A princess is locked away in a tower for 7 years and her only company is a Monstrous prince from an enemy race. I’m a fan of fantasy so hey this sounded good.
THE BIG PROBLEM: in my humble opinion this book should have been edited down. This book is terribly long. The ebook is 55 chapters. The audiobook is 21 hours. And you’re initially talking about a book that has two characters locked in a tower together who don’t even really speak for the first 9 chapters. So it's pretty slow. . I don't need to read whole chapters about cooking stew and candles and medicine. It gets repetitive in the Princess’ head.
the logistics of being locked in a tower designed like this one don't make sense to me at all. The tower has no door and *no windows* - not even slits to let in light or air. She spends the first few months just sitting in the dark. She has nothing but work to do - no books, no sewing, nothing. How did they expect her to pass her 7 years like that. In the first year there are periods of many weeks where doesn’t speak to anyone. Not to mention the food situation - they get a year's worth of food delivered. No fresh fruit and veggies so they're probably both going to die from malnourishment.
Basically they then turn it into a free for all alien/human forced proximity sex thing. This almost became a DNF for me. I know there will be people who like it just for the spice. I am apparently not that person.

Ruby Dixon does it again with another knockout fantasy book! I love the forced proximity, enemies to lovers tropes in this book. It was steamy and everything I expected from Ruby..

What a rollercoaster ride of a story!

Overall a 4.5 stars for me, rounded up to a 5 star read & my first novel by Ruby Dixon 🙂
I enjoyed her writing style, it was direct but descriptive enough to immerse me into the story, characters and world. I will definitely read more from her!

The spice level in this one is *high*, so be warned!

The way the premise was set for this book, I thought we were in for a 7year romance ride in a tower for our characters, but I’m here to tell you that the world definitely opens up more! The plot itself is such a roller coaster and I never really knew what was going to happen (after the romance of course). I really enjoy that element of surprise in the plot, and it was fun to be taken on this rollercoaster.

I enjoyed both of our characters, they were both very distinct. We have our FMC who is seductive, sassy and rebellious and we have our MMC who is dutiful, family bound and reserved. Their interactions were intense, fun and spicy and I really enjoyed their dynamic throughout the whole book.

The worldbuilding and the lore are tied in as one. We get one side of the lore between the two warring regions from our FMC who we are introduced to first and then we learn about the other side of the lore later on in the book. I enjoyed that the book went beyond the world it had been set on and that we got to see more of the world through our MCs eyes. I do feel as though we could’ve gotten more of the world and more explanation as certain stories and lore were more hollow than expected but it was just enough for this standalone.

Overall I certainly enjoyed my time reading this one, it was spicy with romance and tons of political intrigue included with fantasy, magic and warring peoples. There was a lot going on but would recommend it for any reader who wants a fun and intense fantasy romance standalone!

The repetition of the storyline in the beginning bothered me, but I really liked the female character her quirky positive attitude. The enemies to lovers story drew me in, and the plot was unexpected enough to keep me reading the end.

Aghhhhhh okay so here’s the deal. This is the 23rd book I have read by Ruby Dixon (yes, I counted). Suffice it to say, I was one of the girlies who got through the pandemic by the grace of the Barbarians series, which I still love and will always return to read more of, because I still have another 15-20 to get through (bless!).

I knew this was a brand new book set in a brand new world, but for some reason I thought the formula would remain the same, in terms of a rather bite-size novel, helmed by incredibly strong FMC and lovable and selfless MMCs, with some very good plot sprinkled amongst some equally good, if not better, smut and romance. While this book did definitely have the latter, the former things were suspiciously absent. Let me elaborate.

For starters, this book was over 500 pages long. I cannot for the life of me figure out why it was this long, given that the actual PLOT beyond the two leads getting hot and heavy didn’t really kick in until the last 50-100 pages. I found myself bored at some of the repetition of the first 300 pages, and the actual interesting plot stuff that occurred at the end felt rushed and in some ways nonsensical. I would have loved the pacing to be adjusted so that we could actually get a bit more plot and character development in some of the folks who were tossed in at the end.

I also really struggled with the main characters. Candra is so selfish for the first 50% of the story, to the point of nauseating. And she has her motivations; I’m not saying it is unrealistic, but I just could barely bring myself to root for her when all I could do for chapters and chapters was roll my eyes and yell “get over yourself” at my phone. As for Nemeth, there were elements of him that felt a bit too “old world man”, insofar as he consistently seemed hell bent on dictating what Candra could and couldn’t do, all in the name of protecting her, and I wish the man would get a grip and shut up so the woman could decide for herself. The last 100 pages were particularly infuriating for his character arc, and I personally wished for more groveling. If you read it, you’ll get where I’m coming from.

On the whole, I still love Ruby Dixon and she will always be an auto-read author for me. It is entirely possible that this book fell a bit flat for me due to my insanely high expectations of her novels, and in that case, this was sooooo on me. If, generally speaking, you’re just looking for some fun human/monster smut (let’s be realP like in all of Ruby’s books, we are getting into non-human parts here, so time for some very innovative monster content) with some very very light political intrigue, and a FMC who does indeed have a great growth arc, this is the book for you. I give it a hearty 3⭐

*Thank you again to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Princess Candra of the Kingdom of Lios has always known that she is the royal daughter who is useless. She was born with a blood disease that makes her infertile so she is of no value to the noble men in the palace court. She has spent her entire life learning how to navigate the world of palace politics but she doesn’t know much about anything else. When she is suddenly told that she will be sent away to be dedicated to the gods, she is angry and scared. She will have to spend 7 years locked in a tower with a representative from Darkfell. Lios and Darkfell are enemies so will Candra be able to live with a representative from Darkfell for 7 years?
Candra has a huge growth curve. She faces struggles surviving from the minute she enters the tower. The author did a good job showing how she started out feeling useless at the beginning and how that led to her acting like a spoiled princess after getting to the tower and then how she slowly became capable and strong. I have avoided introducing Candra’s roommate in the tower until this point because the book is from Candra’s perspective. So from her perspective, Nemeth is a scary monster at the beginning of the story. She has good reasons to believe he is a monster. The author does a good job showing how Candra works through a lifetime of believing something that simply does not apply to Nemeth. She remains unsure if her beliefs apply to other Fellians. I thought that was very believable. It showed how smart and thoughtful Candra was. The author chose to make Nemeth “perfect”. I thought his perfection was a weak part of the story since I wanted him to have some kind of imperfection to make him feel more realistic. The backdrop for this story is a looming war between Candra’s people and Nemeth’s people. The author shows the negative consequences of war. There is a twist in the story but I’m not going to give any hints.
This is a sweeping story set in a mythical world with humans and Fellians living in tenuous peace. The gods are real and rain down destruction when they are made unhappy. There is a love story that is integral to the overall story. I read this story without any idea what I was about to read but I was pleasantly surprised in the end. This story is set in a time where women still wear complex gowns during the day, farmers live in small cottages outside the walls of the castle and travel is slow going. This story takes place over a period of years. I am interested to read more from this author in the future.

Two royals from warring races are walled up inside a tower to appease the gods. Princess Candra was unprepared to sacrifice her life for her people, but she's the only available choice to enter a remote tower for seven years. At first, she's antagonistic towards her tower-mate Nemeth, but as the months pass they both come to depend on and care for one another. When they discover that the war between their nations may have begun under false pretenses, they must brave the outside world's judgement of their relationship if they hope to save their people. Beware those that underestimate Ruby Dixon's ability to write based on spice and blue barbarians - romantasy readers looking for longer stories will eat this up.

I absolutely love this book. I have read several of this authors books and was thrilled when I was picked to receive an ARC from Net Galley. The imagination to create this world is definitely beyond anything my brain could think up. I liked flow of the book, it just worked for me, however I could see how some might think it is slow. There was drama, action, love, very spicy scenes, plot twist etc. I will say this book could be triggering for some regarding starvation, war etc. My only negative was I had trouble picturing the MMC.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first monster romance ( not my typical genre lol). Knotting is something new for me too. Anyone who enjoys a good, winged, hot shadow daddy will love Nemeth. I loved that this was a stand-alone and not multiple books. The buildup and character growth from start to finish for both Candra & Nemeth was very well done. Lots of very hot spice & there was a good plot too. I swear every time the book seemed to have a dull moment there was a spice scene that made it all worth it. Definitely whet my curiosity for this genre.

4 stars

Bound to The Shadow Prince is Ruby Dixon newest novel, it is a Fantasy romance. It has some of my favorite tropes in it including Enemies to lovers and forced proximity. The writing was good, and the story was entertaining. I was so excited when I got approved to read a copy. This new series is so exciting and different from other books I have read by her. It's got magic, two kingdoms at odds, and ancient curses. I really found the Fellian people to be fascinating, dark and mysterious. I loved Nemeth at the beginning of the story. He was standoffish and growly. As we got to know his character, he turned out to be very attentive and sweet also, but then he took a turn there at the end because of events and choices he made, and I was like what the heck! Candra behaved a bit childish throughout the book when it came to certain things. I got that impression mostly from her inner dialogue she came across that way to me anyway, she was still a character that I did enjoy following. The plot and relationship development in this story were my favorite parts. I did think that it was a little too long, some parts I was ready to move on from what's happening and pick up the pace. Other than that, I had a great time reading this book. It was also very spicy, about a 3 on the scale, loved the fantasy setting, would recommend this book and I am excited for the next in the series.
I received an advance ebook copy, via Netgalley. This review is my own honest opinion.

I loved it. I have enjoyed every Ruby Dixon book I have read and this one was no exception. I will have a full review post coming soon to IG/TT.

I love Ruby Dixon and the way that she writes. I had high expectations for this book and it didn't disappoint.

This was my first Ruby Dixon book that wasn't ice planet barbarians. It was the same tension I loved when I read IPB, but it had more of a star-crossed lovers, enemies to lovers edge that I really enjoyed.

Something Ruby does really well is characters and character development. The only thing I didn't like was I wanted more out of the plot. The romance was done so well but there wasn't much to this book other than romance.

The book captured and held my attention.great world building and ruby dixon described everything so I pictured it perfectly. I loved how in detail the mating ceremony was. Overall it was a fun read

I really loved Ruby Dixon’s writing but unfortunately I don’t think monster romance is for me so I DNF. Still I just think it’s a matter of tastes rather than quality writing. I thought the author was a talented story teller and could write a compelling prose within her genre.

I feel that I should warn you right off the bat that this is a long read. Ruby has a few other books like this and I felt that I should let you know that it took me a couple of sittings to read this. Now that said if you like fantasy romance this is unique and highly engaging.

Imagine being stuck in a windowless tower for seven years with your enemy? Talk about forcing you to face pretty much everything! The story is told from Candra’s POV which gives us all her fear, despair, and loneliness during the first few months in the tower. I’m going to be honest and say that I was a little worried how she was going to survive all that time in the dark.

Candra is a spoiled princess with a life-threatening illness managed by daily medicine. Never meant to spend the seven years in the tower she is unprepared for being alone in the dark. What I do love about her is that while she was Initially selfish she does change over time into a completely different person. I mean who wouldn’t! While Nemeth appears dangerous and grumpy at first we learn that he is shy, kind, and patient.

This book has some very explicit scenes and is super spicy so be warned! The spice is good and honestly I enjoyed how well developed the characters were. There were just some issues for me. Honestly, was I not such a fan of Ruby Dixon’s I would have rated this much lower.

The whole food situation had me so confused. Like food and water for a whole year gets delivered but they are in a dark, windowless and doorless tower. Where was the storage? I felt like the tower could have been better explained. It just needed a little TLC.

The other thing that bothered me, as I said before was that I thought this was part of a series and not a standalone. The title made me think that it was since it is very similar to other titles in that series. There were also things about this book that seemed like they could have been part of that series but then again maybe not.

I suggest you read it for yourself and form your own opinion. It is not a bad story at all.

I was very intrigued by the plot of this book, but the story fell flat for me. I understand the FMC is going through a huge change for her and is learning how to do these things, but she is just so insufferable and I cannot stand her. Because of this, it was very hard for me to get through this book and this book is LONG. I don't think it needed to be so long and we didn't need to be in the tower for as long as we did (yes, I know this is the premise of the whole book but it was too much and dragged imo).

Thank you Wattpad for the review copy, my opinions are my own.

This was a fun departure from the Ruby Dixon alien series, and I wasn't disappointed by the change to fantasy. Candra is an admitted flirt and spoiled princess who is one of the last of the Vestalin bloodline and when her sister that was destined to be the sacrifice to the Tower of Balance is killed in a shipwreck, is voluntold to be the new sacrifice. Given only 3 days to get to the Tower, she is NOT HAPPY about this change, especially since she has a chronic illness that she deals with and has to inject a potion daily to prevent her body from killing her from the inside. She has to figure out everything, including how to deal with her Tower mate, Nemeth, the Fellian sacrifice. They are locked into this tower for seven years to appease a very angry goddess.

Nemeth is not quite what Candra expected, she wasn't certain what she was expecting but a large grey winged scholar wasn't it. When two years pass, and there's no delivery of supplies, Nemeth and Candra must work together to find out what's going on, but the world is very changed from when they went into the Tower.

Candra deals with what appears to be a fantasy version of diabetes, but she's also a plus sized main character and very sex positive. Nemeth is a scholar and obsessed with books (man after my own heart), but also he's got secrets. Reminds me of Gargoyles (the TV show), and he's much bigger than Candra.

The story is spicy and fun, just like the Ice Planet series. If you like the IPB series, then give this one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Webtoon for an advanced reader copy of this book!

Overall, I feel this was about twice as long as it needed to be and dragged along the whole time. The pacing by which the plot was unraveled to the audience felt so slow that I just was not interested by the end and was dragging along to finish. I also feel that somehow the ending was rushed for how insanely long the rest of the book was. I did not like that they made light of slavery and just kind of had a forgive and forget approach by the end. I did enjoy the relationship between the two main characters, but find a naive, out of touch, and spoiled FMC not to be so much my speed. I enjoyed ice planet barbarians, but really found this book lacking a lot of the same charm

This is a book that follows Candromeda and Nemeth as they are from two separate feuding blood lines that are forced to reside in a castle for seven years to appease the gods. With tropes of enemies to lovers and close proximity, this book is an interesting read if you like both. There's also 'monster' love (male character is not human) and knotting which wasn't something I was personally expecting.


The writing style made the book interesting to read, but I feel like the author couldn't decide between more 'medieval' language versus modern day. It wasn't a deal breaker, but sometimes it just felt like it didn't fit. The book felt long, which I guess was okay since I believe it will be a standalone, but I feel like it could have been plotted/paced a little better with more interesting time skips. There were a few interesting twists in the book which kept me wanting to read more.


This was my first book written by Ruby Dixon, and it made me interested to read more of her works.

3.5 stars

While I have read all of this author’s Ice Planet Barbarians series and almost all of her Icehome series, I haven’t read any of her books that don’t involve blue aliens. It was a no-brainer for me to give a different genre from her a try. I’m glad I did. Although the story started slowly for me, once Princess Candra was locked in the tower I was fully invested.

Candra had a bit of a Scarlett O’Hara thing going on. Every time things got tough and she felt like giving up and crying her eyes out, she would tell herself she could cry about it “tomorrow” or “later”. She has basically been told she is useless her whole life. She may be a Princess and have the blood of her nation’s founder running through her veins, but she also has a blood-sickness and is not the firstborn. Since nobody thought she was worth much, she did what she wanted when she wanted. Her actions gave her quite a reputation. She was thought of as loose, frivolous, and spoiled. To be fair, she kind of was those things. She was also loyal, loving, and persistent. Candra grows up in many ways while in the tower. She digs deep and finds things out about herself she didn’t know. She’s one tough cookie.

Nemeth may start out as a scary presence, but it turns out he’s just a big teddy bear. Especially when it comes to Candra. There is a lot of mistrust and preconceived notions on both sides, but these two can’t stay apart forever. The more they talk, the more they wonder about all they learned while growing up.

As much as I loved staying in the bubble of the tower with Candra and Nemeth, it becomes obvious huge changes are going on outside the tower. Eventually, the pair cannot ignore the outside world and have to make some tough decisions. But they decide that whatever is happening, they are committed to being together.

Many eye-opening things happen on their journey outside of the tower, and that part of the story did drag a bit. The pacing wasn’t consistent throughout this story, and this was one of the slow parts for me. Once they rejoin society (I’m wording this in a way to avoid spoilers) I felt Nemeth’s secret-keeping became too much. Both Nemeth and Candra kept things from each other, which was understandable with the situation they were in. Yet when Nemeth continued to keep things from Candra I got annoyed.

This was a great story. It could have been so much better if the pacing issues were resolved.