Ruby Dixon has done it again with this absolute gem of a monster romance. Aspeth is basically the most badass heroine I've read in ages! she's smart, snarky, and refuses to let anyone tell her what she can't do. And Hawk? Total broody minotaur perfection.
The world-building is perfection with the magical artifact hunting, guild politics, and this delicious slowburn tension that just kills you. Their enemies to lovers is so good I was literally screaming at my Kindle. There are moments where the sexual tension is so thick you could cut it with a knife, and when things finally heat up? Let's just say Ruby Dixon knows how to DELIVER.
Not gonna lie, there were a few plot points that felt a bit predictable, and I wanted MORE scenes between Aspeth and Hawk. But honestly? I couldn't put this book down. The world feels so unique! it's like Indiana Jones met a sexy minotaur and they had a book baby.
If you love fantasy romance with strong heroines, monster love interests, and adventures that keep you on the edge of your seat, YOU NEED THIS BOOK.
5/5 stars. No notes. Absolute perfection.

Thank you NetGalley and Ace for an advanced reader copy of this title and exchange for an honest book review. I think I may have found my new obsession after reading Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon. As an already fan of their writing and their writing style, I found the book to be such a great read. Not only is the cover stunning, but the relationship between the two main characters is very well developed, and a great slow burn for romance. Anything that gives a historic vibe, while also maintaining its integrity being a romantasy is right up my alley! Such a fun read!

I love Ruby Dixon and her fun PNR romances. This one features a minotaur and a marriage of convenience. Great world building and characterizations and lots of spicy scenes!

I love a good romantasy and this book doesn't disappoint! Ruby Dixon is one of my favorite authors and wrote another great book.

I think the goal here is to profit off the current "romantasy" trend, but this is so bad I'm mad about the time I wasted reading it.

To start, neither the cover nor the description accurately represent this story. Is it historical fantasy? Highlights include endlessly repetitive world-building, narrative exclusively through "I"-statements, and zero personality. The main character is annoying and immature and the love interest has no character beyond "large penis."

One final frustration: Aspeth can't wear her glasses in public, because...?? This plot device is continuously used to attempt the smallest bit of complexity, but it just. doesn't. make. sense.

eARC provided for review via NetGalley.

Ruby Dixon has created such and interesting universe with this series that I would happily read ten more of! I really enjoyed Hawk and Aspeth's dynamic as well as the side characters and if I know anything about Ruby Dixon, we should get to see some of their stories! Look forward to what she does next!

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Ruby Dixon’s Bull Moon Rising is a departure from her outer space-set Ice Planet Barbarians series and thrusts the reader into a medieval fantasy world complete with mythical creatures and magic. It’s got the scorching heat one expects from this author’s books, but combined with some new, endearing characters, and intriguing worldbuilding, it’s a highly enjoyable romp.

In the land of Mithas, Lady Alspeth Honori, heir to the Honori Hold, fears for the future of her birthright. Her father is broke and it’s only a matter of time before other Holds find out and wage war. Her lifelong dream has been to join the Royal Artifactual Guild and train to become an arificer, seeking out magical artifacts underground. Finding such a thing would allow her to add it to the Hold’s wealth, saving her family and their honor. As such, she’s diligently studied Old Prell, the ancient magical society whose city collapsed and where artifacts are still being found. She sneaks out with her maid Gwenna and they travel to Vastwarren City, built on top of the ruins of Old Prell. To join the guild as a fledgling (from which one must graduate from training to become an artificer) and because she’s female, she’ll need a chaperone. It’s just her luck that one of the first beings she meets is a Taurian named Hawk.

Hawk is a minotaur (head, tail and hooves of a bull, body of a man). The Taurian people who live in Vastwarren city most often work for the artificers due to their strength and ability to dig out people who get lost or stuck in rockfalls in the tunnels of Old Prell. Hawk works for Magpie, the only female artificer and Alspeth’s idol. As a Taurian, the most important season is that of the Conquest Moon, which happens once every five years and lasts for a few days. When it does, the females go into heat and the males go into rut. That’s fine when one has a partner, but Hawk is not married and with the upcoming Conquest Moon just under a month away, he’s trying to come up with a plan. Once the moon is upon them, he’ll have no choice but to go to a brothel if he hasn’t an alternative in place.

When Alspeth proposes a marriage of convenience to Hawk, he reluctantly agrees. It’s an answer to both of their problems, including Hawk’s task of rounding up enough students to find a “Five” – a group of five students to train under Magpie and himself. But Alspeth is keeping the secret of her true identity from Hawk who thinks she’s just the daughter of a well-off merchant. When he finds out who he’s married, and what her motivation for becoming an artificer really is, will it ruin their relationship just as it’s barely begun?

Despite the physical similarities between the author’s sa-khui aliens and this book’s Taurians (horns and tails and generously endowed privates), this really is a wholly different place and time, and the worldbuilding reflects that. I really enjoyed the idea of a medieval-esque society doing archeological work to understand their ancestors. The magical artifacts range from the silly (a horn that produces onions, a mirror that always reflects the bearer with dark lustrous hair) to the practical (a coach that doesn’t require any horses to pull it) to the powerful (an artifact that can produce something out of thin air). The artifacts also need a power phrase to be used, or have only a certain number of charges, or can recharge in sunlight. There is a King who is all powerful, and his nobility live in Holds, and then there are the rest of the regular folk – humans, Taurians, and Slitherskins (a lizard like creature who carries its home on its back, like a turtle shell). Then, because the magical artifacts are only found in Old Prell, there is the guild responsible for the digging and the archivists who catalogue the finds and study the old culture. Magic practiced by the inhabitants themselves has been forbidden ever since a magic war three hundred years earlier, but magic performed through the use of the artifacts is acceptable as it is the artifact itself that contains the magic.

Alspeth ends up in a team with Gwenna, formerly her maid but now her equal as a student, Lark (Magpie’s niece), Mereden (a Priestess who ran away from a convent) and Kipp (a slitherskin). Their Five is the only student team with any women in it, and four women plus a slitherskin puts them at the bottom of the pecking order. To top it off, Magpie, Alspeth’s idol, is a drunk and mostly incapable of teaching them anything. So it falls to Hawk to train his bunch of misfits into a coherent team. They are all clearly in over their heads at the start, so watching them grow over the course of the book, developing friendships and loyalty to each other is heartening.

While their team is coalescing, Alspeth and Hawk are finding their marriage is growing on them. Each chapter begins with a time reference to the coming Conquest Moon (28 days to the Conquest Moon, and so on) and as the days get closer, Hawk gets friskier. Thus begins Alspeth’s sexual education as they prepare for the coming five-day sex frenzy. But they get emotionally involved too, which gets riskier as the days go on since Alspeth knows she is lying to Hawk about who she is, and she makes some decisions that will have serious consequences for everyone. There is plenty of action and drama to go with the sex and romance, and the ending works out quite nicely for all. Bull Moon Rising is book one in the Royal Artifactual Guild series, and I’m looking forward to more!

Ruby Dixon always writes great spicy books but I feel like people underestimate how interesting her worlds and plots are! Even if this book didn't have top-tier spice I would have been super invested in the story and the world, But it did have top-tier spice so it checked all of the boxes for me.

Thank you NetGalley for a copy of this eARC! I was in love with this monster romance! I think it had such a great plot with strong characters. I don't even think you realize she's in love with a half-bull until Ruby Dixon really gets into the spicy descriptions. I thought she normalized it very well and it didn't seem weird at all reading this book. Again, great plot, amazing characters (main and side!), and good spicy scenes.

This romantasy story was only okay for me. I did not particularly get attached to the main character and her partner. Marriage of convenience isn’t my favorite trope and while I’m fine with monster romance this was just a bit too much. I am going to read book two because I have more interest in the couple that will be the main characters in that one.

I have never read anything like this but had a great time! I always love a ruby Dixon book and have come to expect originality and a fun adventure. Not to mention this cover is stunning!!!!

If Ruby Dixon writes it, I’m going to read it! I was a little nervous going into this at first, but if she can get me hooked on big blue Aliens then she can get me hooked on anything😂.

this story had real promise but I found the writing way too cringey. the main character was also a little annoying. not for me!

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

It took me a while to finally finish this and I have mixed feelings.

Pro: I really enjoyed the world building and artifacts and what not.

Con: I felt like this was too long and a touch convoluted. IDK man, the whole conquest moon thing added a nice touch and made the marriage of convenience much more convincing, but the days leading up to it were so...chill? Felt out of place.

Then there's the repetitive writing. THE LENGTH OF THE BOOK. Some subject matters that left a bad taste in my mouth, and also that ending?

Meh. I didn't care for this one at the end of the day.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

If you’re looking for Indiana Jones meets monsters & magic in a wild adventure that will have you rooting for this minotaur romance as well as the group of underdog misfits, I recommend Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon!

This is book #1 in the Royal Artifactual Guild series & what an intriguing start it is!

Bull Moon Rising is great for those looking to read about…
🩷 Monster Romance Fantasy
🩷 Marriage of Convenience
🩷 Teacher x Student
🩷 Strong Heroine

This was unlike anything else I’ve read & I couldn’t stop reading it. I love the slowly unfolding of the relationship as their foundation grew.

I loved the eclectic group of misfits & the way in which the underdogs banded together to form this incredible team that was so easy to root for. I enjoyed the feminine rebellion as they went against the grain & showcased their worth.

Massive thanks to NetGalley & Berkley Publishing for the gifted copy, which I voluntarily read & reviewed.

Ruby Dixon is one of my favorite writers and after reading her Ice Planet Barbarians series, I knew I'd want to read more books by her. Bull Moon Rising had me laughing out loud In the best way. Aspeth is so funny! I loved reading and listening to her journey as she tried to save her family's empire. All of the characters are so well written and make you either love them or hate them but either way, the entire story was such a fun read. I also purchased the audiobook and the narrators did a wonderful job with the characters.

I neeeeeeed the hardcover because it is STUNNING.

I loved and devoured this book. I would read her grocery lists if she published them.

This omegaverse novel is spicy as ever and every scene is a little different. The Minotaur is a hunk of a swoonworthy as hell man, and I LOVED the plus sized rep with the FMC in this novel.

The plot was not lost within the spice this book offers and I am so grateful for that. Dixon has written a beautiful novel that shines. Monster romances are always a ton of fun and this one is no different.

<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

I am a huge fan of the blue aliens series (it’s so fun! So silly!) as a chaser for whenever I have read too many horrible books in a row, so when I heard there was a new Dixon novel, I knew I had to read it.

Surprisingly, there is a decent amount of world-building in this novel, which I really didn’t expect from (what I think??) is an omegaverse type book!? I don’t know, the only other one I read in the omegaverse I DNF’d.

And there’s sex. Lots and lots and lots of sex. At least it isn’t the same sex every time.

There is also character development and a plot which was also nice! In fact, I’m interested to read more books in this series and learn more about the world.