What a fun new world from Ruby Dixon!

I’ve got to be honest, I thought this was just going to be minotaur romance and didn’t think too much deeper about it but it turns out it’s one part fantasy, one part romance, and one part adventure which adds up to a pretty exciting new series!

It’s a fantastical world, full of magical artifacts and those that hold them are like the aristocracy of the world. Aspeth is the sheltered daughter of a holder on the brink of ruin. She decides to join the Royal Artifact Guild to hunt down more artifacts to save her father and their land, but it’s not as easy as she assumed it would be and ends up marrying a minotaur teacher who will sponsor her going through Guild training..

I really enjoyed it! It took me a little bit to get into which is true of all fantasy (especially when I didn’t realize it was fantasy going into it) but I was genuinely into it and really enjoyed both Aspeth and Hawk, and also all the side characters. There’s a real found family between them all that I loved. You get action, adventure, and a slow burn romance that leads to some heat so I was very pleased!

I look forward to more from this world!

I saw the author name on this one and requested it out of curiosity. The worldbuilding piqued my interest to some degree-the concept of noble families hoarding magical artifacts in order to maintain political and military power exhibits a degree of sophistication. On the other hand, many other parts of the book were not to my taste at all. Thanks very much to Ace for the complimentary eARC; all opinions are uninfluenced and my own.

Read This Book If…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon

Genre: monster romantasy
Series: Royal Artifactual Guild # 1
Spice Level: 5/5🌶, 5+ explicit scenes
Setting: fantasy world
POV: dual, 1st person, present tense
Tropes: marriage of convenience, virgin, rutting/knotting, voyeurism, “my wife”

My Thoughts:
This was such a fun read! I really liked the fantasy world introduced (even if it is super misogyny) and the creatures and magic system within. This book did a great job of balancing smut with an interesting plot.

The romance between these two was beautiful! They are so well matched and supportive of each other and I really liked both of their personalities.

And the SPICE! It’s everywhere. And it’s so good! I was clamoring for the final scene for wayyyy too long.

Thank you to the publisher for my advance copy!

This book feels like if Stardew Valley and D&D came together and had a super cute and funny child in the form of a spicy romance book featuring a hot minotaur, found family, treasure hunting, a hodge-podge cast of characters thrown together by circumstance and a very cool and unique fantasy world that I'm excited to get to explore more of.

Aspeth is an only child who grew up a holder's daughter (very wealthy and in high society but also pretty lonely and isolating because her dad is literal hot garbage). The wealth and power of her family, however, is a lie at the beginning of the book because her father has gambled away all of their money and the magical artifacts that were intended to keep their hold safe. So Aspeth (a bookish girly who is obsessed with old Prell) - along with her lady's maid Gwenna, decides that she's going to go and join the guild of individuals that go and find these magical items in hopes that she can steal some away to keep her hold safe. But her expectations are rattled when she learns that it won't be very easy for her because she is a woman and they aren't taken seriously within the guild and the only way that she can even try to become part of it is by joining the only group led by a woman and with the help of a marriage of convenience to the Taurian teaching assistant for their group.

This book just shows me that I need to never doubt when it comes to a Ruby Dixon novel. If she writes it, I'm going to love it. Aspeth, from the get go, was a flawed character that I absolutely adored. Her heart is in the right place but the execution of everything she does tends to be messy and chaotic which only made me love her more. Her friendship with Gwenna is one of my favorite aspects of the book, their banter together is absolutely hilarious and I desperately hope that we get a book in Gwenna's point of view because she is a DELIGHT!

The marriage of convenience aspect of this book was literally so fun and Hawk is actually the love of my life now. I would literally do anything for that Taurian. And if you think that this book might not be for you because he is a minotaur, I assure you that you won't even be thinking about that in a negative way by the time you're done with the book. He is loveable and grumpy and he literally had me swooning so hard over him sooooo many times. Ruby Dixon just really knows how to write a male main character.

The plot of the book was also really captivating. I was obsessed with the history that she wove throughout the chapters and the intricacies of the magic and how it works within their world has me really interested to see what happens in the next book.

Overall, this book was a really fun time. I laughed a lot more than I thought I would because it's literally just so hilarious and swooned so hard but also had to put the book down because I was finding myself frustrated about how some of the characters do things but I think that just goes to show how great of a book it was since I was so emotionally invested.

Definitely pick this one up for yourself!

Thank you @netgalley and @acebookspub for an ARC of this book!!


Review:

This is my first time reading a Ruby Dixon book and it was a fun time! The story was funny, cute, and a little quirky. The characters are very entertaining to read about and the world building (which there was a lot of) was done really well.

The spice was fun, but I did want more of it. Oh, and for it to happen faster (😂🤷🏼‍♀️). I know, slowish burns are fine, I’m just a glutton 😉. I definitely want to read more Minotaur smut after this though, as well as more of her books! 🔥

Y’all should definitely check this one out if you want something fun, a little light hearted, and steamy to read! And yes, you have to be okay with monster smut. 😂

Fun mythological romance. If you enjoyed Ruby Dixon’s IPB series, you’ll enjoy this book!

Things to know:
Dual POV
She basically wants to be Indiana Jones
He’s her teacher
Marriage of convenience
Forced proximity
Where’s my wife?
Spicyyyy

4.25 stars

I just love Ruby Dixon!

I love the naive and well-meaning FMCs and the grumpy cinnamon roll MMCs. I cannot get enough.

This was super fun in a nerdy kind of way. Our whole world is set on archeology which is fascinating in the real world, but given some fantasy magic it is just extra fun.

This was my first Minotaur book and I get it now. Plus, who doesn't love knots?

Super fun read!

I have read Ruby Dixon's novels in the past and enjoyed them, but this one felt very overwritten and bloated.

This one wasn’t for me. I’ve been trying to start it for over a week and the opening is so chaotic that it makes me put it back down every time. I finally pushed through the first three chapters and found myself skimming a bunch of details because there’s just SO MUCH to take in. It could very easily just be me and the mood I’m in, but it’s a no for me.

Ruby Dixon is my number 1 monster romance author.
I love her so much!
This book was no exception.
If you like IPB or any of her work. Scoop this up!

*Monster Romance (Minotaur)
*Cute fmc
*World building
*Marriage of Convenience

I loved this book. I ate it up! Her characters and character development are always spot on!

This was so cute 😍

~Aspeth's only goal is to save her family from ruin. Marrying a minotaur is the least of her problems.. at least for now. Hawk knows this woman is up to something but he's not sure what. He has his own problems to worry about..~

I love how determined Aspeth is during this whole 'adventure'. She may be a bit naive but she doesn't let anyone or anything slow her down or change her mind. The friendships she makes are so sweet and wholesome too. I just wanted to wrap her in a big hug.

Hawk definitely starts as a question mark, especially with everything he has going on, but by the end I loved him so much. Where can I find my own minotaur?!

human/minotaur x marriage of convenience x teacher/student x forced proximity

*I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review with my honest opinion.*

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for a copy of Bull Moon Rising!

Let me start off by saying this is one of the prettiest covers I've seen in a long time and it's right up my alley. Huge props to the cover artists.

I absolutely love Ruby Dixon. I inhale all of her books. This one just didn't hit the same. The plot felt like it was a great YA plot if it didn't have some smut sprinkled in. Ruby's writing had sucked me in as usual, day dreaming at work about what some of the plot points could be and I was excited to fall in love with the main characters. Instead I just felt like the ending felt flat and the entire book left me with something to be desired.

What I WILL say is that Ruby flexed her world building muscles and I loved it. I actually want to learn more of this world and the Prellians. (Will we get a book 2?) Also a 30 year old FMC who isn't conventionally attractive? I'll eat it right up everytime.

Spoilers:
I felt like the Conquering Moon was built up to be this big thing, and then it just kinda happened once on page and then the rest was an after thought. For something that comes around every five years, I would have expected so much more to come from it.

I also didn't like how the only female guild member ended up being a bad guy and was kicked out of the guild, thus leaving no females in the guild, even at the ending. For Aspeth to go through everything she did and with everything she wanted to stand for, it kinda sucks that this is how the guild was left. Not even Gwenna being let in. Just given the opportunity to try again next year.

All in all, this book was fine. Maybe I'm more of a Not Hoth girlie.

After her fathers irresponsibility left their family stronghold with no magic producing artifacts to supports their estate, Aspeth (Sparrow) Honori must join a group of misogynistic badasses called the Royal Artifactual Guild in search of artifacts to replenish her family’s holdings. She stumbles into the arms of a golden-eyed Taurian man called Hawk (he’s a Minotaur) who becomes her mentor and chaperone within the guild in exchange for marriage. Why does the Taurian want to marry a near stranger you ask?? WELL ILL TELL YA: the Conquest Moon is coming up and DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS??? during the entire month of the CM his species is driven insane with lust and the urge to mate (AND ENGAGE THEIR SACRED KNOT 💀💀)

Read this if you like these tropes:
•Master/Apprentice
•Marraige of Convenience
•Monster romance
•‼️ANKLE CARESS‼️

A few things to note:
-I thought the premise was unique, the characters are part of a guild that hunts magical artifacts, I love that!
-Though there was a conflict, it was FLIMSY and it is hard for me to accept a weak conflict no matter the content of the book, silly or serious.
-The FMC Aspeth is…dare I say, goofy? She aspires her whole life to become an artificer, Indiana Jones style, and was surprised by the physical nature of it? And the whole refusal to wear her glasses even though she’s blind as a bat bit? GIRL PUT ON YOUR SPECTACLES PLEASE IM BEGGING YOU.
-This book isn’t perfect, it’s got some pacing issues especially in the last 100 pages, and I didn’t fully connect with the characters, BUT, all these things being said I still read this book cover to cover with voracity so 🤷🏼‍♀️

I had such a fun time reading this. Never thought I’d read a Minotaur romance, but here we are. I will admit to the beautiful cover being a motivating factor (and yes, I’ve pre-ordered the book too). I’m a simple girl who likes shiny, sparkly things I guess.

This is for the girlies who love taurens on WoW. It felt like a giant quest in a fascinating world. I was honestly more invested in the plot and the world than I was the romance, and not because the romance was bad.. it was just a really cool premise.

It kinda felt like what it’d be like if Zootopia and Indiana Jones had a baby. So much spelunking, and spunking. 👀

The characters were okay. FMC was pretty annoying at times, and I can see that killing it for some people. She’s wholesome but incredibly sheltered and was used to being coddled her entire life. There’s quite a bit of character growth though, which I love to see.

The MMC is.. a Minotaur. That’s kind of his personality. No, really. I know - I’m the best at articulating things. He’s a wholesome, big, fluffy guy who just wants a woman to rut and a stable job where he’s respected. Relatable.

I have some fun quotes to add after the official release. For now I’ll leave it at this!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group (Ace) for providing me with the arc. ❤️

<strong> Ahhhhhhhhhhh!</strong>

I loved this book, but that’s no real surprise because it’s Ruby. I genuinely love her fantasy stories and the history and society in this one was spectacular. And that smut!! 👅👅👅
The romance was on point, the way the relationship progressed between the MCs with their secrets and motivations was truly spectacular.
However, what I loved the most was the intricate relationships between all of the characters. In true Ruby fashion each of the characters had depth, they weren’t devices but visceral beings.

🎙️ I did a tandem read and listen of this book and it was so worth it. There were a few differences between the text and the audio, but it was brilliant storytelling. It was a true dual line by line narration and the accents used were perfect. The snooty posh British accents and deep growly American accents were nailed perfectly.

<b> Fantasy Romance | Monster Love </b>
🐂 Minotaur
👅 With a memorable tongue
🇬🇧 A Proper British Lady diving into the dirt
💍 Marriage of convenience
🪨 Archeological digs of ancient magical societies
👑 Politics, power plays, and a bit of intrigue
🗝️ Several juicy secrets
🗡️ Ragtag group of friends / found family

3.5 stars

So if you’re expecting short and smutty like Ice Planet Barbarians, this isn’t that. This has a large cast of characters, magic, lots of world building, and lots of plot! Don’t get me wrong, there’s still a lot of very spicy open door scenes, but the plot is foremost I’d say.

We do have found family, a cinnamon roll Minotaur, a marriage of convenience, and some very dangerous situations with caves and scary rat monsters. To be quite honest, this book is too long, and it’s a bit repetitive at times. The misogyny in the guild is bad, as is the racism against Taurians. (And I could have used less *squelching*).

But overall it was a fun time. The audiobook is fantastic because it’s true duet narration, and the growly male narrator is perfect.

Many thanks to NetGalley and PRHAudio for the preview. All opinions are my own.

Bull Mood Rising is a fantastic fantasy romance novel from Ruby Dixon!

I loved the bravery and awkwardness of Aspeth, and how she never gives up! Her marriage to minotaur Hawk is a hilarious and spicy adventure they take on top of training to become a magical artifact hunter. I loved the story, the side characters, and the slow burn and then super spicy romance!

If you've never tried a Ruby Dixon novel, definitely try this one!

I enjoyed reading this book. It had some Indiana Jones/treasure hunting vibes to go along with the intrigue of training for acceptance in a secret society. I liked that we see the main character (Aspeth) being strong and resourceful but also vulnerable and naïve. This was my first time reading an interspecies romance, so I was not sure what to expect. I appreciated the explanations of things that were included due to one character explaining to another, as a result, the story did not get bogged down with extraneous explanations for the reader's benefit. I also liked being able to read sections from Hawk's POV and seeing how he viewed humans. I found some interesting parallels between Aspeth's journey and Hawk's. They both felt like they were stuck in their situations and they both experienced what it was to be treated like a second class citizen. The only (minor) issues I had with the book were a few small contradictions throughout the story. For example, in the beginning, Hawk claims he is not going to treat Aspeth differently than the other students, even though she is his wife. Then later, he apologizes to her for not being more gentle during the training because she is his wife, despite it being against Aspeth's wishes. Overall, I thought this was a fun adventure and I would definitely read another book in this series.

This was a very fun read! The start was a little slow for me, but as soon as the marriage of convenience clicked into place I was invested. I would definitely recommend this.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁:
🐂 He’s a minotaur
💍 marriage of convenience
💜 curvy fmc
🪢 knots & heat

Between this one and Morning Glory Milking Farm, I am for sure in my minotaur era 🤭🤭

This one took me a little bit to get into, mainly because I wasn’t expecting so much lore/world building. Ruby did an excellent job creating her own fantasy world and I really hope we get to see more of Aspeth and the gang.

Aspeth and Hawk’s relationship is a slow burn with great payoff. He is her teacher and I loved the dynamic between the two. The tension really built and made me giddy when they did finally get together.

With Bull Moon Rising, Ruby shines with her low angst and extra spicy spice. I didn’t want to put this one down and I think you won’t be able to put it down either.