Saturdays in Books

So, maybe I'll stick with regency romance? 

There are interesting scenes recalling the early days of the American space program, firmly fictionalized, but wildly exciting. Which is cool and all, but, as historical fiction, also means being trapped in the firmly entrenched gender roles in the national spotlight for that program. 

The problem is me. I am in the wrong genre. I want the gender swapped version of this. I want a woman riding a rocket, hoping she'll make it back home to her man. And that just isn't going to happen in a historical set in the early days of our space program. The closest I could get would be a fictionalized version of female pilots going through the same training and never being taken seriously by NASA. And I'm sorry, but testifying before a congressional subcommittee with no resulting action is absolutely not going to work for me as a form of escapism. I'm looking for the fantastical version, which is not this genre at all.

So that's enough complaining about the book I didn't read, right?

This is the story of a divorcee with two kids figuring out independence while falling for the too hot and too kind to be real neighbor who happens to be a national icon. The friction in their relationship caused by it really just being too soon for her is well done, but not for me. The friction caused in their relationship by her concerns for her children when she inevitably breaks up with someone who is both a hero and a neighbor is well done, but not for me. The friction in their relationship caused by the public spotlight on his life and her very understandable desire for privacy is well done and interesting, but not quite enough.

Yeah. Sorry, book. I appreciate your feminist take on romance, but you just aren't for me.