Rating: 🤩

As I sat down to write my review for The Geographer’s Map to Romance, India Holton’s latest, I realized I never actually wrote and posted by review of her previous book, The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love, which I read last year and fucking adored. Because I read it literally months ago (I’m very behind in my self-assigned task of reviewing), I’ll keep this brief.

A quick synopsis:

The first in Holton’s latest fantasy historical rom com series, Love’s Academic, this book follows Beth Pickering and Devon Lockley, rival ornithologists competing to become Birder of the Year. A couple problems: they find each other attractive (which is rather improper for rivals), there’s clearly a setup afoot, and—oh yes—the birds are magical and dangerous (which isn’t a surprise to them, but does add some complications as they aren’t the average birders).

Back to the review:

I love India Holton’s books for several reasons. They are clever. They are laugh-out-loud funny. They are silly. They are whimsical. The romance is always cute as hell. The magic feels magical. The world-building happens as you go as opposed to being overly explained. And, among even more things, all of her books feel like a really incredible adventure I very much want to be on.

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love is, of course, no exception. It was so much fun to be swept away in a tale of romance, intrigue, and, of course, magical and dangerous birds. Holton also plays with tropes and turns them on their heads in the silliest of ways. For example, we get a scene with too many beds in this one.

If you want a book that will help you escape for a little bit, I definitely recommend this series (or her earlier one that’s complete with pirates with flying houses and witchcraft). They are seriously the best time. 💖