BIRDING WITH BENEFITS

A divorced mom gets a second chance at love when she accidentally takes up a new hobby—birding.

After leaving an unsatisfying marriage that made her feel small, Celeste Johanssen is putting herself first. Her daughter will be leaving for college soon, and Celeste is ready to finally find out what it means to live for herself, not a man. When a new friend asks her to be his friend John’s temporary fake girlfriend, Celeste is happy to take on the challenge. However, when Celeste shows up to meet John, it turns out he has no idea what she’s talking about—he needs a partner for a six-week birding competition, not a fake life partner. But Celeste is full of motivational sayings and she’s ready to say yes to life, so she decides to be John’s partner in the competition—despite the fact that she knows nothing about birds. John doesn’t mind making his ex-girlfriend, a fellow birder, jealous, and Celeste knows that a new “boyfriend” will deter all the busybodies who keep asking when she’s going to start dating again. As John and Celeste spend more time together, both on birdwatching expeditions and at Celeste’s work events, they can’t deny that they have more in common than a shared interested in identifying bird calls; they also share a powerful chemistry, and soon they’re involved in a temporary relationship that’s just “birding with benefits”—perfect for both of them, since John is still bruised from his painful breakup and Celeste isn’t ready for a commitment. But as their feelings grow stronger, they’ll have to decide if a real relationship is worth the risk. Debut novelist Dubb brings in just the right amount of birding detail—enough to make the competition realistic, but never so much that attention is taken away from Celeste and John’s budding romance. It’s refreshing to read about adult characters with established lives, and Celeste and John’s relationship feels realistic as their largest obstacle is their fear of being vulnerable, not any sort of plot contrivance or miscommunication.

This lovely debut about mature characters manages to be both comforting and sexy.