India Holton’s The Geographer’s Map to Romance: Geeky fun
The Geographer’s Map to Romance is the second title in India Holton’s madcap romantic historical adventure series, Love’s Academic. Read my audiobook review.
Publication: Penguin Audio, April 2025.
Narrator: Elizabeth Knowelden Length: 10 hours 19 minutes
Genre: Romance, Historical, Humour, Fantasy, Adventure, Drama
The Geographer’s Map to Romance Publisher Synopsis
Book 2, Love’s Academic Series
Their marriage is one of convenience.
Inconveniently, they’ve fallen in love . . .
Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magical disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that is: Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.
Gabriel is also an expert in magical disasters. And nothing fazes him either—except the walking, talking tornado that is his wife. They’ve been estranged since shortly after their wedding day, but that hasn’t stopped him from stoically pining for her.
When magic erupts in a small Welsh village, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they face perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed.
These geography professors are lost. But can they find their way into each other’s hearts – and save the day?
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My Review
A romance title topping my best books of the year list is a rare occurrence. Novels covering topics more profound usually take that honour. But India Holton’s The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love did just that in 2024. So this sequel The Geographer’s Map to Romance, set in the same steampunk-esque magic-infused 1890s version of the UK and starring characters tangentially introduced in the first novel, was one of my highly anticipated 2025 releases.
While the first title in this Love’s Academic series was a madcap comedy-of-manners, this novel is probably better described an hilarious comedy-of-errors — errors in communication that is! And, readers who are privy to the inner dialogue of Elodie and Gabriel that runs parallel to their frequent awkwardly difficult and testy interactions, have front row seats to the entertaining dichotomy.
This was why she shouldn’t be left unsupervised with a conversation.
These distinctly different geniuses often project impatience and disdain for the way the other approaches the world. But those are merely attempts to hide their hurt stemming from their belief their love is unrequited.
The plot of The Geographer’s Map to Romance is far simpler than its predecessor, and is heavily focussed on its lead characters working through their conflict alongside their seeking to investigate and avert a magical disaster. Although offering captivatingly colourful scene depiction, this romantic pairing’s shared area of expertise — geographical magic — felt much less defined and tangible than the magical ornithology featured in the first novel of this Love’s Academic.
That aside, those who enjoy unabashedly nerdy humour and clever wordplay will be very much entertained by their escapades and the quirkily clueless secondary characters they encounter. Once again, India Holton demonstrates her talent for old-fashioned absurdist visual comedy — watch out for the goat.
Audiobook narration
I was lucky enough to get access to The Geographer’s Map to Romance‘s audiobook format superbly narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden. Her vocal style immediately cultivates intimacy and is perfectly suited to the historical British setting. Her tonal range is a pleasure to listen, her performance of banter well-timed, and the nuanced vocal inflections she uses to clearly distinguish between male and female characters never feel laboured. All of this resulted in, what was a relatively long audiobook for me, not feeling long at all.
Although India Holton’s The Geographer’s Map to Romance did not quite reach the lofty heights of The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love, it was still a top-shelf historical romantic comedy novel — one I’d wholeheartedly recommend consuming in audio.
My Rating
Story 4 / 5 ; The Writing 4.5 / 5 — Overall 4.25
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* My receiving an audiobook copy of The Geographer’s Map to Romance via Libro.fm’s ALC Program for review purposes did not impact the expression of my honest opinions above.