Book Title: Troy Story (Goodreads)
Author: Carla Luna
Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar (via Everand)
Format Read: Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrated by: Suehyla El-Attar (via Everand)
Format Read: Audiobook
Rating: 4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Troy Story is the second book in Carla Luna's Romancing the Ruins series.
It follows Dusty and Stuart, childhood friends with parents who would take them along to dig sites growing up. Now adults, Stuart is beginning a job as a professor, and Dusty is still trying to pin down a dissertation topic to finish her Ph.D. They are both in Turkey working on an archeological dig of the ancient Troy, and have started thinking of each other as more than just friends.
I love how Carla brings in her archeological background to make her books feel real. This book isn't the Indiana Jones view full of danger and adventure. It talks about how hot the days get, how sometimes shards are all they find, how not every dig places them in housing that has a laundry facility. It just felt very real, and went into a lot of detail explaining how digs work, without getting boring or sounding like a history class. It also set up for better understanding the political power dynamics of academia.
The relationship between the two main characters felt a lot more real than the first book in the series. Since this is still a standalone, I'd recommend this one more.
This book is great for those who want to feel like they're getting a PhD in archeology, love ancient history, or love a good friends to lovers story. Would recommend!