whimsism 's review for:

The Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love by India Holton

2.5

Loveable characters: No

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( 2.5 ✶ ) eh. this was nearly a good book, it had so many of my personal boxes ticked. whimsical setting? check. magical birds? check. silly and comically unrealistic things happening around them? check. weirdly clever puns? check. fun side characters? check. academic focus and historical setting? check.

so it pains me to say that when it came to the most pivotal part of what a romance book must have (*cough cough* actually good romance), it fell so so so flat. the romance was bad and still managed to sacrifice most of their personality. and i just can’t stand insta-love especially when i was promised rivals? at the very least for them to care so much for their academics? yet i was given a teenager’s inner dialogue.

i can’t help but actually groan everytime i see them together and it made a book that was supposed to be fun feel like a struggle to finish— due to them being so central to the plot, and their encounters being extremely repetitive. just thinking about it is making my head hurt.

i now realize this was supposed to be a DNF/paused when getting through this book made me stop reading for days. i might still give india holton a try some other time since i enjoyed everything but the romance between the characters, but this was so disappointing to me.