I can unfortunately already tell this is not the book for me. The characters feel stereotypical, the writing includes details that want to be “quirky” but read as annoying, and it doesn’t feel even a droplet realistic.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the ARC.

You know that moment when you think you're just going on a relaxing vacation and suddenly you're deep in a jungle, trying not to die, chasing ancient treasure, and somehow also falling in love with a hot, emotionally unavailable archaeologist?
No? Just Adriana? Cool.

Digging Dr. Jones is a whip-smart, jungle-swinging romcom that reads like if The Lost City and a Christina Lauren novel had a baby while watching Tomb Raider and sipping mojitos.

Adriana Jones, vacationing and mildly over it all, is gifted a totally normal gemstone bracelet. Except surprise! It’s enchanted (obviously), belongs to the wrong Jones (Andrew, not Adriana), and won’t come off. Kind of like your ex’s hoodie, but with ancient curses.

Cue Andrew Jones—Indiana Jones but British, broody, and built like the guy your mom warned you about. He needs the bracelet to find a legendary treasure in Colombia. Adriana? She’s along for the ride whether she likes it or not.

What follows is:
* Forced proximity: One tent. Too many feelings.
* Enemies-ish to lovers: They bicker like it’s foreplay.
* Spicy scenes in places no one should be spicy in: You’ll never look at an overgrown ruin the same way again.
* Bug-related comedy: Nature is not Adriana’s friend.

🔥 Why You’ll Fall Harder Than Adriana Tripping Over a Jungle Root:
* Adriana: Our sarcastic, glam-fish-out-of-water heroine is hilariously relatable. She is me. I am her. Minus the treasure hunt.
* Andrew: Emotionally constipated but deeply competent in a way that’s maddeningly attractive. Bonus: he blushes.
* The chemistry: Oh honey, it simmers. Like heatstroke but with tongue-kissing.
* The pacing: Like an action movie that accidentally wandered into a romcom set and stayed for the steamy dialogue.

Digging Dr. Jones is exactly what it promises: a laugh-out-loud spicy jungle romp that’s equal parts adventure and absurdity, with a hefty side of swoon. Think tomb raiding, tropical tension, and a heroine who’s one bug bite away from full meltdown, but still manages to deliver some killer one-liners.

If you like your romances sun-drenched, slightly cursed, and hotter than a campfire under a canopy of ancient trees, dig into this one.
Just don’t put on any mysterious jewellery. Seriously.

1.5 stars

I had hoped for a funny contemporary romance with a fun adventure and some archeology.

I didn’t get that. Or I did, kinda. But it wasn’t good and didn’t do it for me.

I was expecting to have to suspend belief a little, but I couldn’t do it. Multiple things took me out of the story.

If it wasn’t the suddenness with which this adventure began, (girl, you don't just travel with this dude you just met five seconds ago!) it was the writing, which was, I’m sorry to say, pretty awful. The dialogue was borderline juvenile, the “banter” was absolutely cringeworthy and the character building was next to nowhere to be found. Also: plot holes.

These characters just annoyed me. I especially hated our FMC’s insecurities about class. She just assumes that the MMC’s from better stock because he’s British?? Also, she’s mean. I get that this Brie character was a bitch. She absolutely was, but our FMC would put her down based on physical attributes, which wasn’t very girls’ girl of her.

Other than this I cannot even tell you anything about these characters. That’s how little these characters were established.

I feel like the author had a fun idea, but it unfortunately sorely lacked in its execution.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

With thanks to Netgalley, Harper Collins UK (One More Chapter) and the author, Olivia Jackson for a copy of the eARC to read ahead of publication.
3.5/5

The moral of the story, don’t automatically put on jewellery that arrives at your South American hotel room addressed to A. Jones unless you are sure you are the A. Jones the jewellery is meant for. So ensues a meet cute between Adriana Jones and Dr Andrew Jones, the good Doctor for whom the bracelet was intended. Said bracelet is now fixed fast to Adriana’s wrist. Lo and behold this forces them together in pursuit of untold riches. Queue an adventure to unravel the mystery of the bracelet while evading Russian-backed goons on a swashbuckly treaure hunt.

Digging Dr Jones began with a real Romancing the Stone retro feel. The confluence of ‘fish out of water’ and a quest with a splash of holiday romance set the scene for a fun read. The Spotify playlist was unexpectedly fantastic background music.

I really wish the author had leaned hard into the adventure storytelling. I felt their writing was stronger during the scenes where our main characters were figuring the clues out, being chased or in intrepid explorer mode. This is where we could have ramped up some much needed character tension. Our main characters were fun, but remained lacklustre throughout. I felt this blah-ness compounded the immature “he’s hot” insta-lust-love romance and the copious spice for spices sake (chapters 21, 23, 24, 25 plus other mentions). The spice lacked emotional depth and felt not only forced within the story but rather transactionary.

I particularly enjoyed William, Adriana’s brother and the fun he bought to the ‘team’. He was the ultimate romance enabler while somehow finding a bit of action himself. I’d love to think that William and Brandon could have their own adventure story in another book?

All in all, a fun, filler read that wouldn’t be out of place as read on the beach or train.

This book is a blend of adventure, romance, and comedy. It’s definitely a bit silly at times and not the most realistic, but it’s still entertaining. I wasn’t a fan of the “definitions” used in the writing style, and the FMC’s backstory lacked some depth and came off more as complaints (at least to me). That said, I really enjoyed the treasure-hunting aspect and found myself chuckling at a few scenes. Overall, it’s a strong debut, and I’m definitely curious to see what the author does next.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Rating: 3.5⭐️

3.5 ⭐️
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Adriana and her brother William are at a tropical resort on vacation when a package is delivered. Andrew is also at the resort, and he approaches Adriana to get his package back.
What follows is a meet-cute that turns into a fun, slow burn adventure rom com. (think indiana jones/national treasure vibes)

Overall, I really enjoyed this one!
Certain parts felt unnecessary to the plot, and the FMC's insecurities were a little over-used.

Tropes:
Forced proximity
Strangers to lovers
Slow burn with spice
Indiana Jones x national treasure vibes

This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. I liked the storyline. I haven’t read a book like it. It had me from the very beginning. The characters were funny and enjoyable. I would for sure read another book by Olivia Jackson!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC

I haven't gotten to this one yet and won't before the release date but i plan on reading later this year!

If The Mummy and Indiana Jones had a romcom baby!! This was so fun and entertaining, while also dealing with conversations about anxiety and the incredible bond between siblings. I loved the adventure aspect of this book so much!

Fine! A little corny, a little silly. But it certainly entertained. If you’re looking to breeze through a light romance with an interesting enough backdrop this is a good option! No regrets in reading it, but likely will never think about it again past today. Great fun for the chance to read the ARC and give it a go!

I'm sorry to say this book was just not for me. As a big fan of Indiana Jones and the Mummy, I was looking forward to a story with adventure and romance, but I really struggled with the writing and didn't connect with the characters. There were several passages that felt fatphobic, vocabulary that didn't fit the subject and felt distracting, lines like: "in my ribcage, someone released butterflies that were high on cocaine." Excuse me?

I love an adventure romance, and I desperately wanted to love this one. There were elements that I did enjoy. the treasure hunt in particular and Adriana finding her skill in helping uncover clues. For whatever reason though, I had a hard time feeling a connection to the romance side of things.

The setup was fun with Adriana receiving the bracelet meant for Andrew as a piece of the hunt he was on, and its role in forcing proximity between the two of them was a unique plot device that I enjoyed. I think I struggled to feel the chemistry between them because Adriana was consistently discounting her worth because of a history she had no control over rather than what she had achieved despite her rough start. She was vocal, internally and out loud, about their incompatibility and I didn’t feel enough from Andrew until later in the book to change her mind.

The adventure part of the book was exciting and interesting for me though. It kept me entertained and wondering what they would find next. I was also entertained by William and how he would inadvertently involve himself or disrupt the journey next. I loved the sibling relationship between he and Adriana as well.

I would definitely ready another Olivia Jackson book in the future based on her debut. I believe her writing has a lot of potential. Thank you to One More Chapter via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2⭐️ | Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins UK and One More Chapter for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

When I first came across this book and read the description, I was ecstatic. It was giving The Mummy vibes and sounded refreshingly different from a lot of recent releases.

I really tried to love this book—the plot and the bones were there—but it felt juvenile. It came off like a cringey mix of a YA novel with hints of smut that didn’t quite land. Some scenes felt unnecessarily sexual, and then there was that line: “In my ribcage, someone released butterflies that were high on c*caine.” What the heck was that? High on what?

I never truly felt the two main characters got to know each other beyond trauma dumping. The FMC was whiny, and her brother’s presence felt forced, in my opinion.

This gets two stars solely because I liked the cover and the concept. Someone out there might enjoy this, but it just wasn’t for me—between the lack of character development, juvenile writing, and poor understanding of archaeology, I couldn’t connect with it.

This was such a nice read - there was the perfect amount going on that you were never bored as you read, but not overwhelmed with too much. I found it the perfect book to dip in and out of while on a trip.

The characters had enough depth and all provided such good additions to the plot - no-one felt like they were there just for the sake of it.
The chemistry between Adriana and Andrew was so well done - the perfect amount of tension into flirting was done well on the backdrop of their adventure. William was by far my favourite character!

Would recommend!

A cute adventure rom com that was decent. I wasn't really connecting with either the FMC or MMC. However I liked the adventure aspect of it.

I really enjoyed this fun adventure romcom! It's like the Lost city, but with fewer crude jokes and more spice :) Obviously don't expect realism here: archeology in this book is illegally breaking into the church tombs and tracking through the jungle, while avoiding mafiosi henchmen. However, this is exactly what you would expect from a Hollywood film, and that's what this reads like. Highly recommend as a fun summer/holiday read.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc of Digging Dr Jones by Olivia Jackson! I was so excited to read this book. The cover is pretty and it sounded so cute, like an Indiana Jones love story. In this book, Andrew is an archeologist who needs a bracelet to open a treasure chest. Unfortunately Adriana is wearing the bracelet and it’s stuck so she’s forced to join Andrew on a quest for the treasure chest. This story started out great but I quickly lost interest. Andrew and Adriana have no chemistry and her brother is very annoying. However, I did like their adventure and found many parts unrealistic but entertaining. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting a quick, fun summer read.

Grab your fedora and your whip (...okay you don't need a whip) for this one! This literally refueled all my nerdy adventurous love for all the Indiana Jones and the Mummy movies while simultaneously giving me all the banter, passion, and romcom feels that I love! I had high hopes for this one from the description, and I am so happy to report that this took me on the romantic thrill ride that I wanted. With hilariously loveable characters, LOL moments, suspenseful treasure-hunting treks through the Colombian jungle, and swoon worthy romance with spice, this had everything and I literally lost sleep as it is unputdownable! Definitely add this one to your TBR!! Thank you so much to Olivia Jackson, One More Chapter, & NetGalley for the opportunity to review this e-ARC. This was easily a 5-star read for me & will definitely not be my last Olivia Jackson read!

Very cute cover and premises sounded really fun. Was expecting Indiana Jones meets National Treasure meets rom com but sadly this fell a bit flat for me. Writing did not pull me in and I did not really care much about either of our leads. Not for me but others might like it more.

Sorry had to DNF this one. The premise sounded really good and I was looking forward to a treasure hunt type adventure with romance. However the execution was not for me. Immediately put off when out mfc refused to hand back an item which was mistakenly delivered to her unless she was paid? MMC was doing absolutely nothing for me either which meant I was not invested in them at all.