Andrew Jones is in a mission to find the bracelet but he can't do it alone, Ariana must go along with him to find the bracelet.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Olivia Jackson and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review

📚 Adriana’s life is a mess, and a quiet holiday with her brother sounds like the perfect escape. But when a mysterious, gem-studded bracelet turns up without a note, curiosity gets the better of her. It looks harmless enough and no harm ever came from a pretty bit of jewellery, right?

⭐ When I got the email to say I’d been accepted to read and review Digging Dr Jones by Olivia Jackson I was absolutely ecstatic. I love all things Indiana Jones/National Treasure and I’ve never read an adventure romcom before so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

I’d like to start by saying I did enjoy this book! However I found the FMC frustrating at first. She came across as judgmental and a bit full of herself. The romance between Adriana and Andrew also felt like insta-love, and I would’ve liked a bit more of the his characters backstory.

Interestingly, I noticed a few similarities between the FMC’s mum and certain scent descriptions with those mentioned in a book by Emily Henry, but that could just be because I’d recently read it!

Overall, I thought the book was good. It was fun, exciting, and fast-paced. Some readers have said it’s a bit far-fetched, but I think it’s the same for most adventure stories in general.

If you enjoy spicy romcoms and are in the mood for something a little different, Digging Dr. Jones is a decent read!

I really enjoyed this book! I giggled at the banter, I held my breathe at the suspense and I rooted for the main characters the whole time! If you like Indiana jones and a good rom com you’ll love this book!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collin’s/One More Chapter for this e-ARC!

This is a wonderful debut!

In this book we get forced proximity along with touch her and d!€ vibes! While it is a bit insta lovey it didn’t really deter me.

I loved Andrew and his Indiana Jones vibes, he’s one capable dude!

New bucket list item: getting it on in an abandoned historical building! 😂😂

The story of Adriana and Andrew was just fun. Adriana is on vacation with her brother to escape the fact that she’s broke and her dreams of running her own business are on the line. Andrew is an archeologist searching for a long lost treasure. When Adriana puts on a bracelet intended for Andrew, she ends up linked to his mission and becomes his unlikely travel partner.
It was slightly unhinged (in the best way!) and so unlikely, but such a fun premise that it made for a delightful, easy read.
Their chemistry was apparent right away, they had great banter, and her brother was a fun addition to the storyline.
I give it a solid 3.5 stars, rounding it up to a 4.

This was a fun romance reminiscent of national treasure meets the lost city.

They did have a miscommunication trope which I don’t love but they did get over that quickly enough to not sour the book for me.

It was ok as a read, the FMC fell a little flat for me, she was written in quite an immature way with an odd relationship with her brother (always referring to your brother as his pet name of ‘handsome’ is a little odd). It’s just a fun little romance with a treasure hunt but I was more invested in the treasure hunt than the romance.

It’s pretty cheesy but it’s a fun read.

Digging Dr. Jones is a fun and easy to read adventure romcom. A mistaken identity results in a surprise adventure to find lost pirate treasure. The search for treasure added great dimension to the story. It was so much fun to sort through the clues with them and imagine the settings they explored- jungles, ruins, churches, crypts, underground passages, and more! It would make a really good movie! There is definitely some instalove but it is well done. Some of the dialogue is a little cheesy. The spice is really hot!

Thank you One More Chapter and NetGalley for this eARC!

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.