Hi Joe. Welcome to the

Hi. Thanks for having me.

so happy to have you here. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

So I am an author of Adventure rom-coms. I love movies like Indiana Jones and National Treasure and the Mummy. And so I decided I needed to write books that were inspired by my love of those movies. I live in the Pacific Northwest with my dog. We live on a little farm and we just have a delightful life.

Oh my gosh, I love this. I love the fact you're writing adventure romcoms. 'cause you know why we need them. You don't even get those movies anymore. We stopped getting those like good movies like the Mommy National Treasure. Indiana was like, we haven't seen those in I don't know, 10, 15 to almost 20 years. The mommy came out almost 30 years, like 25 years ago, 27.

That movie was on Apple, it's called Fountain of Youth that had Justin Krasinski and Natalie Portman. And I'm like, Ooh, yes, romcom, but it is not a romcom. They trick me. You. And then they had ITA Gonzalez who's she's like my dream. Casting for Cory Mejia in Raiders of Lost Heart. These gorgeous people, and it's not a romcom. I mean, there's like a little bit of tension between

yeah.

characters, but not enough. Give

No. I think we need more movies like that. Roman to Stone is another one. It's a total welcome, like just. It's, you're gonna die, but we're gonna have them go through hell. And the external conflicts are just like fun to add on and just be like, okay, do I love you? Do I don't love you? No, this is like life or death in their situation.

Well, even the Lost City with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, such a fun movie, but the romance part was really lacking.

That was a weird movie.

Yeah.

It was a weird movie. It's a weird casting. I don't know. They need to do chemistry testing. It's oh, Hollywood's we'll put this, we'll put this, we'll make this happen. And it's yeah, but maybe not,

yeah. They're like, oh, these two people are hot. Let's just put 'em in a movie together. But they did not have the right chemistry and it's such a bummer because otherwise it's exactly like my catnip that is what I want in a movie. And ugh, but give me some more kissing. Give me some tension. Gimme the smoldering eyes, give me some of it.

Yes. Awesome. All right, so we gotta talk about your series. You have three books in a series right now. They're interconnected, standalones, it's some sort. They connect to each other in some ways. Basically, you can read them out of order, which is for many readers, this is great. But there's a lot of you deal with some mythology, some lost studies, some ideas in the archeology. So what kind of research do you have? Were you like, kind on a side called, side quest? I be like, oh, what if you're archeologist? I wanna learn all about like how to dig in and finding new things and old treasures. Or was this something that you're just like, Hey, I have to learn in order to set my world in this place?

I actually went on an archeological dig when I was in my early twenties, and it was awesome. I, at one point I thought maybe I would actually go to school to be an archeologist. I never actually pursued that path, but I did go on this dig down in Belize where we were looking for Mayan artifacts, and it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. So I did have a little bit of. Experience on what it's like going on an archeological dig. But I am not an archeologist. I'm very upfront about that. And I've had multiple archeologists reach out to me that have read my books, and often they seem to really enjoy it and tell me all the things that I got right. They don't seem to say oh, that's completely wrong, and that's not

Yeah.

works at all, because a lot of. Archeology and like a lot of going on a dig is not what you see in the movies like Indiana Jones. You're not like running through temples with boulders coming after you and indigenous people shooting arrows at you. I mean, it's not like that. A lot of it is you're just at a campsite and you get up early in the morning with your gear. You go out to the site, you are digging in the dirt very slowly. It's not you go out there and instantly find, some gold necklace or some jewels or things like that. I mean, a lot of what we found on the site that I went to were things like broken pottery or we did find a skull, which was pretty cool to find something like that. But most of it was, was just broken pottery. And so I wanted to be true to my experience of being on a dig, but also make it kind of exciting. So for the other parts of it, the actual archeology parts that are in the books, each one I had to do different research because they're looking for different things. So for Raiders of the Lost Heart, I did a lot of research on Aztec civilization and how the people lived, the types of artifacts that they would have. In Temple of Swoon I did a lot of research on indigenous people in the Amazon, people in that book are completely made up because I, it's actually really difficult to get really good research on the people who are the indigenous people in the Amazon. And I didn't want to do something that was disrespectful by, saying something that was not true to whatever culture that works. So I decided to make that one up, but I based it on research that I had done and then. With the less crusade, they're in Greece. And so I just a ton of research on Greek mythology. I went to Greece a couple years ago and so that one was really fun. 'cause I'm a big, like Greek mythology nerd.

Yeah.

but you know, for each book, I do the research based on, what it is that they're looking for. But then it kind of comes back to what is it really like to be an archeologist? And it's not really what we think it is, based on the movie.

Yeah. I love the fact that, in the Lu Crusade you get the sense of you have someone who seasons who has been doing this, and then you get the Heron who has not been doing this, who has never laughed and is he's I'm the one who, they're kidnapped. And she's yeah, but I can actually give you some advice. I can help you too. Sometimes it's and then surprised about the idea of what it means to do a dig and what it means to look for something. Without respecting this space, not really, making more damage than you already are creating damage for which is the conflict. 'cause you have obviously the a liver pitch is that these, we got to a hero. Hero has been kidnapped for about a year. Who presumed dead and her who finds him and she gets. Kidnap it along with them. 'Cause they're fig engaged and the kidnappers want them to find a lost treasure and grace and cre I think it, so, yeah.

yes. And I had so much fun writing this book, but I really wanted the female main character to not be an archeologist because. Of their relationship it's best or brother's best friend. And so, what are the chances that both of them would end up being archeologists? So I instead, I had her be a librarian where she can still use her own skills that she has to help him. Find this artifact and really, he doesn't want her to be there because he doesn't want her to be in danger, but she's I can help you and I can figure this out too. And so I, I just that interplay between those two different fields, archeology and library sciences and how those kind of can work together. Mm-hmm.

I love this idea of really, because library science, you're looking for information. That's really what it comes down to. It. You're honoring looking for the information and finding it a way, digest it in a way that people can understand it and people can move forward and share it with what needs to. So there are skills there are similar to it. At the same time, you can look for patterns or you'll have. Curiosity or like a critical thinking of okay, does this make sense? And stuff like that. And so she's able to also help solve the problem. And she's not like dead weight in this story. And I think that's really helpful because it open side the hero's eyes, but at the same time for her to feel empowered because she, her backstory is that she hasn't left the town. And so allowing her to actually see Hey, I can actually do this. I can actually accomplish this. That's even though she's kidnapped,

you'll not find damsels in distress. In my adventure romcoms, these women are really capable. They're just as smart as their male counterparts. And that's one of the themes that you find in all three of the books is, women who are coming into their own and really embracing who they are and embracing their intelligence and their confidence and, embracing their true self. And these men who are just like, they got it down bad for them and 'cause they love the person that these women are.

Yeah. I love this. Awesome. All right, so talk to us about what books you intend to read. Do you read romance? Do you read rom-coms? Do you read. Other genres altogether. Maybe some nonfiction. I assume some nonfiction because you have to do the research, but you know, Greek mythology, that's research. It's work,

yes, I read all sorts of books. The last book that I read, actually, when I filled out your survey, the last book I had read was Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Read. But since then, I have finished reading Broken Country,

Mm-hmm.

I guess it's a general historical, kind of like a little bit of like suspense. I don't know. So I, when I'm actively drafting, which right now I'm working on my fourth book, and so while I'm actively drafting, I tend to not read as much romance because I don't want it to influence how or what I'm writing. Not that I am, I'm not typically reading Adventure m romcoms 'cause there aren't like a ton of new adventure romcoms that are coming out. But I tend to read more. Thrillers or general fiction? I do read a fair amount of nonfiction for drafting purposes. So like I have a bunch of the book I'm working on right now. It's another adventure romcom that involves pirates and

Ooh.

doing some pirate research. And so I've got some books, like some nonfiction on pirates. But otherwise I read just about everything I. Of course I love romance. First and foremost. It is the best genre. It is the only genre you read where you always finish a book with a smile on your face. You don't get that from other genres. Yes, sometimes you read general fiction or some other type of fiction where you have a smile, but not every time, but you always end a romance with a smile, and so that's what I love about this genre is it is just their. And to make us happy and to make us feel good. And I love that. So I mostly read contemporary Romance. That's probably my go-to, but I am open to all of the romance. And then, like I said I read a fair amount of thrillers. That's probably my next favorite. Just 'cause it's exciting

yeah,

make me smile.

Sometimes you need the husband to fall in love with, or the husband who did it, or who gets on alive. What better way, sometimes you just need like the husband did it, and that's what comes down to it. So, yes.

fits with the fact that I like, adventure rom-coms where there's some mystery to solve, so that fits in with that theme.

Yeah. Well, you have a mystery and you have a bad guy in your romcoms, there's actually a bad guy who's calling the shots. There's, so it helps you kinda build the persona of that mystery is not, bad guy that they're the external conflict that they're fighting for.

Yeah, that's it. I like that answer.

Awesome. Do you have any books you recommend or listeners to pick up?

Well, I have been reading some really great romances lately. I just finished toe to toe by Fallon Ballard, which is coming out in March, and it was Magic Mike meets center stage. Oh, that's all I have to say. Right.

I'm gonna bump it up. I have it. I'm like, oh, you have me. Magic Mike Center stage. That's like the best combo.

I mean, it just worked. It worked for me.

Yeah.

whole thing while traveling to Steamy Lit Con in October on the plane. I read the whole thing on the way there and the way back. It was perfect. It was exactly what I needed. So I read that. I also absolutely loved, I recommend this book all the time. It came out earlier this year. I'm like, what year is it? But Wedding Dashers by Heather McBreen. Loved it. I loved that book. It was just so fun. It had the best leap year vibes, which is so funny because I told Heather that. I was like, oh my God, I loved your book. I felt all these leaper vibes and she had not seen Leaper. What she has been

what?

because so many people told her, oh, it reminded me of Leap Year that she finally saw it and then she totally understood why everyone was saying that and why everyone loves that movie because Matthew Good.

Yes.

I love smart women in romance and so I also love recommending. What is Love by Jen Comfort? It's a jeopardy inspired rom-com. And first of all, Jen is just hilarious. She's so funny. And there's just something like, just kind of fun and sexy about this sexy nerd, and so she has these two characters teaching each other. About various things so that they can compete on this jeopardy, like show, I think it's called answers or something like that. And it's just wonderful. I love it.

Oh my gosh. I, you have me on this one. 'cause I let, I read her other one. I read her, I think it was a rockstar one. It was.

duet. Yes.

that was the one that I read and I was like, oh, I just need to go back. You just like bust on my TVR right now. So, Which

funny.

It is so awesome. So Joe, tell us, we can find out mine.

I am mostly most active on Instagram josegura books. I also have a substack that is. I think it's also Jo Segura Books. That is the best place to find me and I do like extra content in my newsletter. Even just for signing up for my newsletter, there's a bonus scene for Raiders of Lost Heart just for signing up, which I loved writing. And I'm on other socials, but I'm not so active on those. So those are the best places to find me.

it is all good. Thank you, Joe for being in a shower.

Yeah. Thank you.

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