Reviews

The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite

katebird's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

opalite_03's review against another edition

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I was bored and the slow burn was too slow. 

isabelbrieler's review against another edition

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2.0

The Lady's Guide was one of my favorite books of the year. It was intelligent and romantic and everything I wanted in a romance. Waspish Widows, unfortunately, did not live up to its predecessor.

This second installment in the series focused very heavily on the politics of the time, but, to be honest, not in an interesting way. The emphasis on divorce felt a little bit like small potatoes given the lack of universal suffrage, and the beekeeping ended up being too technical for the most part to be enjoyable. Part of what I loved about Lady's Guide was that the main characters got together fairly early and that the book was more about them being together, but Waspish Widows fell into ye olde romance format and I feel like it suffered. I'm still going to pick up the next book in the series, but it will be with much lower expectations.

winemakerssister's review

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3.0

3.5 stars

A sweet slow-burn f/f 19th century romance between two 40-somethings. I especially liked their ages and the background info - the beekeeping and the political climate of the times.

revarevareva's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

melbsreads's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted medium-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

4.0

Content warnings: homophobia, cheating (but it's consensual - they're married but they're both queer and it's a marriage of convenience), death of a spouse (in the past), grief, religious bigotry, sexism, domestic violence, emotional abuse

This was charming and I loved how significant bees were to the story. But at times it felt like the bees took a little TOO much priority in the story at the expense of the characters. Don't get me wrong, I liked it and I liked the dynamic between the two protagonists. I just feel like at time it was a *tad* repetitive. 

coyotesoul's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

kdaedwards's review against another edition

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reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

indiekay's review against another edition

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4.0

Didn't love this one AS much as The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics, but still a solid book. Loved that both MCs were women over the age of 45, and loved the bee-keeping in this. More books need to be about bee-keepers, please.