I thought the premise was original, 2 characters from different "creation" per say, stuck in a tower with no windows for 7. years. Forced proximity of a human FMC and an other worldy MMC-gray monster of sorts with horns, a tail, and wings. I also enjoyed how the FMC had a chronic medical condition requiring daily infusions to sustain life, you don't see this often. The length was a little long (536 pages) for being trapped in the same environment, it felt like there was only so much the main characters could do. Unfortunately, I chose to DNF this read about 30% in as I found myself skimming at that point. The spice was a little crass, and I couldn't move through how immature the FMC was. Super appreciative for the ARC, NetGalley, but unfortunately this book was not for me. Unable to truly rate this read as I did not finish.

"Candra is the broken princess, so she has always just enjoyed herself around court and loves all of the attention. Her sister dies unexpectedly and now Candra must go to the goddess' tower for seven years with her enemy. She only catches glimpses of Nemeth at first but then circumstances push them together.

Candra and Nemeth figure out how to live and work together in the tower but everything on the outside is not as expected.
I did not figure out everything that was going on and the twist kept the story interesting. If you like the Aspect and Anchor series, you will like this one too."

I liked it. The FMC is a spoiled princess sent as sacrifice to the gods. She has to live in a secluded tower for 7 years, during which time her kingdom will flourish. MMC, Nemeth, is a monstrous male from the rival kingdom. He is sent to the tower for the same reason.

The story tells their time in the tower. Their struggles to survive and overcome their hatred for each other as rivals. I enjoyed the writing. I thought the character development was good. I was invested in the simple journey of these 2. The little unexpected twists. The “savoring” of the slow burn. Sooo good. The monster smut did not disappoint for me 🌶️🌶️🌶️🔥🔥🔥.

It’s a bit long and drawn out. It’s only 2 characters locked in a dark tower after all. Could have been trimmed down a lot.

Overall really enjoyed it! Would recommend for a slow, lazy, smutty reading mood.

Hmm. I have a lot of thoughts on this and I really don’t want to be harsh because I quite enjoyed the first two Ice Planet Barbarian books. So I’ll give this 2 stars but it’s really around a 1.

Some things I liked: bookish & possessive MMC, the idea of the forced proximity, the FMC being the experienced one and not feeling shame over it

It dragged for me though. The pacing was all over the place and the beginning did not hook me at all. I would say I liked maybe 15% of this book. The last chapters really just had me reading in a numb state because I did honestly want to know how it was going to be resolved since I was already so far in.

A lot of people are saying the spice was good and in my opinion it was alright. Also the FMC is highly repetitive. Between “dragon shite” and “knot” - if I started a drinking game I’d black out.

Again, this is all due to my own personal reading preferences. I encourage anyone to form an opinion of their own because you may end up enjoying it even if I didn’t.

First off, thank you NetGalley and Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ok, I am going to make this short and to the point. This book was just not for me! Honestly, I thought this was going to be a fantasy romance retelling of Rapunzel and not an explicit smut read with a messy plot. The story is WAY too long, repetitive, and dragged on forever! I struggled to finish reading it and ended up skimming parts about halfway through the book. If you’re looking for an odd narrative with a bunch of smut then this will be a book for you! Sadly, it wasn’t my cup of tea!

Ugh I cannot tell you how much I loved this book! Seriously, it had me hooked from the beginning!

This Fantasy Romance was a mouthwatering spicy read.
The Romance is a slow burn, and very angsty.
Once the romance takes off there are lots of scrumptious spicy scenes to enjoy. Perfect for any monster spice lover.
The book moves at a quicker pace following the MCs as they try survive locked in a tower together. There is lust, adventure, unexpected turns of events, and even betrayal along their struggle.
The characters are written very solid in their wonderful personalities. They are a perfect combination together, making their banter throughout the book a pleasure to read.
The world building is fairly complex, but not overly so. The author makes sure to start strong, and keep reinforcing throughout the book. This makes reading this book a compelling read, that you cant help to never want to put down.

I love the way this love story unfolded. The secrets and the twist towards the end. I wasn't expecting that. Love the HEA

Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC!

I love Ruby Dixon. I did enjoy this book, but there was something missing. I felt so bad for Chandra and was really excited to see her growth. The smut was smutty and I need more of it!

I found Ruby with her Ice Planet Barbarians series, and I was so excited to see he do something different. I'm anxious for the rest of the series.

This was one of my first reads by Ruby Dixon, so I went in blind. I was hooked from the beginning and didn't want to even put the book down. Candra was such a fun character and always thirsty IYKYK. It is from her POV, first person. However the character development for both her and her love interest was always on point and I never got frustrated with them. Plus I really enjoy a good enemies to lovers. Worldbuilding was spectacular and very descriptive. I felt like I was immersed in their world from the beginning. Through out the plot I kept thinking I knew what was coming. Sometimes it was a bit predictable then something I didn't expect would get thrown my way. It kept me wanting more. Over all a good read and I can't wait to read more from this author.

Unfortunately, despite my love for Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarian series, I found this novel difficult to read. The two biggest issues I had were probably both personal problems though. The first was the length of the book. Personally, when I am reading monster romances, I want them to be something I can binge read in one sitting, and it being nearly 600 pages was too much. Secondy, I had a hard time reading a monster romance where the monster was so unattractive. Ain Ice Planet Barbarians they are a bit more humanoid and I imagined the monster in this book would be as well—again, a very personal issue. The smaller issues I had were that the romance was very sudden. She found the monster ugly and then suddenly decided she wanted to have sex with him. Overall, I found it hard to read and personally wouldn’t recommend it to any friends. It is a niche book though and I know there will be people out there who love it! (For that reason, I will not be posting this review publicly anywhere! Dixon worked hard and should be commemorated for her efforts and for the people who I know she will reach with this story!)

This book is probably the furthest Ruby Dixon book I have gotten through and yet I still could not finish it. I think the character development was much stronger than some of her other books and I loved the world she created.

One thing Ruby Dixon does well is writing men who know how to dote on their mates and this book is no exception! The fact that we have a curvy, sassy, FMC that has great disability rep was a huge bonus- but the love story between our two main characters was a 10/10. I do feel like once they leave the tower the story drug out- I wish it could have been condensed, but overall I loved this book and I will happily be adding it to my Ruby Dixon shelf when it releases!

Having only read Ruby's IPB series, I wasn't sure what to expect from a longer book that didn't include our favorite blue guys. What we get is an enemies to lovers situation between a feisty FMC who has to figure out what is important to her and a shadowy man with knees that bend backward (this is mentioned frequently). It still has a lot of what we expect from Ruby (read: monster smut), but also humor, plot, action, and a total simp of an MMC. I was definitely not expecting the twist at the end!

That being said, there were definitely parts that felt a bit longer than absolutely necessary. When I read the author note at the end and learned that it was originally released as a serial, they pacing made more sense, though. I was also left with some lingering questions that I didn't feel were totally answered. This also is not a quick read; don't expect it to go as quickly as an IPB read.

Overall, it was an interesting read set in a dynamic world (gods, court intrigue, curses, war).

Note: There were some slightly darker elements that might not be for everyone (scroll down for TWs).

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC of this book for an honest review.





TW: infant death, slavery, implied SA (not on page and not main characters)

This was good but was SO long! Some of the writing is clunky, but it was still a fun and believable world where the tension between the characters is quite delicious. It’s nice to read a Ruby Dixon and enjoy the quality and consistency of her years of experience. It feels like getting back to my roots…

What a cute story. Which from the back I wasn't expecting it to be as sweet as it was. Ruby Dixon never disappoints. I enjoyed the world building and the characters. I was nervous about the idea of two characters being forced together for seven years but gosh I could get enough of Candra and Nemeth.

There was the perfect balance of struggle, fluff and smut. The ending had so many twists and turns that I really felt like Candra in the tower. Coming back out to a whole slew of mayhem.

If you like fantasy, forced proximity, world building, war, magic and monsters. This is the books for you.

Thank you to NetGalley and wattpad webtoon book group for this opportunity! This epic ARC will be available July 2,2024!!!

Holy spiciness with an actual plot Batman!!! I devoured this book. It’s my first book by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed their writing style. The plot was steadily paced with action, banter and steamy moments. The main characters were fleshed out. Not one moment was I ever bored.

I’m giving this three stars because the writing wasn’t terrible but my actual enjoyment was somewhere in the two star range.

I remember seeing Ruby advertise the chapters of this book as they were being released on Yonder. I didn’t read any of the story then because I’m not paying for another app, not even for Ruby, but was interested in the premise. So I waited to read it until now. Unfortunately this book had issues; mainly, it was too long. The story initially started out focused on the characters but eventually became about a meandering plot which was overly bloated. I could assume this would be due to the serialized pay-per-chapter release, but I’ve read other series written by Ruby that suffered from the same issue that were just published as novels.

Beyond that I don’t personally think the female main character was written well. She was pretty much one note and it was set to horny. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good steamy book, but want the characters to have more to them than just the desire to bone. I also understand and appreciate that was part of her characterization; however, it superseded any romantic buildup or chemistry which Ruby generally does well. In fact it was done well for the male main character in this book. As a reader this made it hard to buy into the romance or root for the couple.

There were also gripes I had that may not bother everyone but grated on my nerves. Specifically the countless times “dragon shite” was used even though there were no dragons in this book and the audiobook narrator’s choice to make the main character and narrator of the story have an American accent despite saying things like “piss off,” “arse,” “shite,” etc. Additionally the male main character, his people, and the human males all had what I think was a Scottish accent. Maybe the human males had an old school Transatlantic style accent but the women were just straight up bland American. So every “piss off,” “arse,” “shite,” etc. was just unbelievably off-putting. And lastly, along with having issues with several scenes throughout the story the final one was incredibly frustrating but I can’t get into the reasons why because of spoilers.

In the end, this book had issues. Some were just my personal gripes but others were with the writing. I still love Ruby’s work and will continue to try out whatever she comes up with in the future.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Also, shoutout to my local library and Libby for having the audiobook.

I really liked the premise of this book, forced proximity and soft enemies to lovers. Candra started out a little spoiled but quickly realized her situation and had a lot of growth at the end. I enjoyed the twist towards the end of the book and how it came together at the end.
I do feel like the story dragged in places that could’ve been shortened up and some of the spicier scenes were a little repetitive.

Ruby Dixon has become one that can write a monster fantasy grocery list and I think I will buy it. She is a go to for me in this realm and I know that I will pick it up and devour it and finish it in that same day, if not the same sitting.

Bound to the Shadow Prince was the perfect forced proximity, enemies to lovers romance! Candra and Nemeth had me hooked from start to finish.