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accidentalspaceexplorer's review
4.75
I really enjoyed this - excellent historical romance, I'll definitely be picking up the other books in the series!
emreadswhatshewants's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, the story itself is so unique, intelligent, and very hot. I wasn't sure if I would love the concept of events being told in a non chronological order (or was it just in the beginning?) but I actually loved it. I was enraged on behalf of all women back then and today (yes I know its fiction which means the only difference is the women probably didnt get a hea irl, which makes it suck worse) the mcs were fleshed out well and compelling, surprisingly easy to root for. And the romance was
heydebigale's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
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
5.0
I loved this book!!
This book takes place in Houston, TX during the space race of the 1960s. Charlie is an accomplished physicist and Eugene is her manager & is also an engineer.
This book takes place in Houston, TX during the space race of the 1960s. Charlie is an accomplished physicist and Eugene is her manager & is also an engineer.
sandlynn's review against another edition
4.0
Earth Bound is the second book in the Fly Me To The Moon series by Emma Barry & Genevieve Turner. It was published in 2016.
I read the first book in this series, Star Dust, last year and enjoyed it. It was about an astronaut in the 1960s, when the space program was just beginning, falling in love with a widow while being sent into orbit. This second book is more of an office romance. Both the hero and heroine work for the American Space Department (ASD), this series’ version of NASA. The heroine, Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Eason is a bit of a math prodigy who fell in love with computers. She comes from a family of academics from New Jersey who, her mother in particular, can’t understand Charlie’s decision to enter the practitioner world and work for ASD rather than enter academia as well as meet a fellow academic to marry. Eugene Parsons is head of Engineering at ASD. From a farming/ranch family in Oklahoma, he rarely travels home from Houston as his relationship with his father is shaky. Parsons is a no-nonsense boss, but one who people respect for his focus on the job and not the politics.
One of the people who interviews Charlie for her job is Parsons. He didn’t know beforehand that she was a woman and is thrown by her beauty. However, he immediately recognizes her intelligence and thinks that she could easily lead the computer division at ASD rather than be the deputy director, the job for which she is interviewing. That being said, word from above is that ASD needs to be more open to women and he recommends her for the position.
Once Charlie is on board, she unsurprisingly figures out that ASD is a man’s world as much as academia was. Her boss, Hal — the head of computing — is a political animal, who is interested in his own aggrandizement and having his ego stroked. It’s through Charlie that the women computers in Houston are able to keep their jobs, ultimately being important to the mission of orbiting earth and ultimately coming up with a way of going to the moon, landing, and returning. Parsons, on the other hand, is an enigma. He clearly is all about the mission and is very competent and respected. What frustrates Charlie is that he is very distant with her while she finds him incredibly attractive.
Soon Charlie is able to break through Parsons’ shield and they begin an affair that is “all about the sex” and not about romance or dating, especially since they want to keep their relationship a secret. But, of course, their feelings for each other intensify as they work together to save a mission to the moon that is going sideways and may be taken out of their hands.
My enjoyment of Earth Bound is about the same as it was for Star Dust; however, I think I liked this a little bit more. As you can tell, this was an office romance and my complaint about the first book of the series was that it didn’t spend enough time on the hero’s job since his commitment to the mission was so important. Earth Bound showcases both the hero and heroine’s commitment as ASD’s employees. I love how they admire each other’s intelligence and how the hero respects the heroine so much. Although we get some back story on both the characters, we only meet the heroine’s parents, as I recall. I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of Parson’s family rather than only learning about them via his own stories about the past — show don’t tell! In fact, I think that might be my only “complaint”. Some people might find this story a little dry since Charlie and Parsons’ relationship starts out so cut and dried, itself, as purely sexual. The romance creeps up slowly through the travails of getting a capsule to meet and lock up with another spaceship in advance of the moon landing. In addition, time is spent focusing on some of the developments that mirror NASA’s own history, such as the introduction of a women’s astronaut corps that ended up being more show then an actual attempt to include women at that time. In fact, one of the women who was a part of NASA’s original corps and featured in this story as a fictional character is accompanying Jeff Bezos (Mr. Amazon) on his first rocket to space this July 2021. And, of course, there is a nod to the women computers who were so crucial to NASA’s missions and so well told in Hidden Figures. I enjoyed all these little Easter eggs included in Earth Bound that were an actual part of the history of the real space race and look forward to more from this series. It’d give this book a B+/A-, leaning more towards the A-.
I read the first book in this series, Star Dust, last year and enjoyed it. It was about an astronaut in the 1960s, when the space program was just beginning, falling in love with a widow while being sent into orbit. This second book is more of an office romance. Both the hero and heroine work for the American Space Department (ASD), this series’ version of NASA. The heroine, Dr. Charlotte “Charlie” Eason is a bit of a math prodigy who fell in love with computers. She comes from a family of academics from New Jersey who, her mother in particular, can’t understand Charlie’s decision to enter the practitioner world and work for ASD rather than enter academia as well as meet a fellow academic to marry. Eugene Parsons is head of Engineering at ASD. From a farming/ranch family in Oklahoma, he rarely travels home from Houston as his relationship with his father is shaky. Parsons is a no-nonsense boss, but one who people respect for his focus on the job and not the politics.
One of the people who interviews Charlie for her job is Parsons. He didn’t know beforehand that she was a woman and is thrown by her beauty. However, he immediately recognizes her intelligence and thinks that she could easily lead the computer division at ASD rather than be the deputy director, the job for which she is interviewing. That being said, word from above is that ASD needs to be more open to women and he recommends her for the position.
Once Charlie is on board, she unsurprisingly figures out that ASD is a man’s world as much as academia was. Her boss, Hal — the head of computing — is a political animal, who is interested in his own aggrandizement and having his ego stroked. It’s through Charlie that the women computers in Houston are able to keep their jobs, ultimately being important to the mission of orbiting earth and ultimately coming up with a way of going to the moon, landing, and returning. Parsons, on the other hand, is an enigma. He clearly is all about the mission and is very competent and respected. What frustrates Charlie is that he is very distant with her while she finds him incredibly attractive.
Soon Charlie is able to break through Parsons’ shield and they begin an affair that is “all about the sex” and not about romance or dating, especially since they want to keep their relationship a secret. But, of course, their feelings for each other intensify as they work together to save a mission to the moon that is going sideways and may be taken out of their hands.
My enjoyment of Earth Bound is about the same as it was for Star Dust; however, I think I liked this a little bit more. As you can tell, this was an office romance and my complaint about the first book of the series was that it didn’t spend enough time on the hero’s job since his commitment to the mission was so important. Earth Bound showcases both the hero and heroine’s commitment as ASD’s employees. I love how they admire each other’s intelligence and how the hero respects the heroine so much. Although we get some back story on both the characters, we only meet the heroine’s parents, as I recall. I would’ve enjoyed seeing more of Parson’s family rather than only learning about them via his own stories about the past — show don’t tell! In fact, I think that might be my only “complaint”. Some people might find this story a little dry since Charlie and Parsons’ relationship starts out so cut and dried, itself, as purely sexual. The romance creeps up slowly through the travails of getting a capsule to meet and lock up with another spaceship in advance of the moon landing. In addition, time is spent focusing on some of the developments that mirror NASA’s own history, such as the introduction of a women’s astronaut corps that ended up being more show then an actual attempt to include women at that time. In fact, one of the women who was a part of NASA’s original corps and featured in this story as a fictional character is accompanying Jeff Bezos (Mr. Amazon) on his first rocket to space this July 2021. And, of course, there is a nod to the women computers who were so crucial to NASA’s missions and so well told in Hidden Figures. I enjoyed all these little Easter eggs included in Earth Bound that were an actual part of the history of the real space race and look forward to more from this series. It’d give this book a B+/A-, leaning more towards the A-.
sbtemba's review
5.0
Really loved this book. Fun setting, super smart engineer main character, super romantic with some good angst. Definitely a hidden gem. Something to read if your mourned the lack of an HEA in Lessons in Chemistry and you want to get one in a similar story.
secretromancereader's review
emotional
informative
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
5.0
cdb393's review
4.0
More like 3 1/2 stars. The setting of the space race and having a female coder in the '60s as a heroine was fresh and enjoyable. I loved Charlie and Parsons separately. Something about Charlie and Parsons together didn't quite work for me. I never felt their connection as a couple like I did with the couples in the previous two books in this series. That said, the writing was good and I look forward to the next one in the series.
sarm's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
informative
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
5.0
csharp7's review
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0