Ruby Dixon's Bull Moon Rising is a laugh-out-loud romcom like I haven't read in a while. Everything about this story felt new and fun.

* I received a free ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. *

I’ve had my eye on this book for a while, and that was simply because the cover was so pretty. (I’m a sucker for pretty covers). When I was able to do a “read now” copy, I jumped on it! And when I actually looked into what the book was about…I love the archaeology and digging for artifacts plotline! Searching for historical artifacts, fighting to be seen as a woman in a male-dominated guild mixed with a Minotaur romance. ❤️‍🔥 Yes please! I can’t wait for the next book!

Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon is a fun and spicy fantasy adventure that blends magical artifacts, a marriage of convenience, and a slow-burn romance. Aspeth, a noblewoman trying to save her family's legacy, teams up with Hawk, a grumpy minotaur guild member, leading to unexpected chemistry and thrilling quests. The world-building is rich, and the characters are engaging, making it a delightful read for fans of romantasy.
If you're into stories with strong heroines, mythical creatures, and a touch of steam, this one's worth checking out.

I enjoyed seeing Aspeth, our FMC, focused on achieving her goals despite everything in her way. And especially the relationship between her and Hawk as he realizes just how much her naïve nature extends to almost every aspect of her life outside of her upbringing. I am curious what will happen in book 2!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⚡️/🌶️🌶️🌶️🫑
This is my 3rd Ruby Dixon novel I’ve read and I have enjoyed each of them immensely. They are all different in terms of plot, but still filled with fun, adventure, and spice.

Bull Moon Rising is quite different than Ice Planet Barbarians and Bound to the Shadow Prince, but just as fun.
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Aspeth Honori is the daughter of Lord Honori, a holder, but his hold’s magical artifacts have been sold or depleted and their lands are at risk of being taken over. Aspeth decides she is going to join the artifact guild and find some artifacts to replenish their coffers. However, she has a problem…she’s a female and needs a chaperone.

Hawk is a Taurean (Minotaur) that works for the guild and helps Magpie’s nest of students. The Bull Moon is almost upon them and all Taureans will loose themselves to the “rut”. Aspeth proposes a trade…Hawk will sponsor her, and in return, she will become his wife and help him during the Bull moon. Oh, and she’s a virgin.

What could possibly go wrong?
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This was like Indiana Jones if they were females and Minotaurs.

It was a lot of fun. I loved the found family between the “nest” and the growing feelings between Aspeth and Hawk.

And since it’s a Ruby Dixon novel, it’s obviously quite spicy.

This book was a lot of fun. It had a bit of a slow start to get us established in the world and the story. But Once Aspeth and Hawk join up things pick up and get crazy. I love the world building in this and would love to go on an artifact finding mission. The political type drama between the Guild and the Holders. The tension of the Conquest Moon and making all the minotaurs horny. I loved all the personalities of The Five. I hope there are more in this series and we get to continue to see this world and these characters.

This was big Indiana Jones vibes and I absolutely adored it. The characters were fleshed out and witty which is my favorite. I look forward to continuing this series

Aspeth has snuck away from her noble family to join the Royal Artifactural Guild, a place she has studied and dreamed about being a part of her whole life. Joining and finding artifacts to help her broke family is her mission, but she arrives and finds out that women are not welcomed. In order to get a chance at becoming an initiate she finds herself marrying a minotaur teacher, one who is about to go through a few days of uncontrollable rutting when the Bull Moon rises every five years. She doesn't expect herself to start having actual feelings for him, or to become such fast friends with her fellow group of fledglings.

Okay, this was a fun read. It was super spicy with a plot that kept me invested, a great magical world system, and a FMC that I enjoyed following. I had no idea minotaurs could be so sexy. Digging for magical artifacts in a buried ancient civilization was so unique, I loved the variety of powers that artifacts could possess (from an endless supply of peeled onions, to controlling the ocean tides). There are also really cool lizard people named "slitherskins," and i think Kipp has a piece of my heart (but he has to share that honor with the fluffy orange cat). What a gorgeous cover reveal as well. Dixon did such a great job at world building, and the way she has given the characters so much personality is wonderful.

If you like Indiana Jones-esque books with a lot of action (of every kind lol), you should give this a try. It's very Grumpy/Sunshine and Marriage of Convenience. There is knotting. I am excited to see that this is book 1, because I will gladly read more in this setting! I received this book as an eARC for my opinions.

4.5 Stars

3.5 - good book but had some underdeveloped areas that dragged.

I enjoyed this book, read it quickly but maybe didn’t enjoy it as much as her Ice Planet books. The archeology plot was super interesting! Loved having our FMC be so knowledgeable and table about old languages and learning about the Guild and trailing was all so fun! We could have had more of that plot line and less repetition of our FMC secrets and insecurity imo. Their romance was sweet and I appreciated that she didn’t jump right into sex with a virgin but they experimented and talked to one another. I think the side characters stole the show however. They were fantastic! Our little lizard friend may be the favorite.

There were a couple things that needed fleshing out a bit more. I like Hawk, our MMC, however his being a Minotaur didn’t work. It just wasn’t fleshed out much and honestly I mostly forgot he was one until she’d kiss his nose.

Overall a good book but not as strong as the others I’ve read by this author.

Y'know, I didn't think about minotaur romance before this book. I don't know if I'll go out of my way to read another minotaur related book, but if I had to read one I would definitely pick this one. I loved the characters - they had a depth to them i wasn't expecting but definitely appreciated. I think this is an interesting Fantasy Romance book, and I think it deserves a read!

This book was so stinking cute. That is the best way I can describe it.

I love the FMC. Aspeth is so nerdy, so clueless about life, so spoiled, so fun, and is out here living her best life trying to learn from her mistakes.

Hawk is so nice. He will do anything for Aspeth. He is a minotaur, strong AF, will do anything for his guild, and has the best character ever!

The side characters are what makes this book even better. I want to know more and more. Kip, like I need to see some character art of this house. Aspeth's best friend, Gwenna, I want everything and more for her.

If you like fantasy, with romance, and an array of characters this is a book that is definitely worth checking out! Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Quote:
"I'd rather take an honest man with no kisses. Then a liar with a sweet tongue."

4/5 ⭐
5/5 🌶️

First, I have to say I was able to listen to the audiobook while reading the digital copy provided via NetGalley and I think it made a huge difference in my enjoyment.

The production and narrators did a fantastic job. I thought the narrators provided a level of emotion and humor that didn't completely translate on the page. the duel narration delivered by Felicity Munroe and Hiro Diaz was immersive (*blushing*) and I especially appreciated the different voices Hiro Diaz provided for the male characters. I thought his delivery clearly defined the male cast of characters with each having a unique voice.

I went in blind on this book. Obviously, the cover provided some context clues but I couldn't help but be a little surprised. It was more than I anticipated and in the best ways.

Ruby Dixon created a page turning world with her archaeology/Mummy/Indian Jones vibes. Her cast of characters were fantastic and endearing. The Marriage of convenience and inexperience tropes were written incredibly well. I loved the female rage and perseverance. I thought she balanced the spice and plot.


My biggest complaint is of the petty variety. There were times that the language used felt to modern day or colloquial when compared to the overall setting. Dixon created a world that had the regency era vibes but used turns of phrases and language I associated with present day while mixing in unique phrases to her world. It felt disorienting at times. There were also times that I felt like the inner monologue for both POVs was repetitive.


At the end of the day it's a 4 star read from me because I kept having to turn the page and lost sleep to know what would happen next.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for providing a digital copy for review!

I really wanted to love this book based on the synopsis, but it just didn't hit with me. The world building was slow and the beginning of the story seemed a little repetitive. The spice was good, when it finally did happen, but could have been better.
I did like the unique romantasy story and the found family group of characters.
Overall the story was okay with room for improvement.

This is such an interesting book, one that I would like to return to later on in life. Is it a monster romance? Yes… Is it also a very interesting story? Also, yes. I really liked the aspect of the artifacts, the idea of the guild was so unique. Even though this is a fictional book, I found that a lot of research, thought, and time went into figuring out how to best represent what surrounded the guild and the artifacts. Sparrow was a headstrong, stubborn yet very naïve FMC, and Hawk was a grumpy yet very kind Minotaur, and somehow their relationship worked very well. The Five were such an interesting rag tag group of kindred spirits who went through this whole process together, and stuck together through the very end. Very, very cool.

This was my first Minotaur romance and I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. I will admit the spicy scenes took a bit to get used to, but I really loved the story around it and was kept wanting to know what would happen in the guild storyline and that was enough to keep me interested in the book. I'm even considering reading the second book.

Fun with a LOT of sex scenes but seemed a bit long for what it is. Dragged in the middle and the spice felt rather repetitive.

Bull Moon Rising is such a hilarious romantic adventure featuring a somehow-swoony minotaur and a noblewoman just trying to save her family.

Aspeth, a member of a noble family, wants to join the Royal Artifactual Guild in order to seek out magical artifacts to bolster her family's crumbling fortune, but there's a problem--she's a woman, and she needs someone to essentially chaperone her. Enter Hawk, a Taurian warrior and artificer (aka a minotaur)--with a marriage of convenience scheme.

This was a departure from Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians series, but I enjoyed the world building, and the, ahem, mechanics between Aspeth and the minotaur were amusing but somehow plausible. For those who want to dip their toes into monster romance, I think this would be a great place to start. I thought it was hysterical when she tried to teach

Thank you, Berkley Romance, for the gifted e-ARC.

This was my first Monster Romance and while I did enjoy the FMC, I hate to say that I wasn't not a fan of the MMC or the side characters. The plot was not interesting enough for me to stay invested. The villains were not evil enough, and I was more than 50% in and I continued to wait for the story to get interesting. I unfortunately could not finish this book.

Thank you, @Author.Ruby.Dixon and @BerkleyRomance for my free @NetGalley ebook. #BerkleyPartner #BerkleyBookstagram #Berkley

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Bull Moon Rising (Royal Artifactual Guild, Book 1) by Ruby Dixon
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 432 / Genre: Romantasy
Release Date: October 15, 2024

As a Holder’s daughter, Aspeth Honori grew up spoiled and entitled, but also ignored and lonely. So when she finds out that her father has gambled away the magical artifacts that make them wealthy, she decides to run away and join the Royal Artifactual Guild in hopes of finding some more magical artifacts and save her family. Although she’s not used to being on her own in the real world, Aspeth is smart, practical, and quick-thinking. When she finds out she can’t train because she’s a woman, she enters into a marriage of convenience with a grumpy Minotaur, who’s a teacher and in desperate need of a rutting partner for the upcoming Conquest Moon.

Fully aware that this was going to be a super steamy read given Ruby Dixon’s reputation, I was a little disappointed for the first 20% of this book. It read more like a YA adventure. Once it got going, it ramped up pretty quickly though. I really liked Aspeth. She’s bold and motivated but also open to other people’s ideas. She’s also no damsel in distress, she goes after what she wants in a very practical way. I still prefer aliens over Minotaurs but this was an enlightening read nonetheless. Now I’m looking forward to the sequel, By the Horns, due out in September.

Definitely a trickier read for me as the world building is unique but also a bit overwhelming if you aren’t an experienced fantasy reader! This was my first of Ruby’s books that I’ve read and was a freebie scoop up netgalley offered a few months back! It was an entertaining read and the romance was great. It released last October but it was still fun to experience and now I feel like I need to pick up ice planet barbarians asap!

Thank you for making this an open offer and allowing me to read this one!!