Review copy was received from NetGalley. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura Published by Berkley on December 5, 2023
Genres: Romance
Format: eBook
Source: NetGalley
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Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally.
It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true...and she’s right.
As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But Dr. Ford Matthews has been finding new ways to best her since they were in grad school. Ford certainly isn’t thrilled either—with his life in shambles, the last thing he needs is a reminder of their rocky past.
But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries—and lingering attraction—under wraps. With money-hungry artifact smugglers, the Mexican authorities, and the lies between them closing in, there’s only one way this all ends—explosively.
An adventure romance with strong winks at all the big adventure romance movies? You betcha I was going to snag this up. The promise of a heroine of Aztec descent, a rush to recover the artifacts, and a firecracker of a romance from a new to me author ratcheted up the pre-read excitement.
Raiders of the Lost Heart did indeed play to a few classic adventure romance movie strengths, had a solid historical backdrop for the artifact hunt, delved into the struggle women in the archeological field face to get ahead, a woman confident in her sexuality, and gave an interesting cultural background for the heroine.
But, I ended up with mixed feelings because there were all those wonderful things I mentioned previously, but I had some issues with the romance and behavior at times of the romantic pair. If their antagonism had been about him getting her job and then now needing her to save his bacon, that would have worked as an enemies to lovers conflict for me, but that extra grudge she had about him blowing up a past relationship made no sense since a few dates and a kiss don’t make a relationship to me. Ford’s ‘why me’ attitude when he had breaks that Corrie didn’t get made it tough for me to sympathize with him. Then there was the trite romance dialogue once they did start to iron out their differences that left me flat. Things picked up in the romance when the action element finally kicked in and I must say these two were sizzling with the sexy times.
As to the adventure element, I was somewhat disappointed. I confess this is partly because of my own anticipation. About two-thirds of the book was mostly contemporary romance set in jungle and then turned into action at the very end. I was thinking the action would get going much earlier. Corrie pulled a couple dumb moves that created action when she needed rescuing, but the last part of the book was admittedly thrilling and made for a fab finish that left me hoping more adventures would come along for Drs. Mejia and Matthews.
I enjoyed the author’s note that delighted me with explanation of what was fiction and what was fact since I do love learning about archeological discoveries and how they advance our historical knowledge.
And, so, while it may seem I was very disappointed, this was not the case. I think if one anticipates going in that the romance struggles and hashing out personal issues are the main focus at the start and the action adventure side will be low key and not kick into high until later then this will be a more satisfying read. Once again, kudos for giving readers a heroine, ethnically diverse, representing a woman academic, tough and capable in an exciting jungle adventure. Adventure romance fans will also get a kick out of spotting iconic movie nods and likely find Raiders of the Heart worth tracking down.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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I love the colours on the cover. It sounds like it was an ok read despite the issues you encountered.
In retrospect, I should have mentioned the fun element of it being a tribute to adventure movies. It had the tone even if I struggled to adjust my expectations for what I got. 🙂
Sophia Rose great review, I love the play on words of the title too
Oh yeah! That caught my eye right after I spotted the cover. 🙂
Adventure and romance is a fun combination. I want to read this one…even if it’s not perfect.
Totally worth a read, Lark. I suspect others will enjoy it a lot and I think I’d like it even more as a re-read when my expectations were different.
That cover is too cute!
Definitely a strong hook. The Mexican jungle adventure story running through my mind as I was reading matched it, too. 🙂
Yes, I was thinking this had more adventure, too. I’ll re-set my expectations. I hope to pick this up soon. Thanks for the review, Sophia!
Yeah, the adventure builds slowly in the background of the romance with spikes of action and then in the last part it switches and the adventure is dominant. Had I realized, I’d have probably been fine with the structure, but I was imagining a big Indy prologue scene, LOL
I’m glad you enjoyed it even with the problems you had with it.
Yes, it had a lot of good going for it, too, Mary. 🙂
I love the theme and the name, but yours isn’t the first review I’ve read that doesn’t love this one, so I think I’ll pass.
Yeah, definitely some flaws, but also good parts if you ever want an archaeology jungle adventure romance. 🙂
The good sounds very good but the antagonism issue does sound annoying. I’ll give this a try but thanks for the heads up!
Yeah, forewarned is forearmed and all that. 🙂
How cute!!
I was so glad to come across this one. I’ve always been a sucker for adventure movies that involve archeology. 🙂
I wanted to love this one so bad, but ended up DNFing because of some of the same issues you had with it. Plus there were a few cringy moments with how the romance played out in the parts I got to. The archaeological parts were cool, and I wish I would have enjoyed it enough to finish and get all of that. I might go read the author’s note just because of what you mention here. Great review!
Yeah, I’m not surprised you tossed in the towel on it. There were moments I was ready to. Yeah, her note was great for explaining the background of the archeological side which was interesting.