India Holton has such a likeable writing style, and her new release, The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love has breathed fresh life into my reading. With such lovely landscape description, loveable characters, gorgeous birds and no small amount of innuendos and bantering, The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love is the kind of read you need to liven up your week.

Two rival ornithologists. Seeking one dangerous, beautiful bird. Is the hunt of their lives also how they find the love of their lives? Professor 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. For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Beth. 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. They’re hunting the rarest of species. But will these rivals discover something even more endangered – true love…

This is such a light, easy-going read, one that makes it feel as though you’re not reading at all. You are simply lounging in a comfortable chair, sunlight warming your skin, enjoying a movie where deadly birds are flying around, burning train tracks, threatening to freeze bystanders, and will eat you whole if you dally about. Good thing we have Beth Pickering and Devon Lockley to keep us from harm!

Beth is one of those characters who always does her best to be polite, see the best in people, and keep confrontation to a minimum. She’s proper, she’s young, but she’s vying for tenure at Oxford so she can teach people all about magical birds. Then we have Devon, akin to another of India Holton’s dashing male characters from her Dangerous Damsels trilogy (a must-read for all historical romance fans). Devon is devilish, as is so often mentioned, and his own dreams of tenure collide with Beth’s. They are rivals – sworn enemies – and the competition to catch the rarest of birds and become International Birder of the Year (and did I mention university tenure) is stoking the fires of this feud. Or is it a romance? One does get those two mixed up sometimes.

All jokes aside, Beth and Devon are fantastic characters, and they really bring out the best in each other, the situations they find themselves in, and the absolute buffoonery India Holton’s characters are known to enact. They are the sensible ones among the lunatics, and it is quite amusing to see them also descend into some form of lunacy when it comes to their feelings for one another. The teasing, bantering and many innuendos will leave you laughing at every page. If you are a fan of The Dangerous Damsels books – The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, The League of Gentlewomen Witches, and The Secret Service of Tea and Treason – then you will love The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love.

The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love has a bright and energetic feel to it, perfect to read in the sunnier months. A wonderful book for Spring and Summer, it will freeze your heart, melt it, and possibly eat it and spit out your heartstrings. If you happen to find a spare Devon Lockley standing around, could you kindly send him my way, because I would certainly appreciate having someone like that pining for my vexation and attention.