Today is World Laboratory Day, and frankly, that feels just a wee bit too on the nose, don’t you think? World Laboratory Day celebrates the place of great discoveries, inventions, and the much needed and timely medical cures. We could also lump in mad scientists if you’re in the mood for a little Frankenstein. Some of my favorite stand by series recommendations have ties to nerdy folks doing good and bad things in laboratories. From Janet Chapman’s Pine Creek Highlander series with its rocket scientist women to Shannon McKenna’s McClouds & Friends series with scientific brain manipulation, lots of amazing things happen in laboratories in romance.
The last book I read that had its setting in laboratory, well, it started in a lab, at least, was Whiteout by Adriana Anders. This book begins in quite possibly the most unique setting I’ve read in a contemporary romance novel, the frozen tundra of Antarctica. Our heroine, Angel Smith, is a chef in the remote and isolated research station that falls prey to some seriously ruthless bad guys that seem to lack any sort of conscious at all. Angel and reclusive glaciologist Ford Cooper are the only members of the team to escape the bad guys. Still, that escape means traveling across the brutal, barren, winter tundra for safety. If you haven’t read this incredibly suspenseful tale, you might wonder how on earth Anders can possibly have these two find love when they can’t risk uncovering enough to even touch lips without fear of frostbite and death. Well, gentle reader, Anders finds a way! Not only do we get dangerous ice climbing (or clinging) moments set in endless whiteout conditions, we also get some creative shared sleeping bag dry humping that promises more heat than the tundra can handle!
Just the blurb alone is enough to sell this laboratory book idea. “Dr. Louisa North knows time is against her as she tries to create a “miracle” medical treatment for a disease with no known cure until she creates a sample so powerful that the wrong people want to use it as a chemical weapon.” Again, we might be just a little too on the nose given our current world situation, but at least we have a sexy, hard-bodied Sixten Rapp, a former SEAL to help her save the day!
Th novel kicks off Nix’s Chemistry Lessons series. Clearly, laboratories are a featured setting! This series falls into more of a New Adult category as our heroine, Melody Gage is a college student when the story begins. For her, the science part comes easy, it’s the romance she struggles with. A steamy one-night stand works for her needs, but then, as you’d expect, it comes to bite her in the ass when years later, ONS guy ends up being the son of the CEO of her aerospace dream job. Relatively low angst, this romantic comedy, and its entire series, will show you all the goodness lab geeks can have in their lives.
As a self-made epidemiology grad student, our heroine Naledi Smith is probably more comfortable in a laboratory than she is in her own skin. She’s busy doing the hard work of making her own way and certainly doesn’t have time for love. Ledi is very quick to delete the email messages she keeps getting from the throne of Thesolo. Surely it’s nothing more than Nigerian scammers, and Ledi definitely doesn’t have time for that nonsense. Except, it’s not nonsense at all, Prince Thabiso is set to inherit the throne, and he needs his Queen. Thabiso makes his way to the US in search of Naledi only to uncover family secrets. Cole’s inherent humor shines through with her witty banter, and luckily, the secrets don’t cause tremendous angst, I do love it when folks deal with their troubles head-on! I think you’ll enjoy watching Naledi find her way, a way that has her as comfortable in her own skin as she is in a laboratory.
Fatal Strike by Shannon McKenna
Secrets of the Highlander by Janet Chapman
Intermediate Thermodynamics by Susannah Nix
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