The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton – Review

Published: July 23, 2024

Publisher: Berkley

Series: Love’s Academic #1

Genre: Fantasy, Romance

Pages: 378 (Kindle)

My Rating: 3.5 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
Rival ornithologists hunt through England for a rare magical bird in this historical-fantasy rom-com reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.

Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, capturing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that’s beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.

For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She’s so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they’re professional rivals.

When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can’t trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.

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The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love  is my second India Holton book and I am pleased to say it’s my favorite of the two. If you want a humorous, cheeky rom-com set in a highly stylized version of England this might just be your new favorite book.

This follows Beth Pickering, a precocious young woman who happens to be the youngest professor of ornithology at Oxford. We initially meet her as she and another famous ornithologist try to capture the deathwhistler – a rare magical bird whose song can kill. Unfortunately, ornithology is practically a competitive sport and a rogue duo come in and steal the deathwhistler right from under Beth Pickering’s nose. Professor Devon Lockley is a brilliant scholar at Cambridge (oh, the rivalry!) and though he won’t turn down an opportunity like nabbing the deathwhistler, he’s quite stunned by Professor Pickering’s beauty. You can make a guess at where this might be going and you’d be right. 

While all this drama is going down, the International Ornithological Society (IOS) is trying to drum up hype for the birding world and offers a hefty prize for the capture of a rare bird called a caladrius. Obviously this sends the entirety of the ornithological community stampeding back to England. Pickering and Lockley keep finding themselves pushed together rather unavoidably and, well, this is a rom-com after all. 

This was overall a very entertaining read. It was surprisingly steamy and all around a good time, though it perhaps veered into the ridiculous and humorous a bit too much for my tastes. Or perhaps I should say the brand of humor was not quite for me. If you’ve read India Holton’s previous series, beginning with The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, you will know exactly what I mean. The premise is quite fun and I liked the addition of magic birds.  A bird that can strip a human down like a school of piranhas or one that can breathe fire certainly kept things interesting and only added to the wild antics of our main characters and the IOS in the name of publicity and tourism. The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love is also the first in a series called Love’s Academic, which appears to be a series of interconnected standalones focusing on a new couple in each book.