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.
Hellie’s Heeds
Amazon has a quote from NPR, which summarizes what I thought much more elegantly: "So riotously clever it almost defies description...an alchemy of romantic elements held in perfect harmony." It is. On nearly every page, there is a tongue-in-cheek, riotously clever one-liner or several, which will have you in stitches as you marvel at India Holton’s writing style and obvious firsthand experience with all things academia.
Some of the more notable gems I found particularly hysterical were:
“Don’t try that charm on me, if you please. I will not succumb like some–some–liberal arts undergraduate.”
[Hellie aside: as a former liberal arts undergraduate–I can say I definitely fell for some charm in my time. And I fell for the charms of Devon Lockley in this romp.]
Gladstone’s summer residence…reflected his academic character–and the fact that he’d inherited a large income, since no science teacher could afford such an estate.
This morning he [Gladstone] was outdoors, endeavoring to capture a leechsparrow. Which is to say, he sat on a mahogany sofa in the meadow behind the house, gesturing with his rosewood pipe to several graduate students who traipsed through the grass, bedecked with protective goggles and earmuffs, wielding heavy-duty nets, as they did the actual work of capturing a leechsparrow.
And so many more that if I continue, I might as well just quote the entire book. Being I work in Academia with many faculty who are not that different than the ones described in this story, it was a marvel to enjoy and I wished I could sit with India and just exchange academia stories. [Note: I obviously don’t think this was taken from real life–there are no magical birds to my knowledge nor Oxford women professors in 1890, during a time when India did not yet exist–but it was very adjacent to life in academia, let me just say.]
The chemistry sizzled between the two characters; the pacing was fast and constantly moving–they were on the run for their lives a good majority of the time. I do hope they had a restful break after they found their happily ever after because the pacing did get occasionally exhausting. All the characters were larger than life; and OMG, the IOS “press” agents were a riot. I loved the writing style–as a liberal arts undergraduate, I majored in English, so it tracks–it’s colorful, witty, and very British in humor a la Oscar Wilde.
I’m delighted that another character featured in this book looks to be the hero of the follow up book in this series: a grumpy geographer named Gabriel. I cannot wait.
Chef’s kiss. 5 stars. (I recommend this book while eating a bag of chocolates. You don’t really need it to finish the book…but I recommend it just the same.)
Thank you for the wonderful review. It does sound like a lovely and humorous book. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteAs a former Liberal Arts undergraduate, I will be seeking out this book. Looks like great fun! Thank you for a fun review to read this morning.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for the review and recommendation. I have read several comments on this book and an excerpt or two. The book sounds delightful and something I would thoroughly enjoy. Sigh, another one for my Wish List and it goes to the top.
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