A Lady’s Handbook to Gadgets and Guile - Angela Bell - ★★★★.¼

AUTHOR: Angela Bell

NARRATOR: Beverley A. Crick

SERIES: Daughters of Genius Society, #2

GENRE: Historical Fantasy

PUBLICATION DATE: July 7, 2026

RATING: 4.25 stars.

In a Nutshell: A historical fantasy with a lot of cozy tweeness and also some romance and mystery. Wonderful whimsical characters, good touch of humour, great vocabulary. Excellent representation of chronic pain. Strong Christian elements. Some clever automations and automatons. A bit light on the mystery but gripping nonetheless. Second of the series, but works as a standalone. If you liked the first book, you will enjoy this one as well. Definitely recommended.

Plot Preview:

1895. England. Margaret Kingsley is restricted to her wheelchair thanks to her chronic pain. She still uses her time and expertise to work with the ‘Daughters of Genius Society’ (D.O.G.S.), a covert team of lady inspectors. While most of the inspectors work on the field, Margaret is happy to contribute from behind the curtain, until one case needs her to be more actively involved.

After his father’s stroke, Charles Noble sacrificed his musical career to stay close to his family. Now working in a boring desk job, he takes on a temporary assignment organising a 50th anniversary bash for a mechanical empire. Little does Charles know that someone is out to investigate the very organisation he is helping to celebrate.

The story comes to us in the third-person perspectives of Margaret and Charles.

When I read the author’s debut novel, ‘A Lady's Guide to Marvels and Misadventure’ two years ago, I had no idea it was being planned as a series. But in retrospect, making a series of this concept is a brilliant idea. It has all the right elements that can be reused in newer stories while still offering plenty of novelty.

I had enjoyed most of Book One. I enjoyed almost all of Book Two.

Bookish Yays:

👩‍🦽 Margaret Kingsley. A savvy tinkerer, a loyal daughter, a dedicated member of the D.O.G.S. I absolutely loved her. The best part is that she is thirty and acts it. It’s always a relief to find a character who behaves as per their age.

👩‍🦽 Charles Noble. As noble as his name! Such a wonderful lead for a romance. I love that he isn't afraid of showing his emotions openly and when he is smitten, he doesn’t fight it or act contrary to his heart.

👩‍🦽 The FMC is in a wheelchair. (See the cover!) The MMC wears glasses and has another vulnerability related to mental health. Both reps are perfect without seeming overhanded.

👩‍🦽 The members of the ‘Daughters of Genius Society’, all of whom are inspired by real-life women. (At least one of whom you will recognise immediately if you are an avid reader.) Loved all these characters.

👩‍🦽 The returning characters from Book One. How I loved seeing all of them again! Even the animals!

👩‍🦽 The depiction of Chronic pain and how it affects not just Margaret’s physical mobility but also her mental health. I truly appreciate the author for including the mental aspects as well. People need to understand that chronic conditions don’t have only physical repercussions.

👩‍🦽 On a similar note but deserving of a separate Yay: the disability rep and the portrayal of people's attitudes towards those with physical constraints. Good of the story to highlight the need for family and friends support and of the importance of confiding in a few trusted people.

👩‍🦽 The tech/engineering-related inclusions. Absolutely not accurate to that era, but that’s irrelevant in a fantasy. I enjoyed this alternate universe of automata and even wished a few of them were real.

👩‍🦽 The portrayal of 1895 London. Historically accurate in every way except for the tech and D.O.G.S. parts. The author’s research is quite visible.

👩‍🦽 The use of music in the story, thanks to Margaret’s fondness for it and Charles’ talent as a pianist. Not only do I love how the plot underscores the importance of music as a cure but I also appreciate how actively music is a part of Charles’ thoughts and his inner monologues. It is a character trait *mostly* well used. (The only exception is listed below in the Okays.)

👩‍🦽 The writing. Whimsical, cutesy, fun! The tone might be a bit too twee for a few readers but as I knew what to expect, I was prepared for that strong dose of awww-some coziness to hit my heart. The pacing is also quite fast. Despite the heavy themes, the tone is never too sombre. There is also enough humour to lighten the proceedings.

👩‍🦽 The vocabulary – beyond par. Always love it when an author uses words appropriately without making the novel feel like a tribute to a thesaurus.

👩‍🦽 The romance. Though insta on one side, it was a very wholesome insta love. Not once does Charles even feature Maggie’s body or her wheelchair in his thoughts. I loved the slow-developing connection between the two. Though central to the storyline, the romance never supersedes the main plot but works well in conjugation with it.

👩‍🦽 The title and cover. Just perfect!

Bookish Yays-For-Me-Might-Be-A-Nay-For-Others:

🎹 The Christian content. This book comes from a Christian publisher, so I knew it would have faith-related bits. There is much improvement in this regard as against the first book where the inclusion went a bit over the top at the end. The faith-related aspects are more about relying on God during tough times than about Bible-verse spouting, so it suited my reading preference. But the content still might be too much for other readers, especially as it is quite frequent in its appearance.

Bookish Okays:

🤖 Charles’ excessive use of classical composers’ names as exclamations. It felt cutely comical at the start but then became tedious.

🤖 The mystery. Not that strong or convincing. Luckily, I wasn’t reading this book as a mystery.

🎧 The Audiobook Experience:

The audiobook, clocking at 9 hours, is narrated by Beverley A. Crick. I liked her narration as well as her accent. She reads quite fast even at a 1x pace, so I didn't need to increase the tempo too much. Of course, the story comes from the POV of two characters, so I would have liked Charles’ sections to have a separate reader. Though the writing is in the third-person POV and hence doesn’t cause confusion, it helps the ears to have distinct narrators for individual characters. Regardless, if you are an avid audiobook listener and aren’t particular about multiple narrators, the audio version is a good way of trying this book. Note that there are too many characters at the start. I just went with the flow and after a while, things became easier. But some readers might find the initial couple of chapters a bit tricky, especially on audio.

Overall, this is one of the few highly-anticipated reads of 2026 that delivered exactly what I expected. It works well in story, characters, writing, and faith. While it gets a bit too saccharine at times, that’s somewhat expected from a cozy historical fantasy.

There is a link between the two books of this series but only in terms of characters. The plots are independent. So this sophomore novel works well as a standalone read. But if you enjoy historical fantasy, you shouldn’t miss the author’s debut as well. I have a feeling there will be a third book as well, and I think I know which side character will feature in it. Looking forward to getting my hands on that story and checking if my guess is right!

Definitely recommended to lovers of the cozy historical fantasy genre who are okay with Christian content.

My thanks to Recorded Books for providing a complimentary audio copy of “XXXX” via the RB Media Listening Circle. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.