Captivating Characters - Ripley Adams

On the last Friday of every month, Carol at Reading Ladies Book Club hosts Captivating Characters where you can share your post about the most captivating character (real or fictional) you encountered in the past month. 

This Month's Captivating Character: Ripley Adams

Fossil Feud by Maggie North
Published by Dell on July 28, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 
Goodreads

The hunt for fossils—and love—is on in this steamy, STEMinist romance about two paleontologists who join forces to prevent a fraudulent dinosaur discovery, but accidentally dig up feelings for each other along the way.

Renegade paleontologist Ripley Adams is this close to digging up a fossil treasure and vindication. She’s spent the last three years in academic exile after her ex-boyfriend stole her work, betrayed her trust, and broke her heart in one fell swoop. If she can unearth a complete specimen of her newest discovery—a never-before-seen missing link between dinosaurs and birds—it will put her back on the map and finally restore her ruined reputation.

But when unfairly hot Oxford professor James Smithson crashes Ripley’s dig site, she realizes she’s not the only one searching for redemption in the Montana dirt. James is convinced a splashy new fossil is a fraud, and he needs Ripley’s help to prove it. She’d tell the buttoned-up Brit where to stick his suspicions, but the fake fossil is eerily similar to hers . . . and the fraudster is her ex.

The race is on to reveal a T-rex-sized discovery. Polar opposites Ripley and James will have to find common ground if they’re going to take down a hoax that could ruin them both. And as they dig deeper into their unlikely attraction, Ripley’s excavation boots won’t be the only things getting a little dirty. . . .

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As a person with a STEM past, I am always excited about other STEM girls, but Ripley's story was one I grew to appreciate. She was done wrong by a system that seems to have it out for women, and though she abandoned her dreams of academia, she pivoted to something that helped her keep one foot in that world. She was down but not out, and I admired that she was going to do things on her own terms. She could have enjoyed some success IF she had compromised and done things that establishment ways which involved giving credit where credit was NOT due. Instead, she went into the private sector where she could still run a dig site but without the worry of someone stealing her thunder. She had a lot of grit, and that is a quality that I never tire of. 

[review]

What captivating characters did you meet?
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