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!

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was so intrigued by this books blurb with Candra and Nemeth being locked inside the tower for seven years but the story took shape in a way I didn’t expect. The twists and turns had me flying through this book and I loved it more and more each chapter.

I thoroughly enjoyed Candra’s character and her growth throughout the story. She is constantly undermined and belittled but consistently is one of the strongest characters. Every Romantasy novel has a strong female character but Candra’s strength was subtle but undeniable.

If you love fantasy, romance, spice, twists and turns, and revenge, this one is for you!

This is such a fun read! You really feel transported to Candra’s world; feeling everything she feels.

Ruby Dixon books are always just such a guilty pleasure read for me. I was so very excited to get this arc and it didn’t disappoint. This as such an easy bingeable book. I love the characters and the growth that we saw with Candra. The relationship development and spice were so good.

It’s been to long since I had a book in my hands that I couldn’t put down. This book was so good! After hitting the half way mark I didn’t do anything but read! I was up til 3am finishing it. Then I found so much regret because it was over.

Ruby Dixon is one of my favorite authors. I love how there are so many layers to her characters linking them to the reader. Also she has a magical ability to create a world yet have it filled to the brim with glorious smut! With her books I truly can have my cake and eat it to.

After being tossed into a tower the pampered princess Candra gets a true reality check as she is closed off from the world and surrounded by darkness. But she’s not alone someone is lurking in the shadows. This book is about self discovery we are all stronger than we think.

If you’re new to Ruby Dixon this is a great starting point! She has written so many fantasy books that feed your soul all while giving you that scorching energy we sometimes need!

* I was in the middle of reading this when I lost access to it so my review will be for what I read*

I really enjoyed reading this book and wanted to know how it ended. I love the forbidden love of it! It's worth the read so far

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. I loveee Ruby Dixon's previous works, and while I still really enjoyed this, it wasn't the same level as I felt with the IPB series. This one had less of a plot, which I still prefer to be present in my spicy books. It was good, but just maybe not something I would pick up for reread because of this. 3.5 stars rounded to 4. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

This book was really well written. I personally like the way Ruby Dixon writes but her books are on the smaller side and I am always left wanting more. This book was that. It was long and had intrigue. There were parts that I was like yeah that’s what I expected and then others where I was gripped in the story totally turned for a loop. I was such a fan of the fmc cursing the same curse word over and over but her development was on point. There was so much that happened that I just wasn’t expecting. I got half through and was like okay something is going to happen we are only half way where is the plot twist and it definitely did not disappoint. I despise being left wondering and this book was not that, it finished off all the things I wanted to know and then some. I can’t wait to read this book again and o definitely plan on recommending it to people that like these types of books. If you like IPB from Ruby I personally think you will also love this book.

2.75/5 stars! So I love me some Ruby Dixon, but this story did not quite hit. It felt like Rapunzel but with no plot development. It works as purely smut, but lacked some of the endearing storylines that other Ruby books such as Bad Guy and Worse Guy.

I love Dixon’s books, she excels at world building. It gives the story so much more depth. This was one of her darker books, though. The stakes felt a little too high, and it took me out of the enjoyment. Still an interesting read. Her love scenes are frequent and perfectly written.