their dismissal of you was outrageous.”
There was no getting control of her breathing now. She could feel her cheeks heating and sweat blooming on her palms. She didn’t say anything, although she repeated his words over in her head several times. Bright, smart, competent.
vibes (plot and setting): great 60s space race vibes. we are at a fancy civilian space lab or whatever, whenever we’re not at a seedy motel. the space race plot is a great premise and keeps the story moving and the characters challenged both intellectually and personally. the side characters are great and i might take a look at other books in the series. also, there are so many like science metaphors, it’s great!
smut: the smut! it truly is hot, hot, hot!!! the sexual tension build-up is soooooo good, too. he worships her, as he should.
In this room all of that energy, all of his observational power, turned squarely on her. His talented hands wanted nothing except to give her pleasure. His smart, crude mouth spilled heated words into her ear. His eyes saw when she hadn’t climaxed, and he didn’t seem to be able to until then. In short, he brought all his intelligence and creativity to bear on her, and it was thrilling.
and this darcy from pride and prejudice (2005) moment? perfection!
He stared at her hand stretched across the desk, her fingers reaching for his. To take her hand was the proper thing to do. She was wearing gloves, so it wouldn’t be his bare palm against her bare palm—but he didn’t want to touch her. It was bad enough that the sight of her made his brain scramble and her unflappable confidence made his heart race. What would touching her do to him? But even he couldn’t deny this act of propriety. He reached out and gave her hand the briefest of squeezes. And still his lungs hitched. “Fine,” he said, shorter than he would have liked. “See my secretary about the arrangements.” She said nothing in farewell, and he didn’t bother to look up from the reports on his desk as she left. But the hand with which he’d clasped hers clenched and unclenched on his thigh as the door clicked shut.
brandypainter's review against another edition
5.0
This book was so very much my thing I can't claim in any way to be objective about it. It is from now on probably going to be my automatic romance comfort read go-to.
I fell for Eugene Parsons in his very first scene in [b:Star Dust|29772667|Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon, #1)|Emma Barry|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1459762835s/29772667.jpg|46255881]. I wanted this next full novel in the series to be about him because from that very first scene I knew he had the potential to be exactly my favorite sort of hero. I have a weakness for intelligent men who come across as arrogant asses on first encounter-because they are actually partly an arrogant ass, but also because they are equally a socially awkward nerd. Parsons lived up to every expectation I had for him in this respect and then some. He may be favorite romance hero ever. I'm going to have to give it a couple more reads to say that definitively, but I'm 98% sure of it already. He is a perfectionist who demands the best from the people working for him and is downright scary (and sometimes mean) when he doesn't get it. Parsons does not process or deal with emotions well. But he is also a man who refers to his mom as adorable, is sure to call his older brother on his birthday first thing in the morning, keeps salt water aquariums of beautifully colored fish he gets adorably dorky about, and does his best to work within a difficult system to include and boost the women who work for the space program.
Pair a hero like this with a heroine who matches (if not exceeds) his intelligence, doesn't take any of his crap, and teases him about his nonsense, and you have my exact favorite type of love story. Charlie is an amazing and perfect match for Parsons. She is super smart, incredibly competent at what she does, and her sly and sassy wit is more than a match for Parsons. He doesn't quite know what do with her most of the time and I looooove it. Charlie is in a position of being second in command when she should be first, but isn't because she is a woman. She went into a field her physics professor parents think is beneath her, and is often dealing with their disappointed expectations and her mother's projected issues about women in science and career sacrifice. Charlie also has a difficult time processing and dealing with her emotions and feelings, which leads to much of the conflict between her and Parsons.
Much of the attraction between Charlie and Parsons is intellectual. They are both incredibly turned on by the other's competence and drive. This leads to them having an incredibly steamy affair, but the main focus of the book is on their intellectual connection. As a result this book has a lot of magnificent banter, flirting at work in ways that no one else knows what they're doing, lots of heated looks, and some delightfully awkward moments. The majority of the book takes place in the labs and offices so there is a lot of technical discussions in it, which I loved. You can't tell me your characters are super smart and competent at what they do, and then not show them actually being that. We know Charlie and Parsons are these things because we see it. (YAY!) Personally I really loved all the politics and scientific details about the space program.
The last final conflict is one that could have been cleared up a lot faster if a rational conversation took place. Ironic considering this deals with two people who consider themselves uber rational. This ordinarily drives me bonkers, but it made sense for who Parsons and Charlie are. As I said, they are both terrible at dealing with their emotions. Parsons wants to ignore the problem and fix it with sex. Charlie is too angry at the sense of betrayal she feels and chooses to just walk away and pretend its unimportant. It made complete sense given her personal insecurities and position. It is frustrating in exactly the way it's supposed to be. My heart hurt for both of them. (I confess it hurt for Parsons a little more who was just so happy and excited and wanted to show her his stupid fish and then all hell broke loose.) The way this is resolved is perfect though. PERFECT. (Fish and everything. Seriously I never thought I'd be turned into a pile of mush over fictional fish. I have no patience for real fish.)
As you can probably tell by the length of this review (I never write romance reviews this long), this book is everything I wanted it to be. (And my expectations were super high.)
I fell for Eugene Parsons in his very first scene in [b:Star Dust|29772667|Star Dust (Fly Me to the Moon, #1)|Emma Barry|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1459762835s/29772667.jpg|46255881]. I wanted this next full novel in the series to be about him because from that very first scene I knew he had the potential to be exactly my favorite sort of hero. I have a weakness for intelligent men who come across as arrogant asses on first encounter-because they are actually partly an arrogant ass, but also because they are equally a socially awkward nerd. Parsons lived up to every expectation I had for him in this respect and then some. He may be favorite romance hero ever. I'm going to have to give it a couple more reads to say that definitively, but I'm 98% sure of it already. He is a perfectionist who demands the best from the people working for him and is downright scary (and sometimes mean) when he doesn't get it. Parsons does not process or deal with emotions well. But he is also a man who refers to his mom as adorable, is sure to call his older brother on his birthday first thing in the morning, keeps salt water aquariums of beautifully colored fish he gets adorably dorky about, and does his best to work within a difficult system to include and boost the women who work for the space program.
Pair a hero like this with a heroine who matches (if not exceeds) his intelligence, doesn't take any of his crap, and teases him about his nonsense, and you have my exact favorite type of love story. Charlie is an amazing and perfect match for Parsons. She is super smart, incredibly competent at what she does, and her sly and sassy wit is more than a match for Parsons. He doesn't quite know what do with her most of the time and I looooove it. Charlie is in a position of being second in command when she should be first, but isn't because she is a woman. She went into a field her physics professor parents think is beneath her, and is often dealing with their disappointed expectations and her mother's projected issues about women in science and career sacrifice. Charlie also has a difficult time processing and dealing with her emotions and feelings, which leads to much of the conflict between her and Parsons.
Much of the attraction between Charlie and Parsons is intellectual. They are both incredibly turned on by the other's competence and drive. This leads to them having an incredibly steamy affair, but the main focus of the book is on their intellectual connection. As a result this book has a lot of magnificent banter, flirting at work in ways that no one else knows what they're doing, lots of heated looks, and some delightfully awkward moments. The majority of the book takes place in the labs and offices so there is a lot of technical discussions in it, which I loved. You can't tell me your characters are super smart and competent at what they do, and then not show them actually being that. We know Charlie and Parsons are these things because we see it. (YAY!) Personally I really loved all the politics and scientific details about the space program.
The last final conflict is one that could have been cleared up a lot faster if a rational conversation took place. Ironic considering this deals with two people who consider themselves uber rational. This ordinarily drives me bonkers, but it made sense for who Parsons and Charlie are. As I said, they are both terrible at dealing with their emotions. Parsons wants to ignore the problem and fix it with sex. Charlie is too angry at the sense of betrayal she feels and chooses to just walk away and pretend its unimportant. It made complete sense given her personal insecurities and position. It is frustrating in exactly the way it's supposed to be. My heart hurt for both of them. (I confess it hurt for Parsons a little more who was just so happy and excited and wanted to show her his stupid fish and then all hell broke loose.) The way this is resolved is perfect though. PERFECT. (Fish and everything. Seriously I never thought I'd be turned into a pile of mush over fictional fish. I have no patience for real fish.)
As you can probably tell by the length of this review (I never write romance reviews this long), this book is everything I wanted it to be. (And my expectations were super high.)
bandherbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Eugene Parsons is the uptight and stern supervisor of the teams working on getting America to Space and the moon. We met him in the first book but in Earth Bound we finally get to see someone get under his skin.
Charlie Eason is stunningly beautiful AND brilliant, the best engineer Parsons has ever seen. But she also could be a huge distraction, but Parsons is determined to remain nothing but professional. Charlie is also not looking for any distractions or any hint of controversy. It is hard enough for her to be a woman in this field, let alone to let an office scandal rock her career.
But, what if they simply explored their attraction OUTSIDE of work in hotel room, once a week? Just a simple sex pact, no feelings involved.
And so it goes for many months before Parsons unrecognized feelings begin to seep into his work, and cause him to make decisions to save Charlie's job without thinking of the consequences.
Utterly delicious, especially if you enjoy stories with buttoned up, starchy love interests who finally discover they have a heart. Loved it!
Charlie Eason is stunningly beautiful AND brilliant, the best engineer Parsons has ever seen. But she also could be a huge distraction, but Parsons is determined to remain nothing but professional. Charlie is also not looking for any distractions or any hint of controversy. It is hard enough for her to be a woman in this field, let alone to let an office scandal rock her career.
But, what if they simply explored their attraction OUTSIDE of work in hotel room, once a week? Just a simple sex pact, no feelings involved.
And so it goes for many months before Parsons unrecognized feelings begin to seep into his work, and cause him to make decisions to save Charlie's job without thinking of the consequences.
Utterly delicious, especially if you enjoy stories with buttoned up, starchy love interests who finally discover they have a heart. Loved it!
maggiemaggio's review against another edition
4.0
Probably my favorite of the Fly Me to the Moon series. This was the first book in a while where I wanted to stay up later than I should reading. Both of these characters were so well rounded and I loved the chance to get a different side of ASD besides the astronauts. Such an interesting romance and such an interesting story on gender, too.
solaana's review
The name Gene has big “Sheldon the Wonderschlong” energy but you got to give it to the authors that they kept it accurate for the times
wilybooklover's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
3.0
I was quite enjoying this until it got to the third-act breakup. I hate any form of the third-act breakup, but when it lasts for months (inside the book) and for over 20% of the actual book, it really sours my enjoyment of the book. Especially when they'd only just barely got somewhere emotionally. I just hate the angst. I like seeing the characters happy together and that didn't happen until the very last chapter. Plus, the big time jumps didn't really work for me. There were also a couple of historical inaccuracies that bothered me, particularly Parsons referring to himself as a Vulcan in 1961, several years before Star Trek was even created, let alone aired.
On the positive side though, these two characters were so incredibly competent at their jobs, which I just adore. I loved Charlie's character — she's so driven and confident and refuses to hide how smart she is. I also particularly liked that Parsons never interfered with her job or treated her like shit just because he was attracted to her (an unfortunately common occurrence in office romances). He's supportive of Charlie and her work but never overprotective — that scene where he stands up for her to her parents is amazing. The 1960s space race setting was fascinating and very well-drawn. It's such an underused era for romance and I don't know why!
On the positive side though, these two characters were so incredibly competent at their jobs, which I just adore. I loved Charlie's character — she's so driven and confident and refuses to hide how smart she is. I also particularly liked that Parsons never interfered with her job or treated her like shit just because he was attracted to her (an unfortunately common occurrence in office romances). He's supportive of Charlie and her work but never overprotective — that scene where he stands up for her to her parents is amazing. The 1960s space race setting was fascinating and very well-drawn. It's such an underused era for romance and I don't know why!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Sexual content, and Misogyny
Moderate: Death, Grief, and War
Minor: Sexual harassment and Racism