“Ambulatory wheelchair user Margaret Kingsley secretly crafts gadgets for the Daughters of Genius Society, a covert team of lady inspectors disguised as harmless bluestocking spinsters. While her fellow inspectors gallivant about London solving crimes, Margaret has been perfectly content assisting from the sidelines--until her expertise is needed to infiltrate the domain of London's most prolific inventor, Alvan T. Harrison.
Charles Noble sacrificed his career as a musician to support his family after his father's stroke. Now he balances ledgers as a secretary by day and tends his disabled father by night, until taking a temporary job as event coordinator for a famous inventor commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his mechanical empire. As strange occurrences surface, Charles's event planning collides with Margaret's case, and the pair must unravel a plot of sabotage against the inventor's legacy while also investigating the sparks of attraction between them.”
Series: A spin-off/sequel to “A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure”; Also considered to be Book #1 in its own series, “Daughters of Genius Society”.
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned & thought over; Prayers & Thanking God; Praising God through hymns and worship; Talks about God, Him being our Sustainer, & giving Him our pain; ‘H’s are capital when referring to God; Mentions of God, His creation, & Him sustaining us; Mentions of prayers, praying, & thanking God; Mentions of hymns & worshiping God; A couple mentions of a meeting being an “occurrence of providential orchestration”; A mention of the rapture;
*Note: Mentions of Cupid’s arrow making someone smitten; A mention of being lucky.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘balderdash’, a ‘by jove’, a ‘drat’, a ‘dumb’, a ‘gah’, a ‘pah’, a ‘shoot’, a ‘stars above’, a ‘what in blazes’, two ‘botheration’s, two forms of ‘dashed/dash it all’, two ‘idiot’s, two ’shut up’s, and nine ‘stupid’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Margaret exclaims “rusted cogs” (x4) and “great gadgets” (x17); Charles often exclaims composers’ names in place of typical phrases (such as “Bach and Beethoven”, “Hummel help me”, “Great Gustav Mahler”, and “what in the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”); Side characters say exclamations based off of their interests (such as a woman who likes plants saying “oh my morels” and “cremini”; Margaret also says ‘what in the ever-loving kitty cats’); Charles and his brother call each other names when bantering (teasing, not mean-spirited); When undercover, Margaret does lie or withhold the truth a few times; Eye rolling; Being attacked, Fighting, Injuries, & Pain (including pain due to chronic pain and old injuries; up to semi-detailed); Mentions of deaths & grief; Mentions of wars, battles, deaths, & grief for fallen friends (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of a father having a stroke & his injuries (including being paralyzed on one side and losing the ability to speak; Charles’ father); Mentions of an accident, serve injuries, pain, & blood/bleeding; Mentions of a woman being committed to an asylum by her husband & others planning to rescue her; Mentions of kidnappings/abductions & hostages; Mentions of thefts, thieves, stealing, & stolen items; Mentions of threats & blackmail; Mentions of gossip & rumors; Mentions of injured animals; A few mentions of arrests & prison; A few mentions of embezzlement; A few mentions of eavesdropping; A couple mentions of lies & lying; A couple mentions of alcohol & drinking; A mention of a drunk pirate; A mention of cigars; A mention of throwing up;
*Note: A panic attack and unable to breath or focus (Charles, up to semi-detailed); Due to an accident in her childhood, Margaret is afflicted with chronic pain and feels like a burden on her parents (often thinking of herself as a burden, useless, and deals with guilt over it all, but tries not to allow her thoughts to wallow in bitterness); *Spoiler* Margaret mentions this feeling to Charles and he tells her to talk to her parents about these feelings as they probably do not feel the same way that she does and are grateful she is alive; She talks to her parents a bit later about this and feeling like she is a burden, but they firmly tell her that she is not a burden and is their most precious treasure *End of Spoilers*; Margaret dislikes being called or treated as an “invalid” or a “cripple”; Margaret recalls hurtful words from a childhood friend’s mother about her injury and hasn’t allowed any of her new friends to find out the extent of her pain since then (as she is concerned that they would find her eventually leave her as well if they knew); Margaret overhears two young boys talking about her and her disability like she can’t hear them, which hurts her; Mentions of musicians/composers (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Franz Listz, Gilbert and Sullivan, Gustav Mahler, Handel, Haydn, Hector Berlioz, Herman Bemberg, Hummel, Humperdinck, Johann Pachelbel, Joseph Bologne, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Paganini, Richard Wagner, Scarlatti, Schubert, Spafford, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Vivaldi, & Wette); Mentions of and references to different authors & fictional characters (Jane Austen, Pepper Basham, Toni Shiloh, Wilkie Collins, Jaime Jo Wright, Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, Sharon Hinck, & Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Elizabeth Gaskell, & Louisa May Alcott); A few mentions of ballets (Swan Lake); A few mentions of panic attacks; A couple mentions of miscarriages and a couple suffering losses; A mention of an artist (Henriëtte Ronner-Knip); A mention of some men believing that the female mind is “incapable” of inventing something.
Sexual Content- A fingers-to-lips touch, a hand/fingers kiss, a forehead kiss, and two barely-above-not-detailed kisses; Staring at lips (barely-above-not-detailed); Touches, Hand holding, Flutters, Nearness, & Smelling (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Blushes, Flirting, & Winks; Noticing & Staring (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of blushes & winks; A few mentions of chaperones; A couple mentions of a married couple kissing; A mention of flirting; Love, falling in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Margaret thinks of herself as a “damaged good” that no man would care to buy (because of her injury); A few mentions of a woman possibly not being able to have biological children due to an injury (*Spoiler* Margaret *End of Spoiler*); A mention of buxom woman.
-Margaret Kingsley, age 30
-Charles Noble, age 30
P.O.V. switches between them
Set in 1895-1896
336 pages
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My personal Rating-
After reading “A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure” twice and greatly enjoying it both times, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next book by Angela Bell. The blurb and cover for this book had me so curious and so excited about meeting Margaret. Which was multiplied by about a hundred when I started reading and found out that Margaret is the daughter of Clara and Theodore from this first book! This may have been obvious to some astute readers if you notice her last name, I was taken by surprise and so happy about it! It was so wonderful to see those two again as they are one of my favorite couples of all-time and it was so special to meet their daughter.
In fact, there were some Easter Eggs from not only that book but other clever hints (my favorite was “The Aristocats” nod!) that made me tickled pink while reading and smile at finding them!
Margaret was a lovely girl who I wish I could give a big (but gentle) hug to; due to her chronic pain, she faces challenges that many wouldn’t think twice about completing. Washing her face, getting dress, and daily tasks can be too much and require assistance from family members. I do not have personal experience in chronic pain, but I have dear family and friends who do, and this book helped me understand a little bit more of some of the things they have to handle on a daily basis. Despite all of this, Margaret is a dear. Her faith was the best—okay, if I’m being fully honest, second best part of this book because I adored seeing Clara and Theodore the most—part of this book because of how she still worships the Lord through her pain and weakness. She could have easily continued to be mad at God for the accident that stole her mobility and health, but she praises Him through it and I just loved that major element to this book. So, maybe seeing my favorite couples again and the faith content are tied overall for my favorite thing about this book. 😉
Margaret’s group of friends reminded me of some friend groups from Jen Turano’s books—particularly “The Bleecker Street Inquiry Agency” series. I did have to make use of the search feature a few times to keep them all straight, which helped a lot in that regard.
Our Male Main Character, Charles, was also a dear. He turned away from his promising music career to take care of his family after his father’s stroke. I personally related to his story a little more after taking care of my mother and loved seeing the parts of him with his family. I understood his anxiety and introvert nature so well and thought him and Margaret were wonderful for each other. He was completely like a smitten schoolboy over Margaret. This is absolutely not a complaint because I love it when the Male Main Character is smitten with his girl. That will always be a favorite trope of mine, especially with the two of them being friends first before being anything more. He instantly fell for her, but it felt so sweet and precious. One thing I would have liked to see more of would have been more faith content and conversations in his parts, but overall, I great appreciated that both main characters had strong faiths in Jesus Christ. That’s not always super common in Christian Fiction books and stands out to me when I read a book with both main characters/both halves of the couple having a faith—Margaret and Charles were great in this regard.
“A Lady’s Handbook to Gadgets and Guile” felt a little more like a fantastical historical book than I would say “A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure” did was due to all of Margaret’s inventions. While that one had a flying machine that looked like a giant owl, this book had more steam-powered and unique products. It’s not purely historical because of these clever ideas and items, so go into this story expecting some interesting inventions.
The verdict? Precious. Heartwarming. I want a group hug with all of these characters. While I don’t think any spin-off book can top the original book, this was a lovely companion story with lovable characters. I look forward to seeing what will happen next in this series! I also plan to listen to the audiobook version of this sequel with my mom as she greatly enjoyed “A Lady’s Guide to Marvels and Misadventure” when we listened to it together last year. I look forward to revisiting this book and all the characters soon!
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
*I received this book for free from the Author for this honest review.
