Jo Segura’s THE LUST CRUSADE sounds like everything I would want in a romance: a heroine secretly in love with her brother’s best friend while he is also in love with her, mixed in with them trekking all over Greece after our hero, Dr. Theo Galanis is discovered to actually be alive (he’s been kidnapped for a year) by our heroine, Daniela Guiterrez. However, I was looking for romance and adventure, and didn’t really get either.

The premise sets up a lot of potential. A high-stakes journey paired with forced proximity is usually a winning combination, especially with clashing personalities. However, I struggled to make myself care about Theo or Dani. It felt as if they had the same argument over and over, just in different places. There’s a fine line between slow burn and stagnation, and unfortunately, this leaned toward the latter.

Dani, in particular, was difficult for me to truly like. While I quite liked her independence and determination, some of her decisions felt more driven by plot convenience than genuine character motivation. This made it hard to stay invested in her emotional journey. Theo was slightly better, but even he couldn’t quite carry the weight of the story. His growth felt rushed toward the end, as if the book suddenly realized it needed to wrap things up and pushed him there without fully earning it.

The romance annoyed me because they are both in love with one another at the beginning of the story; they just refuse to admit it for *reasons*. Dani and Theo shared a night together before his kidnapping, and their constant thinking about it makes this feel like a second-chance romance, which I cannot stand. This goes back to the whole repetitive thoughts issue.

Pacing was another major issue. The middle section drags considerably, with scenes that feel overlong without adding much to character or plot development. At the same time, key emotional beats—especially toward the end—are rushed, creating an imbalance that made the story feel both too long and not developed enough where it mattered.

Overall, THE LUST CRUSADE had all the right ingredients, but the execution didn’t come together for me. While not without its bright spots, it ultimately left me wanting a stronger emotional connection and a more satisfying romantic payoff.