Empire of Shadows (Raiders of the Arcana)

Ellie has been fired from her job for one tiny arrest during a protest and now has nothing to look forward to besides her stepmother’s insistent search for a husband for her. Well, that is until she accidentally steals a map and necklace from her former boss’s desk. With a man willing to do anything to get them back on her tail, Ellie flees across the ocean to the wild jungles where she’s not prepared for what awaits her. Or the raged man who turns out to be her only hope to finding where the map leads.

Archeology, magical artifacts, a lost city, and oh my, there’s only one bed, all wrapped up into one fabulous novel? Yes, please.

The characters are a bit Mary Sue at times and Ellie and Adam’s romance got a bit annoying with how they drool over each other, but overall, the plot, the characters, and the romance are well crafted and highly enjoyable to read about. Ellie is skeptical of magic, believing that there’s a logical explanation and the magic and her changing her mind is shaped over the course of the story.