A review by notsobinaryart
Raiders of the Lost Heart by Jo Segura

adventurous
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

If I hadn't been reading this book for a book club, I would have DNFed this book so many times. 

I wanted to like it so bad. Afterall, a romcom with a badass Latina archaeologist adventuring and researching her passion project into who might have been her ancestor? Sign me up! 

Unfortunately, the romance overshadowed any other part of the book, and the romance was my whole problem with the book. Specifically, the male main character, Ford.

Ford is the definition of a privileged mediocre white man. Everywhere he is in his career he steals from her. This is not an exaggeration of general white privilege, he specifically steals her opportunities out from under her. 

I was hoping, somehow, everything would be explained away, or at least that Ford would undergo a significant change. However, the reasoning and story behind his decisions didn't make me view his character any better, in part because we were explained too late in the story to feel empathy and in part because it seemed like there could have been better options to remedy his situation.

Beyond that, I see no romance between the two characters. They both show no actual romantic feelings, only constant lust and objectification, plus their constant hatred for each other. I'm an avid romance reader, so smut is not new to me; reading a romance that almost seems to center the male gaze, however, is a new one. 

If this had been a book focused on only the archaeology, adventures, and the struggles of being a Latina in academia and professional fields, this would be a very different review. So many themes were almost realized, but never truly completed seemingly in favor of the romance. 
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