4.5 stars and my thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC.

This is my first book by Ruby Dixon and it might not be my last. After MGMF, I knew I was probably going to settle in for some good monster books, but I never would have imagined they would be some of the best romance I've ever read.

Bull Moon Rising follows Aspeth Honori as she tries to hide her true identity in the pursuit of magical artifacts. With a group that comprises of fellow women, a turtle person, and a drunk, they face an uphill battle for respect and acceptance in the guild. Enter a Minotaur teacher who is kind, sweet, and...looking to get a little busy. What's a girl to do? Marry him so she can become his apprentice and then find magical artifacts to save her home, that's what.

Truly, this was such a fun read. I loved Aspeth and her ragtag group of guild hopefuls. They had the odds stacked against them, but by damn they did it. I will say, the constant flouting the rules and being surprised that they got in trouble grew tiring after a while, but I would still love to read whatever Dixon has for us next in the series.

"Bull Moon Rising" by Ruby Dixon is a captivating blend of fantasy and romance, set in a world filled with mythical creatures and unexpected love. The chemistry between the main characters is electric, pulling you into their unique and intense relationship. Dixon’s vivid world-building and engaging storytelling make this book a thrilling escape into a fantastical realm.

I received an eARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I love Ruby Dixon's writing but I was not really feeling this one. I would have probably appreciated it more without the Taurian romance aspect or as a Taurian romance without the archeological digging. It truly felt like two disparate stories for more than 50% of the book in my opinion. Every time I would get invested in the archeological aspect I was rudely interrupted by a horny Taurian and student. I still think the writing is well done but it felt like two books forced to merge and it didn't serve either book well. I will continue to read Ruby Dixon's work because I do enjoy her writing, I think this was just a one-off.

This Victorian Era fantasy novel has a little bit of everything. Magic, minotaur's, lizard guys, a patriarchal hellscape that Aspeth tries to navigate in order to save her worthless gambling addict father. In order to join the elite magical artifact guild she must hide who she is and marry a minotaur. However, she is not exactly cut out for hard physical labor and she can't help but fall for her husband.

Loved this book!! Ruby Dixon never fails. I knew the book was going to be great from the cover alone. Can we take just a few more seconds to admire the cover? Holy cow I've never seen a more beautiful book.

As a romance girly I really enjoyed this! Ruby Dixon is just so fun with her writing!
The stakes felt so high but also the marriage of convince made sense!!!
I loved the FMC so much, and loved the romance which was very swoon worthy:)

If I am not on here screaming about a Ruby Dixon book, please come find me because I've been abducted.

Thousands of years ago, Prell was a mighty kingdom full of wizardry and magic. Angry gods struck the land, and it sank below the earth. It turns out that the city itself was built upon a network of caverns, and so the ruins of Prell themselves are scattered in a warren of tunnels.

Aspeth knows the importance of magical artifacts... which is why it's a disaster when her father gambles all of theirs away.

Now that her family is in danger of losing everything, Aspeth decides to join the Royal Artifactual Guild to join those who explore the ancient underground ruins of Prell to retrieve these coveted magical items.

It's a great plan, with one giant problem... the guild won't let her train because she's a woman.

Aspeth needs a chaperone. The best way to get around this problem? Marry someone who will let her become an apprentice. Who better than a surly guild member who requires a favor of his own... and also... he's a minotaur... and also her teacher.... And also he's about to go into rut.... And he has no idea that Aspeth is of noble blood....

This book is Indiana Jones, meets Peaky Blinders, meets The Mummy, meets Atlantis The Lost Empire.

It's spicy romance with fantasy and I... am having a conniption... I absolutely devoured it.

I don't know how Ruby does it, but she builds these worlds that are so unique, detailed, and layered and is STILL able to make everything easy to understand and digest. I want to live in this world. I want to explore this world. At the end of the book I was just like... I need more of this world. I really do.

Aspeth's love of ancient artifacts and her fan girl obsession over the history is so fun and reminds me of my own obsessions over books and genres that I love. It's so fun to witness someone else have a passion they're obsessed about and could talk forever on the subject lol. SO RELATABLE.

This book is full of underdogs and outcasts and it makes you feel less alone.

The growth that Aspeth goes through is inspiring. Learning to open up and lean on those you know you can count on and realizing that you don't have to take care of everything yourself is a really important message.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is "a corrupted pool poisons all that drink from it." Make sure you surround yourself with the people who lift you up and make life worth living.

The book is laugh out loud funny. When I tell you the jokes and banter going on here will have you howling. And then a page later you have tears in your eyes over the love and support and courage of this found family.

The supporting characters of this book are incredible. They're such an important part of the story, to call them supporting characters doesn't even truly match how much they bring to the table.

There are parts of this book that are scary, claustrophobic, and that keep you on the edge of your seat. There are epic missions and adventures. This was an action adventure movie playing out in my head and I couldn't get enough of it.

Hawk's nickname for Aspeth had me weak in the knees.

The spice... threw me into hysterics. It was so carnal and profound... honestly you may want to read this book alone....

This book is a story about courage, discovering that everyone brings different strengths to the table, and all of those unique strengths should be celebrated.

It's a story about finding love and accepting it. And that the path laid out isn't necessarily the path you have to walk.

This book makes you dig deep... literally and figuratively. Please don't pass up the opportunity to go on this adventure. Bull Moon Rising comes out October 15". This book is a must read.

I loved this book. As a "relatively" new reader of Ruby Dixon, (less than ten books) I know that her books will have some sort of specialty male, ie: magical, alien or in this case a minotaur, sorry -Taurian and of course a healthy dose of smut. This book does not disappoint. I was surprised at the more fantasy aspect rather than the romance aspect of this book. I actually really liked the world building and thought it was really creative.

The fact that the main character, Aspeth, wanted to basically be Indiana Jones was awesome. She is essentially royalty but spends the whole book trying to hide it. Even going so far as to not use her glasses, which she desperately needed, since only the rich could afford them. She was typically very sheltered except for her passion which is studying this ancient civilization, Prellian. This becomes kind of hilarious when it comes to her lacking any kind of real world smarts and comes off as pretty naive. Thankfully, she meets our MMC, Hawk, who is more than happy to teach her all the things. He is a Taurian and all around really good guy\bull. All Taurians are affected by something called the Conquest Moon where they go into rut and need to bang almost constantly. Oh darn.

My favorite throughout the whole book though, is Kipp. He is a slitherskin, that carries his house around with him everywhere he goes. I kind of imagined a mix between a turtle and a chameleon. Best character and he doesn't even say a word. All the secondary characters were pretty cool and had their own rolls to play. All in all, a very entertaining book with a diverse cast of characters. Oh, and the smut was fun too. Thank you Net Galley and Ruby Dixon for the ARC and the opportunity to read this awesome book.

Aspeth needs run away to become a guild artifact-hunter to save her family, because reasons, and ends up in a marriage of convenience with Hawk, a Taurian (AKA Minotaur). This read as more of a fantasy than a romance to me - it was very much about Aspeth trying to save herself and her family, while also chasing her dreams. There's a great bunch of secondary characters - Kipp, a short frog-like being, was probably my favorite of the whole book!

I absolutely adored this. Ruby hits it out of the park every time for me. If there is one author I can trust to never let me down, it’s Ruby Dixon. Whenever you think “I wonder if she will go there…” she does, and 9 times out of 10 goes beyond there.

An interesting change of pace for Ruby Dixon-- we have a minotaur this time around instead of blue aliens. I really enjoyed the world building and learning about magical artifacts. I was rooting for Aspeth and her friends to become official members of the Royal Artifactual Guild-- Kipp the lizardman was one of my favorites of her little crew. Hawk was definitely the grumpy to her sunshine. The rut was not as... climactic... as I think I was hoping for. But it was a solid step in a new direction!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an ARC of this book.

I’ve previously read some of Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarian series, and really enjoyed it, so when I got the chance to read Bull Moon Rising I was stoked.

This book is a lot different than Ice Planet, but it still contains Ruby Dixon’s magical writing so it’s a fun ride.

This is a full length novel (over 400 pages) and the world building is well developed. The characters are great, and there’s a good amount of steam.

There weren’t a ton of surprises in the storyline, but I did have a theory that never panned out… however since this is the first book in a series (don’t worry there isn’t a major cliffhanger at the end) I’m crossing my fingers it will come up in future books.

This also contains some much loved tropes like found family and marriage of convenience.

The biggest positive to this was that the chemistry between the main characters was excellent, which made the story thoroughly enjoyable.

The cover on this is breathtaking and it may be one of the few ebooks that I and up purchasing… just because I want it displayed on my shelf.

Overall, it’s definitely one I’d recommend.

SUGGESTED SNACK PAIRING: vegetable and lentil soup with crusty bread

Triggers: alcoholism/addiction, injury detail, sexism, sexual content, sexual harassment, murder

My review will be posted in my Instagram @bedtimesandbooks and this review will be updated with a link when it is live.

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc of this book! Thank you soo much! I loved this book soo much and the cover is absolutely GORGEOUS! I would love to have one on my shelves! Aspeth was so cute and funny and kind of nerdy and I was so happy she was around the same age as me (30) the archaeology aspect had me soo happy because I used to dream about that being my career but life happened so reading about it was so nice! Hawk was also perfect and I was swooning over him! Monster smut is my new favorite thing so thank you again for letting me read this wonderful book!

Ruby never misses!!!
The magic system in this world is so flippin’ cool & knowing that it was inspired by a state park in Arkansas is even cooler (my home state- Woo Pig). Enter a city built on top of an ancient magic city filled with magical artifacts that are the most sought after good in the realm: and our FMC is determined to find them. And add on top a hunky Minotaur teacher that drips with “my wife” energy. The plot in this book is chefs kiss, the ticking time bomb was a fabulous touch, and the spice was spicing (how could it not be? This is Ruby Dixon people)!!!!

PS: “Hey Alexa: play I’ll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan”
Seriously all I could think about from their training scenes😂

Thank you to Ruby Dixon, Berkley Publishing, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review

Finally a FMC that isn’t a teen, and that magic hand phewww!

Our FMC Aspeth is described as a 30yo plus size, bookish, virgin and she was fantastic! The character growth was absolutely amazing! The MMC Hawk is a grumpy Minotaur, need I say more!!

The banter had me giggling and kicking my feet the entire time! This is the slowest of slow burns, but when the spice hits, boy does it hit! Dare I say this may be my favorite Ruby Dixon book yet!

Our MMC finds himself needing a mate for a conquest moon that happens every 5 years, and our FMC finds herself needing a chaperone in order to join the royal artifact guild in order to save her families hold. What starts as a marriage of convenience ends up turning into deception, theft and the cutest hea! If you’re looking for a spicy romantasy, and extremely unique magic system that will keep you wanting more look no further!

Did I mention the first edition run also includes absolutely gorgeous sprayed edges!

3.75 ⭐️ || <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@jennyreadsalot">TikTok</a>

Overall it was a good time, the 🌶️ was fun, I love a curvy FMC, and anything with Archeology vibes, but it was just too long and repetitive to really blow me away.

What I loved…
- curvy, nerdy, family & friends first, strong FMC
- grumpy MMC that just wants to avoid the brothel during the Bull Moon
- The Mummy/archaeology vibes meets Regency era “houses” and setting
- Marriage of connivence
- 🪢
- All-Start side characters
- I usually really dislike the inexperienced female/experienced male trope, however this was done so well! A++++

What I didn’t love..
- I strongly believe this could have been 100 pages shorter (and more enjoyable for it) if we cut out the repetitive inner monologues
- The fact that see was running around with her glasses off for 80% of the book drove me absolutely NUTS - there was no good reason to be walking around with blurry sight for the whole novel
- I thought the cat was pointless and added nothing to the story - I LOVE LOVE LOVE a good furry side character and I’m a cat lover (I have one!) but the cat added nothing to the plot or the book imo - I was waiting for it to have some significant role and nope, nothing.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group (Ace) for sending this book (eARC) for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

4.25✨
Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for this early ARC! (BTW, the cover is STUNNING)

So I didn’t expect this to be a monster-romance Fantasy. But I was positively surprised.
I actually really enjoyed this. The plot was good, the stakes were high, the marriage of convenience was believable.
The FMC was positively delightful. I liked Aspeth a lot 😅. She was cute and funny and quirky. Kind of nerdy too. And her cat Squeaker??? Such a cutie. As the story went on I found myself loving her more and more. She was just such a fun FMC to read about.
To be fair the whole cast of characters were lovable. Especially the Minotaur (Hawk). He was just sooo sweet and thoughtful 🥺 and Gwenna?? Such an amazing friend.

I really love anything that has to do with archaeology so this stole my attention right away. I swooooned at the ending. Loved it.
And I obviously don’t care for human smut in books but monster smut though??? Sign me up. 😆

Out of topic but the author mentioned that she loves Stardew Valley in her acknowledgments and she has just been upgraded to one of my favourite authors.

ugh the perfect steamy romance novel for when you need an alien plot line. i ate this up to be honest and i am genuinely surprised at how much i adored not only this romance but the plot itself. such a quick read, i found myself unable to put it down it was that addicting.

If you're into minotaurs, you're probably going to love this book. If not, it's just mid. Aspeth, a spoiled, naive rich girl, finds herself in a marriage of convenience with Hawk, an overworked, underpaid, and soon to be dangerously horny minotaur. The marriage allows Aspeth entry into an archeological guild, where she believes she can find artifacts that will save her family, and it gives Hawk a guaranteed partner for the Conquest Moon, a rutting season that turns all minotaurs into sex crazed monsters. The most unfortunate part of this book is that there's just no chemistry between Aspeth and Hawk. It's fine because it's a marriage of convenience anyway, but if I'm meant to believe they fall in love by the end, it's not enough. Hawk spends his days thinking about how annoying and spoiled and naive Aspeth is, and she spends hers thinking about how mean and unsupportive and unrealistic Hawk is, and then Aspeth fulfills her end of the bargain at night, and they go right back to actively complaining about how much they don't like each other in the morning. Hawk continuously uses Aspeth for sex, the ignores and abandons her for days, leaving her feeling undesirable and unconfident. It's toxic and I'm not into it.
Outside of the unappealing and lackluster romance plot, there's some interesting ideas in here. I love the idea of a sunken city full of magic treasures, and a guild of treasure hunters out to explore it all. The world building fell a little short though, and it felt like major parts were glossed over in favor of other, sexier, parts of the plot. I love high fantasy, more is more for me, and this didn't deliver enough exposition to really pull me into this world.
I won't lie, I read this book for the cover. I don't think it'll have any problems flying off the shelves. Ruby Dixon is a trusted and beloved Romamtasy author and it's nice to see her get a marketing campaign this big. Is it the next Fourth Wing? Who knows.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced digital copy.

Ruby Dixon can do no wrong. Another fun, entertaining, and exciting story. Can't wait to have this in store and see everyone so excited about it.