May 1, 2024
Starting a new series about academics living in a fantasy Victorian England, Holton, who earned LJ Best Book nods for The Secret Service of Tea and Treason, blends adventure, romance, and ornithology--along with pockets full of humor, charm, jokes, and tea. Beth Pickering, a just-a-bit put-upon scholar hoping for tenure, is about to snag a coup--a rare deathwhistler bird--when out of the blue swings professor Devon Lockley, stealing the bird and stranding Beth on the far side of a ravine, without tea or a parasol in sight. Their paths cross again when he too is stranded at the start of a competition to capture the endangered caladrius bird and claim Birder of the Year victories--and tenure. Beth, now just a bit fed up, finds in Devon an unexpected ally. He is handy to steal a boat with, find a horse with, and slowly discover nefarious plans with. Devon finds in Beth nothing less than joy. VERDICT This isn't as rompy as Holton's earlier series, but it's gilded with much the same sensibility. Watching Beth and Devon navigate each other as they tromp across Britain, as all around them birders and press agents plot and plan, is a fun spree.--Neal Wyatt
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Starred review from May 13, 2024
Putting a tongue-in-cheek twist on the enemies-to-lovers trope, Holton (The Secret Service of Tea and Treason) opens the Love’s Academic series on a gloriously madcap intellectual adventure tinged with a hint of whimsical fantasy. In 1890s England, socially awkward bluestocking Beth Pickering, a young professor of ornithology at Oxford, must cater to the whims of her male colleagues and the university’s wealthy donors. While on an expedition in Spain with Mrs. Hippolyta Quirm, a wealthy birding enthusiast, Beth runs afoul of handsome rogue Devon Lockley, an ornithologist from rival Cambridge University. The quarrelsome pair cross paths again when the International Ornithological Society launches a contest to name the International Birder of the Year—and sparks, and feathers, fly. Faced with scheming publicists, unscrupulous fellow bird lovers, and reality show levels of machination, the pair fly across countries via mechanized parasol to solve the mystery of a rare (and possibly mythological) bird, falling deep in love along the way. The charming supporting cast provides a zany counterpoint to what is ultimately a sweet, wholesome love story. Readers will find it an irresistible confection. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary.
July 1, 2024
Holton is back, this time with a new series, Love's Academic. The International Ornithological Society (IOS) announces a competition for Birder of the Year, offering money, and even better, tenure, to whomever captures the rare caladrius recently spotted in Great Britain. England's youngest professor, Beth Pickering of Oxford, is dead set on winning, but is constantly thrown together with her main rival: young Cambridge professor Devon Lockley, he of the strong forearms. A series of chases lead to encounters with several dangerously deadly magical birds, and various ruthless ornithologists force Devon and Beth into single-room accommodations while publicists turn them into a nineteenth-century media sensation. Wordplay runs rampant, from puns to double entendre to real if obscure words such as deliquiate and luteofulvous. When Devon says, "I'm prepared to continue twisting words and their meanings for as long as necessary," he sums it up neatly. The new series will delight Holton's fans and serve as a great place for readers who haven't yet discovered her to plunge in.
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