Raiders of the Lost Heart is an adventure romance that I (as a big adventure movie fan) was really looking forward to but sadly, kind of missed the mark for me.

We meet Corrie Mejia, an archaeologist who is a world-renowned expert on Chimalli, an ancient Aztec warrior and her long-lost ancestor. She's been invited on an expedition into the Mexican jungle to search for the remains. Also on the expedition? Ford Matthews, her academic rival from grad school, but he's not the only problem. As the dig begins, they encounter smugglers, the authorities, and a thief.

The premise of this novel had me so intrigued as rarely ever do we see an adventure romance. Corrie is the perfect FMC for this type of novel. She's knowledgeable, resilient, and badass. However, I did not like the male love interest. Throughout the book, hints are dropped about a big secret Ford is keeping from Corrie. When the secret is revealed, I couldn't help but look at Ford in a different light. In my opinion, purposely undermining someone's career is not something that can be forgiven without at least a little bit of grovel, which we never get.

We, the reader, do get some good banter, steamy scenes, and fun explorations, but for me it wasn't enough to negate my feelings for Ford. While it was touched upon, I think this book would've been better if it had fully addressed the privilege men (particularly white men) have in the industry and had Ford do more to earn Corrie's forgiveness.

Read if you like:
- 'only one bed (tent)' trope
- steamy scenes
- adventure romances
- academic rivals to lovers

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for this advanced copy.

Unfortunately, I did not find myself as exhilarated with this story as I had hoped. The reading pace felt slow for an adventure rom com, and I found the chemistry between the two main characters to feel a bit immature. It’s a little hard to put into words, but it felt like “lust at first sight mixed with a second chance,” but I didn’t feel the chemistry. I kept waiting for an intimate scene with a side “character,” Barney, that never happened. I found myself more than a bit disappointed this was not written in.

Overall, I think my opinion on this book will not be the majority opinion. I can see where this story and writing will appeal to many. I was mentally excited to dive into holiday reading so it is very possible I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for this story at the time. My bookclub is chatting with the author in January 2024, and I look forward to reading future novels by her.

DNF. I really liked the premise but the writing did not work for me at all. It wouldn't be fair to the book if I finished reading and gave it a low rating.

Is this world rocking? No. Does it set feminism back a tiny bit? Yes. But is Corrie awesome enough to overcome all of that and be a heroine that you like and laugh with? Also yes. If you're an archaeology nerd, if you've always wanted a female Indiana Jones, or are a sucker for the badass confidence of Lara Croft, then this is for you.

Ford is undeniably selfish and terrible, and desperately needs to learn how to trust and communicate. Corrie forces him to do that. Not only with her but also with other people in his life. His often brutal honesty when he's talking to her is a turning point for him, and while she does forgive him without nearly enough groveling, this relationship was years in the making.

If you want to suspend your disbelief for a wild romp searching for a fictional historical figure and a relic, if you want to have insane chemistry and searing spice that will make you blush, and just enough humor to break the tension...this is your book. It's a good time read, enjoy it!

I had incredibly high expectations for this book and it became one of my most anticipated books of the year. People compared it to Indiana Jones and the more recent movie The Lost City, where there's jungles and adventure and villains.  This book definitely had those! I really thought this could be a five-star read for me.

The book follows Corrie, an archaeologist, as she joins a dig led by her enemy from grad school, Ford. I absolutely loved the setting and vibes of this one. It was so fun to read about their camp, the dig site, and all of the different elements that go into an archeological dig (assuming it's generally true to real life since I don't know! lol). The book totally had twists and villains that I wasn't prepared for, even though I should have been. This subgenre with adventurous romance is something I hope to explore next year. I generally enjoyed SOMETHING WILDER by Christina Lauren but wasn't fully prepared for how insane that story would get, which affected my rating. But if more authors write books with these vibes in the future, I'm there!

I'd give this one 4.25 stars if possible. I really loved the setting and vibes, as I mentioned, and the romance was quite good! Very sexy and steamy. The two had a lot of chemistry built over the years. The miscommunication or lack of communication (and occasional lying) was not my favorite, though I could see why it happened. I think she forgave Ford a LITTLE too quickly but I also could see why he did things the way he did.

Overall, this was a really fun book to end my year with! I really hope to track down similar books in the future because the vibes were awesome.

When reading a romance, I HAVE to like the male lead and unfortunately in this one I found him to be privileged and whiny. I really appreciate the idea because how many romances are inspired by Indiana Jones?! That was unique. I confess I’ve never seen them. I would recommend to fans of the series to give it a try and see if they can overlook the MMC’s flaws.

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-ARC

This started off bad because Corrie is pretty full of herself and that attitude never goes away- she's a "full hipped beautiful Latina with many men wanting to have sex with her" and I just found it so annoying to read. I also thought that the love between her and Ford was a little forced and offed. It was more like a friends with benefits situation that the author had to make into something more in order to call it a romance.

The whole book felt too long, but also too short. I just felt like nothing happened until the last 20% but by then, I was so bored and skimming.

I love stories that remind me of my favorite adventure movies from when I was a kid, like Romancing the Stone, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars, but with more romance. This book is so much fun! We've got two intelligent, top-of-their-field archeologists working towards a common goal, despite loathing each other. The Central American setting is interesting, the snarky banter is hilarious, and the conflict believable.

I absolutely loved this book. Segura's characters are all so fun and the plot was well paced. Not a single dull moment the entire book. If you're looking for a fun, spicy, enemies-to-lovers romance, I cannot recommend Raiders of the Lost Heart more.

A rival-archaeologists-in-love romance - complete with Aztec mythology! - is a book that should have been a surefire, top read of the year, 5-star forever favorite for me. Even if it wasn't a life-changing read it still would have made for a solid, highly entertaining weekend. I could have forgiven the book for being fun but forgettable, but RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART just made me angry.

Our main character's defining characteristic are her massive boobs. If the reader forgets her chest is enormous they'll be reminded a few paragraphs later. Corrie wants so badly to be taken seriously in her field, only to show up at this dig and begin making jokes about her giant vibrator. However the main issue with this book was Ford, the love interest. Using Corrie's thesis as his secret blueprint, sleeping with the daughter of a bigwig, flat-out stealing the dig.. no thanks.

This was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I'm so, so sorry it wasn't the book for me.

Thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura is a rom-com with a dash of action and adventure. The story revolves around rival archaeologists, Corrie and Ford. Corrie thinks that she's been asked to lead an expedition into the Mexican jungle in order to find the remains of her ancestor, an ancient Aztec warrior. Instead, she's now working with her nemesis from grad school, Ford. As the pair learn to work together, will sparks fly between them?

Here is an exciting excerpt from Chapter 1:

"This was the moment she’d been waiting for since the day she’d decided to become an archaeologist. Now that it was finally happening, it took all her strength not to launch out of her seat and accept the job without knowing any details—not that it would be the first time. But who cared about details after hearing those glorious words, words she’d longed to hear for decades:
Because you, Dr. Socorro Mejía, are the world’s most brilliant archaeologist and the leading expert on the subject, we want you—and only you, because no one else could possibly measure up—for an all-expenses-paid and no-expense-spared expedition to Mexico to search for the remains of the Aztec warrior Chimalli and the tecpatl sacrificial knife he stole from Moctezuma II when he fled Tenochtitlán right before the downfall of the Aztec Empire."

Overall, Raiders of the Lost Heart is an exciting rom-com take on the Indiana Jones series. One highlight of this book is how it has an interesting premise. The female main character is a professor of archeology, which is an occupation I rarely see in rom-coms, and the exotic location is also unique. Another highlight of this book is the use of the enemies-to-lovers trope, which is done perfectly. One final highlight of this book is the dual 3rd person POV, which I prefer to dual first person. I did take off 1 star because the book was a bit more sexually explicit than I expected. That might appeal to other readers though. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of rom-coms in general, I recommend that you check out this book, which is available now.

It took me a minute to write this review because I really didn’t want to. And I’m being so for real. When I first saw this cover and found out the title I was like HELL YES! As a librarian I’m a huge fan of the show The Librarians, and after hearing that this was something like it, I knew I needed to get this in my hands. But then when I got it, I was disappointed to say the least.

I’m just going to say it….Can we just stop with the academic rivals trope where the MMC steals the work of the FMC? And can we take it a step further and also say it’s especially heinous if it’s a yte man who takes the work of a person of color? Like can we just give that a rest? Because its just not sexy. Even with his reasoning behind it, it didn’t make me feel sorry for him, it made me pissed off even more. And like you KNEW your mom wouldn’t have approved of how you did it, but like you still did it anyway? Everything about that situation was terrible.

I also didn’t really like the dialog when it came to the two of them. Their whole attraction to each other felt hella weird. Like why did she put so much attention on the way he was drinking? It kind of weirded me out. And like, that wouldn’t be sexy on anyone? I have no idea what made her keep bringing that up lol And that first time when she just walked in on him and then said, “Can I see it?” or what ever she said, I cringed so hard. They sound like they were 13 years old! And these are people with PhDs! Idk it just felt strange to me and I disliked it a lot lol

The rest of this, like the action and adventure part was amazing. I totes felt the librarian/Indiana Jones vibes. I’m glad it wasn’t overshadowed by the weirdness of the romance tho. I just found it really weird how she was able to incorporate the legend and all the like information and side stories that came with it, but the romance itself was so weird. But I was glad that that part was still in the story. At the very least the entire book wasn’t lost. And I’m glad there’s something out there that has some kind of representation in academics. Especially in this type of academics. I really loved this part of it, but I was sad that I couldn’t REALLY enjoy it because I was too busy cringing on most things that was going on lol

This book was weird and I really didn’t like some things and really wished that others were more developed. There was a little mention of what MIGHT be a sequel at the end, and I’m interested enough in the adventure part to maybe check it out. Especially since we hopefully won’t have to hear about him stealing her work and then actively using it again. It should give the author some time to fix these things and move on to something else.

This was a very spicy, adventurous enemies-to-lovers romance that had potential but didn’t quite hit the mark. I felt like the two main characters were strong and I loved their tension and banter, but there seemed to be a bit of inconsistency in how they ran hot and cold on each other. It didn’t always make sense. I also felt like the plot surrounding the romance could have been stronger… the first half of the book was a little boring (we are digging in the wrong spot, got to find a different spot to dig) but then the second half (criminals, poachers, villains, etc) arrived without a lot of foreshadowing so it felt abrupt. I also felt like the bad guy came sort of out of nowhere because he was someone who had only been mentioned a couple of times. Overall, this was fun with a high spice level, but with some room for improvement.

Thank you to the publisher - I received a complimentary eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is everything as advertised, a delightful mix of the action of Indiana Jones, the sex appeal of Lara Croft, and the humor of The Mummy. All with a Latina MC who is as cool as she is badass. Also if you appreciate romances where the leads have conversations to work through problems, then this will be a gratifying read. Really excited to see what's next for this author.

From a conceptual standpoint, I liked the originality of the premise - Two archaeologists who've also been competitive with one another come together for a big quest. What I didn't like as well was ready about a "dude being a dude" and using his status to get ahead of a woman. I could see the threads of how the book was trying to center Corrie and her work and explain the true challenge of being a woman in a field overflowing with men and did appreciate that layer was present, too. I did really like how the action of their dig and the mystery of what they were trying to find (with a side order of deception) was infused in the story, and for me, that was probably my favorite part. Thanks to NetGalley for the look at this recent release.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me. I was expecting more of an action adventure romcom and that is not what I got. Also, Ford is awful. It was hard to find any redeeming qualities about him other than his apparent good looks. Sadly, I will not be recommending this one.

This was a fun romance with a completely new setting. I really enjoyed the archeology but wish there was a little more adventure.

I liked that this book dealt with archaeology! It is such a fun topic and one that is rare to see written about in fiction. I thought that it was a decent plot and the FMC was very sure of herself and I liked that about her. The dual point-of-view was nice as well since I like seeing how the MMC really feels! The one thing I didn't like was their romance though. I just felt like the enemies-to-lovers was very forced and it makes it hard to really enjoy the trope for me when it is like that.

Raiders of the Lost Heart is such a fun adventure romance! This book was so refreshing because it’s set in the jungle and features two archeologist MCs in their mid-thirties.


👩🏻‍❤️‍👨🏼 Dual POV
🏕️ Only one tent
🐍 Indiana Jones callbacks
💕 Academic/Professional Rivals to Lovers
📳 Multiple vïbratör appearances

This book also reminds me of one of my favorite RomComs: Fools Gold, starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. It perfectly captures the journey from hatred to passion. Corrie and Ford’s love story had all the perfect tension you could want and they definitely reaped their rewards 😏

I love the chemistry between the two leads. He's very grumpy but I get him. I love the plot of 'oh, this person you don't get along with actually went out of their way to get you hired for this position and is also doing backflips to make things as comfortable as possible.' It's funny. It's flirty. Just read it. How often do we get an adventure romance like this?