CBR18 Book 41: "The Antiquarian's Object of Desire" by India Holton

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Amelia Tarrant and Caleb Stirling are both history professors at Oxford with a speciality in magical antiques. They have been best friends since childhood, but any hint of affection between them could be ruinous to Amelia's reputation and the careers of both. As a result, they have to appear to be enemies and stage elaborate public fights every so often to make sure all their colleagues believe them to be bitter rivals.

One such fight, involving a volatile magical teaspoon, causes a big enough explosion that their careers may still be on shaky grounds. The head of the history faculty sends them to a manor house in Cumbria to assist a local nobleman in cataloguing his extensive collection of magical artefacts. 

If maintaining their ruse of being enemies is tiresome and occasionally tricky in Oxford, having to do it while secluded in a haunted country manor proves even more frustrating to them. Amelia and Caleb both feel, unbeknownst to the other, rather more than friendly towards the other, but wouldn't dare to presume that the other returns such lustful feelings. 

All the books in India Holton's Love's Academic have been delightful, cosy reads, but this one is probably my favourite. Caleb is another very Howl from Howl's Moving Castle-coded hero (although he is more like the Howl of the original book than the Miyazaki version). He's vain and a bit self-centred, but clearly just worships the ground Amelia walks on. She doesn't seem to realise that all his life choices have been determined by what keeps him close to her. She's the one who actually cares about a career in history; he's just muddling through because it makes it easier for him to spend as much time with her as possible. 

Amelia is a capable woman in a male-dominated field, and she constantly has to deal with her overbearing and sexist colleagues and superiors. Caleb really is her only friend, and it annoys her to have to pretend to loathe him just so she won't be dismissed as an emotional and love-struck female, who must marry and go tend house. Over the course of the book, Amelia and Caleb realise that their long friendship has mutually developed into something deeper, but they are unable to act on their feelings since it's impossible for them to get some time alone.

Throughout the book, there is a subplot about a magical teaspoon that reacts to strong emotions and tends to cause sudden explosions if tensions are too high. Amelia comes to the conclusion that she mustn't just reevaluate her feelings for and potential future with Caleb, but come to a decision about whether or not she can keep being underestimated and mansplained to by most of her very sexist colleagues, or whether she should quit the history department and do something else. 

The "cosy" label is found all over the speculative fiction genres nowadays, and a lot of the time, it's not entirely earned, or the author tries too hard with quirky characters and tiresome hijinks. However, Holton really does write lovely, low-stakes cosy romances, and as this was one of my more anticipated releases of the first part of 2026, I am happy that it was worth the wait. 

Judging a book by its cover: All the books in this trilogy have had lovely covers, but this is by far my favourite. The midnight blue and the golden yellow, with the lovely, ethereal night sky in the background, with the stars seemingly dancing - it's just so pretty.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 45: "The Geographer's Map to Romance" by India Holton

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Buzzword Cover Challenge 25: Monochrome

CBR17 Bingo: Green (A book with a green cover)

Official plot summary, because I finished the book in early April, and perimenopause is doing my powers of recall no favours:

Professor Elodie Tarrant is an expert in magic disasters. Nothing fazes her—except her own personal disaster, that Professor Gabriel Tarrant, the grumpy, unfriendly man she married for convenience a year ago, whom she secretly loves.

Gabriel is also an expert in magic 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, threatening catastrophe for the rest of England, Elodie and Gabriel are accidentally both assigned to the case. With the fate of the country in their hands, they must come together as a team in the face of perilous conditions like explosions, domesticated goats, and only one bed. But this is easier said than done. After all, there's no navigational guide for the geography of the heart.

True story. Geography was probably my third least favourite subject in high school (after PE - always my most loathed subject, and math, which became increasingly harder in high school until I had the option to drop it). So it's interesting, that while India Holton chose to make the first book in this series about birds (which I have a massive phobia about), and the second one about geography (although if we'd gotten to study the sort of magical geography this book involves, I probably would have liked the subject a lot more in school), I was still so delighted while reading it. The third book in the series is a Gothic romantic fantasy involving historians - now you're speaking my language, Ms. Holton!

India Holton writes unusual and funny fantasy stories set in alternate timelines, featuring at least one neurodivergent protagonist. On social media, she describes The Geographer's Map to Romance as "Anne of Green Gables meets Twister in a light academia fantasy romcom perfect for those who love storms, bespectacled science professors, and shouting 'just kiss already!' while reading." 

Elodie is very intelligent, extremely absent-minded and tries to see the world in a positive light. Gabriel is very intelligent, constantly grumpy and pines for his wife as if it were an Olympic event. Anyone who feels that a lot of romance nowadays doesn't have enough mutual pining and sincere yearning should check out this book. 

Gabriel Tarrant was introduced in book 1 of the series, but these books work perfectly well as stand-alones. Towards the end of this book, we meet Amelia Tarrant, his historian sister, who will be the heroine of The Antiquarian's Object of Desire (already one of my most anticipated books of 2026). 

These books can accurately be described as romps, so if you want deeply serious fantasy, they may not be for you. But if you'd like a light-hearted read with creative twists and turns, an amusing supporting cast, a destructive goat and protagonists who are both frightfully competent at their jobs, and dreadful when it comes to dealing with their own romantic entanglements, this might be a good fit. 

Judging a book by its cover: Ms. Holton has been blessed by the gods of beautiful cover design, because the covers for this series just keep getting better and better (she just this week did a cover reveal for book 3, and it's gorgeous). The green and the gold work so well together. I don't own these books in physical copies (yet), but I will, as soon as my finances allow it.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 50: "The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love" by India Holton

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: Only one bed (and horse)

CBR16 Bingo: And also... (Repeat of the Bananas square, because this book fits the bill)

Beth Pickering is the youngest professor of ornithology at Oxford, and she needs to really impress the faculty if she is to get tenure. She works with wealthy widow Hippolyta Quirm to try to locate and capture rare (and usually dangerous) birds. Just as they are about to capture the coveted deathwhistler, a rival ornithologist, the dashing young Professor Devon Lockley from Cambridge, swoops in and steals the bird away from them. Not only that, he has the temerity to flirt with Beth!

Beth is determined to keep her distance from such an obvious villain as Devon, but that becomes a lot harder to do once a competition to win not only "Birder of the Year", but a large cash prize and tenure for the winning ornithologist is announced. Ornithology is a discipline full of ruthless individuals who are willing to do almost anything to catch their prey, and Beth and Devon discover that they are probably more likely to succeed if they join forces trying to track down the elusive bird in question. Of course, there can only be ONE winner, so sooner or later, one of them is going to have to betray the other. 

What Beth and Devon (and all the other unscrupulous competitors) are unaware of is that the contest is in part to drum up publicity for and increase recruitment to the ornithology departments of British universities, not to mention encourage international tourists to visit Britain. Both Beth and Devon are young, intelligent, and attractive, and publicity agents soon have newspaper reporters trailing them and emphasising just how dashing and compatible they are, spinning a fictional romance in the press long before Beth and Devon can actually act on the growing attraction between them. Constantly finding themselves in locations where there is only one room (with or without the one bed) available, or one horse that they must use to escape pursuers doesn't exactly make them less aware of one another.

Will Beth and Devon succeed in locating the rare bird needed to win "Birder of the Year"? Will they survive the various devious traps and vicious birds thrown at them by competitors (or publicists wanting to secure exciting news coverage of the competition)? Will they actually ever find privacy and peace enough to possibly act on their growing feelings for one another, or will inconvenient interruptions keep occurring? Which of them will actually win the contest (and the coveted tenured position)?

India Holton already wrote three witty and adventurous novels set in an alternate Victorian England with witches, pirates, domestic staff who were also spies, and a bunch of flying houses. In her new series, Love's Academic, there are lots magical birds all over the world, most of them in varying degrees of viciousness, and the academic discipline of ornithology is full of manipulative scoundrels, all working to one-up each other for fame and glory. I'm not going to lie, I care very little for birds, and all the actual ornithology stuff, while wildly fantastical, did very little for me.

This book is an adventure novel, through and through, taking inspiration from films like Indiana Jones, The Mummy, and Romancing the Stone. Our protagonists might seem very different at first, but it turns out that always being smarter than everyone else around them, and having to prove their brilliance in academia at a very young age, hasn't exactly made them popular growing up. While Beth has dealt with years of rejection by becoming a very proper, polite, and unfailingly kind young lady, Devon has hidden his insecurities behind a charming exterior, seemingly careless about what anyone might say or think about him. He's utterly smitten with Beth from the start, constantly in awe of both her beauty and academic achievements. Beth keeps trying to deny just how handsome and dashing she finds Devon, wanting to keep him at arm's length and calling him a villain, but she comes to discover that he's not just a charming rogue, but an equally skilled and intelligent scholar, and obviously her perfect match. 

I'm eager to see where Ms. Holton takes the series next. The next book in the series involves Devon's cousin Gabriel (he seems grumpy and deeply unimpressed with Devon's antics, but nevertheless helps him several times throughout this novel) and magical geography. The Geographer's Map to Romance isn't out until 2025, but after the teaser chapter included at the end of this book, I'm already very excited to see what happens to Gabriel and his estranged wife.

Judging the book by its cover: I love both the colours and the design of this cover, featuring no people whatsoever, just a very formidable bird and a simple and elegant design. I had pre-ordered this book long before the cover design was revealed, but now I might have to buy a physical copy, just so I can have this pretty book on my shelf. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 8: "The Secret Service of Tea and Treason" by India Holton

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Alice Dearlove works for the secret organisation the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, or A.U.N.T., staffed by spies and agents disguised as ladies' maids, butlers, footmen, and other household staff who mostly go unnoticed by the higher classes, but are usually in a position to see and hear everything. She's one of their top agents, known within A.U.N.T only as Agent A. Usually, Miss Dearlove works alone and gets excellent results while doing so.

Now she faces one of the biggest challenges of her career. Not only does she have to cooperate with someone on her next mission, but her partner is none other than her biggest rival within A.U.N.T., the elusive Agent B, Daniel Bixby. Now Agents A and B have to learn to work together, while also pretending to be married. There's a plot to assassinate the queen, and Alice and Daniel have to pretend to be pirates, happily married, and fool an entire houseparty full of eccentric, murder-happy ladies and their husbands while trying to locate the potential weapon and foil the plot. 

Since they're consummate professionals, both Alice and Daniel are determined to complete the job quickly and efficiently while remaining strictly platonic the whole time. When more public displays of affection aren't necessary to play their parts, of course. Obviously, wanting to be convincing in their assumed roles, they might have to practice the duties of husband and wife in the privacy of their own rooms, as well. It's not like they'd get carried away and fall for one another, just because they are forced to be fake married, sharing a bedroom (with just one bed). After all, A.U.N.T doesn't allow for any affection between agents, and once their mission is done, Alice and Daniel will be going their separate ways, possibly never seeing one another again.

This might not be a 5-star book for all readers, but as the culmination of the Dangerous Damsels trilogy that India Holton started with The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels works on pretty much every level for me. Alice Dearlove and Daniel Bixby, whose acquaintance the reader makes briefly in The League of Gentlewomen Witches get their own novel and a chance at their own HEA, since clearly from their first meeting in the previous novel, they are perfect for one another. 

Both found in orphanages by A.U.N.T and raised under the strict tutelage of the organisation's teachers and trainers to become secret agents for the crown, neither Alice nor Daniel have ever really felt like they fit in among their fellow spies or people in general. It's quite clear from the description of them,  and their reactions to and thoughts about certain things, that they are both neurodivergent, and while this is not something likely to have been acknowledged in Victorian times, be they the real ones or the alternate history one we meet here, it's nevertheless a fact and makes them both excellent at their jobs, but not very good at making personal connections. 

Daniel Bixby worked undercover for several years as the butler of charming pirate captain Alex O'Reilly, gathering intel for A.U.N.T and making sure the pirates never caused too much havoc and destruction. He has great difficulty admitting that he and Alex actually became friends and that he cares for both the now-reformed rogue and the witch the pirate fell in love with. 

Alice Dearlove is the perfect ladies' maid and can serve the most infuriating of spoiled aristocrats, devious pirate matrons, or meddling witches. She hasn't really ever had any friends since the organisation doesn't exactly encourage emotional attachment to anything or anyone. She also gets very defensive by light touches and has no understanding of idioms or metaphorical language. Once Daniel discovers this, he's very helpfully tells her "Idiom" every time someone uses figurative language that baffles her. It was a very cute recurring gag and endeared me further to the man.

In various flashbacks, the reader is given insight into the rather dark upbringing both agents have had, in an organisation that doesn't really care for its employees as people, only pawns to move about on a large political gameboard. It helps that they share a lot of the same experiences, albeit in slightly different ways, but it also makes them both very aware of how difficult a potential happy ending would be for them, as A.U.N.T certainly wouldn't let them marry and be together.

Of course, Alice and Daniel, helped in parts by Ned, Cecilia, Alex, and Charlotte, end up with a very lovely HEA in the end. Alice has actual friends who care about her and they're all part of a bigger found family they have dreamed of for their entire lives. This book was a very quick read and made me very happy. India Holton's writing has gotten sharper and wittier with each book, and I'm very excited to see what she will publish next. 

Judging a book by its cover: Once again, it is an adorable cover and I really love the lavender shade of the background. I especially like the traditional spy movie poses of Bixby and Dearlove, with them in period-appropriate servants' attire instead of evening wear. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR16 Book 7: "The League of Gentlewomen Witches" by India Holton

Page count: 336 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Everyone knows there's no such thing as witches, but if there were, they probably wouldn't use magic in flashy and extravagant ways to fly houses around and try to rob and assassinate one another. If there were witches, they would probably use their magic in tidier ways, ensuring polite society was functioning properly. Possibly liberate those who have excessive financial resources of some of it to the betterment of those with less of it (like say, themselves). If there were witches, Charlotte Pettifer would be the next prospective leader of their League. There's even a prophecy that she's the natural successor to Black Beryl, the woman who first discovered the magic spell that the pirates use to make their houses fly. 

Charlotte makes the acquaintance of the dashing pirate captain Alex O'Riley when she is, in fact, trying to liberate him of his briefcase. After a very exciting pursuit, she manages to fly away on a bicycle, only to discover that the briefcase is empty. When the legendary amulet of Black Beryl is found and exhibited in a museum, Charlotte and Alex's paths cross once more, since any witch or pirate worth their salt is trying to be the first to get the amulet. When both are thwarted in their goal, Alex to his dismay, discovers that Charlotte has stowed away in his flying cottage, and refuses to leave until they retrieve the amulet together. 

Soon rumours are flying that Charlotte has been abducted by the roguish pirate, when all the witches know full well that Charlotte must have been the one doing the abducting. Neither group of opinionated, magic-wielding women is going to suggest that something untoward has taken place, as a marriage between a prominent witch and a pirate would possibly lead to peace between the two factions, a fate much worse than a young lady (or rakish gentleman) maybe being compromised. All the while, Charlotte and Alex are fighting and kissing and doing a fair bit of acrobatic compromising of each other, beginning to dread what will happen if they actually do manage to find the amulet and have to stop chasing it together. Because the future leader of the witches, and a prominent pirate, couldn't actually have a future together? Perish the thought.

While the first book in the Dangerous Damsels series was full of Brontë references, this one leans heavily into Jane Austen. Charlotte has lived a lonely life, strictly regimented to become the perfect leader of the League, and certainly hasn't been allowed to indulge in anything so frivolous as strong emotions or close friendships. So, like many other lonely people, she has sought solace in books and keeps wondering what Elizabeth Bennet, Eleanor Dashwood, Anne Elliot, or even Fanny Price would do, and early on, at least, she keeps comparing Alex to Austen's heroes (who surprisingly quickly come up short to an actual, living, breathing, fencing, flirting and bantering man). 

While there has long been an animosity between witches and pirates, Alex's reasons for disliking witches are more personal than most. Having lost his mother at an early age, and acquired a wicked stepmother of the witch persuasion instead, he has sworn never to get near any more witches but finds his promise difficult to keep once Charlotte invades his cottage and starts tidying up his abode and life. 

It took me a while to figure out what in the world was going on when I read the first book in the series. I don't know if it had a much more far-fetched storyline (probably not) or that I'm now just much more attuned to the sort of delightful quirkiness that features in India Holton's writing. Maybe I just liked "Lottie" and Alex more as a couple. Austen references are also always going to be more of a hit with me than Brontë ones. 

I already know that the third and final book in the series is about Alex's very efficient butler, Bixby, and the ladies' maid with unusual abilities, Miss Dearlove. I can't wait to see what silly shenanigans the two of them get up to. 

Judging a book by its cover: The covers for these books are adorable. I love the little details in the margins, such as Alex's cottage (which looks rather cozy, and not at all as run-down as a lot of people in the story would have you believe), the teacup, the broom, and so forth. And obviously Alex and Charlotte fencing at the bottom. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR15 Book 53: "The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels" by India Holton

Page count: 336 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Official book description, because I finished this book two months ago, and the plot is rather convoluted:

Cecilia Bassingwaite is the ideal Victorian lady. She's also a thief. Like the other members of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by interesting means. Sure, she has a dark and traumatic past and an overbearing aunt, but all things considered, it's a pleasant existence. Until the men show up.

Ned Lightbourne is a sometimes assassin who is smitten with Cecilia from the moment they meet. Unfortunately, that happens to be while he's under direct orders to kill her. His employer, Captain Morvath, who possesses a gothic abbey bristling with cannons and an unbridled hate for the world, intends to rid England of all its presumptuous women, starting with the Wisteria Society. Ned has plans of his own. But both men have made one grave mistake. Never underestimate a woman.

When Morvath imperils the Wisteria Society, Cecilia is forced to team up with her handsome would-be assassin to save the women who raised her--hopefully proving, once and for all, that she's as much of a scoundrel as the rest of them.

This book will certainly not be for everyone. I can see how some people might find it too annoying, quirky, or simply rather uninteresting because they're not looking for something quite this whimsical. Do you like Gail Carriger? Then you might also like this. It's set in an alternate history, where magic exists. It's mainly used to make houses fly, and the secret spell that allows one to pilot the houses is mostly in the hands of women. Thievery and piracy also seem to be perfectly above board, as long as certain rules are followed. Our heroine, Cecilia Bassingtwaite, is a junior member of the female crime organisation, the Wisteria Society, and despairs that the older members refuse to see her as a worthy of promotion to the big table, a full member at last. So when she opens the door to find a rather flustered assassin on her doorstep, this is very promising, because ladies whom someone wants to murder are obviously more scoundrelous, and therefore more worthy of promotion. 

Of course, our hero, Ned Lightbourne, who goes by MANY different names and identities over the course of the story, has no intention of actually murdering Miss Bassingtwaite. He's not really an assassin at all. Nor is he a loyal henchman to her insane father, who has tasked Ned to abduct Cecilia from her aunt's house. Ned wants to do no such thing. Cecilia finds him both intriguing and exasperating, he finds her delightful and is instantly smitten. They keep meeting and bantering, usually while also fighting each other with sharp weapons, and obviously fall in love in the process. 

To begin with, I was honestly not entirely sure what was going on with the plot, or the rather flowery language, but it was amusing me and I just let the story sort of flow over me. The many references to the Brontës, and especially the utterly useless Bramwell, were fun. I'm not entirely sure how this society actually works, but piracy and thievery seem to be the done thing in the upper classes. It also seems to be a very matriarchal society, where the husbands are left to take care of the household, although they're clearly also allowed to run around wielding swords and firearms occasionally, as Ned is doing. Possibly they only need to become homebodies after they marry?

I'm probably overthinking it. This was fun, it made me laugh, and since I've waited several years, the entire trilogy set in this strange alternate Victorian world is already completed. The next one involves witches (and a male pirate), so it also promises to be entertaining.

Judging a book by its cover: This is really cute. I love the flowing vines of wisteria flowers, complete with other elements from the story twisted in. The teacup, the flying house, the sword and pistol, and obviously our adventurous little couple at the bottom, each sporting their own gun. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.