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.

4.5 stars.

Ruby Dixon has never written a better book than this. Feel free to prove me wrong. This was so good that I WISH I could find another book of hers that I loved as much.

I received this book for free as an advanced reader copy and HIGHLY recommend it!

Aspeth is hoping to rescue her father and home from her father’s terrible choices while also finding a life for herself in joining the guild. She’s the typical bookish heroine who is book smart and street dumb. She’s a bit desperate and willing to do anything it takes to have a chance to live. She made some sketchy choices but aligned herself with some good people, like her new husband.

The beginning of this was a little hard to get into, but the book quickly picks up and there’s a lot of fun detail about the world where an ancient magical time shadows the non-magical modern era by providing powerful artifacts that people die and fight over.

This starts off with a marriage of convenience and it was fun to see Hawk’s and Aspeth’s relationship develop emotionally as well as sexually.

Great side characters (her team of five is super fun) and a really fun adventure.

I LOVED the ending. Things are tied up really well and everyone gets taken care of in a way that felt super satisfying. And, of course, Hawk and Aspeth (Sparrow) end up happy and in love.


Safety deets
- No other women or men. Aspeth has an ex-fiancé that does come around but she’s not interested. There is some jealousy on Hawk’s part tho. She's a virgin and there are few mentions of past lovers for Hawk. I can't think of anything specific other than how he dealt with the last moons with strangers.

- A little bit of voyeurism. They both watch others and do things where they might be watched.

- The consent was GREAT! Even when Hawk gets a little bit crazed (it’s a whole thing), he’s still able to step back and make sure she’s okay.

- Aspeth does hide her past and lie about some things which causes some tension. Thankfully, it doesn’t last long. Hawk gets really upset and does/says something pretty mean but does an amazing job at apologizing.

- We get to see them in their HEA… and it’s SO GOOD!

Ruby Dixon is at it again in Bull Moon Rising! Aspeth is the heroine we can all relate to: striking out on her own to defy her father’s keep, to join a troupe of artifact hunters so she can make a way for herself. While most may laugh at her, she finds friends in the other outcasts— including a handsome Taurian, Hawk, hoping to keep his cool on the cusp of the Conquest Moon.

What happens when a desperate woman collides with a Taurian on the eve of the Conquest Moon? The pressure is on and tension is high! Dixon’s newest is steamy and adventurous— a joy for all romance fantasy fans!

Thank you to Berkley/Ace for the arc!

Note: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion. Thank you, NetGalley and publishers.

Bull Moon Rising is a spicy romantasy by the author of the popular Ice Planet Barbarians sci-fi romance series. Lady Aspeth is desperate to save her family, and Hawk needs a wife. Along the way they will gain and lose family and friends and dreams and adventures.

This was a little slow paced at times, especially in the middle during training, but the last 25% was very fast paced and flew by. I'd recommend this one if you liked Bride or books like What the River Knows. The finding magical artifacts was a very intriguing aspect of this book. The spice was less surprising than what I imagined beforehand. This was a lot different from the ice planet books but still liked reading it a lot

Bull Moon Rising was an absolute delight to read! I went in with no expectations and was blown away by the phenomenal world-building. The story hooked me from start to finish. I’m now diving into more of Ruby Dixon’s works—I’m officially a fan!

I’m not a huge fantasy fan, but I am a huge Ruby Dixon fan. I’ll admit I approached this book with some trepidation, but I needn’t have worried. Ruby Dixon built a fascinating world for this book. Aspeth is the daughter of a Holder, a wealthy landowner whose artifacts give them power. Only Aspeth and her father know that he’s gambled away all his artifacts thus making them vulnerable to other Holders. Aspeth decides she will join the Guild to recover artifacts to secure her family’s position. She shows up at the Architectual Guild and is immediately dismissed because she is a woman. Undeterred, she meets Hawk, a minotaur and marries him so she can have a chaperone to get her through guild training. Hawk ostensibly works for famous guild member Magpie but she is an alcoholic who is in danger of losing her spot in the guild. Hawk builds a ragtag team of lovable misfits to go through the trials. So very much happens in this book that it’s difficult to condense into a review, but there’s drama, adventure, excitement, and yes, rutting, as the Conquest Moon approaches. This one had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end!

I will read anything Ruby writes, but this one wasn’t really checking all of my boxes! I appreciate how intricate the world building was and how much detail we got with all of the characters, but that was at the expense of the main characters and their relationship.

I will definitely read the next book but I wasn’t expecting this to be so Indiana Jones-y and not as romance-y.

I've read a bunch of Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians books, but nothing else that she's written, so I was intrigued by this release. I haven't read many monster romances, but this was definitely one of the best of the few I have read. Aspeth is the daughter of an aristocrat who is secretly poor, and she decides to strike out on her own (with her maid/best friend Gwenna) and goes into the city to try to join the Royal Artifactual Guild. What she doesn't realize is that, despite her extensive scholarly experience with Old Prell (the society whose artifacts the guild collects), no one in the guild takes women seriously, and Aspeth and Gwenna are basically laughed out of the guild hall when they try to register as students. She learns that women can technically join if they have chaperones, so she boldly brokers a marriage of convenience with Hawk, a Taurian (minotaur) who works for the guild. He needs a partner for the upcoming Conquest Moon, a time during which Taurians basically go into heat/rut and can't do anything except mate, so he agrees. Hawk works with guild legend Magpie, who is unfortunately an alcoholic and can no longer do her actual duties as a guild teacher, so Hawk covers for her and teaches Aspeth's group, which is comprised of four women and a slitherskin (which kind of sounds like a mix between a lizard and a turtle?). They struggle not only to be taken seriously, but with the training, the guild politics, and their disappointment in Magpie, but they do get some opportunities to get into the underground area and start searching for artifacts. I really liked the world-building here and was a fan of Hawk and Aspeth's romance (though, tbh, I felt like the actual Conquest Moon stuff was a bit more repetitive and boring that I was expecting). It's pretty steamy with some fun treasure-hunting and archaeological adventure element. I hope there will be more in this series - there's a lot I still want to know about Prellian artifacts!

It took me a little bit to get into this one but once I did I was pretty hooked. The Royal Artifactual Guild was a super cool and the story was pretty heavy on the fantasy aspect. Aspeth is a royal woman, set out to fix her family's debt before anyone finds out. She is quite determined and a bit spunky. I enjoyed her character but enjoyed Hawk's so much more. I wish we got more of his POV. I mean who doesn't love a minotaur daddy (sorry, Taurian).

This book was not what I was expecting (in a good way). I loved that the fantasy was at the forefront of the book. This is definitely a plot over smut book, which I 100% appreciate.

I found the FMC and MMC to be refreshing and fleshed out. I'm a sucker for a marriage of convenience. However, they were terrible to each other. I feel like that rollercoaster ride didn't really end until the HEA was established, but she was quite the manipulating liar and he was controlling and overbearing (granted he was basically in the minotaur version of heat, so not exactly in his right mind). I felt like they had the potential to have marital problems down the road, but were both in a good place of growth by the end and had the potential to have a long lasting and happy relationship as well.

I LOVED her adorably fluffy and overly shedding cat Squeaker. Her maid was a fantastic companion turned close friend, and I loved how their friendship developed.

There are elements that remind me of other sci-fi/fantasy team building books that I liked. I loved watching them become a true team and grow into a formidable crew of misfits.

Content: minotaur x human explicit s*x, language, deception, women suppressed by societal norms of the time (and the women trying to stick it to the man and go about things their own way in spite of setbacks), forced watching of public *rgy of s*x workers and minotaurs, s*xual activities wielded like weapon, alcoholic person in position of (albeit limited) power, scheme to unalive an entire team of people, prejudice against females and other species

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

Bull Moon Rising ended up being an entertaining read with enough mystery to keep the story going. I was especially drawn to the characters who I thought were a likely bunch and I wish them all the best in their future endeavours. It would be interesting to see more in this world - the Guild and it's politics ended up being something I was interested in knowing more about - especially with how this story concluded. If you're looking for something that's character driven with an interesting world backdrop this is definitely something I'd recommend. Even though it's a departure from Dixon's well-known works it ended up being well executed and entertaining throughout.

4/5 ⭐️
Spiciness: 5/5

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley publishing for the opportunity to review this ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review.

I read the first couple Ice Planet Barbarian books, and was so excited to have an opportunity to read this one! In general, this is the story of Aspeth, a spoiled heiress, fighting for her family and learning who she truly is. I really enjoyed a lot of this story. It has good world building, solid character development, and a unique magical system.

General tropes/themes:
- Dual first person point of view
- Fantasy romance
- Minotaur romance
- Found family

This book touches on prejudice, misogyny, and inequalities in the workplace. You get to see such depth in characters. There is humor and romance. I honestly really enjoyed the progression of the story. I like Aspeth and I like Hawk. I became attached to numerous other characters and was transported to this other world. It was magical.

My biggest critique of the story keeping it from being a true 5/5 read was that it felt longer than it needed to be, and part of this may be that some of the spicy scenes felt unnecessary with the plot being as good as it was. It felt like spice was being used as a filler, and this is coming from someone who loves reading smut. I was so interested in the story that the spice just felt forced and disjointed with the flow of the story at times. Cutting a few of the scenes could have really elevated this book in my opinion. The only other thing I would say is that the ending did not pack the punch that Aspeth and Hawk deserved.

Overall, I would recommend this story to fans of spicy romantasy. It was a fun read, and I look forward to reading other books in this series!

Starters

I absolutely LOVE that the FMC is older like hello tall Curvy & nerdy 30 year old !
I'm here and living for that

This was overall a really enjoyable read! Romance, magic adventure. Fantasy worlds.

The FMC and MC are great, the side characters are awesome

It did take me a little to get into but when it hit it hit hard and *chefs kiss* it was a wonderful ride I would love to hop on again, and again !

Ruby Dixon is an auto YES every time I see her name. They're so fun and easy reads. This one was finished in a sitting and it was the perfect summer day read. Recommended for the beach.

Georgie, we’re not in Not-Hoth anymore.

This was truly one of the more unique books I’ve ever read. I have read a Minotaur romance before, so that wasn’t much of a shock for me. The world however, was so different and not what I was expecting. It was fantasy, but also felt very much like earth just a different time period and with creatures… one of which is called a slitherskin who wears a house and I’m still really confused by that one. 🤔

Is he a lizard, a frog, or a turtle because he gets compared to all 3 at multiple points in the book. He also licks his eyeball. Which kinda makes me wanna gag. There were many points in this book that frankly grossed me out lol. Onion breath, a city smelling like the back of an ear. (wtf?!)

Anyway, I loved the side characters. They all had so much personality. And the world, the holders, the artifacts, the guild, the underground city. I’m fascinated by it all. There’s so much potential for a continuation of this into a series. Would absolutely read more. Even if it makes me nauseous.

The whole concept of the conquest moon was great. I was counting down the days until it hit but when it finally did, it was slightly lackluster. I just wanted a bit more from their time together. The other spicy scenes were more attractive to me than the “rut” I had been waiting all book for.

I did really love Hawk’s character. He was such a grump. Every time he got mad at the slitherskin for “wearing his house” I could not stop laughing.

My overall feelings are really positive. I had a lot of fun with this read, and am looking forward to where it takes us (hopefully many more books.)

Aspeth Honori knew she had to find powerful magical artifacts quickly and quietly if her family had any chance of being saved. The Royal Artifactual Guild, those who explore and find those artifacts, laughingly rejected her for being a woman, but she loopholed her way in with a fake marriage to Hawk, a Taurian guild member about to go into heat. The setting put this over the top for me. I adored the Royal Artifactual Guild and how they explored the ancient underground ruins in order to find lost magical treasures! I'm still thinking about the setting a month later. The first part of this story was a bit rough, but once we got into the ancient ruins, I was absolutely thriving.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this advanced reader copy.

I wasn't sure what to expect since I had only read Ice Planet Barbarians. This was very different but enjoyable- think romantasy instead of romancifi, The worldbuilding was good and the politics and details around the Royal Artifactual Society were interesting. I liked the play on the Royal Geographical Society (see the author's notes at the end). I liked both of the main characters and the dual POV worked well for this story. there were some good side characters, too, plus a fat orange cat. This gives Legends and Lattes vibes with added spice. I think it will be especially popular in ebook/eaudio at my library.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the advanced reader copy!

This book was completely different than I was expecting in the best possible way!!

I honestly hadn’t read the description of the book and based on the cover thought it would be a contemporary pnr, but it was actually pnr set at a magic artifact guild!

This book was very centered on world building and I would say that it was plot heavy. But the romance woven throughout it was soooooo good, and when the big event that has been promised the whole book happens it is so so so worth it. The tension is perfect and I loved the balance between characters/plot/spice.

I loved the dual pov and I fell in love with both Aspeth and Hawk. There’s a wonderful cast of supporting characters as well, and they were all so easy to like!

Also I did not expect the plot twist at all (maybe I was blind idk) but I absolutely ate it up!!

I honestly have only ever read Ruby Dixon’s IPB series (as I’m sure is the same for many other people) but her writing in this absolutely blew me away!! Like once I got into it I really could not put it down.

If you like PNR, marriage of convenience, magic school, secret identities, and a bunch of other fun tropes this is definitely a fantastic read!

Thank you to Berkeley, Ruby Dixon, and Net Galley for the arc <33