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A review by popthebutterfly
Us in Ruins by Rachel Moore
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Disclaimer: I bought this book cause of a TikTok Video. Yay book community! All opinions are my own.
Book: Us in Ruins
Author: Rachel Moore
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: Bisexual side character
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended For...: young adult readers, romantasy, romance, fantasy, historical fiction, Roman mythology, rom-com
Genre: YA Romantasy
Publication Date: September 3, 2024
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, alcohol consumption, romance, neglectful parenting, parental abandonment)
Explanation of CWs: There is some violence shown in the book. There is one scene of alcohol consumption. There is a slight romance in the book and there are mentions of neglectful parenting and parental abandonment.
If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Paris
Synopsis: The mythical Vase of Venus Aurelia hasn’t been seen since 1932, but Margot Rhodes is determined to change that. Drawn by the vase’s supposed magical properties, Margot embarks on her school’s archaeological trip to Pompeii. Sure, it’s her first time holding a shovel, but she’s got something no one else does: lost teenage explorer Van Keane’s journal. Poring over the poetic entries that serve as a map to the vase’s missing shards, Margot finds herself falling in love with the boy who wrote it a century ago. She’s shocked when her search leads her to a statue that looks exactly like Van, and then the statue comes to life. Catapulted into the present, Van is nothing like the wordsmith Margot imagined. He’s all sharp edges, intent on retrieving the relic for all the wrong reasons. But it takes two to survive Venus’s death-defying challenges, and, together, Margot and Van must excavate the treasure—and their buried pasts—before their story ends in ruins.
With a blend of humor, magic, and love, Rachel Moore crafts another stand-alone adventure rom-com full of double- and triple-crosses, hilarious shenanigans, and frustration-fueled banter, where the best treasure is true love
Review: Overall, this is a really cool book. The book focuses on Margot and her pursuit over an ancient vase based on a diary of late-explorer Van Keane while she's on a school sponsored trip for archeology (a subject she's definitely not taking in school and her paper was nearly just fanfic involving Van Keane). Her faith in the power of this vase is proven when she not only finds one of the shards, but when she finds the statue of Van Keane himself. Her faith is further proven when Van Keane comes back to life, his pursuit of the vase still his top priority. The book was a nice archaeology journey with lots of twists and turns. The book was very Indiana Jones feeling and I really liked the limited time aspect of the book as well.
However, I did feel like some parts of the book were a bit too detailed world building wise? Like sometimes it felt like I was reading a history book instead of a romantasy. The book was also a bit too fast in places, especially during jumps between adventures to get shards of the vase. I feel like that could have been slowed down some as well.
Verdict: It was a fun read! I liked it!
Book: Us in Ruins
Author: Rachel Moore
Book Series: Standalone
Diversity: Bisexual side character
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended For...: young adult readers, romantasy, romance, fantasy, historical fiction, Roman mythology, rom-com
Genre: YA Romantasy
Publication Date: September 3, 2024
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 368
Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, alcohol consumption, romance, neglectful parenting, parental abandonment)
Explanation of CWs: There is some violence shown in the book. There is one scene of alcohol consumption. There is a slight romance in the book and there are mentions of neglectful parenting and parental abandonment.
If This Was a Taylor Swift Song: Paris
Synopsis: The mythical Vase of Venus Aurelia hasn’t been seen since 1932, but Margot Rhodes is determined to change that. Drawn by the vase’s supposed magical properties, Margot embarks on her school’s archaeological trip to Pompeii. Sure, it’s her first time holding a shovel, but she’s got something no one else does: lost teenage explorer Van Keane’s journal. Poring over the poetic entries that serve as a map to the vase’s missing shards, Margot finds herself falling in love with the boy who wrote it a century ago. She’s shocked when her search leads her to a statue that looks exactly like Van, and then the statue comes to life. Catapulted into the present, Van is nothing like the wordsmith Margot imagined. He’s all sharp edges, intent on retrieving the relic for all the wrong reasons. But it takes two to survive Venus’s death-defying challenges, and, together, Margot and Van must excavate the treasure—and their buried pasts—before their story ends in ruins.
With a blend of humor, magic, and love, Rachel Moore crafts another stand-alone adventure rom-com full of double- and triple-crosses, hilarious shenanigans, and frustration-fueled banter, where the best treasure is true love
Review: Overall, this is a really cool book. The book focuses on Margot and her pursuit over an ancient vase based on a diary of late-explorer Van Keane while she's on a school sponsored trip for archeology (a subject she's definitely not taking in school and her paper was nearly just fanfic involving Van Keane). Her faith in the power of this vase is proven when she not only finds one of the shards, but when she finds the statue of Van Keane himself. Her faith is further proven when Van Keane comes back to life, his pursuit of the vase still his top priority. The book was a nice archaeology journey with lots of twists and turns. The book was very Indiana Jones feeling and I really liked the limited time aspect of the book as well.
However, I did feel like some parts of the book were a bit too detailed world building wise? Like sometimes it felt like I was reading a history book instead of a romantasy. The book was also a bit too fast in places, especially during jumps between adventures to get shards of the vase. I feel like that could have been slowed down some as well.
Verdict: It was a fun read! I liked it!