Title: Raiders of the Lost Heart
Author: Jo Segura
Genre: Adult, contemporary romance
Publication date: December 2023
Published by: Berkley
Source: Borrwed from library (thank god!)
Add it on Goodreads (I don't actually recommend you do though 👀)
Buy it (but don't actually 🙃): Amazon | B&N | Book Outlet | Thrift Books
Synopsis: Rival archaeologists must team up on a secret Aztec expedition, or it could leave their careers—and hearts—in ruins.
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.
Whoever keeps comparing this book to the movie The Mummy, please stop slandering that beloved movie in that way because this was nothing like that! 😭
This book made me so irrationally angry! No, you know what? It wasn't irrational because this book was just plain awful! I was so excited to read this book, especially with that cute title and cover. Plus the plot with all the Aztec stuff... yes, please! But the romance and objectification of the characters drove me insane! It was CONSTANT!! I nearly DNFd it but I pushed through because I'm stubborn and a completionist. Lol. But good god was this book bad.
I don’t even know where to start... since I mentioned the objectification, let’s start there. I like a romance book where the relationship has substance and the characters take the time to get to know each other. This book was not that. Let me tell you what this book was though, it was nothing but cocks and boobs and hearing how hot they are on every other freaking page! It was obnoxious! And the thing is, Corrie hates being objectified. She absolutely HATES IT! And I get that! I support her and her healthy sexuality and her right to be a smart archaeologist without being objectified. So tell me why she thinks it’s okay to objectify Ford? Make it make sense! Oh, but don’t get me wrong, because Ford was definitely worse! Here is a direct quote from the man himself:
The way he is so self-aware 🙃 I hate him.
And it's not just other characters that objectify her. This book is written in 3rd person and it is dual POV so we unfortunately get to be inside both Corrie and Ford’s heads, but I need someone to please tell me HOW it’s possible to objectify a character when she’s in a tent BY HERSELF just simply getting dressed! Because I don’t know how that’s possible, but this book fucking managed it! It was so infuriating! Here Corrie keeps saying how she hates being objectified, and the freaking book itself somehow manages to do it! Like??
So why didn’t I end up DNFing this book if I disliked it so much? Well, I was about 50% into the book when I was really considering this. But one of the reasons why I ended up pushing through was because of the Aztec stuff. I love mythology and I was very intrigued by the artifacts that they were searching for in this book. That AND this book was pitched as an adventure romance. I love adventure! And the one in this book sounded great! Except... there was no adventure. Did they search for the artifacts? Sure, but it was kinda boring. The premise was great, but it was honestly just a really sad excuse of a plot. It was pretty nonexistent throughout the book. At 67% we had the tiniest bit of plot development, but it was quickly moved on from. It wasn’t until 91% into the book that any action showed up... 91%! Romantic adventure WHERE? Certainly not here! It makes me so mad when a book tricks me into thinking it’s something it’s not! I was blaming myself when I first finished this book. I tried to lower my expectations, telling myself over and over that this was first and foremost a romance and an adventure second. But no, I’m not gonna blame myself for this. It was bad marketing! The Mexican authorities and smugglers mentioned in the SYNOPSIS literally don’t show up till 91% into the book! This is not on me! I was lied to! Lol.
Another thing about this book is that we are constantly told what a badass Corrie is... “told” being the important term here. We saw her do absolutely nothing resembling badassery throughout this book! But when the plot finally decided to kick in at 91% I was like, “Here we go! This is her time to shine!” Boy was I severely disappointed once again. I’ll tell you this, she’s no Gin Blanco.
Sigh. I miss Gin. I miss good books 😭 This book was bad from start to finish, but I’m not going to lie, I also stuck around reading it in hopes that it would get better and we would get some decent plot and action sequences. Friends, we got neither.
The third act conflict between the characters I saw coming as soon as it was brought up in the beginning. But that was not my issue with it. My issue was that Corrie forgave Ford SO FAST. She was in the right the be furious with him, he did a really shitty thing. But she ended up forgiving him because he’s hot and she wanted to have sex with him again 🙃 Corrie to Ford:
Me to both of them:
And like I touched on already, the climax was disappointing as well. Corrie wasn’t as badass as everyone said she was, the action sequences left much to be desired, and that ending...
I was SO excited to read this book. The story sounded interesting, I loved that the protagonist was Mexican American (I am too and I always look forward to reading books representing my culture), and I always love a good enemies-to-lovers moment. But this book was not it! The romance was just unbearable, which is not a thing you want to happen in a, you know, romance book 😬👀 Their relationship was established on nothing but physical attraction, attraction that felt forced at that. Like I mentioned earlier, when I read a romance I need the relationships to have substance and the characters to have actual personalities, something this book severely lacked. And the added layer of objectification was just gross.
Books like this are what make me think that I don't like contemporary romances, but I'm starting to realize that it's not me! It's these books! They are terrible! In fact, someone hand me a Lynn Painter book STAT! I need likable characters, a relationship with substance, and a swoon-worthy guy because this book just did not deliver 😭
To end on a positive note, if at all possible with this book, even though I hated this book I didn't give it one star. Why? I honestly don't know. Two stars just feels right. There was a moment, maybe two, where the characters were acting like normal human beings and having a normal conversation and I liked that. But it was literally like two moments, so. Lol. I also really enjoyed the setting, but more than that, I liked the premise SO much! And that's why I am so upset at how terribly executed this book was! It had SO much potential!
Anyway, my face is hot with anger so please excuse me while I go and Men in Black my brain to erase what this book put me through 🙃
I don’t even know where to start... since I mentioned the objectification, let’s start there. I like a romance book where the relationship has substance and the characters take the time to get to know each other. This book was not that. Let me tell you what this book was though, it was nothing but cocks and boobs and hearing how hot they are on every other freaking page! It was obnoxious! And the thing is, Corrie hates being objectified. She absolutely HATES IT! And I get that! I support her and her healthy sexuality and her right to be a smart archaeologist without being objectified. So tell me why she thinks it’s okay to objectify Ford? Make it make sense! Oh, but don’t get me wrong, because Ford was definitely worse! Here is a direct quote from the man himself:
It sucked that she didn't get the respect she deserved.
Then again... men like Ford were the reason she lacked faith in herself.
He'd ogled her more often than he liked to admit. Heard every single one of those "jokes" about her, even the Lake Titicaca one. Failed to speak up when another man sexualized her. Pictured her naked and definitely had inappropriate thoughts when he'd read that magazine article.
Then again... men like Ford were the reason she lacked faith in herself.
He'd ogled her more often than he liked to admit. Heard every single one of those "jokes" about her, even the Lake Titicaca one. Failed to speak up when another man sexualized her. Pictured her naked and definitely had inappropriate thoughts when he'd read that magazine article.
The way he is so self-aware 🙃 I hate him.
And it's not just other characters that objectify her. This book is written in 3rd person and it is dual POV so we unfortunately get to be inside both Corrie and Ford’s heads, but I need someone to please tell me HOW it’s possible to objectify a character when she’s in a tent BY HERSELF just simply getting dressed! Because I don’t know how that’s possible, but this book fucking managed it! It was so infuriating! Here Corrie keeps saying how she hates being objectified, and the freaking book itself somehow manages to do it! Like??
So why didn’t I end up DNFing this book if I disliked it so much? Well, I was about 50% into the book when I was really considering this. But one of the reasons why I ended up pushing through was because of the Aztec stuff. I love mythology and I was very intrigued by the artifacts that they were searching for in this book. That AND this book was pitched as an adventure romance. I love adventure! And the one in this book sounded great! Except... there was no adventure. Did they search for the artifacts? Sure, but it was kinda boring. The premise was great, but it was honestly just a really sad excuse of a plot. It was pretty nonexistent throughout the book. At 67% we had the tiniest bit of plot development, but it was quickly moved on from. It wasn’t until 91% into the book that any action showed up... 91%! Romantic adventure WHERE? Certainly not here! It makes me so mad when a book tricks me into thinking it’s something it’s not! I was blaming myself when I first finished this book. I tried to lower my expectations, telling myself over and over that this was first and foremost a romance and an adventure second. But no, I’m not gonna blame myself for this. It was bad marketing! The Mexican authorities and smugglers mentioned in the SYNOPSIS literally don’t show up till 91% into the book! This is not on me! I was lied to! Lol.
Another thing about this book is that we are constantly told what a badass Corrie is... “told” being the important term here. We saw her do absolutely nothing resembling badassery throughout this book! But when the plot finally decided to kick in at 91% I was like, “Here we go! This is her time to shine!” Boy was I severely disappointed once again. I’ll tell you this, she’s no Gin Blanco.
Sigh. I miss Gin. I miss good books 😭 This book was bad from start to finish, but I’m not going to lie, I also stuck around reading it in hopes that it would get better and we would get some decent plot and action sequences. Friends, we got neither.
The third act conflict between the characters I saw coming as soon as it was brought up in the beginning. But that was not my issue with it. My issue was that Corrie forgave Ford SO FAST. She was in the right the be furious with him, he did a really shitty thing. But she ended up forgiving him because he’s hot and she wanted to have sex with him again 🙃 Corrie to Ford:
Me to both of them:
And like I touched on already, the climax was disappointing as well. Corrie wasn’t as badass as everyone said she was, the action sequences left much to be desired, and that ending...
I was SO excited to read this book. The story sounded interesting, I loved that the protagonist was Mexican American (I am too and I always look forward to reading books representing my culture), and I always love a good enemies-to-lovers moment. But this book was not it! The romance was just unbearable, which is not a thing you want to happen in a, you know, romance book 😬👀 Their relationship was established on nothing but physical attraction, attraction that felt forced at that. Like I mentioned earlier, when I read a romance I need the relationships to have substance and the characters to have actual personalities, something this book severely lacked. And the added layer of objectification was just gross.
Books like this are what make me think that I don't like contemporary romances, but I'm starting to realize that it's not me! It's these books! They are terrible! In fact, someone hand me a Lynn Painter book STAT! I need likable characters, a relationship with substance, and a swoon-worthy guy because this book just did not deliver 😭
To end on a positive note, if at all possible with this book, even though I hated this book I didn't give it one star. Why? I honestly don't know. Two stars just feels right. There was a moment, maybe two, where the characters were acting like normal human beings and having a normal conversation and I liked that. But it was literally like two moments, so. Lol. I also really enjoyed the setting, but more than that, I liked the premise SO much! And that's why I am so upset at how terribly executed this book was! It had SO much potential!
Anyway, my face is hot with anger so please excuse me while I go and Men in Black my brain to erase what this book put me through 🙃
This was so fun to read! Quick question: how did you get the purple box and the show/hide spoilers button to work? I have a blogspot blog, too, and I can't figure it out. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThank you! Feel free to email me (lili.lost.in.a.book@gmail.com) and I can send you the html I use!
DeleteOh my gosh I totally agree with alllllllllll of this!!!! I couldn't finish it. I was so disappointed in this book because I'd been so excited to read it. You definitely put into words all that I did not. And I'm glad you did since you finished reading it. I always feel a little like I can't do this if I don't finish it. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLisa Loves Literature
You were stronger than me... I almost DNF'd it at 50% but I decided to push through. Honestly though, you didn't miss much 😂
Delete