This book was not for me. I appreciate the publishers and netgalley giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was a very slow burn. I went back & forth on whether I was enjoying it or not most of the book, but by the end, I enjoyed it. Not sure that I would recommend it people though.

I loved this book--not only was it a fun book to read, but had depth and interesting I chose to read this because of the allure of Greece. I kept reading because it was both funny and intelligent. Excavations digs into strong, complicated female characters with humorous moments of mayhem. It even explores our perceptions of history because of those who record it. A perfect summer read--escape to Greece.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book a lot. Good read.

I thought the premise was wonderful, but the characters failed to engage my interest and I was not caught up in the story line.

I read this at the tail end of summer, thinking it would send me into autumn in a warm, fun way. Sadly, I had the hardest time getting into this book. None of the characters really resonated with me and the book took entirely too long building interest and getting me invested in the story. By the time thing started happening, I had already decided this book wasn't for me.

Thanks to netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

Set among an archeological dig site in Greece, four women bond and find themselves as they uncover more than just the expected relics. Elise, Kara, Z and Patty are four very different women from very different walks of life. Only in this setting would they have any connection at all, and even at that it doesn't come easy. Something isn't right at the site, and it takes them all working together and harder yet, trusting each other, to figure it out. Along the way, they also find out so much more about themselves.
I loved the premise and the setting. The characters are unique and interesting. It took a long time for the story to develop. I was more than half way through the book before it all started coming together. And even then I didn't feel like the story fully developed. You will get a feel for life at a dig site and a flavor for some archeological humor!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am a Classicist so the premise was everything to me. Hearing my friends discuss their digs made me really appreciate the research and accuracy in the actual dig part and the humor was amazing. The introduction was everything to me discussing the stratigraphy of digs with humor and cheekiness.

While the humor carried over throughout, I was annoyed about the switching POVs. While each character was distinct, there was something about the way the POVs were written that made them feel the same. Another issue was I could not care about the mystery or the villain. The mystery was not very interesting once I started to read and the villain was very one-dimensional.

This is a quick, easy beach read and something to read if you love archaeology, but I did not love it. It was good and I am interested in what the author will write in the future as I appreciated her humor, but definitely not a favorite read of mine.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. The concept is great but I found myself struggling to get through this one so I DNF.

Loved the premise of the book! Four women on an excavation site in Greece uncover the fact that the first athletes in the first Olympic games were actually women. They also discover that their director is attempting to hide this fact. I loved the women in the story, and the book offered some good laughs. Overall, it was a good read, and I would recommend this to anyone who wants a lighter fun read.

I found this book not to be for me.
I did try. I finished it, but couldn’t connect with any of the characters.
The only appeal for me was it was set in Greece and it also dealt with archeology.
The book was a pass for me.

Try as I may, I just can't finish this book. The writing style and I just do not jive, and I unfortunately cannot pass on this recommendation. I hope it finds its audience but was not for me.

4.25 stars

This perfect summer book follows 4 women on an archaeological dig in Greece & had me misguidedly Googling "entry-level archaeology jobs travel" (alas, with no success).

Z is late 20s, freshly single & unemployed. She's always bounced around searching for the job, relationship, & version of herself that felt like the perfect fit. The last time she felt settled was the summer in college when she went on an archaeology dig in Greece with her then-boyfriend, Gary. Hoping to recreate that feeling she signs up for this summer's dig with Gary's group in the same spot.

Kara's life is going exactly as planned. She's 29, has a collection of prestigious degrees, & is engaged to Gary, who everyone agrees is the best. But Kara's not been able to secure the next check on her list--a job at Christie's. She's begun to fear that beyond her accomplishments there's nothing to her as a person. & the things that drew her to Gary--his easygoing charm & joy at where he is in life--are grating on her.

Elise is in her 40s & has made a life of traveling from dig site to dig site, forgoing attachments after a disastrous affair with her college professor led her to drop out. She's revered for her expertise but looked down on for her lack of formal education. Elise is pricky, no-nonsense, & searching for The Find that will give her life & career a sense of purpose, while also trying to learn to tolerate people who haven't been dead for thousands of years. Relatable.

Patty is 18, awkward, & just here to avoid going back to her small-town summer job. For all that they are messes in their own POVs, seeing the other women through Patty's POV is a reminder of how (especially when you're young) everyone seems like they have their shit more together than you.

The women have to come together when they suspect their sexist supervisor is "dickwashing" history by suppressing evidence of womens' participation in early Olympics. This book was funny, smart, & heartfelt. If you loved "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" I recommend!

Also #TeamGary

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Interesting debut - four women on an excavation at site in Greece bond together to take down a crooked professor. Z is still trying to find her place in life after a string of failed relationships and dead end jobs, Kara is an ambitious woman on the move that wants to work for a major auction house, Elise is a master of her craft - and moves from dig to dig. The fourth member, Patty, is a young, awkward University student that is trying to keep her scholarship, and bungling most of her assignments. When Z finds an unusual artifact, it sets a plan in motion to topple the hierarchy and bring the women to the forefront. A little simplistic in parts as far as character development, and you can predict the plot. I feel this would make a great TV series.

Kate Myers's smart debut novel invites readers to ancient Greece via a modern-day archeological dig, as four women become unlikely allies in taking down their patriarchal, sexist boss. Excavations opens with none other than an ancient artifact that speaks directly to readers (reminiscent of a Greek chorus addressing a long-ago audience): "What I'm trying to tell you: there's never some dude's foot just sticking up out of the ground. Something happened, you moron." That something--evidence that the artifacts are celebrating the athleticism of women, not men--has been long hidden by the man in charge of the dig, much to the growing chagrin of the women who work for him. "It had taken decades of digging and brushing, of polishing the ground until it became a mirror," a place where the women could see their history--not just that of the men whose stories have for so long dominated the narrative of Greek history.

Myers's clever sarcasm and sharp wit balance the otherwise heavy subject of historical erasure at play: "Charles had made a chunk of change erecting this phallus palace, and he would die before admitting it was all built on lies." Despite the building tension between Myers's main characters--around career competition, ex-boyfriends, lost artifacts, melting Popsicles, and other conflicts both large and small--the four come to realize that to topple their self-aggrandizing boss, they'll have to work together. Hilarious and heartfelt, Excavations delivers a pitch-perfect summer novel steeped in bright Greek sunshine, and it all builds to a satisfying comeuppance borne of women determined to tell their own stories--past and present alike. --Kerry McHugh, freelance writer

An authentic view of an archaeological excavation! I loved these ladies and their unique stories that led them to this dig. Honestly the drama, the pressures, the work involved, this really brought the realities of a dig to life.
Elise is who I wanna be when I grow up, she’s living my dream life rotating from dig to dig and standing up to the nonsense that can be archaeology professors in the field. I nearly lost it when Z had the new hand kick the rock. Classic and highly necessary initiation.
Highly recommend for anyone who wants a real view into a summer on an archaeology site. The romance, the booze, the posturing, the dirt, the swamp/sand crotch, the “food”, the friends, the weird professor, this has all the key points. Loved it!

I am a Greek archaeologist PhD candidate. Did I like this book? Yes. Does the author know anything about academia? No. Does the author know anything about archaeology? A little. Did I still enjoy the book? Yes. I liked the characters and the voices and the drama. I thought it was very silly. I did send screen shots of the book to my archaeologist friends. I fear people reading this and thinking it accurately depicts archaeology, but it does really capture dig dynamics.

Wait, wait, could it be? Women’s Fiction that is actually funny? And isn’t focused on romance? HOORAY.

This is a terrific summer read that is light but sharp and smart, and it’s the kind of thing that encapsulates all that used to be good about chick lit and women’s fiction before it all devolved into tropey romance and formulaic mass-churn plots.

First, credit to Myers for actually getting all the life on a dig content EXACTLY right. Even in a light read I need my authors to do their homework to properly enjoy a book, and that happens a lot less often than it should, especially in this genre.

The humor actually transcends the genre, which really added to my enjoyment of an already enjoyable story. It’s extremely difficult to write good comic fiction that isn’t just riffing and doesn’t feel either too mean or too try hard, and Myers did an exceptionally good job of hitting all the right notes.

This is the perfect beach read for those who want theirs to be just a little smarter and a little more unique than your average book that gets tagged with this descriptor.

Ooo the messiness!

Zara has been bouncing around from job to job and man to man, when she bounces back to a long time ex and a long time job a an excavation site in Greece.

There she discovers her ex has moved on and there’s something strange going on with the finds from the site.

We also get a perk into the perspectives of Elise, a long time site member who’s determined to prove women were also active in ancient athletics, Kara, the seemingly perfect lead staff member who’s struggling to find her own way forward, and Patty, an underage the devious site leader is trying to use as a gofer.

There’s a lot of drama, intrigue and truth that eventually finds its way to the surface.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC. I really loved the descriptions of the archeological dig. She captured the process very well, as well as what draws the characters to that work. The rest of the book didn't really work for me. The characters were done in a way that I would describe as broad comedy, kind of caricatures, but the jokes did not keep coming. There were some very funny lines, but you really needed more if you weren't going to delve deep into the characters. The book felt like a sitcom episode. You always knew where it was going.