Let’s Hear It For the Brainy Girls: Romance Novels Featuring Aspiring Women
This list of romance novels feature aspiring women was originally published in our romance newsletter, Kissing Books. Sign up for it here to get romance news, reviews, deals, and more!
As I’m sure we all know, March is Women’s History Month. This was established in 1995 to celebrate and recognize the contributions that women have made. Technically, I think this was started specifically for women in America. If we’re being honest, though, it is something that should be celebrated worldwide. Despite the limitations that society has historically tried to put on women, there have always been boundary pushers all over the world and to this I say Huzzah!
Some of these same women invented things that we still use nowadays, such as Hedy Lamarr and signal hopping, Mary Shelley with science fiction, and Ada Lovelace and computers. Women have always had their hands in all the inner workings that make up the world, no matter what history (emphasis on the “his”) may try to tell us.
Which isn’t to say that men haven’t done good things because they have. However, most men, meaning cis-gender white men, have never really had to fight as hard as women (or men of color if we’re being honest) to get recognized for it. Bottom line is this: everyone brings something to the table. But, until we start recognizing and, more importantly, acknowledging everyone’s contributions, the battle cry for recognition is going to be an endless refrain.
With that in mind, my recommendations today are romances where women had jobs in fields that they would have been denied access to and even today still have to fight twice as hard to get recognized for what they do in these fields. Whether they’re an old favorite, a new release, or just new to you, they are all examples of aspiring women.
Level Up by Cathy Yardley
Tessa has aspirations to be a video game engineer and one of the ways she is working towards that is by creating a fandom-based game in three weeks. This isn’t a feat she can necessarily accomplish on her own so she enlists the help of her friend and roommate Adam to get the task done. While working together, these friends begin to realize that they want more, but will their own ambitions stop them from taking the leap?
A Lady’s Formula for Love by Elizabeth Everett
In this recent release, Lady Violet Hughes is founder of a secret society composed of England’s most brilliant female scientists. She is also on a confident mission for the Crown and, as such, has her own bodyguard in the form of one Arthur Kneland. Unbeknownst to anyone, especially Arthur, she is in love with him. Arthur is a mostly reserved man intent on separating business and pleasure, but slowly begins to warm up to Violet. When Violet’s life and work are put in danger, they must work together to find out who the culprit is as well as discover that their feelings for one another can no longer be denied.
Remedial Rocket Science by Susannah Nix
When Melody accepts a dream job in the IT department at an aerospace company, she doesn’t expect that her one-night stand from college would be the CEO’s son. She tries to stay away from him due to this as well as the fact that he’s a bad boy and has a girlfriend. But fate seems to continuously throw them together, making both parties unable to deny their attraction to each other.
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite
Lucy Muchelney is looking for a change of scenery after watching her ex-lover get married and finds it in a letter from Catherine St. Day. The widowed Countess of Moth is looking for someone to help translate a French astronomy text to fulfill her late husband’s work. As the women begin to work together, they slowly begin to fall in love. When sabotage and old wounds threaten their newfound love, they will have to fight to stay together.
