How to Excavate a Heart is a book that hit so many good and familiar notes for me. Shani has just finished her first semester at college where she also got her first girlfriend, who broke up with her just before the start of winter break. Luckily Shani got accepted to an internship that the Smithsonian museum of natural history where she’ll work under her idol on coelacanth fossils, giving her distance from home and something to put her focus towards that isn’t her broken heart. Except as her mom is dropping her off, they bump into May with their car – a most inauspicious start to what will become a winter romance!
This was such a delightful story full of messy feelings, working through issues with parents and trying to be a better person and child, and a sweet lesbian romance (and yes, they both identity as lesbian on page!). I also really adored Shani’s friendship with Taylor and the various ways they were there for each other, and the mentor/mentee dynamic that develops with Mandira while working in the lab and finding an older queer person to talk to about those feelings and experiences. And May and Shani! They’re both such nerds for their interests (weather for May, coelacanth for Shani) and I loved the different ways they shared those feelings with each other, and the way the other was enthralled by their passion.
This truly is such a delightful story so full of love and heart and I’m so glad I was able to read it. If you want a story that is overall soft (oh and features a truly adorable corgi!) with feeling and absolute nerds, I definitely recommend picking this book up!
