Book Title: Love is a Toad: Exploring our relationship with nature
Author Name: Lucy Lapwing / Lucy Hodson
Publish Date: 12th March 2026
Copy source: I purchased my own copy of this book at Wigtown Book Festival 2026.
Affiliate Disclosure: This review contains affiliate links. If you purchase a book through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Genres & Subgenres: Non-fiction, nature writing, environmental non-fiction, biography, autobiography, natural history, memoir
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Where to buy: Bookshop.org
Love is a Toad is a delightful debut book, Lucy Lapwing’s love letter to UK nature and wildlife. A self-confessed “nature nosier”, Lapwing’s wildlife nerdery and enthusiasm for UK birds, bugs, and plants, shines through in her writing.
You can read about my bookish adventure at Wigtown Book Festival 2026 here, where Lapwing discussed Love is a Toad in a thoroughly entertaining talk.
Trek along with Lapwing and twelve fellow nature enthusiasts, as each friend takes her on an adventure in the UK, to chat about the duality of nature joy and grief.
Over the course of a year, we explore a new location with a new companion each month, visiting forests to rivers to marshes to meadows.
Exploring themes of humanity and hope for the future of nature, Lapwing discusses conservation, slowing down, and giving attention to the world around us.
Lapwing crafts a wonderful collection of nature essays, based on her walks and conversations with an array of interesting, knowledgeable people. Aged 18-83, her companions share a broad range of experiences, and their collective passion for the natural world shines through.
Her writing style is humorous and descriptive, welcoming the reader into nature, regardless of our lack of bird-nerdery or tree trivia. Enthusiasm for nature is enough, as she brings us up to speed by including bird calls, and describing in vivid detail the way creatures look and behave.
I loved the fun made-up words! My favourites are “Slugliness” to describe all the wonderful attributes of slugs, and “Hoardyceps”, the compulsion to collect and hoard feathers, leaves, seashells, and pebbles.
The format of an essay focused on a single conversation and walk with another person per month, worked well. Reading about a variety of wildlife and plants in changing locations and seasons, meant it was engaging and enjoyable to read. There’s something for every nature lover, whether you enjoy birdwatching or foraging, wild swimming or having a nosy at slugs.
With each changing season, we experience familiar sights, as well as the more obscure, strange, and rare. Lapwing describes these in detail, radiating childlike joy and excitement.
Lapwing and her guests in conversation explore the contrast of nature grief with nature joy, the duality bringing balance to the book.
Highlights of the book were slugliness, the nomad bees and their first sight, and foraging.
“I zoomed back into the slug on the tree. It seemed it was a Tree Slug. How very apt. They oozed their way up the trunk in super slo-mo, living their sluggy, mucus-filled life. Travel by self-lubrication, how wonderful. Eyeball to eyestalk, the tip of my nose to a singular slimy foot, I admired them for the many things they were. Lumpy and grey, oozing and gelatinous. Ordinary. Weird. Gross. Bizarre. Completely, undeniably ugly and, yet, exquisitely beautiful” - P178, an excerpt from Chapter 7: Slugliness
I love learning about language, so it was fascinating to me to learn how many different names for woodlice there are in the UK, as well as learning that many UK plants are named based on their relation to cows. I learned so much from this book, but it was presented gradually and in a conversational manner, rather than dense information all at once.
Conversations about the future of nature and conservation were thought-provoking. It was realistic rather than idealistic, which is possibly where the conclusion didn’t feel quite as joyful or hopeful as the rest of the book for me personally.
I enjoyed the conversational feeling of it and a variety of knowledge, perspectives, experiences from all the people Lapwing chats with. Lapwing writes in an inviting way to include everyone in the nature conversation, like we’re friends on one of her walks too.
The excitement and enthusiasm Lapwing shows when she’s writing about an attention-grabbing bug, makes me want to be in nature more, paying attention and increasing my curiosity about the natural world.
Read this book if you want to slow down and explore your local environment and wildlife… whether you know the Latin names of birds, bugs, and plants, or not! It’s a great choice if you want to think critically about conservation in the UK, while still being hopeful. This book is an approachable exploration of nature, presented in a chatty, conversational style.
If you love the nature writing and the duality of grief and joy in Wintering by Katherine May, you’ll find Love is a Toad has some similar themes, with a more humorous approach and focus on the UK specifically. If you especially enjoyed May’s writing about bees, you’ll also love all the fascinating insect stories Lapwing describes in her book too.
I rated this 4/5 stars, a thoroughly engaging read which I’ll be sharing it with friends who love mushrooms, birdwatching, walking in the woods, and wild swimming. This is a fantastic debut full of personality and charm, and I’m looking forward to reading more from Lapwing in future.
Where to buy
Hardback: Bookshop.org
E-book: Bookshop.org
Paperback: not currently available
Audiobook: Bookshop.org
