Temple of Swoon

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 Dr. Mejía 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 If only the endearingly quirky Dr. Jacobs wasn''t so damn tenacious--each of Rafa''s purposeful wrong turns and tricks only seem to fuel Miri''s 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 Moon City, and soon, the untamed jungle--and their untamed hearts--might be the least of their worries…

Auteur
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).

Résumé
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...

Échantillon de lecture
Chapter
One

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. She was 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 Miri'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 Aeroporto Internacional de Manaus to Manacapuru, Brazil, was rounding a corner and out of sight.

Crud. Day one of her new gig-an expedition to search for the 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 was a miracle that 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 would 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 mad skills like Corrie.

Too bad Miri'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 overlooked. 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 Miri'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 T.J.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, hard-core, and hot as hell.

Miri slung her backpack around to the ground and crouched beside it, searching the pockets for a wet wipe, when a figure appeared alongside her.

"Shit!"

She glanced up toward the voice and- Holy moly, was everyone in this country a supermodel? The man looked like he could star in an ad with the likes of Alessandra Ambrosio or Marlon Teixeira, and Miri would buy whatever products he was selling-surfboards, cologne, men's underwear, you name it. He stared down the empty street in the direction the departed bus had gone, seemingly oblivious to Miri, one hand on his hip, the other rubbing his forehead below the hairline of his luscious . . . shiny . . . wavy . . . to-die-for jet-black locks. His gray Henley stretched across his chest, outlining every ripple beneath the thin fabric. With the sleeves pushed up, she could see the flexing muscles in his forearms-taut and beckoning for her touch. He had to have been six-foot-two, six-three, judging by the location of his knee in rel…