The Geographer's Map to Romance (Love's Academic # 2)

This series has three things I typically run from in most books: science, history and fantasy. India Holton must have some of that magic she writes so well about!

In this second entry of the Love’s Academic historical romance series, we have two wildly different geography professors, Elodie and Gabriel, who are experts in the mayhem caused when thaumaturgical (magical) elements found in nature begin to misbehave. 

Another fun fact about them? They’re married! Though it began as a marriage of convenience for the two Professors Tarrant (or at least that’s what they tell themselves), the feelings have been simmering for years. Unfortunately, they aren’t as good at communication as they are at their jobs, so we first meet them after a year of separation when events awkwardly throw them back together.

When a small coastal town in Wales called Dolylleaud experiences weird blue lights, flying cattle and other bizarre happenings, Elodie and Gabriel are summoned to find and repair the cause before the powerful misbehaving magic travels along fey lines all the way to London destroying everything in its path. 

There’s a lot to love in this book and series. 

The characters. Elodie is quirky, fun, free-spirited and the perfect sunshine for Gabriel’s more stoic, grumpy man-of-few-words nature. Her unspoken fantasizing about him throughout the book is hilarious!

Historical representation. It’s nice to see successful women in the sciences (ornithology in the last book, geography in this one) in the spotlight. Their intelligence and expertise is lauded, yet you also see the difficulties they experience in being recognized as equals at that time in history.

The setting.  The Welsh countryside setting and the village ambiance, including a goat named “Baby” were a nice escape!

The narration. I listened along with reading on my Kindle, and Elizabeth Knowelden’s voicing for every single character, including the aforementioned goat, is sheer perfection. Her Welsh pronunciations were beautiful. I hope she stays with the series to the end!

The romance.  At its heart this is still a romance first, and Holton writes pairings that I can’t help but fall in love with. Elodie and Gabriel shouldn’t work, but they do, and their path to each other charmed me.

The one thing that kept this from being a five-star read was simply that the plot about the magical peril didn’t draw me in quite as much and the resolution was drawn out more than I prefer, but they were minor issues. All in all, another very fun, magical read, and I can’t wait for the next book: The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire which will feature Gabriel’s sister Amelia Tarrant, who we meet in this book!

★★★★ ½

Thanks to Berkley Publishing, NetGalley and author India Holton for this digital ARC to honestly review and to my library/Libby for the audio. It’s out now.