I love the premise of Ancient History - an ancient Egyptian archaeologist at Oxford who travels to Paris in the aftermath of a tragic event. I've been to Egypt so anything that involves usually gets me to check it out.. The story was engaging at times, and I enjoyed reading about Athena’s adventures, however, the entire book had too many things that just irked me too much to end up having an over-all positive reaction to it. I had high hopes for one, but I’m sorry to say it’s not one I would recommend.

I love the premise of Ancient History - an ancient Egyptian archaeologist at Oxford who travels to Paris in the aftermath of a tragic event. The story was engaging at times, and I enjoyed reading about Athena’s adventures. However, everything I enjoyed about the book unfortunately was overshadowed by dated and unnecessary stereotypes, almost as if one of the men from Mad Men dreamed up this ingenue who needs to be saved and comes into a sexual awakening. I would have preferred a little more subtlety, a little more showing what’s going on rather than explicitly saying it, and I definitely would rather read about a heroine who finds someone who treats her as an equal. I had high hopes for one, but I’m sorry to say it’s not one I would recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-arc.
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This book had potential, but I knew I was in trouble in the first chapter. I was excited to read about something kind of close to my wheelhouse- a fun academia romance seemed perfect. However, all of it was just kind of... generic. A lot of easy stereotypes for characters. The romance scenes were fine, but this book was missing a bit of a soul to it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing me with an EARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
This is by far the most disappointing book I have ever read and the hours I spent reading it I will unfortunately never get back.
There was such a great premise behind this book and I really wanted more of the archaeological, ancient history backstory that was promised in the synopsis.
Instead what I got was a book that was neither mystery nor truly romantic and a heroine barely battling her own grief and being left on the sidelines for everything else.
I say this isn't truly a romance because it was purely lust and physical attraction rather than any genuine connection. But I suppose that would be hard due to the fact that all the characters are one dimensional. Even the main character was limited to her grief and otherworldly good looks (including her massive breasts.) Both the love interests were borderline creepy in different ways, and I spent the whole time shouting at naive Athena to get the hell out of there.
Not only did we have a much older man who gave me the creeps, but another man who had been obsessed with her since she was a literal teenager (don't even get me started on the baby pictures.)
Both of these "love interests" kept her in the dark the whole time and put in her immense amounts of danger by doing so yet this was all swept over.
Do not recommend in the slightest.

I enjoyed this as a fast quick read, but over all I couldn't get into the characters. They all kind of annoyed me a little bit. It felt a little too perfect.

Ancient History is a creative and fun rom com!

It was such a cool book, and I loved watching Athena's life unfold. The archaeology component was so fun, and it sometimes felt a bit campy which I enjoyed.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

While the book setting was interesting, the lead character Athena is so privileged with famous father, two potential good looking suitors, a supportive uncle and a French aunt ready to jump in with fashion suggestions. I could not really connect with her or the story and the storyline lacks novelty.

This is a quick and light read that I found very enjoyable. I enjoyed the characters and particularly enjoyed the interactions in most part and enjoyed the romance between Jack and Athena. Thank you netgalley.

This book didn't do it for me, unfortunately. The concept sounded interesting--archaeology plus romance!--but I was put off by the unlikable, extremely privileged main character and her two creepy potential suitors.

Athena Duncan is the archaeologist daughter of an archeologist. It's all she's ever wanted to be and her life revolves almost exclusively around it. Life is good until her parents are killed in a car accident while they are holidaying in Crete. Her world collapses around her and she leans on close family friends for support. It's as she starts to re-engage with the world that she is suddenly pursued by Patrice while in Paris. He's a much older man who apparently wants to show her she might be wrong about a few things in life. Then there's Jack, who also seems to have her in his sights. The question is whether they are truly interested in her or have other reasons to seek her interest.

I found this started out well and I was intrigued by the mystery to be solved. It seemed to fit the theme of the story, after all. But the overall story didn't work for me, particularly the romance part. One of the "suitors" was much older and seemed to be something of a creepy predator. The other one had some sort of long-standing obsession with her, which is also rather creepy. There is a supposed romance in there but I just didn't feel there was any chemistry aside from lust in either of the relationships.

Even mystery's resolution didn't satisfy although I did find Athena's father's role interesting. Everything got cleared up rather suddenly at the end and the situation was a lot simpler than was indicated earlier. Some parts seemed rushed and others were dragged out and it just didn't seem that logical. I'd have liked to see the story developed a lot more thoroughly than happened here as it had the promise of a good mystery/romance.

I'm giving this 2.5 stars, as I did enjoy reading about the settings of Paris and Crete. Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for providing an advanced reader copy for free. This review is entirely voluntary.

3 stars because honestly I expected more archeology and more romance. This was a good enough story. I was curious about what really happened with Athena’s parents but the ending, the explanations were so rushed that it all left me unsatisfied.
I didn’t like the characters either, they are one dimensional and make choices that don’t make sense. Also why is it that everyone have to be sooo perfect? People have flaws but these characters don’t seem to have any.

There is only little romance because Athena is seduced almost instantly by creepy but perfect looking guys.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for my copy. I received a copy for free in exchange of an honest review.

I didn’t prefer this story. The promise of intrigue and romance are what led me to read this book and while there is a decent amount of intrigue there is barely any romance. Athena is a twenty something PhD student who tragically loses her parents in a terrible accident. The story picks up with her trying to put together the pieces of her life and continue forward.

The Good

I liked the mystery that surrounded her parents death and how Athena was looking deeper into the situation. I also liked the strength Athena displayed when she pushed the first love interest out of her life instead of getting caught up in his game. It gave me a new level of respect for her.


The Issues

I was hoping that the book would give us a glimpse into the every day life of an archaeologist. Not a thesis or anything but maybe a feel for a normal work day. Instead anything Athena was doing at her job was only referred to as her ‘work’.

Please don’t get me started on the love interests. Both were really creepy and didn’t take no for an answer.

Flat side characters. So flat. They all felt like they were just there to compliment Athena and tell her how beautiful she is. I know that family and friends are there for support and love but it was all one way. A friend comments on Athena’s outfit and she just says thank you. Doesn’t return the compliment. Nothing. That’s not a friendship.

My biggest issue was the lack of romance. We get a lot of physical intimacy, which is nice, but without a real connection it makes the relationship lack depth. I’m cool with a purely physical relationship but this book is pegged as romance and I had a hard time seeing it as that.

Overall, I can’t recommend this book because I don’t really think it’s a romance although it sorta delivers on the intrigue.

A young museum intern, Athena, loses her archeologist parents in a car crash which she survives. Her memory of the crash is patchy, but she remembers being forced off the road by a speeding vehicle. Two men, an Egyptian antiquities expert and an investigator for a Boston museum are hunting for a missing artifact that they suspect her father of stealing. Athena decides to investigate the situation, hoping to exonerate him, and finds herself in dangerous proximity to ruthless members of an organized crime syndicate. She must also decide whether or not to trust the Boston investigator with whom she's become involved in an affair.
The story is compelling enough to stay with, and Athena is an appealing and sympathetic main character. The suspense of the situation could build a bit more before the denouement and the omniscient narrator's POV means that there is a lot more telling than showing in terms of the characters' thoughts, emotions, and actions. Reading the story was somewhat like watching a film with a voice-over describing the characters' reactions instead of being able to hear the actors speak. This detracted from the enjoyment of the novel somewhat for me, but the appeal of the characters is strong enough to make it worthwhile reading.

I suppose that the description emphasised the romance side of things over the archaeological so I should have been warned. The archaeology was ok but needed more ooompf, details and thought to make it more than a pale background to the romance. Latter was essentially naive young woman being awakened by older experienced man and becoming a slightly raunchy female with the other man. Rather stereotypical and weak to my mind but there you are. An ok read but definitely not one that I would revisit. Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I liked the idea of this book more than I liked the actual story. The main character seemed like she grew up in an archeological bubble. The love interest just came across as a bit of a stalker. So, he sees her when she's younger and he's older, promises to find her later on and then does. Very high creep factor.

So I picked this book because I love romance and I love archeology. Combining the two should equal great fun, right? Well, the archeology mystery was the only thing that kept me going the first half of the book. The main character, Athena, is not very likable at the beginning, very much the naive young woman trope and I’m just not a fan of that. She does have a lot of character development and I grew to like her ok bu the end. I’d call it an ok quick read. The mystery was resolved a little too efficiently for me and the romance seemed all too easy, but not mad that I read it just wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.

More of 3.5 stars if I'm completely honest but I do like to round up not down.

Athena comes from an academic family and when tragedy strikes she immerses herself in grief.
Her Godfather manages to coax her into taking a job in Paris near to him and that's when Athena's life gets complicated.

She's caught the eye of a suave Frenchman but there is more to him than meets the eye. And after a short interlude, she realises that no-strings are not for her! But as one man leaves her another comes back into play. When she returns to Oxford her new boss is none other Dr. Jack, the same guy who had a confrontation with her father shortly before his death. But is he truly just a visiting academic or is he also more than he appears?

Whilst my history-loving little nerd self loved all the history and missing relics, I did struggle to like Athena. She was too naive and damsel-in-distress for me - I do prefer my main characters to have a bit of gumption about them. Similarly, the men who came into her life made me squirm (and not in a nice way). One is a bit of lech in my opinion and the other seemed to have developed a bit of an obsession over her when she was only a teenager!

But if you can ignore that otherwise the story was well developed, although I felt the action ending felt a bit rushed. The beginning of the book was a bit slow so don't expect to jump right into action/adventure! The secondary characters were well-formed and I'd happily read more from this author.

Athena Duncan is living a life as a cosseted academic wither her parents in Oxford when tragedy strikes in mysterious circumstances. Left with a mystery involving her fathers integrity, a missing Egyptian artefact, and two equally distracting men who's motives to get to know her she can't decipher causes Athena to question everything she once believed.

The first thing that I absolutely loved was the detail in the description of the places Athena went to in Oxford and Paris for example, it was really vivid and you could start to picture what was being described. I naturally loved that there was even a little archaeology in it, which is not a common topic in fiction books. It was a very easy read.

I guess one of the things I wasn't keen on was that it felt like it took a while for anything really to happen at the beginning, which meant it did feel a bit rushed then at the end. I liked the combination of romance and an ongoing mystery, which made it different and a more interesting concept, but I do feel the mystery wasn't given as much thought/attention throughout the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy in return for a review

Lovely book - felt like a blend of the movie 'National Book of Treasures' meets Netflix series 'Emily in Paris' with bits of '50 shades of grey' thrown in for good measure!
The story was quite interesting, and fast paced although I was slightly disappointed that the hero did most of the action in the last part. Perfect companion for a beach read or vacation!

Ancient History is a great book for someone looking for a light romance with an interesting concept. The academic setting, archeological background, and added layer of mystery all work together to make Athena’s story compelling. This book focuses most of its time on the romance and mainly follows Athena, who is experiencing the story in the same time as the reader. Overall, it was a very enjoyable summer read and I will be sure to look out for other books by this author.