Oh man, I had a GREAT time with Fossil Feud! Rich in detail, drenched in chemistry and wonderfully, bitingly smart.
Ripley is a private paleontologist. She dropped out of her PhD programme after some seriously nefarious shit by her then-boyfriend, Will, and moved from academia into the private sector. At the start of the story, she’s working on an Indigenous-owned ranch in Montana excavating fossils in a partnership with Cara, the ranch owner’s granddaughter. There she finds what might be one of the evolutionary links between birds and dinosaurs.
Of course there is also romance. The love interest is James, a renowned paleontologist. He talks himself into a position in the excavation on the pretext that he’d be able to help Ripley as much as Ripley can help him: he can find funding in addition to being very skilled in excavation and illustration. Meanwhile, they have a common enemy: Ripley’s ex. James is convinced Will is up to yet more nefarious shit, and wants Ripley’s help in proving it. The plot follows their investigation of Will alongside the excavation and subsequent drama of those dino-birds.
There is wonderful, glorious chemistry between Ripley and James, but the most notable thing about them is the unspeakably hot sex they have. It’s scorching and very fun to read. There is a popular trope buried in this book and it’s a delight to discover, but it kind of gives the game away, so I’ll hide it behind a spoiler.
He falls first! But in secret …
It’s adorable.
I am a passionate advocate for interesting, funny and original side characters in romance novels, and in this case, the author did not skimp on any of the above. They were great! Cara is one such character – she’s a badass, she takes no crap from anyone, and she made every scene she was in more dynamic and interesting. We know where Cara gets it from because her grandmother (the ranch owner) is a badass too and along with the sass comes a bucketload of loyalty to those she cares about. The excavation crew make up the balance of the side characters. Sometimes when I read, I can get characters muddled if there are too many of them introduced at once. That didn’t happen at all with this one.
While the interpersonal and sexual tension between James and Ripley is beyond captivating, I found the reasoning for them not being together a little muddled. Some of the factors were simply dismissed in a ‘does not actually matter’ kind of way, but to me they seemed like a pretty big deal.
For example, Ripley is adamant that she will be judged for sleeping with another scientist after her relationship with Will went so apocalyptic. She’s scared that she won’t be taken seriously as a scientist if she sleeps with James. This seemed like a big deal to me! In the end, this reason wasn’t so much dismissed as it evaporated by itself.
Of course, I was so busy cheering the couple on, this thought only dawned on me once I closed Fossil Feud after finishing it.
Occasionally, I doubted the authenticity of James’ character. He’s an aristocratic paleontologist, and sometimes I wondered if his dialogue or actions strayed into caricature territory. For example, he had perfect posture all the time and often referred to his ‘stiff upper lip’. Very occasionally, James read to me more like a performance than a person. I am very curious about how a UK audience will perceive him. Please do share in the comments!
While I had second thoughts about the conflict and obstacles between Ripley and James, their sexual attraction and their attempts to make a crappy person face accountability for being crappy were extremely satisfying and fun to read. I loved the paleontology details, and how much I learned about the field, and the issues surrounding current excavations. And I honestly really liked all the characters in this story. Overall I had a glorious time with this book and happily recommend it to the Bitchery.
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