Rating: 🤩

India Holton is a must-read author for me, so it should come as zero surprise that I loved her latest: The Geographer’s Map to Romance. All of her books are fast-paced, fun as hell, and contain such a a degree of whimsy I can’t help but check out from the real world for a little bit (which, to be honest, has been very much needed as of late, as I try to balance maintaining my health with being informed).

Quick synopsis:

Professors Elodie Tarrant and Gabriel Tarrant are both geographers, but not in the way you might think. They’re both professionally trained to handle magical disasters and damned good at what they do. Neither of them, however, can seem to handle their own shared disaster: their marriage of inconvenience. They’ve been separated since day 2 and studiously avoiding each other since, but when a crisis in a small Welsh town requires Professor Tarrant’s assistance and they’re both accidentally assigned to the case… well, forced proximity ensues.

Ok back to the review:

India Holton’s creativity seems to know no bounds. She manages to create such fun and silly fantastical worlds that I want to live in so much I hate to see her books end. And the way she writes historical romance makes me giggle and do a full body shimmy every time.

The Geographer’s Map to Romance is a slight departure from the usual romantic setup of her books. Yes, Elodie and Gabriel are sorta kinda rivals (but not as much) put in a situation where they must work together. Yes, there’s such incredible longing they are both trying to ignore and dismiss. But this time they’re actually already married, so they both already know what they’re missing. And while I don’t always enjoy a second-chance romance, I LOVED IT this time. It dialed up the tension to such an incredible notch that I was yelling “just kiss already!!” but in a good way.

Do I have any understanding of what a geographer does after reading this book? God no. So don’t go in expecting anything close to reality. But did I buy their careers in the context of the magical world Holton has created for her Love’s Academic series? Yes absolutely. Whenever something new happened I just went along for the ride, which is absolutely the required state of mind for her books.

I cannot wait for the next book. I swear to god these books become my entire personality when I’m reading them, and I cannot wait for it to happen again. 💖