Colby Wilkens' If I Dig You is tackles one of my favorite tropes, friends to lovers.

If I Dig You depicts two queer archeologists that have been best friends for sixteen years and then, Lou makes a life-altering decision to break off her engagement and take a job on a dig site in Turkey, leaving behind Isi. Lou and Isi avoid each other after Lou returns, but then, one day, they are pulled back together after Isi finds her mom's journal filled with legends of lost Cherokee gold. Lou and Isi are forced to confront their feelings for each other, both as friends and something more non-platonic, as they search for the missing gold.

This book definitely has its spicy moments sprinkled throughout what I'd call a mix between National Treasure and Indiana Jones. I do feel like we could have had a little more action and a little less of antagonizing over whether to make the move from friends to lovers. Overall, this book has potential and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a spicy treasure hunting story.

Thank you NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for this ARC. I had read this, thought it was okay (some issues with the writing and the characters and their questionable decisions). However, due to this author’s actions, I don’t feel comfortable reviewing or promoting this.

I will not give feedback at this time since it has been pulled from publication. If anything changes, I will come back and provide a review.

DNF (or start) due to the author's false claims about Indigenous heritage as well as problematic elements in the book pointed out by other reviewers.

This book sounded right up my alley, but oh my goodness I really did not like it.

I did not like the masturbating in front of someone else without their consent, that feels very gross to me. The inner monologues drove me crazy, and these characters were just completely insufferable.

Just saw all the things going on with this author so I will not be reading or reviewing due to the lies.

I was told that this was pulled out of publication. Also, I cannot in good conscience read this considering the author lied about her origins.

This book lured me in with promises of National Treasure meets Count Your Lucky Stars, but alas, those were lofty dreams and promises, and it did not deliver.

The story of archaeologists Louise and Isi is marred by repetition and a lack of communication, under delivering on any adventure or excitement. Louise has recently returned home: she once promised to always be there for her best friend Isi, but then ran away after a bad romance, hurting Isi despite her love for her. She's now scared of hurting her again, and being hurt. Isi, meanwhile, has lost her mom, a famous archaeologist. She too can't tell Louise how she feels, and is instead a bit neglected and lost.

Isi discovers a journal tied to her mother's research of Cherokee treasure, but the two are kidnapped by a wealthy woman and her goons who want them to decipher the clues and find the treasure for them, not the Cherokee people. Louise and Isi wander the woods like idiots and lust after each other, but, despite ample time to talk, DO NOT. Don't worry, though, there are about eight million descriptions--all nearly exactly the same--of them ogling each other, as well as the them rehashing their same thoughts and feelings on the situation, OVER. And OVER. And then again.

There's plenty of archaeological talk and very little actual adventure. Oh and did I mention the rehashing of feelings and the same thoughts over and over. (Couldn't resist.) The story gets a tiny bit better at the end with more focus on the actual treasure hunting, but overall, this was just strange. There's a magical element, but even that is repetitive. And how do Isi and Louise cause a lot of damage in their said adventure without any consequences?

Lots of promise here, but it winds up a jumbled, overdone mess.

Due to the claims surrounding this author and her claims to ancestry that have appeared to be unfounded , I cannot read this book.

This has been pulled from publication so I will not be reviewing. This is an unfortunate circumstance.

While I enjoyed aspects of this, there were some things that felt off about the Cherokee. When I looked into some of my doubts, I found out that this author has misrepresented themselves and done so in a willfully ignorant way. I won't be reviewing this book.

This book got pulled from publishing due to claims that the author lied about her indigenous ancestry. I really hope that is not the case.
Regardless, I cannot give a review at this moment.

never got the chance to read which is so unfortunate. i was so sad about i plan to read this soon. such a bummer

I was so incredibly excited for this book, unfortunately that excitement was short lived and very quickly I became uncomfortable with this book. I feel like the romance happened almost too quickly, there were many uncomfortable parts of this book such as self pleasuring in front of someone without prior consent. I felt there was a lot of repetition of conversation and plot points. I also found out nearing the end of my reading time that the author of this falsely claimed native heritage, which in my opinion is not a forgivable thing. So for those reasons I will leave my feedback here, but I won’t be posting a review elsewhere as I don’t want the negative advertising for the author, nor do I want this book connected to my name in any way.

It has come to light that this author lied about her Indigenous ancestry and ties to the Cherokee Nation. In an industry where Indigenous voices are so few (2% or less), this is goes beyond selfish and hurtful. I fully believe Colby lied (or leaned into the lie she’d been told by her family) because she knew that playing the “Native card” would give her a better shot at publication. This was not an innocent mistake. She was given the resources to research her family history and claim her culture. She declined. She was only interested in being Indigenous for self gain and exploitation, not represent and serve her community.

I will never read anything she might publish in the future and I hope her agent and publisher are seriously considering if they want to be aligned with her.

0/5 stars but I am forced to give 1 to post this review.

This book got pulled from publication so I will not be finishing it. Upset but also think it’s the best decision.

I read the book and found it difficult to truly believe the characters. Although I found the story to be an improvement from her last book I still felt it struggled with pacing and showing vs telling. The fact that two grown women who are friends would act like that felt juvenile. I wish there was more background about the MCs family instead of everything being about her friend. The book felt like an idea that had a few interesting aspects that wasn’t fully fleshed out.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this ARC!
I love the friends to lovers plot of this book, mixed with the fun aspect of them both being archaeologists. The book was a little messy, as is life most of the time! Third person point of view became a bit confusing in some scenarios, but overall this book was a quick and easy read!

It’s sad that I enjoyed this but won’t be recommending it based on the author’s actions. I will say to each his own and you’re more than welcome to read what you like.

I am not reviewing this book due to allegations by the Tribal Alliance Against Fraud that the author has falsely claimed American Indian Heritage, which has caused this book to be pulled from publication.