Category: Book Review

“Ice Planet Barbarians” by Ruby Dixon has been on my to-be-read pile for a while now. Ever since I heard about it on the Heaving Bosoms Podcast, I have been obsessed. Let me tell you, it was well worth the wait! You may find yourself wondering what on earth is going on as you see the large, blue, horned man on the cover. Well, it is just an amazing little novel called “Ice Planet Barbarians”.

“Ice Planet Barbarians” is the first of an ongoing series by Ruby Dixon. It follows the lives of women who were stolen away from earth by horrendously evil aliens. When they decide to rise up and take over the ship, it crash-lands on a frozen wasteland of a planet and they have to fight for survival. In particular, the first book follows Georgie, the unofficial leader of their troupe.

This first book follows Georgie, the brave woman who sets out into the frozen tundra after their crash to find help. She finds it in Vektal, leader of a tribe of tall, blue, horned aliens. Between language barriers, cultural differences, and good ole misunderstandings, their first days spent together are rather…unique.

Vektal and Georgie make a fantastic pair, which leads to hilarious interactions and sexy love scenes. I spent my evening laughing my head off while squealing happily over nearly every scene the couple was in. It is a short book and a perfect read for after a long day at work.

However, I must warn you that the beginning of the book is NOT light hearted. It contains sexual assault – from the aliens who kidnap the women. If you are not comfortable with these themes, I would recommend sipping the early chapters or reading a quick synopsis on line and then jumping into book 2! If you are looking for a new series to dive into and want something completely different and unique, I recommend the Ice Planet Barbarian series. Each novel follows a different pair as they find love and connect as a mated pair. If you let it, I bet “Ice Planet Barbarian” by Ruby Dixon will become one of your favorite reads.

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This last month I read “Neon Darkness” by Lauren Shippen. This was the second novel released by Lauren Shippen that is a companion to the audio drama podcast “The Bright Sessions”. I fell in love with “The Bright Sessions” from the first episode. It was an incredibly well written and orated podcast with a twisting and turning storyline. I was over the moon when I heard the writer would be publishing novels to go along with the story I loved.

“The Infinite Noise” was the first novel Lauren Shippen released, following the characters Adam and Caleb. It showed their meeting, the challenges they faced, and how they found love in a world that was made infinitely more complicated by Caleb’s empathic abilities, marking him as Atypical.

With how much I adored the “The Bright Sessions” and “The Infinite Noise” I was so excited for the second novel “A Neon Darkness” to be released, especially since it revealed the origin story of my favorite character, Damien. However, after I read it I had very mixed feelings and reviews about the story as a whole.

“A Neon Darkness” and “The Infinite Noise” both have a similar start in that they drop you right into the narrative without any introduction. As a fan of the podcast, I did like this but at the same time a small introduction or recap would have been nice. For those who haven’t listened to the podcast, I wouldn’t recommend you read the books until you do as you will be missing very important background to aid you in understanding the narrative.

Where “The Infinite Noise” did a good job following the characters and showed their challenges and growth, I feel “A Neon Darkness” didn’t have such a satisfying conclusion or growth of the character I was hoping for. The story introduced amazing new characters and a fascinating plot line, but at the same time, I struggled to stay in the narrative directly connected with Damien and his struggle to control his power. The ending, which I won’t spoil here for those who want to read it, left me feeling a little underwhelmed.

I feel like Damien didn’t really grow or overcome any major challenges. Other than the creation of his name, I didn’t see any change in the character. This may have been the purpose of the story, to show why Damien is the way he is, but I would have liked to see more depth to the character I adored in the podcast.

Overall, “A Neon Darkness” was a good book. Perhaps if someone isn’t as much of a villain fan as I am, you may find more enjoyment in it. The tagline of the book is “What if the villain of your story is you?” and it holds true in the novel by showing the creation of “The Bright Sessions” villain. I just wish I could have seen more of Damien’s motivations and development.

If you are looking for a new fandom to fall into, I HIGHLY recommend “The Bright Sessions”. Listen to the podcast, read “The Infinite Noise” and “A Neon Darkness”, and fall in love with a whole new world!

“Desperate Measures” by Katee Robert is the first book in her “Wicked Villains” series. It’s for, as Katee states in her book, “everyone out there who prefers the villains to the heroes”. As a lover of all the bad boys and villains, I knew I had to get my hands on this series, and boy am I glad I did!!!

“Desperate Measures” is the story of a modern and twisted retelling of Jasmine and Jafar. Jasmine, the “princess” of her father’s underworld empire, and Jafar, his right-hand man who betrays Jasmine’s father and takes control of their business. It’s a pairing you may be raising an eyebrow at but I promise it’s perfection!

Right out of the gate, this book is unlike any romance novel I’ve read before. The story is darker than a traditional romance but that dark underbelly within the story makes it all the more exciting. Jasmine and Jafar are so well written, showing their inner thoughts only when they have a chapter in their point-of-view. It lets the reader really dive into all the complexities of the story while also getting insight to each character’s motivation.

Although, I did have a minor piece that I wish would have been different. This story just tosses you into the novel, which is great…but it also meant I was a little lost for a couple pages as my mind switched to what it knew about the characters from other movies and stories and into this new world of fiction.

The first chapter was also VERY INTENSE and for that reason, I want to take a moment to thank Katee Robert for doing something I have NEVER seen an author do in their books before.

Katee Robert gave us a content warning for the novel!

As a person who chooses not to read very specific types of fiction and content for personal reasons, it was nice to have the very first page of this novel contains a content warning. It lets the readers know exactly what they are getting into, especially when it’s a major theme throughout the book. I thank Katee Robert for this and I hope it starts a new trend!

If you are going to read this novel, please take note of the content warning because without that content warning, the first chapter would’ve had a much different impact. Since we get thrown right into the thick of it, we miss out on some details of Jafar and Jasmine’s backstory. We do get that backstory as the story progresses, but I personally would have liked a little more in the beginning to help me transition into this new world.

Even with that, “Desperate Measures” will be sitting on my shelf of favorites. If you’re interested in a story with a sexy, dark twist, characters who fight hard to be their true selves, and are wanting to try something new, “Desperate Measures” is the book for you!

“Priest” by Sierra Simone is by far the hottest, sexiest, take-your-breath-away book I have read this year. “Forgive us our sins” is the tag line on the front of the book and I feel like it applies, because after reading it, I felt like a sinner in all the best ways.

“Priest” isn’t just another sexy romance. It builds and breaks a lot of the molds of the romance genre. The story is written in the perspective of Father Tyler Bell a young priest seeking to prove to the community they can have faith in the church and its leaders. Since romance novels are typically written through the female protagonist’s perspective, this change really gave depth to the book that had me begging for more after each chapter and showed a new side to the romantic story.

Not only that, but Sierra Simone did masterful work in laying little breadcrumbs that the reader picks up about other characters and their motivations that you don’t see until later. Every detail and bit of dialogue had a purpose and impacted the story or characters in some way.

I truly loved reading “Priest” by Sierra Simone. It broke down the walls of my expectation, built them anew, and was the perfect amount of hot and sexy. I went in expecting the novel to go a certain way and I was pleasantly surprised with every chapter and twist. The ending caught me by surprise and had me feeling emotions I didn’t even know I had!  

Thank you so much to Sierra Simone for this amazing novel. I already have the novella and the sequel on my wish list to read in the future. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for me after falling in love with “Priest”.