Thanj you neygalley rb media for this alc.

I was immediately drawn ti the ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS and stunning cover and perhaps my expectations were too high. I didnt connect with any of the characters wish there was more

I love the idea of this book. Four strong women who meet by chance form an Adventurer’s Club and head off the Egypt to discover an unopened tomb. Fantastic!

The world building was good, but the characters are mostly 2 dimensional and I didn’t really like any of them. There was so much potential, but it just didn’t come to fruition.

Anna, the supposed leader, is manipulative and a sexual predator. Gross! (Whether a woman or man, that quality in a character is very disturbing.) Her main focus seems to be to get Clara to bed, even if she shrinks away. I felt uncomfortable reading some parts. I really think this could have been written without all the predator manipulation.

She says she wants to protect the other women, but doesn’t have a clue on how to do it! If you are tied up in a baggage car and told just to sit there, would you listen? Me? Heck no! I would be breaking out of that ASAP! Instead, she gets mad when Clara unties her.

Overall, this book was just a string of frustrating situations. I didn’t particularly like how it all resolved. If there is a sequel, I don’t think I will be reading it.

One thing I did love was the narrator!

Thank you to Net Galley and Tantor Audio for the opportunity to listen to the Advanced Reader’s Copy.

“A barnstormer. A Wild West trick shooter. A mathematician. When archaeologist Anna Baring announces the founding of the Lady Adventurers Club in May 1923, none of the other three members expect to ever meet again. After all, they live halfway around the world from each other. What could possibly bring them together once more? Then they each receive an unexpected letter. Anna has found a tomb that promises to be even grander than that of King Tutankhamun, and she wants them to come to Egypt for the opening.”

I learned quite a bit about myself because of this book.

I learned that I can be wooed by a good cover and an interesting premise.

I learned that I need to like the main characters.

I learned that certain behaviours, whether exhibited by a man or a woman, annoy equally, regardless of gender.

This should have been right up my alley. A group of four, strong women, taking on a man’s world, finding treasure, adventure, and life-long friendships?

Put that ish right in my veins.

In reality, only one character was more than 2 dimensional and I didn’t much like her.

Anna is, apparently, brilliant, (though you wouldn’t know it from her complete lack of curiosity) but she’s also a predatory creeper, who takes advantage of her position, doesn’t take no for an answer (continues putting her hands on Clara even as Clara ‘shrinks from her touch’) and thinks she knows peoples’ minds better than they do.

She treat the lives of her friends in the most ridiculously cavalier way, (“I know I was just shot at, and I’m the daughter of one of the most hated men in Egypt, but don’t worry, I can totally protect you. By myself. With no help from anyone.)

She manipulates the object of her affections (“Such a shame there’s only one bed in this room.”).

She gets angry when her machinations are interrupted.

SHE’S A SCIENTIST AND DOESN’T KNOW HOW THE SUN WORKS.

Ugh.

2/10

NetGalley and Tantor Audio were kind enough to give me this ARC.