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Learning Curves

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About this listen

From the author of Stars Collide and Cover Story comes a steamy will-they-won’t-they romance about a bright young teacher reconnecting with the jaded professor she once pined for.

For Audrey Lind, working with clay still evokes memories of her favorite professor. The woman’s zeal for art history ignited Audrey’s own academic career—and her tweed blazers and British accent kindled her first female crush. After fate brings Audrey back to Northshire University to teach, she’s thrilled to be working alongside her former mentor, but the grumpy woman she encounters upon her return is nothing like the dynamo she remembers.

Divorce and a stalling career have turned Dr. Michelle Thompson bitter and guarded. When Audrey swoops in to teach the Women in Art class Michelle’s been pitching for years, she longs to hate her. But her young rival is too kind, too enthusiastic, too irresistible. And her passion for life slowly reawakens Michelle’s own.

Wary of age gaps and workplace politics, they suppress their smoldering attraction—until one wine-filled night at the pottery wheel puts their romantic truce to the test. Will they keep things on the tenure track or risk it all for love?

©2025 Rachel Bates. (P)2025 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Contemporary Romance

Critic Reviews

“Fans of slow burns, sexy tweed, and queer sincerity will love this couple.”—Publishers Weekly
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This is the second time I've listened to this. I rated it 5 stars the first time but didn't actually leave a review and I don't know why.
This was just everything. Sweet, sexy beautiful. Everything.

Absolutely adore!

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I need a 5 year update on these two. They are perfection and I need to know what happens next! The only thing that would have made it perfect, is if they had someone with a genuine English accent voicing Melissa

I need more!!

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Loved this book! Such a warm and fleshed out story, gorgeous characters and very descriptive narrative.

Such a wholesome story

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Age gap romance isnt my usual thing, but i really enjoyed this one. 5 stars all round.

It is so good.

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learning curves ended up being a much slower burn than I expected, and by the time the leads finally came together, I struggled to stay invested in either of them. I didn’t really feel much chemistry between the two, so the intimate moments never quite landed for me.

I also found that some of the representation and thematic elements, while important, felt a bit dropped in rather than woven naturally into the story. a few characters or ideas were introduced with weight but didn’t seem to connect back to the plot later on.

one of the main reasons I picked up this book was the promise of exploring an ex–student/teacher dynamic in a college setting. since everyone involved was an adult, I thought the story might lean into the complexity or taboo of that premise. instead, the narrative tended to shy away from it whenever it came up, which left that angle feeling a bit underdeveloped.

overall, there were interesting ideas here, but the pacing and character dynamics didn’t quite work for me.

interesting setup, underwhelming execution

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.