A review by emfass
Barbarian Lover, by Ruby Dixon

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

4.0

SpoilerGeneral small spoilers throughout so I'm just hiding the whole thing.

Things I loved:
-Big ol' optimistic cinnamon roll Aehako, and his solid and steady courting of Kira.
-Bone dildo pay-off from the previous book (though I kinda wish Kira had taken advantage of it earlier??).
-Going back to the Elder's Cave and taking advantage of the technology (AND SHOWERS) there.
-Tying up the bad aliens thread, because YEESH I did not like having that hanging over our heads.
-In all three books I've read so far, Ruby Dixon sets up the next book so well, making me very intrigued to read about the next couple without moving the focus to that actual relationship in somebody else's book. I think this is really well done.

Things I didn't like:
-The encounter with the bad aliens...I realize it had to happen because it was a loose thread from the first book, and I appreciated that it provided tension while also tying up quickly, but...it was almost too neat and quick?
-Why go through the trouble of this secret plug-in drive to try to hack the alien's ship if it just wasn't gonna work? Weird red herring/dead end plot point.
-Kira's khui eventually healing her body so she could be fertile, resonate with Aehako and be his "true" mate. Really don't like the message this sends to people who are, in fact, infertile. I kind of saw it coming but in the rest of the book, I liked the way Aehako was like, it doesn't matter, we're still gonna be mates.
-When Harlow disappears and Aehako assumes she abandoned them (there is no way she could survive?!) instead of the MUCH MORE OBVIOUS possiblity of "maybe something happened to her." And also Kira doesn't fight tooth and nail to go find her friend, she just goes along with it.
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