A review by sidhewitch
Barbarian's Tease by Ruby Dixon

3.75

Audiobook Review. Dual narration. Hollie Jackson does the Harlow-esque voice for Brooke, and I am very much not a fan. It always comes off to me as a bad imitation of Samantha from Sex and the City, and this might have colored my enjoyment of the book and my perception of Brooke. it's for that reason I aired on the higher side of my possible scores.

This was a difficult one to score for me, and one of the major reasons is the way Brooke and Taushen's first sexual encounter (shown in flashback) is handled. Spoilers for VERY early in the book, and CW for discussion of sexual assault in the spoiler tag:

When Brooke and Taushen are locked together on the ship during the events of the last book, Brooke is given what is initially described as an aphrodisiac so that she will have sex with Taushen. Brooke repeatedly describes this both in her narration and later to Taushen as being 'roofied'. A roofie is not a stimulant, it's a tranquilizer. It's popularly used to sedate and rape women. When you invoke roofies repeatedly in your text, that is the baggage you are invoking in your silly fun romance book. Brooke even says at one point that roofies "take away your inhibitions" which is not, on any planet, a true statement. I understand the consent was dubious already given she was chemically stimulated and I can roll with that, because her narration makes it seem like Brooke really is into what is happening and doesn't actually regret it later so much as wanting to put distance between herself and Taushen. But once again, Ruby Dixon introduces heavy real world topics into her work (by invoking roofies, by Brooke making Taushen believe he has basically raped her without realizing) with absolutely no deftness, and in a way that just dragged the whole thing down.

Once you get through that hurdle, however, it's a charming enough romcom to the finish line. We've got all the old stand-by's of the series (refusal to communicate, kidnapping, denial of feelings) but the way it all unfolds is classic IPB hijinx mixed in with some truly stellar smut. I laughed at the ridiculousness of the characters in their pursuit of each other, and while Brooke grated on my nerves sometimes (see audiobook note above, but also there's crap like her getting offended Taushen is checking to make sure she consents), Taushen is an adorable semi-grumpy little fluffball. It's nice to see him finally get a happy ending. Multiple times. 

Also this book establishes canonical Sa'Khui thrupples so honestly 10/10. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Kidnapping and Sexual assault

Sexual Content: What you are here for, and scattered through-out.
Kidnapping CW: Standard IPB kidnap-to-get-resonance plot-point.
Sexual Assault CW: Very inaccurate and poorly handled references to roofies, and

the female protagonist kind of makes it seem, at least to the male lead, like she had sex with him wholly against her will. Her inner monologue seems to counter this, but the first sex scene is still a bit dubcon.

See spoiler tag in my review for more details.