Dust and Desire: Archaeology and Adventure Romances

Dust and Desire: Archaeology and Adventure Romances

Sun, sand, mysteries from times long past... There’s just something so inherently romantic about archaeology. Sure, it’s a lot of tedious digging, but it’s also a field where each discovery changes the way we think about ourselves and our history. And there’s nothing sexier than a hunky guy who is also smart and passionate about his work. I first became obsessed with archaeology romances when I read Elizabeth Peters’s Crocodile on the Sandbank. While the Amelia Peabody series is definitely a mystery series, the first book is also a romance. A newly wealthy spinster travels to Egypt and meets a surly (but quite handsome) Egyptologist. Together, they uncover a mystery set among the tombs of Amarna. Elizabeth Peters earned a Ph.d. in  Egyptology, which gives her authorial cred, but she’s also Barbara Michaels, who wrote romantic suspense novels filled with gothic elements. For me, the interplay between Emerson and Amelia are what kept me reading the series.

Many of the archaeological romances are historicals set during the 19th century or beginning of the twentieth. Perhaps my favorite one is Guilty Pleasures by Laura Lee Guhrke. We usually think of travel and exotic lands when we consider archaeology, but this book is set in England, about an excavation on English land of old Roman ruins. What is so fun about this book is that it combines the archaeology plot, a workplace romance, and an ugly duckling story.

RT Convention: Day One

Having learned my lesson last year, I decided to skip a few sessions so I didn't wear myself out completely.  So I had time to get the photos off the ole camera card!

By far, my favorite panel today was the Romance Reader Family Feud hosted by Louisa Edwards, Vivian Arend, Tessa Dare, Zoe Archer and Nico Rosso. Based loosely on the old game show, teams had to guess which answers to questions were the most popular based on a survey sent around through Twitter.

 

 Survey Says...

Nico and Vivian

I also attended a writer's panel today. My first one at an RT convention. I'm not an author (published or aspiring), but I wanted a peek at what a panel was like. I attended the Love, Mythology and Monsters one with Stephanie Dray, Jackie Barbosa, Zoe Archer and Leeana Renee Hieber. Very cool to see how authors could incorporate mythological themes as a way to heighten emotion and tap into our deepest fears and beliefs.

The Ellora's Cave party this year had a hip hop theme, with tshirts, pants, sunglasses, hats and more as swag! Entertainment was a brief routine:

Waiting on Wednesday: Devil's Kiss by Zoë Archer (Hellraisers #1)

 Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted over at Breaking the Spine. It highlights books we just can't wait to get our greedy, book-loving hands on.

I adored the Blades of the Rose series by Zoe Archer. I love her writing, period. So, naturally, I can't wait to read her new series: the Hellraisers.


Pub Date: December 6, 2011
Publisher: Kensington
Format: mass market paperback, ebook
Length: 370 pages

The Blurb:

A Handsome Devil
1762. James Sherbourne, Earl of Whitney, is a gambling man. Not for the money. But for the thrill, the danger--and the company: Whit has become one of the infamous Hellraisers, losing himself in the chase for adventure and pleasure with his four closest friends.

Which was how Whit found himself in a gypsy encampment, betting against a lovely Romani girl. Zora Grey's smoky voice and sharp tongue entrance Whit nearly as much as her clever hands--watching them handle cards inspires thoughts of another kind...


Zora can't explain her attraction to the careless blue-eyed Whit. She also can't stop him and his Hellraisers from a fiendish curse: the power to grant their own hearts' desires, to chase their pleasures from the merely debauched to the truly diabolical. And if Zora can't save Whit, she still has to escape him. . .

Review: Rebel by Zoe Archer (Blades of the Rose #3)

Format: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Zebra/Kensington
Pub Date: November 2010
FTC: Purchased myself

I loved the first two installments of Zoe Archer's Blades of the Rose series. But this one was...boring. I hate to say it so baldly, but I just wasn't engaged at all with  Rebel.  I liked the characters, but I wasn't pulled into the story as I was with the other two books. And the worst part? I can't pinpoint exactly WHY I didn't like it. I definitely expected to. Wanted to like it...

I think part of it is the mythology aspect. I'm not a huge Native American mythology fan. It tends to bore me. I know...very un-PC of me, but it's the truth. I know quite a few creation myths from various cultures in the US (although no Canadian ones). Know a bit more about Southwestern Pueblo myths. Still don't find it engaging in the same way I find nearly every other religion or mythology. It just doesn't "click" with me. I don't really know how else to explain it. And since so much of this story uses those myths and those traditions, I think it created a bit of distance between me and the narrative.

My other problem, I think, is with our heroine: Astrid. I loved that she was a bit older. I thought she was an interesting choice, given how emotionally scarred she was. How closed off from friends and family. And how horribly alone. But given how intense her pain was, it seemed a bit unbelievable that she would fall for someone so quickly after beginning to come alive again. I just didn't buy it. At all. Maybe it's the pace of that recovery I objected to. Maybe, given how badly she must have hurt to close herself off from all of her friends, it's because I didn't think she *could* recover from her loss. Either way, I didn't find it believable OR compelling.

As for pacing, I liked the beginning. The middle 100-150 pages were so slow. I didn't truly enjoy the book until we got more Catullus Graves in it. Because he rocks! I honestly kept reading for the scenes where he appeared.  I can't wait to read his story, Stranger, which was just published.

Of the three Blades of the Rose I have read so far, this is by far my least favorite. It may work well for those not bugged by the mythology or the pace. For me, it was just...dull.

My Grade: C

Rebel is available at The Book Depository as well as other book retailers.

Review: Scoundrel by Zoe Archer (Blades of the Rose #2)

Format: Mass Market
Pub Date: October 2010
Publisher: Zebra (Kensington)
FTC: Purchased myself

The Blurb:

London Harcourt's father is bent on subjugating the world's magic to British rule. But since London is a mere female, he hasn't bothered to tell her so. He's said only that he's leading a voyage to the Greek isles. No matter, after a smothering marriage and three years of straitlaced widowhood, London jumps at the opportunity - unfortunately, right into the arms of Bennett Day. 

Bennett is a ladies' man, when he's not dodging lethal attacks to protect the powers of the ancients from men like London's father. Sometimes, he's a ladies' man even when he is dodging them. But the minute he sees London he knows she will require his full attention. The woman is lovely, brilliant, and the only known speaker of a dialect of ancient Greek that holds the key to calling down the wrath of the gods. Bennett will be risking his life again - but around London, what really worries him is the danger to his heart... 

If I had to pick a word to describe Zoe Archer’s Blades of the Rose series it would have to be Epic. Because there is just something larger than life about her stories of adventure and romance. It’s partly because they draw on a rich literary and film lore to form the background, or flavor, of the adventures. But it’s also partly because the books are just plain fun to read.

I didn’t think it was possible to enjoy Scoundrel more than the first book in the series, but I did! Bennett Day is  definitely a scoundrel. He’s perfectly content mixing business with pleasure and is particularly happy when he gets to use seduction to further the aims of his group, the Blades, in their quest to keep their enemies, the Heirs of Albion, from pushing British Colonialism onto unsuspecting people using magical repositories known as Sources.  He will fight when necessary, but he’s equally at home using stealth or his ability at decoding ciphers.

Review: Warrior by Zoe Archer (Blades of the Rose #1)

Format: Kindle ebook (also available in mass market and other e-formats)
Publisher: Zebra
FTC: Purchased myself (although I did win a print copy on a blog ;) )

The Blurb:

To most people, the realm of magic is the stuff of nursery rhymes and dusty libraries. But for Capt. Gabriel Huntley, it's become quite real and quite dangerous...

In Hot Pursuit...
The vicious attack Capt. Gabriel Huntley witnesses in a dark alley sparks a chain of events that will take him to the ends of the Earth and beyond—where what is real and what is imagined become terribly confused. And frankly, Huntley couldn't be more pleased. Intrigue, danger, and a beautiful woman in distress—just what he needs.

In Hotter Water...
Raised thousands of miles from England, Thalia Burgess is no typical Victorian lady. A good thing, because a proper lady would have no hope of recovering the priceless magical artifact Thalia is after. Huntley's assistance might come in handy, though she has to keep him in the dark. But this distractingly handsome soldier isn't easy to deceive... 

I haven't read a book like Warrior in a long, long time. In some ways, it's very old fashioned. In a good way. In other ways, this book is entirely new and fresh. There are echoes of Rider Haggard, the Amelia Peabody series, the Mummy movies, and even Indiana Jones in this book. The setting is one I haven't read a lot about: Mongolia. But it's clear that the author has done her research. The climate, customs, even the sprinkling of Mongolian words throughout the story all add to a nice sense of authenticity.

I love that this book is hard to pin down to a single subgenre. There's suspense. There's paranormal. There's history. Even some steampunkish elements. But all of it is woven with such subtle skill that no one element dominates any other. It's entirely new, yet borrows from an extensive film and literature lore—which only adds to the richness of the storytelling.