I adored this book and adore this author. Lara Croft meets Indiana Jones in the steamy jungle (in more ways than one!) I loved the adventure. I loved both the strong and sassy FMC and her dashing counterpart in this enemies to lovers story. There were several times I thought I knew who the "antagonist" was but had it wrong! We love a strong woman, in character and in writing. I cannot wait to devour more from this author...and in this universe!

Thank you to Jo, Berkley and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. All thoughts given freely are my own.

This started so well! Great emotion, dealing with grief and anger, and fantastic chemistry, but it fell apart. I liked the dual point-of-view and the leading characters in their thirties and I wish the story had the follow-through to make it work.

A couple of elements ultimately ruined the story for me:

I liked seeing Ford regret past actions and the internal challenging of his sexist thoughts and assumptions, but ultimately nothing comes of it. Why do Ford and Corrie fall in love? Why does Corrie suddenly want a relationship? It seems like Ford learns nothing and doesn't respect her at all.

I enjoyed the setting and the start of the adventure, but it dissolves into a painfully cliche villain reveal and climax scene. The last couple of chapters are cringingly bad and kill the story. The plot fell apart so badly!

eARC provided via NetGalley for review.

This book was a blast!! The author mentioned that she grew up loving The Goonies, Temple of Doom and like and … same! This book 100% had those vibes. It was also opposites attract, despite both MCs being archeologists. That is my catnip. Also… there was only one tent. Loved the Latine rep in the FMC. Can’t wait to keep going in this series. I listened to the audio and really enjoyed the narrator as well. She had me laughing out loud several times. Excellent debut!

I wish in another life that I was an archeologist. The Mummy is one of my favorite movies, I was at one point a history major, and books like this make me swoon wishing I was the FMC.

This was such a cute, adventurous, humorous and fun read. Corrie is called in to help on a dig site with her college nemesis, Ford. Who is indeed named after Harrison Ford. Their butting heads and tension made for some good flirting and banter through the jungle. I liked the throwbacks to where they were in college building on how they got to where they are now, and why they “hate” each other. Each are struggling with their own problems with family and work, and why they want to be the one to find the lost artifacts. This one kept me giggling and enjoying the ride of the story.

Read if you like…
🥾Academic Rivals
🥾Only One Tent
🥾Toy Jokes
🥾Adventure in the Jungle
🥾He Falls First

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC for review!

Perfect for anyone looking for more Indiana Jones/The Mummy/Lara Croft Tomb Raider in their life.

Corrie is struggling in her profession as an archeologist because she is not taken seriously. Corrie finally gets a chance to go on a dig for an artifact she has been looking for for quite a long time. When she arrives she finds out her enemy is actually leading the dig. I think from there it is pretty easy to see that this is an enemies to lovers.

My only critique is I wanted more adventure and a little less cringey oversexed Corrie moments.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have mixed feelings about this one. For one I enjoyed the writing of this book and will read more from this author in the future.

On the other hand, we have Ford, and I just did not like him as the hero; which made my reading experience a bit hard because I was not rooting for him at all!

Adventure awaits at every turn in this thrilling archaeology romance-mystery! Forget the hat, whip, and Dr. Jones—meet Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejia, who’s supposed to be leading the charge to unearth an ancient Aztec warrior. But plot twist! She’s stuck working with her nemesis, Dr. Ford Matthews. Cue the dramatic music.

With the dig site under constant sabotage, Corrie and Ford must join forces to locate the Chimalli site and fend off greedy artifact smugglers. As they team up to save the day, they discover they have more in common than just their mutual disdain.

Growing up with Indiana Jones and Romancing the Stone, I’ve always been captivated by archaeology digs and hidden treasures. Jo Segura delivers non-stop action and characters that leap off the page. I adored every moment of this novel and can’t wait for the next one. Segura’s heroine is fiery and full of sass, making you cheer for Dr. Corrie through all the twists and turns.

This had all the making of my perfect read, but the execution really fell short. Our FMC was such a caricature of a sexy latina that it felt written by a man (derogatory). Also naming her sex toy after a children's entertainment character was incredibly off-putting and in poor taste.
Over-all this is a 'PASS' and I do not plan to pick up the next book in the series.

Latine Heritage Month

Cuter than anticipated, but not without its problems. I tried to go in with just vibes, as I needed a lightish romance after some of the heavy stuff I've been reading.

Corrie is an archaeologist that isn't taken seriously because (1) she's a woman, (2) she's Latine, and (3) and she has big boobs. The latter are mentioned a little more frequently than necessary. A magazine photoshoot is mentioned.

I won't go through the ins and outs of why I'm tired of white love interests, and while Ford was mostly fine, there were still some moments where I was like, "WTF?!"

Those are my complaints, but I swear, I truly did enjoy this. It's wonderful to see a BIPOC woman in a role usually only seen for white men. I love Young Harrison Ford (I actually also love Old Harrison Ford), but some diversity is needed in this industry, film portrayal or not.

It gets spicy, and I loved every second of it. I also love how before it got spicy, they talked about sex, and how a lot of their past sex was mediocre. We do not talk about mediocre sex enough in books. Look, I'm all about escaping, but can we also be real?

The mystery and adventure part of this was less exciting to me than the romance, because that isn't what I was here for, but I still enjoyed following along until about the 90% mark. The reveal was a little meh, and so was the resolution.

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley

Indiana Jones but make it a proper romance (not one where there is a heroine or love interest that is mysteriously gone in the next movie or results in a child that she never tells him about). This was just a fun book, and I really appreciated how real it felt. For those of us who were a little in love with Indy when we saw the movies, this is the perfect book for us.

Unfortunately, this Adult Romance was way more ewww than awww for me. As in, complete cringefest. I am sooooo glad it's over!!!

Let's start with what I liked. The cover is adorable. It immediately made me what to pick this one up. I love the colors and how cute both of the characters look. It's also giving strong adventure vibes. I also enjoyed the very beginning of this story. I appreciated how quickly it kicked off. The author didn't waste any time with filler stuff. We're immediately swept away with Corrie as she's pulled into an expedition in Mexico. Finally, I do tend to really enjoy the academic rivals-to-lovers trope and it seemed obvious that's where this was going, which I was excited to see play out.

Very sadly, this is where my likes end. I won't give you the full list of dislikes. I'm not looking to turn anyone off from giving this book a shot, but I do like to keep it real with my personal reading experiences in my reviews. After the successful set-up, nothing really happens. I was waiting for something to happen, something more than pointless bickering between our mains. Then they started hooking up and I WISHED WITH ALL MY HEART we could go back to nothing happening.

The steamy bits are soooo not to my tastes. I was legit yelling, 'ewwwwwww, make it stop' at my audiobook and I'm not even joking. I wish I was. Descriptors like 'lapping' --- just don't and I def don't want to hear about smooth, VEINY skin. Before y'all come at me, it wasn't just the steamy bits though, although that was huge part of it. I also hated both of the main characters.

Corrie was so annoying and I was beyond sick of hearing about how hot her body was and what horrible problems that caused for her. Her stunningly jaw-dropping double-Ds and taut ass had plagued her her whole life. Poor thing. Ford was a jerk, who would fly off the handle over nothing and I detested the way they interacted with one another, both when they were fighting and then when they were all over each other. It was completely cringe. There's honestly not a better way to describe it.

Alas, I am moving on and will wrap this up with the same thing I say every time I write a not so positive review:

Just because this didn't work for me, doesn't mean it won't work for you. There's a Reader for every book and book for every Reader. If this sounds good to you, check it out. If you love it, please come back and tell me how wrong I am!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I never give up on an author after one try, so would consider picking up more from Segura.

This was such a fun fast read and I love the enemies to lover’s trope. I loved the premise of this book since archeology is my jam and I loved the nod to Indiana Jones and romancing the stone which are some of my favorite movies. Their adventure in the jungle of Mexico was really fun and the chemistry between the characters was great.

Thanks to Berkley and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

This was meh. I really thought it would be more like Romancing the Stone meets The Mummy and Tomb Raider but it fell flat! The romantic aspect of the story was just alright.

This was a fun and fast read. I loved both the characters and how they learned and grew with their flaws. There was adventure and it made me want to get back into history books. Just fun all around.

I'm a sucker for a good pun title and this book also delivered on chemistry. It was a good light fluffy read and enjoyable

This was a fun summer adventure that transported me to the jungles on a wild wondrous and amorous adventure. This had everything that I look for in a reading getaway including the banter between the leads that draws me and keeps me turning pages.

this was so so good! it was cute and STEAMMYYY i was not expecting the dual POV at all and i think it added so much to it! i can't wait until the next one in the series!

This was so cute and funny! The two main characters had such great chemistry right from the beginning. I've never read anything by Jo Segura before but I will definitely be checking our more of her work!

When I go into a romance, especially one pitched as a romantic comedy, I'm weary. I think it's a difficult thing to balance, the realistic pacing of a romantic plot line between two people who don't really like one another to begin with, alongside the humor needed to make it a comedy. I think this one really faltered when it came to the romance. The comedy was the highlight of this book for me. I didn't really understand the characters feelings or thoughts because their actions didn't align with anything they would say or do. I also feel like the chemistry wasn't there at one chapter, and then the next it was in our face and I just didn't buy it. I think this premise was fantastic, but the execution wasn't for me.

This review is hard for me. I'm not sure what I would rate it. I keep going back and forth in my decision. I think the book was good. At times it seemed to be a bit too long. At times I was hooked. At times I really liked Ford. As someone who just lost their mom to a terminal illness I get why he did what he did. But at the same time he made me mad.