robinwritesallthethings's reviews
29 reviews

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: Enemies Hook and Roc embark on a mission together to rescue Wendy Darling, who they just learned was abandoned long ago after leaving Neverland.

Spice Level: These two (and three) reach new levels of hot. There’s not a ton of smut, but it is all worth it. I might have a hook kink now? Is that a thing?

Realism: I always feel a little silly talking about realism when I’m reading something with aliens or fae or anything like that, but it needs to be said that Nikki really nails the emotions and insecurities of characters who otherwise seem pretty invincible. They themselves might be fantastical, but inside, they’re just like us.

Trope Alert: Enemies to lovers, second chance romance, MMF.

Trigger Warnings: There are references to an abusive relationship with a parent. And some, you know, light cannibalism on Roc’s part.

Final Thoughts: I’d been waiting for this one for a while, and it so delivered. I love this triad, and the tease for the next book got me so excited that I actually pulled a muscle in my foot because I was screaming and kicking in glee. No regrets.

Content Warnings

Barbarian's Hope by Ruby Dixon

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-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

What It’s About: This book focuses on Asha, a rather surly character we’ve encountered in previous stories. It delves more into why she is the way she is and gives her a second chance at a happy ending.

Spice Level: There isn’t a huge amount of spice in this one, but it is between two aliens, which is something interesting that we’ve never really seen before in this series.

Realism: This is probably a more real volume than most for our big blue aliens. There’s a lot of grief here, but it makes sense, considering the situation, and it makes sense that this couple has drifted apart because of it.

Trope Alert: Second chance romance.

Trigger Warnings: Asha deals with the previous death of her child pretty explicitly in this book. The subject is handled very delicately, but it might still be too much for some readers. There are also some injuries to be had.

Final Thoughts: Once again, I’d like to say that Ruby made both a character and a topic I honestly didn’t want to read about palatable. I’ll always give anything she writes a chance because she has the ability to make anything appealing.

Content Warnings

A Court of Sugar and Spice by Rebecca F. Kenney

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: A massively creative, very horny, much darker retelling of the Nutcracker ballet with a gender-swapped Sugar Plum Fairy.

Spice Level: Uh, I need a new scale of spice to describe this book, because it took things to levels of hot I’ve never read before.

Realism: Generally, I don’t like retellings, because I think many of them rely too heavily on the original and don’t deviate enough to make it interesting, but I have to say that this one incorporated everything from the source material and made it its own unique story. Everything fit. The plot made sense, the lore made sense. It’s just good, y’all.

Trope Alert: Enemies to lovers, slow burn, friends to lovers.

Trigger Warnings: There is some serious CNC in here, so skip it if you’re not into that. It is dark romance, so there’s some mentions of sexual assault and also some torture. And this last one isn’t really a trigger warning, but the Rat King is gross, dude.

Final Thoughts: I read this book because it was recommended to me by a Kindle achievement for their reading challenge. I decided to read it because I thought the title was a fun play on the whole fantasy Court of Blah and Blah thing that’s been so popular lately. I had no expectations, yet so many were met. Further proof that sometimes you find exactly what you were looking for even though you had no idea what that was. I will be busy trying all of Kenney’s books now.

Content Warnings

Butcher & Blackbird by Brynne Weaver

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: When one serial killer who only kills other serial killers rescues another with the same mandate, they decide to play a game to see who’s the best at their dark vocation. But even serial killers can fall in love. It’s just a little more dangerous when they do.

Spice Level: Off the charts dirty and off the charts hot. Like, you have to wait a while for it, but it is so worth it.

Realism: It seems ridiculous to talk about realism in a serial killer romance, but honestly, this story is more realistic than a lot of romances I’ve read. I love how even though the characters are unmatched killers, they also both have insecurities that hold them back in many ways. And I was stoked that the author addressed cleaning up all the evidence these two leave behind, which I find often gets skipped over, but seems rather crucial, considering.

Trope Alert: Friends to lovers and I’m pretty sure a bunch of other ones that didn’t exist until now, but are awesome.

Trigger Warnings: Okay, this is a book about murderers, so there’s, you know, a lot of murdering. Specifically, though, if you don’t like gory stuff having to do with eyeballs, skip this one. Um, what else? Cannibalism. Those are the two really big ones. There’s a list of more at the beginning of the book, which was very nice, but also very enticing, at least for me.

Final Thoughts: This was one of those books I didn’t know I needed. A friend asked me to read it because it was blowing up on TikTok and she wanted to know if it was really as good as everyone was saying, and I can now confirm that it is. It’s unhinged, funny, emotional, sexy, and so romantic. It takes huge talent to pull off a combination like that. I bet even Brynne Weaver’s grocery list is tantalizing. As long as none of the triggers she lists turn you off, you should read this book. Just do yourself a favor. I cannot wait for the second one.

Content Warnings

Barbarian's Heart by Ruby Dixon

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: Pashov doesn’t remember the arrival of the humans on the ice planet after his accident during the earthquake, which means he doesn’t remember his mate or his son. Stacy isn’t sure how to deal with the loss of her mate, because while he might be standing right in front of her, he’s not the same anymore.

Spice Level: A little sad, even though it is incredibly hot.

Realism: There hasn’t been a whole lot of real tragedy on the ice planet, beyond the initial landing, so while this was a hard one to read, it was also new and different. It was heartbreaking to read about both Stacy and Pashov’s feelings and see them struggle to reconnect and build a new life together.

Trope Alert: Amnesia alert! I’ll admit that this is usually one of my least favorite tropes, but honestly, if Ruby does it, I’ll give anything a chance.

Trigger Warnings: Brain injury and memory loss.

Final Thoughts: I liked that there wasn’t a quick fix for this problem. Avid Ruby readers know that the khui can cure a lot, but it’s actually kind of nice that it can’t fix everything.

Content Warnings

Aftershocks by Ruby Dixon

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

What It’s About: This story adds a few more perspectives to the eruptions and earthquakes that rocked the ice planet.

Spice Level: No sex in this one, but that’s entirely appropriate, considering the subject matter.

Trigger Warnings: An earthquake and some injuries.

Final Thoughts: It was nice to see a few other opinions of what went down, especially from the leadership perspective, where things had to be the most difficult. Oddly enough, even though everyone was in peril and unsure about their continued survival, it ended up being very uplifting.

Content Warnings

Barbarian's Taming by Ruby Dixon

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: Maddie finds herself falling for Hassen, but she has mixed feelings about it since he kidnapped her sister once. Then a disaster that affects the whole tribe changes everything.

Spice Level: Maddie and Hassen are super hot, and they get into it right away, even before they catch feelings.

Realism: This book really dives into the motivations behind actions, and how they can be good even if the action itself is bad. It actually made a lot of sense to me that these would get together, and I’m glad that they did!

Trope Alert: Enemies to lovers (if you squint at the beginning), friends with benefits.

Trigger Warnings: A big natural disaster, some death, and a lot of injury.

Final Thoughts: I’d been waiting for something big to happen because of all the dropped hints, but good grief, I hadn’t expected this! I was freaking out waiting to find out what happened to everyone!

Content Warnings

Double Dare You by Ruby Dixon

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

What It’s About: Becka is finally rescued by the Butchers after being taken at the end of the last book, and she strongly considers joining their world when she falls for the two guys who were there for her when she was at her worst.

Spice Level: There’s a lot of anticipation, a lot of fantasizing, a lot of playing, and it makes it even hotter when they finally get down to it.

Realism: Becka is in an awkward place since she’s related to two Butchers and has always been kept at a distance from that life. There are a lot of issues in play with her becoming property, as the Butchers call it, and they were dealt with naturally.

Trope Alert: MMF, with the guys involved with each other as well this time, and best friend’s little sister.

Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping, torture, rape.

Content Warnings

Calm by Ruby Dixon

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emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

What It’s About: Maylak, the tribe healer, has a bad feeling, and she isn’t going to rest until she figures out what’s causing it.

Spice Level: There’s no sex in this one, but it isn’t particularly necessary, so I didn’t miss it.

Final Thoughts: It was so fun to read about Maylak, because she’s such a fixture in every book since she’s the healer, but she’s never taken the spotlight. But her unresolved feeling makes me nervous for the future of my precious barbarians and their mates! Yikes!

Content Warnings

Barbarian's Touch by Ruby Dixon

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emotional hopeful lighthearted 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: When Lila wakes up on the ice planet, she’s shocked at everything she learns about her new existence, especially because she has to adjust to being deaf again. But spending time with Rokan might change her mind about her future.

Spice Level: This is another pretty slow burn, but when they finally get down to it, it’s perfect.

Realism: I really enjoyed that this brought up the theme of difficult communication that was present in the first book, but in a whole different way. And the fact that Rokan never thought of Lila as lesser and wanted to learn how to talk to her so she wouldn’t be left out made it even sweeter while enhancing their romance.

Trope Alert: Friends to lovers, miscommunication.

Trigger Warnings: Kidnapping.

Final Thoughts: I really enjoyed that Rokan made the effort to learn ASL, and that Lila’s khui didn’t cure her deafness, at least right away. It could always happen in the future, but it really centered the idea that she wasn’t deficient in any way.

Content Warnings

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robinwritesallthethings's reviews 29 reviews

robinwritesallthethings's reviews
29 reviews