Isley gives a sweet addition to the Love universe with Love Quest. We follow Lana's best friend, Winter, on a tropical work trip with a cast of grumpy, practical, and flirty explorers. In an Indiana Jones-esque archeological adventure, we find death defying moments, beautiful character growth, and a strong, bad-ass FMC. I can't wait for more of the Love universe to develop!

Cute! I read it in one sitting and I’m just a sucker for a romance! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for access to this title!

A true to life "Indiana Jones" type adventure without all the cheap Hollywood stunts, this book made you feel the oppressive heat and all the dangers of the jungle. It seemed authentic to me with things I'd never even thought about (like snake gaiters and neoprene gloves for protection) making me understand the dangers the characters were facing. The vivid descriptions of the jungle, the challenge to clear a pathway, their discoveries, and the exciting trek back to base camp made the reader feel like a participant in the adventure. Was love discovered? Is there a future after the jungle for Winter and Logan? This book is so much more than a HEA RomCom, but readers won't be disappointed by the conclusion...other than it's over. That part was sad.

I want to thank Boldwood Books and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this book. Opinions presented about "Love Quest" are strictly my personal thoughts.

I could not finish this one because of the male character. His thoughts and description of the female character in the book ( I.e her “rack” turned me off completely. This one was a fail for me

Flashbacks to Indiana Jones movies!

Photographer Winter Knowles wasn’t expecting to find out that the gorgeous guy in the cabin next door was Dr. Logan Spencer, the leader of the expedition to search for a lost city in the jungles of Thailand and he didn’t want her on the search.

Dr. Logan Spencer just wanted to find the lost city of gold with his team but he was afraid that having Winter along would slow down the team but she ends up saving the day in the end.

I got serious flashback to Indiana Jones movies reading Love Quest because Logan and Winter team up to rescue themselves!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the author and NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

*Received a copy for review.*.
This book has serious Romancing the stone/The Mummy vibes.
There’s a list city in a jungle that an archeologist is taking an expedition to find. The photographer is not who he would have chosen because she’s way too hot for all the me to concentrate.
He’s grumpy because he has a job to do and she is distracting. She is not about to cower and hide from the asshat in charge.
There’s a temple, bad guys, running for their lives, a one man tent, and other adventure.
My only complaint is that it’s closed door.

Thanks netgalley for this arc!

I liked this book, it wasn't a wow book because I discovered the bad guys at the beginning.
But I liked to see Winter and Logan growing on eachother, it was a really cute romance.
Also, I loved Tucker and Archie.
And the airport scene was my favourite.

Even though this book wasn't a favourite I'm going to read Lana and Summer stories

If you combined The Lost City (highly recommend with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum) and Shotgun Wedding ( hot mess express with Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel) this would be the mashup. Those are the vibes I got from this insta-love (never going to be my favorite...) that only takes them 10 days from I loath you to I love you in a bit of a high-stress pressure cooker situation.

Camilla Isley is a new-to-me-author, so I pushed past the beginning when I would have otherwise stopped. Oh, look, another male academic that uses all his brains for science and none of it to not be a misogynistic jerk. I really wish this was not the crux of the enemies-to-lovers. Even though he apparently only acts like that because he's so attracted to her...

Of course he's an Adonis and she's a Victoria Secret model gorgeous (as is apparently every other main character *eye roll*) but despite what the story leads you to believe, the steamiest thing about this story is the humidity. So, if you like stories without the heat on the page, you're safe. If not ... be confused by the incongruity of the story.

Now the bad guys are pretty obvious from the beginning. Hey, look at those three; nothing suspicious about them... but it's kind of like those summer popcorn movies. Just sit back, be entertained, and give your hardworking brain a break.

Is it problematic? Yes. Is it entertaining? Yes. Love Quest , despite my grievances is still inexplicably fun to read.

Things I did not know:
Previously published in 2020 as From Thailand with Love ; is part of an interconnected stand-alone series, First Comes Love.

I thought I'd be getting a sweet love story with this one - but I was pleased with some pretty intense adventure and action in the life-or-death sense! It's giving Lara Croft/Indiana Jones vibes for sure. 2.75 stars.

Synopsis: Winter, a professional photographer, is in Thailand for work - an expedition to find a lost city in the forest. She's in a lovely villa before the "toughing it out in the jungle" begins. Winter looks out the window and sees a butt-naked, handsome man yelling at a monkey. The next day when she meets the expedition team - oh my, the attractive man is the expedition leader, Dr. Logan Spencer. Winter immediately senses that she can't stand him. But when the two are trekking through the jungle together and quite literally buried alive by some crazy ex-Special Forces security guys, she looks at him differently - and does he feel the same?

Look - this is a cute, quick read. But there were some serious inconsistencies. We have a huge section of the book learning about how dangerous the Thai jungle is and how seriously the group must take safety precautions like wearing clothing covering your whole body, having calf covers on for safety from snakes, extra intense bug spray, etc. Then we find out that the group that went searching for the lost city didn't bring bug spray in their packs (even though they knew they'd be spending the night at the site), or even the silly part of the book where the Logan and Winter romance begins and the two run out into the water naked to have a little sexy time and end up sunbathing in the nude on a rock. And the ex-Special Forces guys - you're telling me that three guys that were hired on to protect the group in this mission all had a secret agenda to kidnap and kill the group members to steal anything of value in the lost city - "because their retirement package isn't that good." I don't know, that was the main action point, and it all seemed a bit outlandish to me. I'm one of those people that notices issues in continuity in movies and stuff like that, so maybe I'm just being picky. I don't mind storylines/characters that seem a little "out there."

The romance was pretty abrupt, but I didn't mind it - and I enjoyed the banter between the two when they liked each other and even when they didn't. I felt like the tension between Logan and Winter in the first half of the book was a little much, but I suppose it gave way to the "hate sex" trope, so I'm here for it. I did find the beginning of the book to be a bit "eye-rolly" with tons of mentions about women needing to cover up on the job, Winter wearing a skimpy outfit to tease Logan, Winter eyeing Logan and how sexy his body is, all of the boys getting together and claiming who is going to sleep with her first...I just felt objectifying language like that never works, but hey, it contributed to the tension between Logan and Winter. I think the objectification affected my overall impression of the characters because they were introduced as experts in their field, and from the jump, they acted like stubborn, immature teenagers.

Overall, I love a Camilla Isley book, so I'm sad that this one didn't hit for me. "Love Quest" was a fun, quick read - you may have to suspend disbelief a bit, but the jungle setting is fun. The action got my heart pumping, and the writing was good and witty. There were just a bit too many objectifications and inconsistencies for me.

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

This was such a cute book! I absolutely loved it! The story moved along well without any big gaps or slow moving sections. I really liked the characters, I thought they were well fleshed out and were believable as a couple.

Love Quest is an updated version of From Thailand with Love by Camilla Isley. It is an enemies-to-lovers romantic adventure that could easily be made into a movie. While Love Quest can easily be read as a stand-alone, it’s a sequel to The Love Theorem.

Winter Knowles was introduced in The Love Theorem as Lana’s lifelong best friend who offered up her apartment when Lana broke up with Johnathan. She is currently estranged from her identical twin sister, Summer, due to Summer’s affair with Lana’s fiancé. Winter is a professional photographer who travels the globe on assignments. She is a tomboyish blonde bombshell who can hold her own against anyone.

Winter first sees her handsome expedition leader when he is naked outside her Thailand villa negotiating with a monkey. Dr. Logan Spencer is an Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist who lectures part time at UC-Berkeley. He has a chip on his shoulder from his longtime girlfriend dumping him in pursuit of her career and her subsequent important find in Egypt. Logan’s professional reputation is on the line since he has sacrificed everything to find a lost city of gold in Thailand. He doesn’t want any distractions.

When Logan and his best friend, Dr. Archibald “Archie” Hill first set eyes on Winter, Logan calls “dibs” on her because he wants Archie to stay focused on their project. Winter and Archie have some chemistry, while Logan just finds fault with her. Winter is very capable and quickly proves her competence to all of the men on their team. Shortly after they locate the lost city buried in the jungle, Winter and Logan are taken prisoner and forced to work together to escape.

Love Quest is an enjoyable romantic comedy with no profanity or graphic sex. The characters are so engaging, and the story moves along at a nice pace. Winter is an amazing woman, a highly capable photographer and expedition-teammate who is used to being dismissed because of her looks. Her loyalty to Lana is enviable, and her fear-nothing attitude is admirable. Logan’s character is less developed, but the reader knows him from his interactions with others in the story.

Archie and Summer, Winter’s evil twin, have their story told in The Love Proposal. I really hope that the author will write Tucker’s story, because he deserves someone to match his awesomeness. The airport scene with the bartender was a nice connection to The Love Theorem.

I received an advance review copy (ARC) from NetGalley and Boldwood Books for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

📖 ARC REVIEW 📖

Thank you @bookandtonic for an early copy of Love Quest by @camillaisley . I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. 🤍

Love Quest is an enemies-to-lovers romance between Winter and Logan. Travel photographer Winter finds a gorgeous naked man arguing with a monkey outside her Thailand villa and discovers he is none other than Logan, her standoffish jungle expedition leader, who’s on a mission of a lifetime to find a lost city of gold. He doesn’t need a distraction, especially not Winter, who’s sassy and beautiful as hell. During their expedition, they are forced together in the face of danger.

🛑Read on with caution; review may contain spoilers🛑

This novel has everything I love in a novel – there’s romance, of course, plus adventure and thrill as well! The expedition to find the lost city of gold was thrilling; I loved how Isley describes each scenario in the jungle from Logan and Winter’s perspectives like I could really imagine myself being there if only I was an outdoorsy person 😅.

I definitely enjoyed Winter and Logan’s natural chemistry and how they tease and challenge each other. It was fun and cute to see how they knew which buttons to push to tease each other despite only knowing each other for a couple of days.

I admire Winter’s character – she’s headstrong and doesn’t take bullshit; I also love that even if she’s scared, she pushes herself and faces danger especially when Archie and the other members of their expedition were held hostage and he needed antibiotics (there are other thrilling scenes in the novel, but I think I held my breath longer during Winter’s mission to get medicine from their supply tent without getting caught).

Love Quest is another easy ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars for me! This has been previously published as From Thailand with Love, and will be re-released under the title Love Quest on July 8th, 2023.

Ok this was an absolutely adorable 230 pages. I finished it all in a day. Easy read that was fun and only a lil predictable- in the usual RomCom way.

I wish there was spice. Only got a small mention and breezed over it. Mostly “making love” lines. For sure ok for my mom.

Part of interconnected stand alone series (this is the second one, but the first one I’ve read). Easy to follow story out of order.

Cover is deceiving because Winter is freaking awesome definitely Lara Croft vibes. I loved this treasure hunting vibe of this. So fun!!

Special thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this digital ARC.

*I received a free ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

DNF @ 7%

This book appeared to be everything I would love, but unfortunately I can’t get past my initial impression of Logan. The first few pages of his perspective are full of sexiest, misogynistic bullshit and it gave me the ick right off the bat. Sorry, but I won’t be finishing this one.

This is the second book that I have read in this series. It was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did the first one. I really liked Winter, but it took a while for Logan to grow on me and it made it hard for me to buy into the insta love between these two characters. The writing was very good and the descriptions of the jungle and the temple were both really good and made the book much more interesting. I am looking forward to the next book and Summer's redemption. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy.

Unfortunately, this wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, due in large part to the insufferable inner monologues of both the MC and love interest in the first half of the book. Thankfully, the story picked up at around the 60% mark, so it was easier to get through the rest of the book. BUT, then it dropped back off in a weird third act plot choice that felt a little contrived and rushed.

So yeah...

This was definitely a mixed bag for me. I will say that for that 20% in the middle, the book became a genuine page-turner, which is what's earning those three stars.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it was funny, fast-paced and entertaining. I loved how Winter and Landon turned from bantering to falling in love while fighting against bad guys and trying to survive in the jungle.
If you like fast-paced romances with a bit of adventure thrown in you should definitely read this book.

I wasn't a fan of this one. I got about 15% in and decided not to finish this book.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed Camilla Islet’s The Love Theorem. So, when I saw this on NetGalley I jumped right in. Love Quest did not disappoint! I had no idea what to expect in the book, but the romantic comedy version of Indiana Jones was pure gold! I loved every minute of this and did not want to put it down!
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5 (fade to black)
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley via the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up reading this one and finished in under 24 hours! This was the perfect, fun palate cleanser I needed after reading a book I didn't love.

Was it a perfect book? No, probably not to most people, but it was fun and exciting and I never found myself scoffing at it. It's silly and outrageous and just enjoyable.

Winter and Logan's enemies to lovers was rooted in a silly "hatred" but what brought them together did make sense.

Overall, this was a fun read and perfect for summer.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!