Help A Bitch Out

HaBO: Indiana Jones Contemporary Romance

This HaBO is from Ren, who is either looking for a contemporary romance or a book with strong romantic elements:

I’m looking for a contemporary romance about archaeologists that I read in 2000-2003. Full disclaimer, I’m only 90% sure that it was a romance. Someone donated the book to my middle school library and I checked it out thinking it was an adventure story, only to be disappointed because most of the book was about two people making eyes at each other and there was hardly any adventuring at all. So it’s either a romance or a novel with strong romantic elements.

Things I’m sure about:

– It was a contemporary and set in the US and then Egypt (or possibly the Middle East). Published late 1990s or early 2000s.

– It starts with a flashback about ancient times. At the end of the first chapter someone is killed and the narration switches to the present.

– They’re searching for a city buried in the sand.

– Some shady group (government or military) is also searching for the city and the protagonists go on the run from them.

– At one point there is a sandstorm and they hide in some ruins. They have sex for the first time either at the ruins or at a village that they reach after the storm.

Other things I think I remember (but it’s been 15 years and I might be getting mixed up with Raiders of the Lost Ark or The Mummy):

– The heroine is an archaeologist. Either she’s the reincarnation of a certain Egyptian priestess or has studied documents about this woman, because she often brings her up.

– The hero is either an Indiana Jones-style professor or some kind of bodyguard/survival expert. He has a gun.

– They do not get along, possibly there’s a misunderstanding at the beginning. She doesn’t trust him but he sticks around to protect her.

– They have an artifact leading to the lost city, maybe a medallion

I’ve found several books with similar plots but nothing that matches the few elements I’m 100% positive about. It has stuck with me because it was the first book with explicit sex scenes that I read. Somehow none of the teachers realized that it was wildly age-inappropriate, even though they banned some children’s books for mentioning kissing. Anyway, I hope someone can help me find this title.

Oooh! This one sounds good!

Categorized:

Help a Bitch Out

Comments are Closed

  1. MizFletcher says:

    Oh please please please someone id this one! I am just getting over a major bout of bronchitis and I NEED this as a convalescence read… xxx

  2. Batman says:

    More Indiana Jones-style romances, please. I loved the Blades of the Rose series (especially Warrior!) and need more treasure hunters and badass women warriors in my life.

  3. Susan says:

    Shoot. For a hot minute I wondered if it could be James Rollins’s Sandstorm but too many details, not to mention the date, don’t match.

  4. JoS says:

    Not the HaBO but Linda Howard’s Heart of Fire has a lot of similar elements. It’s set in the Amazon though.

  5. vivi12 says:

    I wanted it to be Mr Impossible by Loretta Chase but it’s not contemporary…

  6. Sadira Stone says:

    This definitely sounds like an Elizabeth Peters novel. Her heroine, Amelia Peabody, is an Egyptologist and has many daring adventures with her archaeologist husband. I love these books!

  7. Heather M says:

    It sounds a little like Tinderbox by Rachel Grant, but that was published in 2017.

  8. Ren says:

    I am crossing all of my fingers that someone recognizes this! It’s been bugging me for years! But if I can’t find it I’ll take allll of your archaeology and treasure hunting book recs as a consolation prize.

    @Susan, I also at one point thought it might have been Sandstorm (I’m really hazy on some of the details) but I read the first few chapters and it’s not it. 🙁

    It might have been published earlier than the 90s, but definitely no later than 2003 because I was no longer in middle school by then, and sadly my high school lacked a library let alone inappropriate sexy archaeology novels.

  9. Iris says:

    It wouldn’t be Elizabeth Peter’s. The Amelia Peabody series is historical and the sex is of the closed door variety, her contemporary novels, also frequently about art and antiquities aren’t explicit either. Her Vicky Bliss series is especially good though.

    Perhaps Jayne Ann Krentz? I can’t think of any specifically that fit but the general tone of her work reminds me of your description.

  10. Kerri says:

    Could it be Betina Krahn’s The Book of Seven Delights? The heroine is a librarian searching for the lost library of Alexandria, and the hero is an ex-soldier. It was released in 2005, so it might be too late for what you’re looking for.

  11. Karen Douglas says:

    I know that the Gigi Pandian book series about Jaya Jones is not what you are searching. But these books are very good and worth reading if you like Indiana Jones type books.

  12. Emily C says:

    What about Sphinx by Robin Cook? Per goodreads there was a heavy romantic subplot that some readers were not expecting or happy to find in their “excitement packed thriller.” *eyeroll*. The heroine is an Egyptologist who teams up with a mystery man who “offered her protection… he offered her love.”

  13. Ren says:

    @Iris, I am not familiar with Jayne Ann Krentz but I’ll have a look at her books and see if anything jogs my memory.

    @Emily C, hmm, my 13yo self was also surprised, so… possibly?! Although I see another review mentions a love triangle between the heroine’s current boyfriend and a new guy, and I don’t think there was a triangle. But I might check it out anyway because 30yo me loves a romance in her excitement packed thrillers.

  14. Emily C says:

    @Ren- 40yo me loves it too, so much that I put Sphinx on hold at my library after looking it up.

    The description of some of these archaeology-thrillers remind me of a book I loved when I read it in high school- The Eight by Katharine Neville. Definitely not the HaBO, but the heroine was investigating a famed, doomed chess set, and had dual timelines, desperate, globe-trotting escapes from bad guys and sexy times with a tall dark and handsome stranger. Apparently it’s now somewhat of a cult classic and Amazon reminded me I bought it for kindle back in 2014. Time for a re-read!

  15. Suleikha Snyder says:

    This sent me down the rabbit hole looking for the Rogue Angel books by Alex Archer (really a pen name for multiple contracted writers), released through Harlequin’s Gold Eagle imprint. Though the first one was released in 2006, so that doesn’t seem to fit the criteria, the heroine was an archaeologist named Annja Creed and she was linked to Joan of Arc. I remember getting a few from the library but losing interest when they were clearly more male-geared action-adventure than romance.

  16. Hope says:

    OMG – The Eight! My all time favorite book!!! I have about five copies of that book because whenever I saw one I’d buy so I’d always have one to loan or give someone else.

  17. Maria says:

    Another high five for The Eight!

    I still have my old, original and now tattered copy. (And to this day will never understand why some of the friends to whom I recommended The Eight were not as enthralled as I was). I’m delighted to read that it is considered a “cult classic”!

  18. Todd says:

    Chiming in for The Eight. I loaned it to a co-worker’s teenage daughter and it seemingly kept her occupied during a two-week trip to Europe. Also A Calculated Risk and The Fire (which is supposed to be kind of a sequel to The Eight).

  19. Liska says:

    @vivi12 This made me think of Mr Impossible too! Which I loved, but … sex during a sandstorm, in a tomb, on top of the dessicated remains of ancient mummies? Ewww!

  20. Liz says:

    It sounds almost like the Stolen series by Elisabeth Naughton, but I’m pretty sure those were published a little later than the time frame you’re thinking of.

  21. ClaireC says:

    It reminds me a little bit of Undiscovered by Anna Hackett, but that DEFINITELY wouldn’t have made it into a middle school library with the shirtless man on the cover, plus it was n’t published until 2016.

    Like someone else mentioned, the HABO reminds me of the Blades of the Rose series, but those don’t fit. I hope we do solve it, because I am here for all of the sexy archaeology books!

  22. Space Cadet says:

    Lol, over 20 comments with different yet plausible answers, several of which are going on my TBR pile. My contribution: The Crusader by Kathryn Le Veque, originally published in 2001. It matches some of the details, but not all. The heroine is a Biblical archeologist searching for the crown of thorns. The team she’s on discovers the tomb of a knight who mysteriously hasn’t decayed over the centuries, and somehow he wakes up. They go on the run from shadowy forces that want to find the crown (the knight knows where it is, of course), carnal relations are had, etc. The story is well-paced, but the vibe is decidedly Old School, even for a romance from 2001.

  23. Kareni says:

    I wonder if it could be by Connie Brockway. As You Desire was published in 1997 and is set in Egypt.

  24. Lynn Pauley says:

    Re: Sphinx by Cook. For those who like a happy ending: it has been many years since I read this, but if I remember right there is no HEA or even a HFN.

  25. Mary Poppy says:

    I thought Connie Brockway too.

  26. Kris Bock says:

    I don’t know the HABO, but if you like treasure hunting romantic adventures, I have three of them! They’re fun contemporary adventures set in the Southwest, with female friendships along with the romances. The first is The Mad Monk’s Treasure, 99 cents on Kindle or free with KU.

  27. Sarah says:

    The Bettina Krahn book was my first thought too, although I couldn’t remember the full title. And Mr. Impossible is one of my favorite Loretta Chase.

  28. Laura says:

    This sounds an awful lot like it could be a Barbara Erskine novel – she tends to play in the realm of archaeological type heroine’s and some kind of reincarnated souls/ memory flashes into the past.

    She’s definitely done one set in Egypt but I can’t remember the title of it off the top of my head!

  29. Kate says:

    If anyone is intrigued by all the thumbs-up for The Eight, it’s $1.99 on Kindle right now!

  30. Lington says:

    I’m not sure whether it matches all the elements you’ve described, but it really reminds me of “Written in the Stars” by Katherine O’Neal. I read that in about 2002 (stolen from my mom) and remember it being really Indiana-Jones-like. I think the hero was some kind of archaeological bounty hunter who’d once been engaged to the heroine, and she broke it off– so it’s tense when they go off adventuring to Egypt to find some treasure.

  31. Diana says:

    Oh my gosh this sounds so incredibly familiar! I read something similar – they had to run away from the “home” city, she was some sort of scholar maybe? And then there was some journeying on the Nile, but then they were attacked and had to escape on land?

    Were they also looking for a third person? – maybe a brother, that had the artifact?

  32. Sandra says:

    Someone mentioned Elizabeth Peters’ Vickie Bliss series up-thread. Not the book, but Night Train to Memphis is set in Egypt. Art historian and art thief/conman on the run. I so love John Smythe. You could probably start here, but this is the next to last book in the series, and you really should start at the beginning to get the full relationship. And the books may not be explicit, but they’re still hot. Peter Wimsey is the only other hero I can think of that quotes John Donne as foreplay.

  33. PamG says:

    Street of the Five Moons is the first Vicki Bliss and John Smythe book. Smythe is introduced in the Camelot Caper and Bliss, in Borrower of the Night. My favorite of the Bliss/Smythe pairings is Trojan Gold. And @Sandra is right; the series is hot without any explicit descriptions, and the avalanche scene in Trojan Gold still makes me sigh.

  34. Dani says:

    I thought Brockway too, but it’s not contemporary.

  35. Ren says:

    Checked out Jayne Ann Krentz but couldn’t find anything set in Egypt or similar.

    Not The Book of the Seven Delights (Betina Krahn) or As You Desire (Connie Brockway) because it’s not a historical. Might be something else by Connie Brockway, I’m not familiar with this author.

    I was hopeful about Barbara Erskine’s Whispers in the Sand (the cover seemed familiar too) but I read the first chapters and it’s not it. 🙁

    @Diana, I don’t remember any brother being involved, but then again I don’t remember any characters aside from the protagonists. So it might be the same book you’re thinking of!

    I think I checked all the likely suggestions but no dice so far. But my TBR is longer now!

  36. Katharina says:

    This reminds me of the “Rings of Anubis” series by E. Catherine Tobler. It’s been quite a while since I read those though, so I can’t remember if all the elements match.

Comments are closed.

By posting a comment, you consent to have your personally identifiable information collected and used in accordance with our privacy policy.

↑ Back to Top