A monster romance with Indiana Jones vibes! Alspeth was a smart character that refuses to take no for an answer. I appreciated her wit and stubbornness.

Laugh out loud funny, and incredibly endearing.

Huge thank you to Berkley Publishing Group / Ace for the Read Now copy of this ARC. It’s been on my TBR since I first saw the beautiful cover, and I’m so glad I picked it up!

Speaking of the beautiful cover, if you saw the cover and thought, “Is that a Minotaur and a woman?”, your eyes did not deceive you. This is indeed a paranormal romance and no, he doesn’t occasionally transform into a beast, he is quite literally a Taurian 100% of the time. So if that suits your fancy, you absolutely have to read this book.

Aspeth is an incredibly naive heiress from high society that’s trying to join a guild of treasure hunters. It’s been her lifelong dream, and now that her family is secretly poor, it seems like the perfect time to disappear and start a new life. Unfortunately, she’s going to have to earn her place in the guild and its current members think it’s no place for a lady.

Bull Moon rising takes the vibes of Indiana Jones and smashes them into a historical romance. It was such a fun mix of two genres I enjoy. Aspeth is so out of her league despite how much she wants to be part of The Guild. Where she lacks the physical strength and dexterity to actually navigate the treacherous tunnels, she more than makes up for in brains. I loved her tenacity! Despite how challenging joining the guild is, she doesn’t give up. She’s got so much stacked against her. Including a terrible mentor, and a team of fellow recruits that don’t entirely believe in themselves, and a brooding Taurian who doesn’t want to help them.

Only Lady Aspeth refuses to let any of that stop her. She comes up with the crazy idea to marry the Minotaur in exchange for his mentorship. He can’t be any worse than Guild Master Magpie, who’s too intoxicated to teach their team.

I was fully sucked into this world and loved the Indiana Jones-esque quality to it. I was fully invested in the treasures they were finding. Although the storyline was slow at times, I flew through the audiobook. The narrators did an incredible job bringing the characters to life, and I found myself blushing up a storm when the Conquest Moon finally arrived. Aspeth had no idea, what she was signing up for.

This book was truly adorable. The ending was so sweet, and I loved the way the story unfolded. I’m very interested to see where the series goes next.

A mucking good time with a surprisingly solid plot. The characterizations weren’t my favorite but Ruby’s unwavering commitment to her craft kept me reading.

3.5⭐️

**thank you NetGalley for the ecopy!!**

Hawk is a surly minotaur and instructor for the Royal Artifactual Guild, a semi-archaeological program that teaches people to find magical artifacts. Lady Aspeth Honori is the daughter of an aristocrat and lover of history. Aspeth’s father gambles away their generational wealth and Aspeth is determined to save her family’s fortune by becoming an expert artifact hunter. In order to join the Royal Artifactual Guild, she needs a chaperone or a husband. She enters into a marriage of convenience with Hawk, who is looking for a partner for the upcoming Conquest Moon, the big “heat” that happens to minotaurs every five or so years.

Bull Moon Rising is an interesting debut for Ruby Dixon’s new series. I was very confused by the lore and world-building in the beginning of the novel. It wasn’t immediately clear that the artifacts they were hunting for were magical, and I wasn’t sure of the intended purpose. I was also very confused by the setting and time period. As the story continued, the plot became more engrossing and the climax was full of action and surprises. I’m glad I stuck it out. I do feel like the romance took a backseat in this story. I didn’t feel much of a relationship between Hawk and Aspeth outside of lust. I’m hoping the next book has more romance and a little less archaeology.

Bull Moon Rising was absolutely amazing! Minotaur smut is something I never expected to be into, but here we are. The book was so well written that the romance didn’t overshadow the main plot. I loved the teacher-student dynamic, the training aspects, and the themes of found family and marriage of convenience. The ending was perfect – it wrapped everything up so beautifully, like a bow on a thoughtful gift. I’d rate it 100/10!

This gave me Indiana Jones vibes set in a fantasy world where our heroine is fighting against a patriarchal society and trying to save her holding and territory.

Lucky for her, she finds a smoking hot bulky Minotaur to be her fake husband and help her out. The catch? She has to help him through the Conquest Moon which equates to a rutting and knotting good time.

The originality of this story and the world building really sucked me in, and Hawk teaching our virginal heroine how to enjoy herself was icing on the cake.

I do wish we had a little more knotting, because like, that was fun 🥹😍😂🖤 Can’t wait for book 2!

This was an exciting monster romance with Indiana Jones vibes! Aspeth and Hawk were a perfect pairing! And the side characters! They were as perfect and as much a part of the story as the main characters. I loved that, while she had lived a life of luxury, Aspeth wanted to learn and do something with her life versus just marrying well and managing the "help" all day. And the archaeological aspect including an ancient city was new and interesting choice.

Marriage or convenience!!!!! Honestly one of my favorite tropes and I will eat it up every time. This was no exception! I had so much fun with this book and I cannot wait to read the sequel.

I really love the society and the lore and while the spicy bits were spicing, the plot and the world building had me in a chokehold. A non sexy chokehold. All I’m saying is that Aspeth could talk to me about Old Prellian and glyphs any day of the week.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Berkley for the review copy! This was my first Ruby Dixon and I see why fans are feral!!!!

📚Trainer/Student
📚30 year old FMC
📚Possessive MMC
📚Monster Romantasy
📚Marriage of Convenience
📚Knotting

I absolutely LOVED this book! I originally picked it up because of the gorgeous artwork on this cover, but also because I love everything Ruby Dixon writes. She has a way of writing the most entertaining and unusual characters and puts them in fantastical settings and writes story lines that grab you from the start. Every character is relatable, even the Minotaurs.

This was entertaining and cozy and spicy. It was just as enjoyable as Ice Planet Barbarians and I can’t wait for more stories to be told in this same universe. I already look forward to rereading this several times over.

Bull Moon Rising

Aspeth and Hawk
marriage of convivence
minotaur +
virgin plus size heroine
artifact finders
grumpy / sunshine
knotting
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
The daughter of an artifact holder leaves her engagement to become a pledging to the royal artifactual guild. Being a woman, though, she needs to have a chaperone approve her. Unable to ask her previous relations for help, she arranged to be married to a Taurian(minotaur). Hawk needs someone to be his rutting partner once the conquest moon arrives. He accepts Aspeth’s offer of being her chaperone in exchange for her willing participation for the rutting week. While in the training for the guild, Aspeth is pushed to her limits. Hawk is trying his best to train the group of 5 in place of the drunken teacher. Hawk is also trying to get his untouched wife ready for him, mentally and physically. Their relationship grows from distain to a spicy partnership. The conquest moon approaches, and Aspeth still needs to find some artifacts to secretly send home her penniless father.

Honestly, I picked this book up for the cover art. This is not my first book from Ruby Dixon, so I was somewhat aware of the spice level I would be getting into. While I do still skim / skip most of the spicy bits(lots of bits, big bits, too), I think the rest of the story was a worthwhile read. It was a bit of a slower burn for the marriage to be consummated, but there were plenty of other things they got up to before. I'm aware that minotaur romance is probably not for a lot of people, I think Hawk was caring, charming, and quite rational. Aspeth and Hawk really seemed to complement each other with their opposing sunshine / grumpy personalities. While the marriage started off as a convenience for both parties, feelings developed into a real love match. The narration was duet style and fantastic!

3.5⭐ There were so many things I enjoyed about this book, but especially the found family situation between the other “misfit” fledglings. I liked that Gwenna, Lark and even Kipp were so unapologetically themselves and took to one another as they went through the Guild training. Of course, the dual POV is my favorite feature to see in a romance, along with the marriage-of-convenience trope. And I couldn’t get enough of the grumpy x sunshine dynamic between Hawk and Aspeth (especially seeing how he softened up for her)!

I think this could have been a stronger read for me if a few things would have been different. I was hoping to have a connection with Aspeth right away, but unfortunately it took nearly half the book, despite the perspective being written in the first person. I also would have loved it if there was more depth to the world-building. Many times I was left with questions about the different habitants and the background with the animosity between the holders was lacking. A lot of telling instead of showing was happening and I would have liked more information in that regard to draw me more into the story. Additionally, some of the word choices took me out of the story, whether it was during the spicy moments or more modern terminology used throughout.

All in all I had a fun time reading ‘Bull Moon Rising’! I so appreciate that it was offered as a recent Read Now option, as it’s one I had been interested in reading for a while.

So…. I loved this? This was my first minotaur romance (if you know me irl no you don’t), and it was great. Love a believable marriage of convenience that turns into love. Aspeth was flawed yet incredibly endearing. Her decision to become the kind of person who craves physical touch in the form of hugs and thus asking her new friends frequently for hugs was so sweet. The stakes felt real, and I did not see the twists coming.

Ruby Dixon is one of kind and I am giddy about this new world she has created.

I can’t WAIT to get my hands on Gwenna’s story!

This review was based on a complimentary copy of this book.

This book was a wonderful adventure quest book! I loved the dynamic between the FMC and MMC. The world building in this book made me want more from the same universe, so I’m excited that there is another one in the works! I am obsessed with the tenacity of our FMC and her willingness to do whatever she has to do to get something she wants, all while having an adventure. I imagined the setting of this book to be like Bridgerton meets The Mummy tbh.

Ruby Dixon has written some of the most captivating monster/paranormal/alien romances and I always love seeing how her stories unfold. It doesn’t matter how long her books might be, they FLY by and keep you guessing throughout.

I absolutely loved this book and can’t wait for the sequel! It was a fantastic blend of adventure and smut, with strong Indiana Jones vibes. Aspeth and Hawk were such fun characters, and I really enjoyed the student/teacher dynamic within the magical class setting.

I think this was entertaining, for the most part, but I don't think this was my favorite book by Ruby Dixon. I was interested in this book more for the author than the plot anyway since I've never been disappointed by a Ruby Dixon book.
Parts of this just felt a little too pushed, the world building felt shaky even though there was a lot of it. And in the beginning it felt like it was exposition instead of gradually building a world.
The strongest part of the book was the characters. I think the found family here was great, Hawk and Aspeth had wonderful chemistry and the relationship felt solid and strong, it was believable. Also I could totally read an entire series on Kipp.
Overall, it was fun and it was entertaining, but it seemed like it dragged on for too long and I didn't become sucked into the story the way I have with other Ruby Dixon books.

I've been a fan of Ruby Dixon for a while now, though I’ll admit I haven’t read as many of her books as I’d like. When a friend kept raving about this one, I knew I had to bump it up my TBR—and wow, I’m so glad I did! This book had everything I could hope for: a love story packed with action, redemption, and plenty of spice. Hawk and Asbeth completely stole my heart with the way they were willing to go to incredible lengths for each other right from the start. Their bond forms so naturally, blending deep emotional connection with undeniable chemistry, and I loved how their shared betrayal at the hands of their mentor only strengthened that connection.

Asbeth, in particular, gave me major Evelyn Carnahan from The Mummy vibes—intelligent, determined, and just the right amount of feisty. Watching her and Hawk navigate the challenges thrown their way was such a thrill, and I was completely invested in their journey. The mix of adventure, romance, and tension kept me hooked, and I can’t wait to see how their story continues to unfold in the next book. If the rest of the series is anything like this one, I know I’m in for an amazing ride!

Aspeth has grown up in privilege. While working magic is illegal there are magical artifacts from a former kingdom that are worth everything. Knowing that her father's gambling debts put everyone in their holding in danger, Aspeth sneaks off to become a member of the Royal Artifactual Guild. Problem? She needs a chaperone's permission and her father would not approve. So she marries Hawk, her minotaur teacher, who needs a wife to get through the upcoming rut.

I appreciate how this was marriage of convenience rather than fake marriage because I know that one bed equals boning. And there is some boning! But there is also a lot of teasing and slow build!

The adventure is fun, the spice is just right, and the world building is pretty good.

I will admit that I did get the audio book from my library, as I had a weekend of spring cleaning and that was even better but I highly recommend this book.

Thank you to Berkely Publishing Group, Ace, and Net Galley for the DRC. All opinions are my own.

One of my favorites in monster romance. Has enough spice and not lacking in fluff. Can’t wait to read the second book and get lost in the fantasy again.

First of all I love all of the Ruby Dixon books I’ve read. This one was a change for her. A Minotaur romance! I did think this one had a bit of a slow beginning. After that I loved it. This is definitely a slow burn but does have spice. I loved that is book has a curvy main character and also a Minotaur love interest that is average sized in the eggplant department. That was honestly refreshing. It gets exhausting reading about teeny tiny women and then men or monsters with giant unrealistic equipment.
Thank you NetGalley for an arc.

Listen, this book is weird but in like the best way. I had SUCH a fun time with it - there was a really interesting plot and of course it's Ruby Dixon so the spice is incendiary - can't wait for the second book in the series!