Birds of a Feather
Of the two books getting a review, only one has birds in it. Granted, the birds are fictitious, but they would be pretty awesome if they were real. The other book is about a group of people with nothing much in common, coming together to solve a problem—or crisis as it turns out. One book is a lot of fun and silliness. The other is darker and mysterious. Both are good reads.
Poison with That Tea?
Ornithology can be brutal, at least it is in The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love (Love’s Academic series) by India Holton (2024). The Fantasy/Romance, Romantic Comedy is as wildly funny and absurd as her Dangerous Damsels series.
Set in England in the 1800s, rival ornithologists (and trust me, all of them are rivals) seek out a rare magical (and fictional) deathwhistler bird. The book is full of magical birds, most of them dangerous, like the fire-breathing sand curlew or yeti owl, but some of them would be amazing if they were real.
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love is billed as “reminiscent of Indiana Jones but with manners, tea, and helicopter parasols.” The characters may have manners, but none of them can be trusted. They are a cut-throat bunch that would put pirates to shame, except for the very proper and innocent Beth Pickering. She is a professor, rare for a woman in those times, and has an ambition to get tenured. She is the assistant for Hippolyta Quirm, an awful woman who makes Beth do all the grunt work and takes the credit for herself.
Professor Devon Lockley is a scoundrel. He foils Beth’s plans to capture the deathwhistler and gets on her bad side from the start. The handsome and charming Lockley falls fast and hard for dear Beth and she for him, although they are RIVALS and she knows he’s bad news.
Between the other ornithologists tracking the deathwhistler and a pair of journalists fueling the romantic story of Beth and Devon, the couple are always on the run—away from and toward—each other.
I enjoyed the book immensely and am looking forward to the next book in the series coming out this year. If you like whimsical stories and some outrageousness, this may be the book for you.
So What’s in the Hole?
Graveyard Shift: A Novela (2024) by M.L. Rio is a mystery, thriller, suspense, modern Gothic tale in 144 pages. Set partially in the cemetery of a college town, it has its share of rats, fungus, and hostile incidents. Strange happenings have occurred recently where some people have just “snapped” for no good reason—or so it seems.
The story follows five acquaintances who have one thing in common—every night, they take a smoke break at an ancient cemetery next to a college campus. None of them are particularly friendly with each other. They just meet there as a routine. Misery loves company kind of thing.
The author creates a vivid personality and a distinct voice for each character. Theo Pavlopoulos is a bartender. “Tuck” aka Wes Tucker is homeless and jobless and lives at the boarded up two-hundred-year-old church St. Anthony the Anchorite next to the graveyard. Only one person in the group knows this. Hannah is an automotive technician, rideshare driver, and an insomniac. Tamar has a library science degree and is a hotel receptionist. She’s not happy with her job but stuck in a rut. Edie Wu is the current editor-in-chief of the college paper. She is determined to break a huge story just to prove she can. They call themselves the Anchorites.
Without giving anything away, this is the line that hooked me into buying the book.
“One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?”
I had to know. You’ll have to buy it to find out.
Hopefully, you enjoy these recommendations. Comments about these books or suggestions for similar books are welcome.
