You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Barbarian's Prize by Ruby Dixon

58 reviews

kell_yeah_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

no comment

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

smuttymcbookface's review against another edition

Go to review page

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

3.5

As with all the IPB books, I did enjoy reading this. It was easy and quick to digest. However, I found myself a bit frustrated with Tiffany. She was callous in her neutrality, and her public dismissal of Salukh after he had been nothing but sweet was just too much.

Plus, Salukh was a little too much of a slob for my liking, but I appreciate that there are at least very distinct personalities.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

roziereads's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mbasford's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mrsmishler's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pbella3's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

robinwritesallthethings's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: Tiffany comes into focus as we learn about the secret trauma she endured during her captivity and her frustration with being the most desirable of the last eligible women left in the tribe.

Spice Level: This one is more of a slow burn in terms of sex, with a lot of playing and exploring before the deed is finally done. It’s smoking hot all the way through and well worth the wait.

Realism: It would be easy to not feel bad for Tiffany. She’s attractive and skilled and all of the alien guys want her for their mate. But a deeper dive into her history and personality make her an entirely sympathetic character. I found her reaction to her trauma heartbreaking, but also understandable. I also like that this volume really dove into the idea of how resonance and falling in love aren’t necessarily the same thing, and how that might make people reluctant to have extraneous relationships for fear of what might happen later.

Trope Alert: Friends to lovers, friends with benefits.

Trigger Warnings: Rape trauma. In particular, there are some flashback scenes.

Final Thoughts: I have to say that I loved the sweet way Salukh treated Tiffany, both from the beginning and after he realized why she was so reluctant to pursue any kind of relationship. He was a perfect gentleman, and it was so nice to see how he respected Tiffany’s feelings.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

haley49's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

It’s criminal how much I love these. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

roorooreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Dixon has such fun books! I just love the escapism of these. This book was more heavy then some of the others as Tiffany deals with the aftermath and fear cause by being taken and assulted. The love interest was so amazingly gentle and supportive, which was perfect! 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

pastryghost's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Tiffany and Saluhk are the absolute cutest, I love how their relationship evolved and was a sweet friendship with devotion and understanding.

Characters:
Saluhk's narration felt very distinct from the other male leads in the series, he is pensive and does not act rashly - something that Tiffany definitely needs in a partner. I liked the author's note that when Dixon was writing their story, she focused on Tiffany being the main character going through change, while Saluhk remained a constant, which put the focus on Tiffany's growth. The "courtship games" were also not a large element in the story, which is what I had expected from the synopsis. Instead, it facilitated a reason for Tiffany and Saluhk to get alone time without the other suitors constantly bothering her.

While a lot of Tiffany's narration is filled with anxiety, she also has a lot of interests that I really loved seeing. She likes crafting and tanning, and figuring out how to plant seeds in the ice wasteland. I really love her close friendship with Josie, those two in particular are the besties on the planet and I love that!

Story:
I enjoyed Tiffany and Saluhk's honeymoon bonus chapter as well. It's nice to see Dixon revisit her characters in these mini stories, and also see a little bit of how the characters have changed since she wrote the stories 5+ years ago. (The addition of sensitivity readers seemed apparent to me, since Tiffany is the only Black character - and the only character of color? - and we see her wearing a sleep bonnet and working oil into her hair. Makes me wish for more diversity in these books, though that's a longer subject.)

I also love Farli and I'm really curious to see her story. I love that she's artistic and the scenes with her and Chompy the dvisti foal were sooo cute.

I think this is my favorite of the series so far, at least on par with the first. I'm probably only gonna read a couple more of these, because I like Josie and I wanna see her story.

Connection to the Ice Planet Barbarian series:
The other books (especially book 4) have a big emphasis on pregnancy and the...breeding trope of the khui resonance. I appreciated that this book focused more on the emotional journey of overcoming trauma and embracing love.

In the other books in the series, I notice a lot of this pattern of writing: "Something something. Question? Obvious answer." Me? I don't love that kind of writing style. And when it appears more than a dozen times in a book? It kinda drives me crazy. 😂 Happy to report that Tiffany does not do that as much as the other protagonists. However, in the brief chapters of Josie that we get, it looks like she's back to that pattern of question-answer tics. Oh well.

Content TW for assault flashbacks and mentions of rape at the hands of the kidnapper aliens, not graphic but still upsetting. Tiffany has nightmares and a big fear of unwanted male attention. The bad aliens returning is NOT a subplot in this book, and the characters are physically safe throughout. It is foremost a book about dealing with past trauma. More character-driven over plot.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings