This was the perfect blend of adventure and romance! It was a delight from beginning to end. I related to Miri’s struggles with self-doubt and her desire to prove herself. It was feel- good and action-packed all at the same time.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review. I felt like I was taken along this adventure through the Amazon rainforest! There was love, adventure, shock, action, and more in this read! It definitely gave me a today's generation's Indiana Jones vibe!

**3.5-stars**

🧡💜💚🧡💜💚🧡💜💚🧡💜💚🧡

Dr. Miriam Jacobs is on the most important mission of her life, to find Cidade da Lua, the Lost City of the Moon, in the Amazon rainforest. It's her first chance to lead an expedition and prove herself as a serious archaeologist. Rafael Monfils is a journalist who has joined the expedition, with the hopes of chronicling their search for the lost city, or at least that's what they think he's doing.

In truth, Rafael is on a mission of his own, and that's to stop the team from ever setting eyes on Cidade da Lua, thus protecting his mother's legacy. All he needs to do is keep them off the correct path. Once Rafa meets Dr. Jacobs though, he has a really hard time staying focused on his task. The more he gets to know her, the more he wants her to succeed. What's a guy to do?

As they get further into the jungle, it becomes clear they aren't the only ones searching for the Lost City. Soon, Rafa's mixed feelings and Dr. Jacobs's imposter syndrome are going to be the least of their worries.

Temple of Swoon was lightyears beyond Segura's 1st-book, Raiders of the Lost Heart, for me, to which this is a companion novel. I enjoyed these main characters, Rafa and Miri, soooo much more, though I still had some slight issues with it. Nevertheless, I am very happy I picked it up and am glad I took another chance on this author. If there's another companion novel, I'm def game.

It's funny, one of the things that I disliked the most about the Raiders of the Lost Heart was the female main character, Dr. Corrie Mejía. Going into this I thought, it's fine, this one follows different people, you won't have to deal with her. While that may be true, at the start of this book, as we're meeting our new female lead, Miri, we learn she is sort of a mentee of Corrie in the archaeological space, and Corrie handpicks her for this position.

At the start, Miri goes on and on about how drop-dead, off-the-charts, hot Corrie is. No other woman ever has, or ever will, compare to her. ((puke)) That was one of the things that drove me nuts about the 1st-book, and here it was, rearing it's ugly head yet again!!

Luckily though, that trend did sort of peter out as the story went along. I did like how quickly this kicked off as far as Miri and Rafa's meet cute. I liked their chemistry from the start and enjoyed watching their relationship grow. The way this author writes sex scenes are not at all to my tastes, they're definitely more ewww than awww for me, but what I did appreciate here was the genuine conversations that Miri and Rafa had.

I liked the more serious sides of the story a lot. We delved into Miri's insecurities, as well as Rafa's family stuff and I felt that was very well developed. Overall, I enjoyed this so much more and am really glad that I gave this author another shot. I feel like if her work keeps progressing we could have a real win with the next book. I'm looking forward to it!

Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me a copy to read and review. I enjoyed this romantic adventure!

I adored the first book in this series and this one lived up.
I think I liked the characters in this one even more.
Miriam is adorable and way more realistic for me than Corrie.
It has drama, tension, spicy bits, adventure and snacks.
Totally recommend.
Much love to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing Group for my ARC.

"Temple of Swoon" is a thrilling and adventurous story that combines elements of "Indiana Jones" and "Romancing the Stone." I enjoyed the slightly sarcastic female protagonist who is determined to rescue herself and the love interest who learns from the past while forging his own path in life. This companion book to Jo Segura's first novel, "Raiders of the Lost Heart," is fast-paced and easy to read, offering a delightful mix of quick wit and a sense of archaeological adventure.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Jo Segura, and Berkley publishers for the opportunity to read and review. Three and a half stars for me.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, Temple of Swoon was all kinds of cute. In this, you will meet Miri and Rafa. She dreams of becoming a badass archeologist one day, just like her mentor. He is a journalist joining the archaeological team on the adventure to find the lost city. Together, they just might end up being the best team ever or completely awkward. It's a toss up for sure.

Let's start with the romance between these two. Sure, I could see the crushes on one another in the beginning, but it did take me a while to get on board with them becoming a couple down the line. Mostly because we (the reader) know that Rafa is lying to her but doesn't want to. So, I'll admit that I just kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for her to find out the truth. Eventually these two ended up winning me over, and I really enjoyed them being a couple.

On top of that, we had so many secrets throughout this. Mostly revolving around Rafa and his father. I just didn't trust him and knew something was fishy. It's safe to assume that I wasn't expecting the giant twist so much, but it definitely made so much sense!

In the end, I loved the Lara Croft and Indiana Jones vibes throughout this. Miri and Rafa ended up being rather cute, and I wish them luck on their next adventure: marriage and becoming plant parents.

As a kid, I loved the Indiana Jones movies, so I was excited to read a rom com about a female archeologist discovering a lost city.

While I enjoyed the first book in this series, I thought this one lacked some of the action and tension of the first. The main characters seemed to fall a little too rapidly for one another after less than 48 hours. Then, when they were together, I didn't think they had much chemistry. I also thought that a lot of the elements of the plot were too much like the first book. I began having déjà vu.

What I did love was the lore behind this expedition and the various clues they found along the way. I wish we were able to delve deeper into this and the mysterious guardians of the lost city. I'd read more about that element of the story.

Interconnected Series: Can be read as a standalone

Adored the dedication: “To those who think they aren’t enough. You are. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

This book was my first read from the author. It is an adventurous expedition to find the Lost City of the Moon through a Brazilian rainforest, mixed with banter between the main characters, clever and witty archeologist Dr. Miriam Jacobs (Miri), and Journalist/Photographer Rafael (Rafa), who is on a secret mission.

If you love adventure or Indiana Jones-inspired stories, this is for you! It was a cute and fun read.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Berkley Pub for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

This was so much fun. There was banter and adventure and shenanigans galore. I love the push pole between the characters and how they find themselves getting closer through all of the obstacles that they face. It’s a really fun entertaining book.

Soooo the premise of this book was so fun and SO CUTE...

However....

It kind of draggeddddd and although the characters were cute and their banter was fun, I couldn’t get into the story as much as I wanted.

The ending was really cute though and that was a really clever way to end it!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for this Advanced Readers Copy of Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura!

Let me tell y'all how much I absolutely adored this book. I read the first one in the series (Raiders of the Lost Heart), and it was fine, but this, THIS was such a wonderful read. Miri is put in charge of an expedition to find the Lost City of the Moon. Many have tried, and no one can quite figure it out. Rafa finds his ways to the expedition, too. The only thing is that he's there to sabotage the mission due to his family's connection to the city. So, Miri and Rafa have a very real attraction, but the secrets are still there. What I loved about this was that it had so many things - It had great humor, romance, and some twists and thrills along the way, and it was just the best blend of "stuff" to make a read that I couldn't put down! Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for the look at this January 2025 release!

A really speedy and adventurous romance read. Both of the books in this series are such fun and I highly enjoyed the banter between the main characters in this one. Pringles for the win!

I truly cannot get over these archeologists love stories. I LOVE everything about them, but ESPECIALLY the vibes.

I know it took me a while to post this, but thank you so so so much to the author, publisher, & NetGalley for the early access!

Unfortunately, I had to DNF this book at around 20%, by biggest issue being the way Jo Segura writes her characters.

I had a similar issue with the first book but still wanted to give this one a chance since the premise for both was so interesting. It's disappointing for a romcom's potential to be wasted because it feels like it was written by a man.

I may still come back and finish this book and I will update my review in the event that happens, but I'm definitely letting it go for now.

I really enjoyed the humor and tension from Segura’s debut adventure romance book, Raiders of the Lost Heart, but unfortunately the follow-up/spin off fell flat for me and I struggled to get through the book.
The pros: very fun meet disaster, flirty banter, insta-lust, forced proximity, somewhat ‘forbidden’, and a unique archeological setting.,
The cons: the banter/innuendos bordered often felt immature, insta-lust was believable, but the love/HEA didn’t have me convinced, and the action peaked at the opening of the book.
Overall, I think younger readers (New Adult?) who are looking for a unique adventure rom-com will enjoy this book, and I will absolutely be interesting in reading what Segura writes next, but this one just didn’t work for me.

3 stars.

I was really looking forward to "Temple of Swoon" by Jo Segura because I loved her last book "Raiders of the Lost Heart." Unfortunately, this follow-up is a little disappointing. It's not bad, it's just sort of underwhelming. It starts with a bang, thrusting the characters together in the traditional and comical Jo Segura fashion. From there, it turns into an insta-lusty/insta-lovey action adventure romance that's actually shockingly timid and even a bit boring. On the plus side, this book can be very funny at times. The banter between Miri and Rafa is good, but there is still a distinct lack of spark between them as a couple. They felt more like flirty friends with benefits than lovers. I did not ever believe they were end-game despite their HEA. It felt more like "we've been thrust together at work and are both insanely attractive, so let's make do with what we've been given in this exotic jungle landscape where no one will hear us scream." I would rather have pining and yearning and longing as opposed to spice at that point, and that was lacking here. It's not overly long, though there are a few places in the narrative where it seems to drag. All in all, this one was unfulfilling, but I will still read whatever Jo Segura writes!

Thank you to NetGalley, Jo Segura, and Berkley Publishing Group for the complimentary ARC of this book. All opinions are my own. I was not compensated for this review.

Oh boy this book was a let down. I wanted to give this book an honest chance because I’m a big Indiana Jones fan and I want to support Latinx authors. The characters are immature especially the FMC. Pointless scenes to force alone time with the 2 main characters. Cheap sex jokes/innuendos that even a teenager would have thought them lame. Lastly, the FMC is American & white and the MMC is half Brazilian but did not grow up in the culture or with the Brazilian parent or in Brazil. So for me this book didn’t have any real Latin Rep. It felt more like checking a box. I say pass on this book.

Temple of Swoon is the second book I've read from Jo Segura, and it was a fun and interesting read. It brings readers back to the action and adventure of archeologists making interesting discoveries while finding romance at the same time.

Miri and Rafael have a bit of an awkward meet cute but the attraction between them is instantaneous. I thought they were well matched and lots of fun together. I didn't love some of his actions and initial motivations, but he grew on me as the story progressed.

This story felt like a rom com movie and the plot moved at a good pace. I loved getting another story with characters in a unique setting with interesting jobs and interests. It all made for a fun read and I can't wait for Jo's next book!