Fossil Feud is a cute romance set on a paleontological dig in Montana. Ripley Adams has become a freelance fossil hunter after being driven out of academic research after her boyfriend, Will Stone, betrays her by stealing her research and laying waste to her reputation. Currently she thinks she’s found a fossil link connecting dinosaurs with birds and hopes to use it to restore her good name.
Ripley grew up in a trailer house, raised by a single father, abandoned by her movie-star mother. The shambles of her life aren’t the only things on the line: the family leasing the land to her for her search is hoping for a share of the proceeds of selling a new specimen of dinosaur, and Ripley hopes to allay some of her own—and her father’s fears—about finances as he faces a cancer diagnosis.
When an Oxford professor and trust fund recipient, James Smithson, shows up at her site, he brings news that her ex is presenting a complete skeleton of a purported link between dinosaurs and birds. Only Smithson believes it is a fraud. So the race is on as to who will succeed legitimately.
Having been on fossil-finding digs myself, there’s not quite enough detail as to the sheer drudgery of days spent dirty, dusty, hot, and dry be convincing. Despite being a bit lean on actual science, the story is cute, and it’s a quick fun read.
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Fossil Feud (Dell, July 28, 2026) is available through:
Your local independent bookseller | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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