{"id":27969,"date":"2026-11-01T18:54:47","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T23:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=27969"},"modified":"2026-11-05T19:11:45","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T00:11:45","slug":"the-antiquarians-object-of-desire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27969","title":{"rendered":"The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire<\/em><\/a> (2026) India Holton<\/a> (Love’s Academic #3)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>Set in alternate England in 1890<\/p>\n

Amelia Tarrant and Caleb Sterling have been best friends since boarding school–and all the schooling that followed as they eventually earned their doctorates and became professors at Oxford.<\/p>\n

But lady professors still aren’t entirely accepted, and Amelia and Caleb’s friendship caused enough problems they had to pretend to be enemies, so Amelia wouldn’t lose her position.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d barely escaped losing her position at Oxford earlier this year due to Caleb Sterling. Although they had been friends since they met as eight-year-olds in boarding school, the moment Professor Throckmorton from Medieval Studies caught them hugging, that became impossible.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Only a show of outright enmity had been able to stop the virulent rumors and ensure Amelia kept her reputation and her job, and Caleb kept his lifestyle as a wild, carefree bachelor (which mostly involved sleeping in late and adding bacon to every meal).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not that it would seem an entirely terrible thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Amelia Tarrant,\u201d Mr. Dummersby of the British Museum told him. It sounded rather the same as that\u2019s a Viking ship coming toward us.<\/p>\n

\u201cI once paid her a compliment and she\u2019s refused to work with me ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I ask you, what kind of woman doesn\u2019t like being told by a colleague that she has beautiful lips?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think that those reminders are one of the reasons I don’t love these books as I would have expected. That’s comments aren’t really<\/em> funny when they’re true and common. <\/p>\n

I mean.<\/p>\n

\u201cMishandling a thaumaturgic candlestick and causing a fire is one thing, but a girl should not be working alone in a museum after dark, let alone bantering with a male colleague!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cArguing,\u201d Amelia corrected him.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging in private intercourse,\u201d he corrected her right back, with all the authority of a faculty head and older white male.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I totally get what she’s doing, but… too soon.<\/p>\n

Characters<\/strong>: Caleb Sterling, Amelia Tarrant, Mr. Dummersby, Vanity Tunnicliffe, Grimshaw, Basil Throckmorton, Sir Nigel Harroway, Lady Ruperta Harroway, Cornelius Ottersock, Sergeant Jack Sheffield, Mavis and Hilda, Mrs. Cuddle, Professor Gabriel Tarrant, Professor Elodie Tarrant, Professors Pickering and Lockley<\/p>\n

Cover art by Margot Reverdy<\/p>\n

Publisher: Berkley Romance<\/p>\n

Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire (2026) India Holton (Love’s Academic #3) Set in alternate England in 1890 Amelia Tarrant and Caleb Sterling have been best friends since boarding school–and all the schooling that followed as they eventually earned their doctorates and became professors at Oxford. But lady professors still aren’t entirely accepted, and Amelia and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[193,27,30,292,2,204,33,26,56],"tags":[931,932],"class_list":["post-27969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-alternate-history","category-british","category-ebook","category-fantasy","category-good","category-historical","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-india-holton","tag-loves-academic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-7h7","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27928,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27928","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":0},"title":"The Geographer’s Map to Romance","author":"Michelle","date":"October 18, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Geographer's Map to Romance (2025) India Holton (Love's Academic #2) A year earlier, Elodie Hughes and Gabriel Tarrant entered into a marriage of convenience. Unfortunately, a week into the marriage everything went terribly wrong and the two have barely spoken since. Which is mildly problematic since they are both\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Geographer's Map to Romance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/The-Geographers-Map-to-Romance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/The-Geographers-Map-to-Romance.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/The-Geographers-Map-to-Romance.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":25932,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/25932","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":1},"title":"The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love","author":"Michelle","date":"March 10, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (2024) India Holton (Love's Academic #1) Set in Europe in 1890 I'd forgotten how very silly India Holton stories are. That's not to say they are bad, because they aren't, but if you aren't expecting the silliness it can be a bit of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/The-Ornithologists-Field-Guide-to-Love-194x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27944,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/27944","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":2},"title":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels","author":"Michelle","date":"October 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (2021) India Holton (Dangerous Damsels #1) Set in alternative Victorian England \u201cI\u2019m flattered. She has actually employed an assassin?\u201d \u201cYes,\u201d the man said in a dire tone. \u201cAnd does this assassin have a name?\u201d \u201cEduardo de Luca.\u201d \u201cItalian,\u201d Cecilia said, disappointment withering each syllable.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Wisteria-Society-of-Lady-Scoundrels.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":19761,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/19761","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":3},"title":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels","author":"Michelle","date":"February 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (2021) India Holton (Dangerous Damsels) Set in an alternate Victorian England. Cecilia Bassingwaite is a proper Victorian young lady, and she is also a member of the Wisteria Society crime sorority, and she flies around England drinking tea, blackmailing friends, and acquiring treasure by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Wisteria-Society-of-Lady-Scoundrels.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Wisteria-Society-of-Lady-Scoundrels.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/The-Wisteria-Society-of-Lady-Scoundrels.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":362,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/362","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":4},"title":"The Bone Collector","author":"Michelle","date":"April 3, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bone Collector (1997) Jeffery Deaver I haven't read The Bone Collector in years. I read it soon after I got it--and since I own it in hardback, that means I picked it up reduced for quick sale after the paperback came out, so not that long after it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Bone Collector","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.klishis.com\/Books\/images\/bone_collector.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26419,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26419","url_meta":{"origin":27969,"position":5},"title":"A Matter of Magic: Mairelon the Magician & The Magician\u2019s Ward","author":"Michelle","date":"March 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"A Matter of Magic: Mairelon the Magician and The Magician\u2019s Ward (1991) Patricia C. Wrede (Mairelon the Magician) This is just such a cozy and comforting read. She was glad she wouldn\u2019t have to wear the rags she\u2019d had on earlier, but she was rapidly becoming uncomfortable with the number\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Matter of Magic","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/A-Matter-of-Magic-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27969"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27971,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27969\/revisions\/27971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}