This novel is told through the perspective of four women all working on an archeological dig in Greece one summer. Elise and Kara are enemies, Z is back after being gone for a while, and Patty is a college student new to it all. The man in charge is also desperate to hide feminist history. These four must become friends to make sure it’s told.

This one was just ok for me. I didn’t love some of the characterizations - especially Patty. She seemed really naive, which I get was probably the point, but it was overdone I think. I also think it took too long to get to some plot points. There were parts I think could’ve been cut that would’ve made the read more enjoyable overall.

Take a virtual trip this summer to a Grecian archeological site with Kate Myers’ debut novel, Excavations. You’ll be traveling with Myers’ 4 inquisitive and evolving female characters, to a gorgeous Greek island setting, and will get an intro to archeology along the way.

The 4 women couldn’t be any different in background and personalities, but they share a need to discover, and in some cases, *make* history, with their summer dig under a famous professor. The theme of the book is female discovery, female athletics, female history, and a sisterhood (and several men) working together to make the right things happen.

I found the characters well written, the story interesting and satisfying, but subtle enough that it doesn’t fall down a single genre of romance, travel, or chick lit. It is just a great book and would make a nice summer read.

The author apparently studied archeology at Penn, and it was interesting to learn how these digs actually work. I’ve read that the imprint HarperVia that published Excavations is focused on more international locales and themes, which this is. Goodreads is saying the 7/4/23 release book has been picked for Reece’s Hello Sunshine book club (always female-centric choices), so congrats to the author. Maybe it will be put on the small screen in the future – I’d definitely watch!

The eARC kindle edition is 224 pages, so a quick read. 4.5 stars.

Thank you, HarperVia, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley, for providing an eARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

#harperviabooks #netgalley #Excavations #Katemyers

With humor and wit, Katie Myers delves into the world of an archeological dig in Greece, where 4 women of various ages and backgrounds come for the summer, and end up overturning the academic patriarchy and years of assumptions about sport and society. Dryly written, quickly paced and entertaining, recommend for fans of Amy Poeppel and books with strong female leads and friendships.

Excavations by Kate Myers is a story about four women brought together by a modern-day archeological dig in Greece. We get to know them, and their sometimes cantankerous relationships, in this quirky, feminist story. The dig happens annually, led by pompous academic, Charles. Through both fate and chance, the women uncover more than artifacts, and must come together to set thousands of years of history straight.

However, don’t go in hoping for an Indiana Jones-style adventure. The heart of this book was the women and their relationships. Elise, a no-nonsense, brutally honest dynamo, was my favorite, and the Greek setting was a nice place to spend time in.

The book’s start was little slow and clunky. A few of the characters felt underdeveloped and unclear. The perspective from the actual artifact was interesting but ultimately unnecessary. This was a realistic portrayal of what actually goes on during modern archeological digs, complete with shared sleeping quarters, sunburns, and clueless, undergrad grunts.

Although there were a few issues, I ultimately enjoyed the book. Fans of The Bandit Queens will likely enjoy this story of messy but redeemable female friendship. This one is perfect for summer reading.

Excavations releases on July 4, 2023. Thank you to HarperVia and NetGalley for the ARC. (Review will be posted the week before release).

I finished this book a few weeks ago and i can't stop thinking about it. It's the perfect book for summer: interesting mix of unique and quirky characters, rich descriptions and engaging plot lines that all weave together in the end. It's a story of friendship, romance and mystery that's both funny and thought provoking, and once your in the middle of the book you can't put it down. Thank you to Harper Collins and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book before its release!

Four women of different levels of experience, age, motivation, personality, and needs come together for an archaeological dig in beautiful Greece one summer. They hope to find hard evidence that the Olympics we still enjoy was preceded in history by a similar set of games with only women competing, while their male leader resists this perceived threat to his masculinity.

An interesting premise to be sure, but the author's writing style just didn't work for me. It is so fragmented, so dense, that I didn't find myself engaged with any of the characters, and I labored to finish. Others will most likely appreciate her style more than I did, but I was unable to enjoy this book.

My thanks to NetGalley and HarperVia for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

In Greece, an archeological field site is in the process of being explored, not for the first (or, most likely, last) time. This summer, though, five very different women are involved. There's Kara, desperate to prove herself and use her archeological experience as a springboard to a position at Christie's or Sotheby's; Elise, who has more expertise than most of the workers combined but gets only half the credit because she doesn't have the same academic degrees as the men in power; Z, stagnating in work and love and desperate for a reset and a new direction; and Patty, an undergraduate who is onsite to do grunt work and have an adventure, any adventure, that will get her out of the States and out from under her stifling family's home. (That's only four women, you say. True: the last woman's story is hers to tell, and hers alone.)

Read with tongue firmly in cheek, this is witty and incisive. It's a slim little novel, and at times the descriptions read like snarky character studies—these characters, with their quirks and flaws and petty moments, are never held on pedestals, even as they're banding together to turn the dig on its head. They're not always entirely self-aware, but the narration makes up for that. Meanwhile, I don't think I've read a book set at an archeological dig before (wait, does Caroline B. Cooney's "For All Time" count?), and this strips away any romantic notions I might have had.

I wavered between three and four stars, because if I try to take the book too seriously, the bad guy (I'll not spoil it, though it's obvious early on) is so cartoonishly bad—inflated ego, dishonesty, pith helmet and all—that, well, he *can't* be taken seriously. And yet...when I remind myself that success tends to blind people to faults, and most of the characters are allowed their cartoonish moments, I find it harder to mind.

For all the broader-picture material about gender and elitism and who writes history, my favorite parts of the book were usually found one or two lines at a time:*

"Six years ago, Z was on her hands and knees checking to see if an ancient priest had dropped anything from his toga pocket. Now half a decade, four jobs, and eight boyfriends later, she was on her hands and knees checking to see if, when the priest had dropped anything from his pocket, it bounced." (loc. 1554)

"He was a walking reminder of who she used to be and had an annoying suspicion she still was." (loc. 1599)

"He really talked like this, and people were really okay with it." (loc. 3108)

"It seemed to her that trust was when you decided to care slightly less about something in order to let someone else care about that thing a bit more for you." (loc. 3543)

"Z gave her a quizzical thumbs up from the driver's seat, and Elise returned a demoralized one, a lexicon that would have to do for the moment." (loc. 3652)

*I read an advance copy, so quotes and location numbers may not be final.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a free review copy through NetGalley.

2.5 Stars

The prepublication summary describes this book as a “breezy, hilarious novel.” I did not feel it fulfilled its promise and I do not recommend it.

The setting is a hilltop in Greece that was the alleged site of the original Olympic games before they were so named by moving them from Megalopolis to the city of Olympia. Four women from diverse backgrounds converge at the site for a summer of excavation in the trenches: a naïve undergraduate student longing for travel and adventure; a uncredentialed, highly experienced woman bitter over her lack of recognition; an ambitious graduate student seeking a position at a prestigious auction house after completing her studies; and a rudderless former student who moves from relationships and digs with no real purpose. Add to the mix is a brilliant graduate student unlucky in love and a self-aggrandizing professor who ruthlessly wields the power to make or break careers based on loyalty to him. None of the characters/personalities are particularly sympathetic and several are outright unlikeable.

The pace is at times agonizingly slow with a precipitous climax leading to a brief, but believable epilogue. I had difficulty engaging with the storyline due to the writer’s style. The initial chapters move from one character to the next with awkward transitions. It would have been helpful to label the chapters with the character’s name to signal the introduction of a new character and shift in perspective.

There are several redeeming aspects of the novel. First, the beauty of the geographical locale is visually and emotionally evocative. Second, I appreciated the author’s descriptions of the patience and dedication required to uncover the history buried under layer upon layer of soil and time. Lastly, the title is an interesting choice suggesting the excavations related not just to artifacts, but various aspects of the characters’ lives and relationships.

My thanks to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for the privilege of reviewing this book. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This review is being posted immediately to my GoodReads account and will be posted on Amazon upon publication.

4.75/5 stars! Author Kate Myers does a phenomenal job of describing the beautiful setting of Greece in this story. As someone who has visited Greece multiple times during my time in the Navy, I could smell the ocean salt in the air and almost taste the gyros while reading this story. I loved the message of feminist empowerment and friendship across this story. All of the FMC, Z, Elise, Kara, and Patty, were fully developed characters with their own motivations, and yet they managed to come together to support each other. A truly enlightening story and a great summer read.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Excavations is a story about four very different women on an archeological site in Greece. Elise is incredibly talented but oppressed and undervalued by her terrible boss. Kara just wants a gig at Sotheby’s. Z wants to get back together with Gary who is now unfortunately engaged to Kara. And Patty is rocking an amazing mullet and trying to fit in.

The dig site is unfortunately overseen by a professor who built his career on the fact that men invented sports in Ancient Greece. He begins to panic when it looks like an artifact discovered at the site proves that women founded the Olympics (and when his proteges are close to figuring out he may or may not be selling these priceless artifacts to the highest bidder)…

What a fantastic plot! The author manages to make reading about someone carefully brushing away layers of dirt thrilling! I loved seeing our leads figure out they had been pitted against one another as they realize how powerful they can be when they work together. It took me a while to get a hang of the writing style as the points of view switch often and at times the characters reminiscing or daydream abruptly. Overall, a very fun read with an unusual and entertaining story line.

Thank you very much to HarperVia and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

I thought this book was primarily a shout out to the dedication and accomplishments of female athletes, starting from the beginning of the Olympic games in ancient Greece, to modern times ( the author gives her thanks to Serena Williams, her hero, in the acknowledgements).

I liked that four women on an archaeological excavation in a small Green town ban together o challenge and expose the sexist male archaeologist, Charles, who has hidden and sold off key evidence that would disclose women and not men as the athletes in the location they are exploring, excavating. in Greece.

Information on excavation methods and procedures very interesting and insightful for the reader to understand the passion, not only of the female excavators but also the women who were the athletes and champions in long ago Olympic games.

There is romance and break ups in the novel, and a lot of good humor on the part of the author, This was an entertaining, informative, and intelligent read.