Candra has just been locked inside a tower, where she must stay for seven years, otherwise the Moon Goddess will curse her kingdom. And she's not alone. A Fellian, the winged race of monsters her kingdom is at war with, is living in the tower with her. When Candra struggles to administer her daily dose of life-saving medicine, Nemeth takes pity of her, and the two become wary allies. But as days become weeks, weeks become months, and months become years, feelings grown Candra and Nemeth. Feelings that could jepordize life outside the tower.

I loved this book. At first, I was a little condemned about the set up and page count, but I quickly found that this book was perfectly paced. Yes, there were time jumps--that's to be expected when the main characters are facing years of confinement in a remote tower. But Ruby Dixon provided pivotal scenes for relationship development. I really enjoyed the way the intrigue built to the big reveal.

The forced proximity and forbidden love tropes are absolutely delicious. I don't want to give any big spoilers, but I think it's safe to say that the entire book does not take place inside the tower. The tower is an important place, but Candra and Nemeth also get the chance to exist outside of it. It was so satisfying to have a look at both sides of their relationship, both inside their happy little bubble and in the larger world.

If you've read anything from Ruby Dixon before, or are looking to give her a try, this book definitely belongs on your TBR.

thank you to netgalley and w by wattpad books for an e-arc of this book.

i loved this book in the first half, i honestly was reading this for i think 4 hours straight before i had to put it down and go to bed.

the main character, candra was honestly so relatable and i loved her unserious attitude. this book was also the epitome of forced proximity. candra and nemeth are literally locked in a tower with nothing else to do except get together and i ate up every single second of it.

the second half of the book is where i started to loose a little interest. honestly, the second half of this book was almost like another book itself. it was still enjoyable but i just found myself not as invested as i was in the first half. when candra and nemeth faced the outside world together i felt like they lost the spark of their relationship that i loved. also, there was so much added to the plot in the second half of the book it was almost too much to explore just in this book.

i would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys ruby’s writing or someone who’s looking for a stand alone fantasy romance.

A very cute and fluffy read. I really enjoyed the plot. The characters were not for me, but Ruby's writing is entertaining and I was unable to put it down. I do recommend it.

This author is always going to be an instant read for me, as I love their writing style and the unique quirks that each character has! This book has all of my favorite tropes, including enemies to lovers and forced proximity. I love to see a curvy FMC with tons of character development! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I will be recommending it to anyone looking for a monster romance with a magical plot!

I really enjoyed this! It was a super easy read with enough political elements to keep me interested throughout the entire book.

Candra and Nemeth are so adorable. I instantly fell in love with Nemeth and think he brings out the best in Candra. She was a little annoying at the beginning but I expected that since she was a "spoiled princess".

I'm not sure what I expected towards the end of the book, but I was NOT expecting that twist or the emotions I felt. After reading this, I have no qualms jumping into IPB.


Thank you SO much NetGalley and Ruby Dixon for this e-ARC!🫶🏻

When Candra and Nemeth, two members of opposing royal houses, find themselves locked in a tower for seven years to appease a vengeful goddess, neither expect the intense attraction that occurs. When circumstances beyond their control force them to make momentous choices, their love is tested in ways neither could have imagined.⁣
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Ruby Dixon is a master at world building. She infuses her stories with depth and heart and gives her characters distinctive voices with relatable quirks and nuances. This fantasy tale is no exception. And, as with every book I have read by this author, the spice level is high and the love scenes are epic (spoiler alert: there’s a lot of knotting).⁣
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The book flows well until the end, where it did feel ever so slightly rushed. But the ending is very satisfying, especially as the story became a bit dark before it got there, and the bulk of the book moved at a good pace.⁣
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𝘽𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚 is a great smutty fantasy that had a lot of feeling. I highly recommend it, especially if you’ve read any of Ruby Dixon’s alien romances. This is as good as those sci-fi love stories but in the fantasy realm instead. It is an excellent novel.

4/5 stars (Enjoyed it! Couldn’t put it down but probably will not reread)! 4/5 spicy peppers (lots of angst and build up, and multiple detailed, spicy scenes)!
I absolutely love Ruby Dixon! I read through 20+ books of her Ice Planet Barbarians series (also fantastic!), so when I saw this ARC being offered, I jumped at the opportunity to request it. A huge thanks to NetGalley and Ruby Dixon for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Candra is your typical, spoiled Liosian Princess who loves her life at court. She loves beautiful clothes, fancy parties, the attention she receives from numerous suitors… but what she loves most is her lack of royal responsibility. Candra is the middle child, and she has been looked over her entire life because of a chronic blood illness. Her older sister is the Queen, and her younger sister has been training since childhood to participate in a sacrifice required of her bloodline to appease the Gods. The sacrifice entails being locked in a tower for seven years alongside a prince (Nemeth) of their sworn enemies, the Fallians. When tragedy strikes Candra’s youngest sister, Candra’s life is turned upside down when she has only three days to prepare for the long seven year stint in the tower. Candra, who has never lifted a finger, is now completely responsible for cooking, cleaning, making and administering her daily medication, etc. What could possibly go wrong when she’s living with the enemy?!
This is the first book of Ruby’s I’ve read that has been longer than 300 pages, and I loved it! The world building was phenomenal. There were a few parts that seemed more drawn out than were necessary, but every chapter had a point to the story. I greatly appreciated having a FMC portrayed with a chronic illness. As someone who also suffers with one, it was refreshing to see Candra have confidence in herself and be sexy, but also to struggle with it at times and have the MMC be both accommodating and understanding. I didn’t see the twists coming in the storyline, and I loved that Candra ended up being the heroine of the story versus her completely depending on Nemeth.
*Spoilers Ahead*
Tropes:
Enemies to lovers
Forbidden love
Forced proximity
Surprise pregnancy
Chronically ill (but still badass) FMC
Monster MMC
Virgin MMC
Knotting
Touch her and die

This was a different take on her usual books and I loved it! I like how we go so much time in the tower and it not only focused on being a love story, but how a female would try to survive in a strange dark place. I think what really impressed me was the male and his species was complete opposite of her. We got to see what it would be like culturally and romantically between 2 different species. It was a perfect length and didn’t feel like it dragged or went too fast, no loose ends!

As a big fan of the Ice Planet Barbarians series, I was SO excited when I stumbled upon Bound to the Shadow Prince on NetGalley.

My one complaint about IPB is that the books are never long enough- I always want more. Despite being over 500 pages, I flew through Bound to the Shadow Prince. Even that wasn’t long enough for me. There’s something about Ruby Dixon’s writing that absolutely captivates me.

With the two main characters forced to sacrifice seven years of their lives trapped in a dark windowless tower with no way out, I truly felt claustrophobic. Ruby does a great job of setting the scene. And what a perfect setting to have a forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden romance!

I loved that I had no idea where the story would go. Though you assume Nemeth and Candra will fall in love (this is a romance, after all), nothing else about the story is predictable.

I would love to get more stories set in this world. Though this story seems like a standalone, I can easily see it turning into a standalone series, with each book focusing on a new couple.

Thank you, NetGalley for an early copy! All opinions are my own.

4 out of 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book hooked me in from the first chapter. I loved the character development and how the story progressed.

After many, many years of a tentative truce, two kingdoms were on the brink of war. The only thing that has kept the people blessed is the seven years committed to the tower. One person from each faction must sacrifice these years to calm the goddess. Two people prepared to be shut off from the rest of the world, their people, their freedom.

Princess Candra was not prepared. As a last minute fill-in, this spoiled brat had no idea what she was in for. There was no one to dress her, bathe her, prepare her meals, or generally make her life easier. She had to do everything herself, including preparing and administering her medicine. Girl was absolutely clueless and provided me with endless fun, at her expense.

So there Candra was, with a chronic blood illness, trapped in a tower with one of the enemy. However, Nemeth was far from the bad guy. He took care of her, shared his supplies with her, and made her fall helplessly in love with him. And when I thought that was all for this story... the author gifted me with so much more.

There was danger and intrigue, honor and betrayal, tons of love and sexy times.

If you weren't a fan of this author before reading this book, you'll be one after.

I have mixed feelings about this story. I DNFd it around the time they were planning on leaving the tower. I have no idea if they did or didn't, but I did enjoy the first part? It just seems so long. I love the Rapunzel elements, mixed with the monster trope Dixon is so known for, and scrambled with the right amount of enemies-to-lovers and spice. I feel like it needs to be about 100 pages shorter and get to the point already. I feel like there might be some plot holes as well, especially regarding the magical knife and the food situation. A lot of my questions were left unanswered, but perhaps they would have been if I had read the entire book. I intended to return to it to finish, but never did. I guess that's my sign I didn't like it as much as I originally thought.

surprisingly, I actually really enjoyed this. the dynamic is something that you don't normally see in these types of books and I hope to see more of it in the future.

Ruby Dixon has a certain talent to take a common trope and somehow make it seems fresh. Between her dynamic characters, excellent story telling, and delicious spicy scenes, she is easily a favorite. Despite having some of the steamiest stories available she is still able to develop her characters, world, and plot masterfully to create an engaging story that grips the reader until the end.

For some, the steam level and monster trope may not be their cup of tea, and that's fine as long as they know that going in. However, if non of that bothers you as a reader, many can enjoy this enemies-to-lovers forced proximity erotica.

I was given an eARC of this book from Netgalley for my honest review.** Overall rating: 4.3⭐️ (don’t ask for the math, this is like Dave Portnoy’s pizza ratings just feels right) Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️(I say 3 bc it’s not the most or craziest unless it’s completely out of your wheelhouse) I could be persuaded to say a 3.5.

Do not read any further unless you want to be spoiled. No major plot point spoilers but deffo spoilers.

This was a story about a baddie named Candra who said I do not care what others think of me. I have a blood curse and am barren so I’m just gonna live my best life. Long story turned short, she meets what I have dubbed “a grasshopper angel/gargoyle” dude named Nemeth. They live their own version of married at first site, but instead of meeting at the altar and getting married, they are boarded up in a tower together with no lights. Keep in mind they are also both royals from enemy kingdoms/species. Stuff happens and without giving too much away $h!t hits the fan. The main characters face a lot of trials with and without each other and our girly Candra must learn who to trust and take control over the crap situation she is dealt. I was pleasantly surprised with the ending. I think it ended in a way that wasn’t a typical sunshine and rainbows like some books recently have done, but was done in a way that did the story itself justice. I would recommend it to anyone who likes monster books especially!

This is the longest Ruby Dixon book I've read but it's worth it. The plot and world are intriguing and it's a easy read. I'm hoping for another book in this world to learn more about the magic, history, and culture. Heads up, the FMC says "dragon shite" a ton in the beginning. I found it unbearable but I'm glad I ignored it because I enjoyed the book.

I really loved the forced proximity in the beginning of this book. These two are to be trapped for 7 years in a tower. They come from warring cultures and have no way of knowing what is going on outside. The road trip element was great. I didn’t enjoy the final stages of the book as much. There was a lot going on and it felt both rushed and too slow.
Overall it’s a fun Rapunzel/ beauty and the beast ish fantasy romance.

Bound to the Shadow Prince is a great addition to the Ruby-realm for book collectors! A different twist on the maiden-in-castle story, where this time the male love interest is also trapped with her. Fans will love the characters revealing secrets in the dark twisted tower together.

I'm really mixed on this one- parts of it really worked for me, and others just did not. I do like it as a fantasy romance, and I like it more than the Ice Planet Barbarians. My issue with it is that it continues the same issues I saw with that series re: the weird fantasy race stuff.

What I liked: chronically ill heroine is cool, I always like forced proximity in romance, so the premise works for me as well. I enjoyed the dynamic between the two MCs, and I liked Candra and Nemeth as friends and lovers.

What really seemed underutilized for me was the world-building and the post-tower stuff. The pacing totally fell apart at that point, which kind of took me out of the story.

The biggest issue I hd was the fantasy race stuff, which feels so underdeveloped. It's part of the world-building issue, since we know so little about the actual societies out protagonists come from. We get some creation stories re: the gods and out characters' relationship to them, but not a lot beyond that. Certain characters make sense re: motivation, but so many of the twists in the book feel unearned and frankly contrived. I liked that Candra's "cursed blood" was due to her mixed ancestry, but I was waiting for the reveal that she in fact, did not need medicine, or that the whole thing was a contrivance to keep the line small and her politically powerless, but I was disappointed that the solution was just "she's a mule."

I didn't hate the ending but I also wasn't a fan. The wrath of the gods just being something you wait out felt like an anticlimax to me, and while I saw the twist villain coming, I just didn't buy the ending as working out in the long run. I can't tell if this is the first in a series, but that would make more sense to me if the world was going to be fleshed out more.

The reason this is three stars when I had so many issues with it is that Dixon really is just a spell-binding writer. This book convinced me of her potential so much more than any other I have read of hers, I think she has the talent to write truly inspired works. I just think this book needed another few drafts before it was done. In the spirit of similar books being published, it's far too long and a tad disjointed, but it has some serious magic, and it pulled me in hard. I will not be giving up on Dixon, though this book didn't hit for me as I'd hoped.

I love Ruby Dixon. She is like the Colleen Hoover of knotty/demon/supernatural romance. This plot was unique, exciting and oh so steamy 🤤. We love a good winged shadow daddy and a sassy princess 💯. Although the relationship between the main protagonist didn’t have much depth besides 🌶️🌶️ inter-species 🍆, the world building was substantial and it was actually a really great standalone book. I wasn’t blow away, but I enjoyed my time and it was a good read and I will definitely read her other books as well!