Title: The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love (Love’s Academic #1)

Author: India Holton

Publisher: Berkley 2024

Genre: Romance

Pages: 384

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Unread Shelf RC; She Reads Romance - Only One Bed (repeated!)

Where I Got It: Book of the Month September 2024

Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, stealing 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.

A new series from India Holton! I must have it immediately! And thankfully this one was just as delightful as her previous series. In here, we get a colleagues and competitors to romance story. It’s not quite an enemies-to-lovers tropes but a bit more gentle than that. Devon and Beth are thrust together by their own choices and the machinations of a pair of black-clad gentleman for a madcap adventure to capture a rare bird. Along the way we encounter some peril, multiple one-room-in-the-inn situations, competing ornithologists, some protective French fisherman, and a whole lot of swoony moments. I loved seeing Beth and Devon succumb to their mutual admiration and attraction. Overall, a delightful adventure romance with equal parts. I can’t wait until Gabriel’s story!

Love’s Academic

• #1 The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love

• #2 The Geographer’s Map to Romance

Next up on the TBR pile: