Spotlight & Giveaway: Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jo Segura to HJ!

Hi Jo and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Temple of Swoon!

Hello, Book Friends!
 

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Dr. Miriam Jacobs desperately wants to be somebody, preferably a badass like her mentor, Dr. Corrie Mejía. So when she’s charged with co-leading an expedition into the Amazon rainforest to search for the Lost City of the Moon, she finally has the prove herself to everyone–herself, included. If only she wasn’t so distracted by the hot photojournalist, Rafael Monfils, who’s been sent by his employer to document the expedition. And if only he wasn’t secretly trying to sabotage the mission to protect his family’s legacy. But soon, things heat up in the Amazon, and Dr. Jacobs and Rafa’s budding romance isn’t the only danger lurking in the rainforest.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“She pictured those soft, luscious lips next to her ear, whispering French words like oui, bonjour, and croissant against her lobe before traveling down her neck with soft wet kisses.”

Rafa fought the urge to touch each feature–you can’t go pawing a Monet, after all. But he didn’t fight the urge to stare. Because she deserved to be looked at. To be admired.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I got the idea to incorporate LiDAR technology into the book after reading about a real-life expedition to search for a lost city in Honduras!
• Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro was my inspiration for Rafa’s character, specifically back in the movie Love, Actually. The storyline in that movie between him and Lara Linney still makes me so mad to this day, so I needed to give Rodrigo a happily ever after.
• Rafa nicknames Miri “Pringles” after her bag full of snacks falls open onto the sidewalk and a can of sour cream and onion Pringles hits his foot. Sour cream and onion is my favorite Pringles flavor. I love those weird chips, and I DEFINITELY can’t stop once I pop the top.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

When Miri and Rafa first meet at the airport after missing their bus, Miri nervously chatters about anything and everything, which Rafa finds absolutely charming. She isn’t trying to impress him or be someone she’s not–he loves that she’s so uniquely herself and he’s instantly smitten.

Let’s be honest, Miri is initially attracted to Rafa’s good looks. Again, he was modeled after Rodrigo Santoro so that tracks. But aside from that, Miri is instantly attracted to Rafa’s kindness and humor. They don’t know each other, yet he’s concerned about her wellbeing from the moment they meet and helps bring levity to the situation.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

The final scene gave me the cheesiest grin–it was just the perfect ending for these two silly lovebirds. But I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil anything.

I also loved the scene when Miri and Rafa first meet and hitch a cab ride together to their hotel (not knowing that they are both participating in the same expedition). They are trying to be secretive, but also really hit it off. But Miri’s not good at the whole flirting thing, so she totally reads his cues incorrectly. Here’s a snippet:

“I’ve got this thing tonight, but—” he started as she simultaneously said, “Did you know the Amazon is home to—”
They paused. Fuck. Guess he’d read that wrong. “You go,” he said.
“No, you first. I insist.”
Aside from an awkward taxi ride, what did he have to lose?
“I was going to say, I’ve got a thing I have to go this evening, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to grab a drink afterward? What were you going to say?”
“I… I…”
Rafa’s body tensed at her hesitation. What… was this sensation? He’d never been nervous around women. On the rare occasion that a woman passed on his advances, it never bothered him. And he certainly didn’t get anxious when he awaited a reply.
“I was going to ask if you knew the Amazon is home to some amazing bars and if you’d like to get a drink this evening?”
He exhaled internally. “No, you weren’t,” he said, smiling at her. But cute that she’d tried.
“You’re right.” She smiled back. “Technically, I was going to ask if you knew the Amazon is home to two-point-five-million insect species. But I’d… I’d like to get a drink…” She blushed. “Unless after this car ride you decide you can’t handle all of this awesomeness. And by awesomeness, I mean, this,” she said, motioning her hands over her fanny pack like Vanna White on Wheel of Fortune.
Rafa burst out laughing, garnering a raised eyebrow from the driver in the rearview mirror. Mind your business.
“I’m only coming if you wear that, Pringles. And bring your snack bar.”

Readers should read this book….

if they love movies like The Lost City, Indiana Jones, Romancing the Stone, or the Mummy. Also, this book is for people who think they aren’t enough or that they have to do great things to be successful. This book is for the underdog. The ones who are badasses, even if they don’t realize it.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I just finished drafting THE LUST CRUSADE, which is the third book in the Raiders series. TLC takes place in Greece with a librarian who travels to Greece for closure after her brother’s archaeologist best friend (and her long time crush) goes missing while on an expedition. Only once there, she discovers he’s NOT missing, and the two must solve a centuries’ old mystery and find an ancient Greek artifact. THE LUST CRUSADE will come out sometime in 2026.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway:  A print copy of Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you could go on an expedition to search for a lost city in the Amazon, would you? What would you do if you found the city? Would you keep it a secret, tell the world, take any valuable artifacts, or something else?

 
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Excerpt from Temple of Swoon:

Dr. Miriam “Miri” Jacobs raced through the wild, chaotic jungle, whipping around obstacles, and ducking from danger. You can make it. You can make it. She repeated the mantra in her head as her bag pounded against her back in sync with her sprinting footsteps, the ground seeming to give way beneath her feet. Weaving. Sliding. Careening past creatures of all shapes and sizes. Sweat dripped down the side of her face, but she wasted no time or energy to wipe it away, focusing her strength on reaching her destination before it was too late.
Almost there!
She reached for the silver handle, her fingertips grazing the metal before… whoosh!
“Wait!” The imaginary backdrop faded as the bus pulled away from the curb, splattering dirty street water onto Miriam’s brand-spanking-new water-resistant Patagonia hiking pants.
But her voice was no match for the roaring engines in the bus depot or the plane jets overhead, and a second later, the last bus of the day from the Manaus Aeroporto Internacional to Manacapuru, Brazil, was rounding a corner and out of sight.
Crud. Day one of her new gig—an expedition to search for a Cidade Perdida da Lua, the lost City of the Moon—and she was going to miss the kick-off meeting. Not exactly the start she was hoping for, especially with her career hanging on this whole thing. Way to make a good first impression.
It had been a miracle she’d been selected for this expedition. Sure, her mentorship with the famed archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía at UC Berkeley helped, but until this point, Miri had only been on a handful of digs, all in already-discovered sites. When she’d decided at the age of eight that she wanted to become an archaeologist, she thought she’d be traveling all over the world, unearthing ancient skeletons, and finding hidden treasures. She didn’t think her archaeological dig experience could be summed up as Human Brush, cleaning dirt off other archaeologists’ discoveries. Yes, every archaeologist had to begin somewhere, but Miri never seemed to move past the starting line. Unlike just about every other professor on staff at the UC Berkeley Anthropology Department, Miri had absolutely nothing remarkable to pad her résumé.
Professors like Dr. Mejía who became a world-famous badass archaeologist because she took risks and didn’t shy away from danger. Being handpicked by her for this assignment gave Miri instant street cred, as if the association alone meant she must have had mad skills like Corrie.
Too bad Miriam’s top skills were memorization and reading maps. Though, despite the need for wearing glasses, she sometimes seemed to have laser vision and could notice things that others often looked over. Like a book that was out of place on a shelf. Or a single misplaced brick in a wall. Or a man’s fly being down.
She always seemed to notice that.
Cold, wet liquid seeped through her pants as she glanced down to assess the damage and sighed. Awesome. There went a hundred bucks. Note to self: water resistant does NOT equal waterproof.
Perhaps not Miriam’s wisest decision—splurging on a new wardrobe at REI that would almost certainly get destroyed by this trip—but she wanted to at least try to look the part of tough, rugged archaeologist. Her normal go-to dig outfits consisted of little more than yoga pants and a few Columbia hiking shirts she found on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx. Something not far off from her regular everyday attire, come to think of it. But she had big shoes to fill, or rather, big shoes to impress. That, and she couldn’t help but want to emulate her idol, who always looked effortless, hardcore, and hot as hell.
Miriam slung her backpack around to the ground and crouched beside it, searching the pockets for a wet wipe, when a figure appeared alongside her.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Her mission: find the Lost City of the Moon in the Amazon rainforest.
His mission: protect the holy temple . . . and his heart.

While her mentor may be the world’s most badass archaeologist, the only thing bad about Dr. Miriam Jacobs are her corny jokes. But when Miri is charged with leading an unmapped expedition through the Amazon for the fabled Lost City of the Moon, she finally has her chance to prove to her colleagues that she’s capable—and hopefully prove it to herself, too.

Journalist Rafael Monfils has joined the archaeological team to chronicle their search for the lost city. Or at least, that’s what they think he’s doing. Rafa’s real goal? Make sure the team does not reach the Cidade da Lua, stopping the desecration of the holy city and protecting his mother’s legacy. All he needs to do is keep them on the wrong path.

If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn’t so damn tenacious—each of Rafa’s tricks and purposeful wrong turns only seem to fuel her determination. Even worse, he’s charmed by her goofy attempts to channel Lara Croft as they traverse the dangerous Brazilian rainforest. But they’re not the only crew hunting for the lost city, and soon the untamed jungle—and their untamed hearts—might be the least of their worries…
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Meet the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Jo Segura lives in the Pacific Northwest with her doggo, who vies for her attention with his sweet puppy dog eyes whenever she’s trying to write. Her stories feature strong, passionate heroines and draw upon aspects of her life, such as her Mexican heritage and her fascination with archaeology. When she’s not writing you can find her practicing law, shaking up a mean cocktail, or sitting out on the patio doing Buzzfeed quizzes (though she doesn’t care what the chicken nugget quiz said–her favorite fruit is not banana).
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