A review by lizanneyoung
Digging Up Love by Chandra Blumberg

4.0

 

A book about a paleontologist and a baker with references to Jurassic Park and a date to the Field Museum? I’m in. 

The heart of Digging Up Love, to me, is how Alisha and Quentin handle their family expectations or what they perceive to be their family expectations based on their past trauma. Both have experienced things that unfortunately feel more and more common in today’s world and how that bleeds over into their budding relationship feels realistic to me. Does it make for some potential miscommunication? Totally, but it is the kind of thing that requires communication and feelings, and that isn’t easy for everyone. Both handle it as well as they can and it makes for a little invisible string between them.

I love that both MCs got to live their dreams to an extent. Quentin gets to do something any paleontologist would only dream of and Alisha makes her dream a reality, even if it takes a bit of prodding and hard talks with her family. And, they can do it together and support one another, which I’m always a fan of. I was a bit worried for them in the last 15% of the book, but I’m happy they could come together and neither one had to sacrifice their career in the end. 

I am 99% sure this book also spawned a new favorite microtrope for me. I won’t spoil it, but you’ll know it when you read it. It’s something I’ve joked about with my husband if he ever found a new mineral as a geologist, so it was so cute to see it happen here. 

This has made me infinitely more excited to read my eARC of Second Tide’s the Charm, a second-chance romance about marine biologists, coming out this August. It is easily one of my most anticipated summer reads of the year, and after loving Digging Up Love, I can’t wait to start reading.