The synopsis of this story sounded great, but after a few chapters I lost interest and grew bored. I couldn't finished this one.
Sorry.
Only 1 star....

I thought Odd Bird was OK but nothing more. It is narrated by Simon (“Bird”) who is an expert on the mating behaviour of birds. However, his knowledge of human mating behaviour is catastrophically hopeless, and this is a pretty standard RomCom in which the hapless Simon is guided and helped in his quest for a mate by his slightly louche, devious friend Phil.

It’s decently written and Simon’s voice is quite amusing for a while as he talks about humans and their love lives as if they were the subject of his academic study. Men and women are invariably “males” and “females”, for example, a relationship is a “pair-bond” etc. and he analyses his own and others’ behaviour as if it were the subject of one of his bird studies. Simon is besotted with one woman, completely unable to understand that another is very keen on him or the behaviour of her jealous suitor...you get the picture. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it does pall after a while; there were quite strong echoes of The Rosie Project (which I loved) but for me Odd Bird just didn’t have enough freshness or real humour to carry a whole book.

This might make a reasonable beach read, but I can only give it a qualified recommendation.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Really cute cover, cute title, but totally unengaging protagonist and first few pages. I'm setting this one aside.

This seemed like a quirky book with characters that don't follow the norm but it was just good in theory and not in practice.
Simon wasn't an appealing character and although the sarcasm was good the writing style was choppy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book received from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The premise of the book had potential but fell flat for me. Simon is a quirky character with a love for birds and studying their pairing.... while struggling with relationship issues of his own after a recent breakup. When he becomes interested in his colleague, Kim, mishaps threaten to keep the two from properly making a connection. Overall the book was a bit too lengthy and didn't transition well through its time line. It could be a little hard to follow. 3 stars for me, not a spectacular read but not an epic fail.. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book

I don't need to like the protagonist to enjoy a book, but it was really hard to like Simon.
A man who is so wrapped up in his own work with birds, and bad interpersonal skills I just didn't see him getting into any relationship. He is incredibly rigid and has a lot of rules of who is worth speaking to and in which way. He has a very very low EQ level.

Spoilers!
Simon never talks to Kim about her job or interests, it's no wonder she cheats after cheating on her fiance. His friend Phil really has his back, even if he is a little gruff.
The fact that he only realized Charlotta was attractive while wearing a dress felt like an early '00's trope of movies where the nerd takes of her glasses and turns out to be super hot.
Also him deciding if he is physically attracted to every single woman he meets, feels creepy. When I walk around I notice if someone is attractive, but the emphasis of him doing this continually in this book feels creepy even if he doesn't articulate it.
Charlotta is his best match, as he seems to be only be able to talk about his own work, but I don't think he deserves her.
I plowed through because I found the bits about the birds and their mating habits truly fascinating.

Was hoping for more personal growth from him. pity.

Odd Bird is a romance novel based on "Simon Selwood and his love interest Kim. This book really attracted me because this was my first romance novel from a male perspective. Simon is an academic expert on bird coupling. He is smitten by Kim and is something which holds his interest more than Ornithology. On the contrary, Kim is not as invested in him and does not really have anything to do with birds.
The premise and the title drove me in but after sometime I could not really relate to the story or the characters and struggled to read ahead.

2/5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and to the author for providing me with an ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Odd Bird is a story of a man, Simon Selwood, who is a bird behavioural ecologist. He is struggling with the departure of his wife and is now looking for his better half.
I liked the profession of Simon and all the knowledge he has about birds. The ending has a twist which makes this book worth a read. But I had more expectations.
I loved how the author has used right amount of sarcasm, but the writing style is not that engaging.

Simon and Kim are our main characters alongside Phil who is Simon’s best friend. The story begins with Simon wishing to have a relationship but it is quite a task and let me add hilarious when Simon could be as awkward as a cow on a crutch. His best friend who is a total opposite advises him to be more seducing and Simon finds this ridiculous.
On a party, he sees Kim and is immediately smitten by her looks. He wishes to gain her attention even though she is a stranger to him.
The title of the book matches its plot as Simon is an ornithologist who observes the sexual relationship among them and loves his job. It was interesting to know all the cool bird facts that this book provided.
Having said all that, the book has 65 chapters. The chapters are short and even though I wasn’t bored, I felt the book could have been short.
There were a few spelling and grammar errors which I faced while reading the book. If you can excuse the long part of the book, I do feel this is rather a book you would enjoy on a lazy day. A light read and has a good dose of humour in it.
I would rate the book 3 stars.

Odd Bird by Lee Farnsworth is a romance novel based on the main protagonist Simon Selwood and Kim. Simon is an ornithology, who studies the mating behaviors of birds. Kim doesn't have any knowledge or interests in birds.

At first, Kim doesn't really fall for Simon. So he sets on a mission to find love and complete his work in another state for weeks. There he meets Charlotta. Eventually, the closeness between Kim and Simon increases. Just as they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder.

So the book is of 65 chapters, though the chapters are short, but was 65 chapters necessary? No. The actual love story between the two starts when you are half way through the book. The first was really not necessary according to me.

The informative parts about the narration on zoology part was really making this book more boring. Was there humor? No. The writing style is overly descriptive. I could not see character development, as and along the story progresses.

Beautifully written, reminiscent of Adrian Mole, this was a terrific read. I enjoyed reading a romantic story from a male perspective. The characters were finely crafted and Simon was so endearing as to break anyone’s heart. Absolutely hilarious dialogue with scene stealers like Simon’s best mate, Phil. A really terrific book - would happily give any book by this author a try.

The story of Simon, newly single when he meets Kim and becomes slightly obsessd with her. Can he learn from the behaviour of birds and apply it to human relationships, and will it help him or not?

I would have liked to have seen an epilogue to see what happened next!

An enjoyable and quirky read.

This book is an interesting take on the theme of finding love. I enjoyed the parallels made between human relationships and that of birds. The central character is relatable and modern. The style of writing is easy to get into and this book is good for a holiday read.

I was intrigued to read this book just due to the cover but i very quickly got bored and ultimately did not finish. I kind of got school book vibes and it just wasnt for me. Wishing much success to the author!

I absolutely loved this book. The story was so original, the characters were loveable. I'm so glad I read this book, I flew through it in a day!

Simon, the main character is a really sweet and likable character that gives me all the Dear Evan Hansen vibes. All together this was an average boy meets girl type of story. It was a different take on it, perhaps even more academic than other love stories I read, but that was the part I didn't like about it. I felt like I was maybe not smart enough to keep up with everything. Thank you to NetGalley and Duckworth Books: Farrago for a copy of this book for an honest review.

The premise sounded adorable, but after reading the first few pages I quickly grew bored. I ended up skimming through some parts and I struggled to finish reading it. While I understand the way it was written was on purpose, it gave off the vibe of a textbook.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. I thought this one looked super intriguing because of how awkward Simon was. Simon studies bird coupling and he is having some issues with his own, coupling that is. After a recent break up, Simon struggles to find that ZING that makes him want to stay in a relationship. He feels like there needs to be more to it and he wants to feel longing for someone.
At a work colleague's party he meets Kim. Kim is lovely and she makes Simon feel things he longs to feel. After the party, a series of events keep Kim and Simon from meeting again, but he still holds out hope for Kim.
After a while, Kim and Simon do finally find their way to each other, but is it everything that he hope it would be, and more?
This story was a little choppy and I did struggle with the writing. I'm not sure if it was the way it was written or if it was translated or not. The story jumped months at a time and I felt it lost some of the longing Simon might have felt because I didn't feel what he was supposed to be feeling. In the end I really liked this story and the moral that came out of it. I don't want to give too much away, because it is a great twist ending, but I do want to say that I enjoyed the book overall and was glad to see the book end the way it did. Simon was quirky and the book was fun.

I enjoyed the story told in ‘Odd Bird’ and I liked the main character of Simon and his verbose narration, and deep fascination for the mating practices if birds. After a while though, it was just difficult to read, as if every other word was drawn from a thesaurus. It just got to be a lot for me. I very much enjoyed most of the characters, perhaps it was too Intelligent for me.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, but to be honest it didn't captivate me. I found the main character very likeable if very naïve, but the other characters were all quite grating and I was frequently thinking why the main character even wanted to be around them. At about the halfway mark I gave up on this book sadly as it just wasn't going anywhere. It felt really slow going, nothing much happening other than putting up with annoying conversations between the main character and his "friends" who were either disgusting (Phil) or very selfish (Kim). Sadly this book has put me off others by this author