| Title | : | Barbarian's Touch (Ice Planet Barbarians, #7) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 301 |
| Publication | : | First published June 11, 2016 |
Well, this girl escapes.
Of course, that means I go from frying pan into the fire, and my situation gets even more dangerous. Just when I have no hope left, a new hero appears. Sure, he’s blue, horned, and has a tail. He’s also fierce, protective, makes me purr... and thinks I'm perfect.
But is what we have real or just a mating instinct?
Barbarian's Touch (Ice Planet Barbarians, #7) Reviews
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2 Sleepy Smut Scale Stars
Review...zzz...to...zzz...come...zzz...once I wake up...zzz...from the nap this fucking book induced.
Zzzzzzzzz...
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*
*
Okay, I'm awake now.
So thishighly specialized form of Ambienbook.
I don't know what happened for me here, man.
Though I think it might just be me.
Because I love Ruby Dixon and I love this series.
But allow me to be...frank.
As super cool as the world she has created in this series may be, as much as I think it's super creative what she has done here, and as much as I appreciated the content of this book in particular...
I read Ruby Dixon to satisfy my smut tooth.
Specifically my CRAZY ALIEN SMUT SEX tooth.
And, not gonna lie, that's pretty much my main reason for reading these.
If there also happens to be a great plot?
If the character interaction outside of the furs happens to be stellar?
But when I am reading specifically for crazy alien sex and I don't get any ugly bumping until almost 90%...
In a story where I don't really care all that much for the heroine...
And am tired of reading page upon page about how said heroine learns to make fur boots, build a fire, cook food, hunt for small game, and walk in snow shoes?
Exactly, Peter.
Now, TANGENT.
Whatever you decide to do in your life. Whatever your major life goals are....
Do NOT...
Under ANY circumstances...
Ever...
Never, ever, EVER....
Google "crazy alien sex gif."
Because, seriously?
This is one gigantic rabbit hole of what I like to refer to as "A Shit Show of Fucking Crazy."
CRAZY.
Seriously though, I am scarred for life.
I shall never recover.
My sexual psyche might have legit been tarnished for all of my remaining forever.
And, most tragic?
I will never get those three hours of totalalien porn trollinglegit scientific research back.
Don't believe me?
This right here is the MOST PG, LEAST creepy piece of evidence I was able to locate during my scientific endeavors:
I'll just let that bad boy speak for itself.
But anypsychologicaldamage, I truly do think it was just me on this one because it seems like all of my fellow alien sex buddies rated this thing 3+ stars.
I was truly so bored and uninterested in this that I was gonna only rate it one star.
But Rokan was such a sweetie I decided he deserved better than that.
So there's that.
In other news, not sure how I feel about the next book in the series (which I already purchased - dammit) as the heroine in that book - whom we met in this book - seems like a serious C#NT and I have no interest in reading her story. -
I loves me some big blue alien smut! And, Rokan is now my official favorite barbarian! He's sweet, funny, and kind. Plus, I even loved the girl in this book, Lilah. That is a big win because we all know that some of the girls have been pretty annoying. (*cough* meghan)
So, Lilah is deaf and had a cochlear implant that the bad alien abductors removed from her head. She has now found herself on the ice planet without her implant and terrified. Luckily, her sister, Maddie, is with her and knows sign language. Unluckily, there are a lot of horny single blue alien men who are looking at her like she's lunch.
Maddie: "Big sis is on alert. Get some sleep for now."
Lilah: "Like that's gonna be easy knowing we're now in Parasite Planet? With a bunch of horny blue dudes that look like they want to eat me?"
Yeah, the cootie thing isn't making things better. So, you've just learned that you were kidnapped by aliens, put into some sort of hibernation chamber, crash landed on an ice planet and left to die, only to be "rescued" by a group of giant horny giant smurfs and told that you have to have a parasitic worm implanted into your neck to survive. What could be worse?
"The khui in your breast picks a mate for you and then you will bear him a kit."
Maddie's brows go up slowly. "Do. What?"
Kira bites her lip. "Okay, yeah, this does sound bad."
"You think? I just found out we're on Popsicle Planet with Captain Horny and the Hairy Palm Crew, and you didn't bother to tell me that I get an assigned playmate?"
Haha! Okay, so I'm in the minority here, but I like Maddie. She may be a little bitchy, but I can relate to bitchy in her circumstances better than I can relate to sweet and gently accepting. She just found out that she will never have cake again. That's cruel! Even prisoners get to eat cake in prison sometimes..I'm guessing ..well, actually, I don't know. There must be some sort of cake in prison, right? If not, all the more reason to be law-abiding.... But, anyway, it's also freaking cold all the time, and she just learned that this cold will be for the rest of her life. And, no decent clothes. All leather? She knows, as we all do, that not many people can pull off the leather pants look. That's got to be annoying. So, she's cranky. I'd be cranky too. Enough said.
But, our story is about Lilah. And, Lilah is awesome. She is terrified and basically huddling into corners at first, and then she gets kidnapped by Captain Dipshit who wants to force her into a relationship. Dude! She's just not into you. Move on. Luckily, a cuter nicer alien barbarian rescues her and it's on, baby! See, kidnapper guy? You're obviously not a good-looking enough alien. Those horns with that haircut? No wonder no one loves you.
Rokan, the cute alien, is all sweet and helpful and not-pushy. He teaches Lilah how to survive on Planet Popsicle and he learns sign language. Yeah, he's totally her blue bae.
As usual, there was a lot of fun, romance, and humor in this book. If you haven't started this series, you really need to. It's like blue meth. Totally addictive. -
4 Rokan and Lila Stars
May have some spoilers
In the last book two human women were discovered in the wrecked spaceship of the bad aliens. This book was Lila (the first new human) and Rokan's love story. As much as I enjoyed this one I had to take a star off because of the first part of the book. I don't want to give away any big spoilers but the shit that Hassen pulled. I wanted to slap the shit out of Hassen. I was glad when Rokan threw some hands and fucked Hassen up a bit. He totally had that coming.
Rokan was great. He was sweet, calm, and patient. He knew Lila was scared and that it was worse because she couldn't hear. He protected her repeatedly, taught her how to survive on the ice planet so she wasn't helpless and impowered her. He was sexy af. Lila really came out of her shell in this book. She was scared, couldn't hear, and didn't know anyone, but instead of letting it destroy her she had Rokan teach her how to live on the ice planet. She was fierce, hunting, killing and dressing animals, starting fires, and tanning hides. I loved that at the start of the book she was so upset about her losing her hearing again, but by the end she accepted who she was and was happy with herself.
Rokan and Lila's relationship was a really slow burn. They didn't do the nasty until like the last 90%, but I was ok with that. They had a ton of passion and a deep connection that helped make up for the lack of sexy time. The other new woman was Lila's older sister Maddie. Maddie was loud, outspoken and at times a bit of a bitch. I'm not sure how I feel about Maddie yet. Maddie and Lila had some growing pains as both sisters changed in their new world. And speaking of new world omg the fruit cave sounded so nice. I'm pretty sure Maddie will be the next book and I can't wait to see what Rudy Dixon does with her. I really liked this book and I think Rokan and Lila are one of my top 5 favorite couples. If you have not read this series I totally recommend you read them. They are so addictive, good, and on Kindle Unlimited. But start at book 1! -
As a fan of this series, I had high hopes for this book. I expected something new, or something different from what I had already found in the previous stories. Did I get what I wanted? Not exactly. Perhaps it was me, not the book. Perhaps I had too high expectations. Or perhaps the thrill of reading this series has subsided and I don't even know that.
Anyway, this was a disappointment. The more I read, the more bored I got. And the story only got more boring once I reached the 80% mark where I found that Rokan and Lila still didn't consummate their resonance, I went crazy. I felt like I didn't want to continue reading it anymore. I lost interest and didn't care if they would mate or not! But since I came this far, I thought why not held on a little longer, so I skimmed through the rest of the book just to finish it.
To be honest, my first intention was to write this review properly. I even took some notes while reading this. There were too many things on my mind that I really wanted to share them with you. But now when I've finished it, I'm not in the mood to review anything. I'm too upset and disappointed with this book.
**If it weren't for Rokan, a wonderful alien, I would have rated this one less than 3 stars. -
Lila and her sister Maddie wake up from their one year sleep at the alien slavers’ ship.
After they relax a bit AND they accept their Khui AND they understand that the huge, blue, horny (literally and figuratively) aliens are their friends; hearing-disabled Lila is stolen by Hassen.
Rokan will try to find her and bring her back; while Lila escapes from Hassen and discovers the joy of living with the yeti.
Oh God, I really wanted to like this one. And I almost did like it. But by the end of it, I was really tired out. Firstly it is really long. Or maybe it felt really long. I don’t know. There were so many details. It was almost like I was reading the first novel of the series again.
And then there this part of the book where Lila questions the truth of her feelings:
“You only wanted me after you started purring.”
“I came for you even before that happened.”
I hated this part, because it really slows things down even more.
I don’t like it when they don’t accept the rightness of the Khui.
I absolutely love the Khui.
Khui knows what it is doing.
Khui is never wrong.
Go Khui! Yeah Khui! -
4 Stars!
Great addition to my favourite alien series!
Rokan was such a sweetheart, he was really patient and caring and all together super lovable. He was very thoughtful and worked hard to understand Lila despite her disability.
"My mate, I think with fierce, possessive joy as her flavour dances on my tongue. My perfect mate."
Lila was very fierce and determined. She didn't complain despite everything she was going through. As a reader you can see her getting stronger and more confident as the story went on.
I have 2 complaints, which is the reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars. First, I really liked Hassen and didn't like how he got painted as kinda bad/pathetic... took away from how his character was portrayed in the previous books. Second, the steam factor to this book was very minimum, the first sex scene was in the very last chapters. (there's only so much foreplay I want to read about)
But I am super stoked for the next book! I that epilogue didn't make it super clear who it will be a bout than I am crazy! Its gonna be Maddie and Hassen!! I am 99.9999% sure :)
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It was a cute one.
It was nothing new, kind of the same as all the other books in this series, but that doesn't make it a bad thing.
Even more, I liked the characters from this one a lot more than others. The chick was a badass in her own way, so I appreciated that.
If you've read the other ones, this one is worth reading as well. It's still a damn funny, hot, sweet book that will at least put a smile on your face. A good afternoon read.
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“I’ve got to ditch my zero and become my own hero!’
The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💚🖤💙❤️💜
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍🌏
Character development: 😒😢😔😊🥰
The heroine: Lila - She is woken from a cryo-stasis pod on an ice planet only to find out that she was abducted by aliens from her home along with her sister and the alien ship crashed, killing everyone on board aside from herself and her sister. She also finds out that her cochlear implants were removed and she is now deaf like she was prior to getting them ten years ago.
The Hero: Rokan - He goes with a group to get the human women out of the stasis pods and is immediately interested in the tiny soft one called Lila. He doesn’t resonate to her, but he feels for her and wants to help her and protect her. Though he isn’t the only one. Hassan has been waiting to resonate to a female and is determined to do anything to make that happen.
The Story: Hassan kidnaps Lila during a snowstorm and he is one of the Barbarian men that watched her so closely like she was some kind of dessert he wanted to devour. He scared Lila and she wasn’t happy about being kidnapped, especially since he sister was the only one she could communicate with since she had to use sign language. So she decides to run away and try to find the group.
This has a good story and I liked how Lila is seen as soft and weak, but really has an inner strength that nobody expected. I also liked the fact that she was deaf, that was a new one in this series and I don’t think I have seen it in other romance books either so it was nice to see.
I also like Rokan, he was different than the rest in that he has what he refers to as “knowing”, but is really some sort of psychic ability where he gets a gut feeling if something is wrong or something is going to happen, his “knowings” also make him sure of what they must do in certain situations.
These two were very cute together and I absolutely loved the fact that while they were alone, Rokan wanted to learn to communicate with Lila so he was willing to learn sign language and they ended up doing a combination of sign language and charades which worked well for them. I have really liked this series and am not getting sick of them at all. Though I sometimes have to take a break in between.
The book was told in both Rokan and Lila’s points of view and the audiobook was done in dual narration. The narration was done by Hollie Jackson and Mason Lloyd who have done most of this series and I like both of these narrators for these types of characters. I take a point off the narration for it not being done in duet narration, but otherwise it was great.
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Well.
Hmmmmm.
Rokan and Lila.
Their book caused a lot of mixed reviews amongst my friends and other GRs readers.
I, however, LOVED it.
How can I not, their story was very sweet and this time a character that is really unique was introduced.
It provided distinction to this book.
Rokan, who I never expected to be older, was awesome. Of course he's got ridges but what was really admirable was his patience. His struggles to find ways to communicate effectively to Lila was heart melting.
Lila, our deaf character. She's the younger sister of
Maddie, who's very protective of her.
At first, Lila was very timid and weak. She totally depended on her loud, strong and very independent sister. But as the story progressed, I read how she changed and became independent herself. Her transformation and character growth was admirable. She thrived and with Rokan's love for her, she became confident in her own skin despite of her hearing disability.
The appearance of Metlaks was a bonus. I appreciated how they were explored here.
I have to give it to Ms Dixon, she's the best at writing dreamy Romeos.
I want all of them. All these blue ridged ice planet barbarians = MINE.
Rating this 4
Stars
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RIDGES
ENOUGH SAID -
I give up at 67%
I have never given up on an Ice Planet book, I never thought this would happen. But I just can't handle Lila and her whinging, her idiocy and her refusal to listen to Rokan.
I would have preferred if she was eaten by a skyclaw.
If I wasn't reading the next one with my
Abtastic Ab Loving Geishas I would give the series up completely.
Sad times. -
4.5 Stars
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Rereading this went so much better. There was no urgency to get to the new one and a lot has happened in this one...this was one of the longest one on the series, I didn't realise it at the time.
Me before getting this
When did this come? OMG I need this now...
Grabby grabby hands!
After getting this on kindle
And after finally reading this
I was like
Sorry for the extremely Giffy review but I was hoping to get something new , and I didn't get anything.
Maybe I'll like Maddie's story better.
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Hmm. I thought this was going to be maybe 4 stars because Rokan is so sweet, but Lila had to pull out her annoying card for a good part of the book.
The story is Lila and Maddie are sisters and are new pod people found and released. Hassan decides to kidnap her to force her to resonate and be his mate. Not cool. Lila understands nothing that is going on because she's deaf and Hassan doesn't speak ASL. No one does but Maddie and Lila has been taken from the group. Rokan finds and rescues Lila from her captivity and they start "dating" for most of the book.
Lila is a pretty good character. I liked that she stuck it out with Hassan and wasn't spineless. Her crush on Rokan was cute and they're adorable together. She began to annoy me when she decided to get bratty about the cootie and question life. It felt like she was being ungrateful and spoiled when the Not-Hoth people saved her from death and we're doing anything possible to help her and make her happy. She threw it all back in Rokan's face and still he was teddy bear sweet to her, even when she was bitchy.
Rokan is adorable and sweet. He does everything he can to make Lila happy and puts no pressure on her for anything. He doesn't try any of the usual sa-khui courting tactics his fellow tribesmen have, like Vektal's hellos. He's the perfect gentleman and friend. He even starts to learn ASL for her as he's desperate to talk to her, even cuter.
I liked the part with the metlaks and I'm hoping that and the cave are expanded upon in the next books. Those two things could be quite interesting further discoveries for Not-Hoth.
Hate Maddie. She's jealous, bratty, bitchy, ungrateful, unhelpful, just an all around stick in the mud. They should've left her in her pod. Not looking forward to her being the next book. Farli seems way too young to be book 9. Isn't she like 15?
I still like this series, but I think it needs to go way different again like it did for Harlow and Ruhk's book.
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Really not feeling this cover. Guy looks like he's wearing a jester's hat. -
never did i think i would make it to book 8 of this series
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Big blue horned sexy aliens with some *cough* extras *cough* in their packaging are everything a human girl never new she wanted. Earth girls have been abducted by some aliens and crash landed on an Ice Planet with these beautiful creatures. To survive you need to get a parasite that will help you live, it will also play matchmaker with you and pair you up with a hot blue alien dude.
These books are a lot of fun. Each guy is pretty awesome so far and I really like the idea of the cootie that lets you know when the prefect person comes around. Lilah is deaf, she did have some implants that let her hear but those were taken out of her when she was abducted with her sister. Rokan is totally adorable. I love how patient and loving he is. He really understood that because of this Lilah needed to use Hand Speak to know how to communicate and so for much of the book they played charades to get the point across. It did make talking difficult for them.
There story is cute and while very similar to others in the book, I really liked Lilah and her I will be a self-saving princess attitude. She really took to the planet well and Rokan even better.
Who knew that big blue horned tailed alien smut was my thing? I mean eight books in I know it is my thing but I’m still a little surprised every time. -
**re-read**
I can't seem to get enough of these huge blue aliens, and overtime I finish a book I want the next one. Though now that we are onto book seven I can't lie I'm sad we are winding down, because I don't want this series to end. After seven books I couldn't be more impressed with how this author comes up with new stories and ways to make each book their own and very different. When I read book six I couldn't wait for this book but I was sure I knew how it would go(which I'm sure many thought) but man was I wrong. Ruby Dixon does an amazing job making all things new and never boring.
In book six we know that the two sisters have been rescued from the ship that was originally sent to retrieve the first downed ship that contained the original girls(that felt like a mouth full). Sadly one girl in this ship didn't make it but two woman did and that left all the still single men hopeful that they would finally find their mate. What they hadn't planned for was for Lila to come with some new disadvantages or for Hassen to steal her.
Rokan figured he would never find a mate but he has found happiness in his tribe and family, when he see's Lila he can't help but be intrigued, and also want to get to know her more. When they find out Hassen has stolen her Rokan knows he is the one that must find her. But once he finds her their story is just beginning. Rokan must find ways to communicate with Lila and show her who she is to him and explain this new world. Lila couldn't have picked a better alien to rescue her and being by him she finds a strength she never knew she had as well as a lot of feelings he doesn't understand.
I loved this story, it's the longest so far which is just another thing that made me love this book even more. Rokan was perfect for Lila and she for him. Rokan was possessive and strong and so patient with Lila. The devotion and love he shows her was beautiful. Lila has always fit into a little box but the longer she spend on this new planet the stronger she feels and the more she begins to fall in love with Rokan. With many trials down Rokan and Lila being to fall into this new life they have and then very quickly they both learn how fast that can change.
All I can think of now that I am finished with this book is when will book eight be out, and how fast the author can write it. I loved this book this entire series has been a breathe of fresh air and I find myself searching for more books like this. Sadly I haven't found anything yet. I can't recommend this book enough it's not like the others. Yes we see everyone from the other books but a lot of this book is just Lila and Rokan. We also get to see more of the yeti's which was really interesting, and the author somehow even finds ways to show us and them new things about this planet no one knew about before now.
I can't wait for Mattie's book, she comes off harsh in this book but it's because she has always been Lila's protector and now that someone else has taken that job she is lost. I think this next one is going to be interesting. I also really hope(though I don't know how that would happen) and would love to see what happens with Ava's ex I feel so bad for him. He's lost and then lost some more, and I want him to find happiness. What I do know after this book is that even with the next book being book eight we can't expect anything because Ruby Dixon can pull out one surprise after another. I'm selfishly hoping she can somehow land more human woman and find more strong big blue guys so that we have many books to come. -
This is my favorite Ice Planet book so far! Such a treat and so much fun, plus Rokan is the sweetest EVER!
I am addicted to these books!! Good thing there are so many of them haha -
Mein erstes 5-Sterne-Buch in dieser Reihe!! Es war so schön und süß und spannend und einfach perfekt. 🫶🏽
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I love Rokan and Lila's story.
I loved the fact that they took their time before mating. The way Rokan was with Lila even though he wasn't sure if she was his at first.The way that they dealt with the obstacles that were put in the way for them to communicate. And even then they figured it out and overcame them. Rokan is right there the whole time showing her a lot of patience and understanding. They have a really sweet romance and it's more of a slow burn. -
3.5 Stars
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The cover is sexier than what's in the book. Disappointed with this instalment of the series. What a waste.
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I don't even read reviews of Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians books anymore. I know exactly what I'm getting. In fact, all the blue-skinned behemoths have blended together for me at this point. The chicks I remember a little better, but as time passes even they become blurry to me. So why do I keep reading them? Because Ruby Dixon has discovered the sweet spot: highly romantic, innocent yet protective males, mildly taboo alien sex, and these six little words: "I must anticipate her every need."
In this installment, Rokan is pretty much perfect. Big, strong, patient, cute smile, kills giant pterodactyls to protect his girl, holds back for "yes" while letting Lila know the whole time he is more than ready, and best of all empowers his woman to be an equal in a hostile place. This one will be a tad more memorable because Lila is deaf, so she feels the purring khui rather than hearing it. And she gets snatched by a Yeti. But back to the main story......sharing furs.
Even though these Ice Planet Barbarians books are almost interchangeable, I can always be in the mood for a truly mushy love story. These aliens are pretty irresistible, and just a wee bit titillating and illicit: "His tail curls around my leg pressing against my thigh like a dirty promise." What a way to make the best of a bad situation. -
This was so good! Dixon expanded the world building in this one and I loved every bit of it! Rokan and Lila were so fucking cute! The writing has been getting better over the series. This was just a perfect read. Not too smutty, though. BUT that did not disappoint me in the least. This will forever be my favorite sci-fi romance series! 😜
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This one was a slow burn but it was a very good story with her getting kidnapped for mating purposes. It was just too long however for the kind of story it was. They sent a lot of time together without sex and it was very vanilla. After the other in this series I was a little/lot disappointed.
Can't say it was not fun cause with the addition of the hearing impairment it added a whole new challenge to the joining for the two MCs.
Enjoyable and sweet. -
This book. Where the hell do I begin with this damn book?
I believe you cannot interact with and criticize some pieces of art without revealing a part of your soul. I did not think that "art" would be the 8th book in a sexy sci-fi space series, but here we are. I will bare my soul for all.
I began reading this series last week during an overnight stay at the Denver airport. Call me crazy, but "Ice Planet Barbarians" goes down well at 2 am while trying to pretend you're not resting on the disgusting floor of the Denver International Airport. After that strange night, I was hooked on these stupid books. They were quick, funny, and exciting. I have been devouring them like Twinkies.
I should have stopped with "Barbarian's Mate," which, in my humble opinion, was totally coconuts in the best way. It was dope. And the end of a natural story arc. But oh, my hubris, I was greedy and stupid. I had to have more of my dumb space barbarian smut. I needed to know who would "resonate" next.
I hate myself.
So I downloaded the 8th book from Kindle Unlimited, ready to start the next chapter of the adventures of human girls on "Not-Hoth." I would like to emphasize: I wanted to like this book. I thought Rokan was intriguing, and I wanted him to find love. When I learned that the heroine, Lila, was deaf, I was thrilled and loved that a disabled heroine would take center stage. So I tucked into this story, ready to go on their love journey. Instead, I hated every moment of it.
Ruby Dixon made a mistake with this book: she let us look behind the curtain and we saw the wizard. While reading this series, it's easy enough to ignore all of the plot contrivances and problematic elements because you're so fully immersed in this weird universe. A strange and fantastic place where the magical symbiote in your chest helps you pick out the perfect soul mate. These books are an escapist fantasy (which I love), and it's best not to read too deeply into the themes. The characters in this series have managed to find a paradise for themselves on what is essentially a frozen nightmare planet. Any normal person who found themselves on Not-Hoth would hate it. The food sucks, it's freezing cold, danger lurks around every corner, and the symbiote in your chest strips you of free will and forces you to get pregnant. Yes, the planet is full of himbos with fancy 7-inch ribbed dongs. But being taken to someone's "furs" would eventually get old when you have nothing else to look forward to. Not even a good meal or a day of sunshine.
So let's introduce sisters Maddie and Lila. Lila is shy and insecure, and Maddie is awesome. When Lila is kidnapped and Maddie learns the truth about resonance, she's horrified. Because any normal person would be horrified by resonance. The situation is like, "Sorry buddy, but you either die on this planet, or you accept the parasite that makes you want to ravenously bang the best available person until you're super pregnant. Btw, gestation will last for over a year. Because of alien reasons." There is no other option. So when Maddie starts to freak out about the gross, unavoidable bone-a-thon in her and her sister's future, it was a stark reminder that, yeah, this shit isn't normal.
I wanted to ignore that, but it was challenging. Then we get to Lila's feelings on the matter. She's not totally thrilled at the idea of having a baby. Still, she's resonating and falls in love with Rokan, so she's eventually down with the idea. I mean, she had no choice. Even if Rokan's whole deal is "he wanted her to understand so she could consent", what was she going to do - refuse? Jodie tried that in the previous book, and it failed spectacularly.
So instead, we're treated to the love story of Lila and Rokan. And as much as I wanted to like it, damn, it sucked. Rokan rescues Lila from a bad situation. The two have a choice to make: go back to the village and reunite with Maddie, or go to the convenient spaceship and learn to communicate with each other. They chose the latter, deciding to go on a romantic adventure together so Rokan can learn ASL and Lila can learn the ways of Not-Hoth. Except once they made that choice, all I could think was, "Damn, so your older sister has been panicking about your safety and well-being for weeks now, but fuck her, right? You couldn't sacrifice two days out of your journey to self-actualization to stop in the village and tell her that you're okay? Then maybe establish some healthy boundaries and go on your romantic adventure with Rokan? No, okay, sure".
Lila decides to ditch Maddie to continue her quest of getting finger-banged by the hot blue alien guy. Maddie, the person who loves Lila fiercely and has looked out for her all their lives. Alright. Fine.
Dominic Toretto would be so disappointed.
Rokan and Lila are finally able to communicate thanks to sci-fi magic. I noticed that the same problem in book one happens here: Once our lovers can actually talk, their conversations become way worse. Ya'll, I get that it's kinda sexy in the other books when the male heroes use obscene phrases like "I wanted to sink my c**k in her c**t", but in this book? Yikes. Rokan is psychic, blessed with "the knowing", a gift that makes him seem even more other-worldly and magical than the other hot alien men on this planet. To hear him use such crude language to address the love of his life was deeply off-putting. Actually, it's super gross.
Then came the age difference. I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but Rokan is slightly older than some of the other bachelors in this series. He's 40. And Lila is 22, insecure, and inexperienced. The alarm bells in my head went off. Even though the book tries to explain that the two are "basically the same age" and that "people on the planet age more slowly," it does not work. Rokan's brother Aehako would have been 25 when he got together with 22-year-old Kira - does that mean Aehako was actually an adolescent in "Barbarian Lover"? No, of course not. That makes no sense. Rokan is 40, and Lila is 22. Why did Lila have to be so young? If she had been just a little older, like 25 or 30, it would not have been nearly as weird. An 18-year age difference is STILL an 18-year age difference, even if the older person doesn't age the same way as a human would. Rokan has 18 years of lived experience on Lila. Rokan tries to be respectful of her, but I was so uncomfortable reading about this 40-year-old sexy spaceman talking dirty to his much younger girlfriend/mate/wife/whatever. Some women are comfortable with an age gap, and I respect that, but this scenario is different. Lila is entirely dependent on Rokan for her survival, is isolated from her family, and has no proper understanding of what is happening with her body. The relationship is not equal by any means.
By the end of this book, all I read was the story of a young woman who blows off her devoted older sister to fuck some weirdly older space guy until she's pregnant. Maddie is upset by this, and she's the bad guy? Maddie is the odious shrew for being worried about Lila and hating the ice planet? To end this review, I would like to include how I envisioned the cut scene in "Barbarian's Touch" where Maddie throws something at Stacey:
Stacey: Hey Maddie, welcome to the tribe. My name is Stacey, and my character trait is that I like cooking.
Maddie: Hi Stacey, I'm really worried. My deaf younger sister and I were kidnapped from our home in scorching Arizona and have woken up on an ice planet. She's now being held hostage by a terrifying horny alien monster, and I want to do something about it.
Stacey: Woof, yeah, that's rough. Well, you can't go, because you have no survival skills and this planet is a frozen death trap, but don't worry, because Rokan will rescue her.
Maddie: And then bring her back to me so we can be reunited and create a plan together?
Stacey: Ha, no. He's probably resonated to her, which means they're going to have the insatiable need to fuck each other until your little sister is super pregnant with an alien hybrid baby. It happened to all of us.
Maddie: I'm not okay with this.
Stacey: Yeah, that's hard, because on this planet, you either pork or die. There is literally no other option. Also, there is no pork or other good food.
Maddie: My sister is only 22 and super inexperienced with men. Is this Rokan a good guy?
Stacey: Oh sure! He's 40 years old and lives with his parents, so that tells you he's mature and family-oriented. He's also kind of psychic and predicts the weather. If he's resonated to her then he'll become obsessed with her and pumping her full of alien sperm, but she'll be down. She will be completely dependent on him for her survival.
Maddie: *Silence*
Stacey: And eventually Rokan will return her to the tribe. She'll either be pregnant or they'll still be in the frenzy fucking stage. Everyone in the tribe will know and make cheeky comments about how your baby sister can't hang out with you because she's "busy".
Maddie: *Silence*
Stacey: Busy getting that sweet ribbed alien dong.
Maddie: *Silence*
Stacey: And the same will eventually happen to you, because, you know, you have no choice. So, would you like a not-potato cake?
*Maddie proceeds to go ballistic, and everyone hates her for being upset*
*End Scene*
Was this the worst book ever? No, absolutely not. Many people really enjoyed it, and I honestly wish I could have been one of them. In fact, I would LOVE for my opinion to change on this book. I would love to be like "Yeah, get it Lila, go ahead and resent your loving sister and let this psychic alien get you pregnant. That'll show her."
I did not intend for my evening to become consumed with trashing the 8th book in a science-fiction-erotica series, but here I am. These thoughts crept into me like a khui, encasing my heart, forcing me to complete resonance (only my resonance is just writing book review instead of trolling for alien peen). I just spent two hours writing almost 2,000 words about this book, and my guess is that no one will read this review. If you have, I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the gaping black hole that is my psyche. I sure as hell didn't. -
UPDATE: 2nd read:
RANT WARNING
The first time I read this, I was bored, and that’s still true the second time, I skimmed it here and there. The big difference is that reading this again when I’ve read the story for Lila’s sister Maddie, the next book in the series, I am also super irritated with Lila.
I’ve noticed that empathy is not big with the female characters in Ruby Dixon’s books, some are better than others, but most of these ladies are self centered and have very little patience for those that are struggling emotionally or mentally.
The dismissive attitude towards certain females gets really ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong, I love the series, but this casual callousness never fails to irk me.
—With Maddie: Long
—With Asha: Long
—With Ariana: Short
Those three stuck out the most for me as far as misjudged/mistreated females in this series. And Lila set me off the most, because she did this shit to her own sister….anyway…rant complete.
————————————
2-2.5 Stars~~
This was... kinda boring.
Lila cries a lot, Rokan is patient...
...and that's all I have to say about them.
Nothing spectacular.
I think I will enjoy her sister's story much more.
I've never felt so bad for a kidnapper...
Hassen picked the wrong sister, and I can't wait to see how he will be with Maddie. -
Another favorite!
I loved to read about a heroine with a disability and how her mate loved her the way she was. And how she was capable of taking care of herself no matter what.
The whole thing with the “yeti” was so intriguing. And that mysterious cave!!! I’m so invested, it’s ridiculous at this point lmao -
3,5 ✨✨✨
-
This was such a sweet, sweet story in pure Ice Barbarian’s style!
Rokan was such a sweetheart! A perfect mate: patient, sweet, considerate, tender, smart, fun…
… and not only that!!! LMAOOOO!!!
Lila was also sweet. She starts as a terrified, deaf woman who does not know what’s happening, what she should do, where she is… It was sad to read, but I imagine that’s how a deaf person would feel in her shoes.
But, as soon as she finds herself on her own with Rokan she starts to change and at the end being abducted by aliens and crashing on the Ice Planet is the best thing that could have happened to her!
I really hope they will have some very cute kits!
-
3.5 stars
Mate. Grunt. Spur. Protect. Still good.
