I was hooked on the story of a team of young women fighting for admittance to a guild, their bonds, and their adventures. But the extremely specific, frequent mentions of body parts and the mechanics of sex became distracting, and I didn't respond to the experienced, relentless male/naive, wowed female dynamic.
Ruby Dixon's paranormal, interspecies-romance novel Bull Moon Rising begins with privileged heiress Aspeth Honori's unlikely pilgrimage to the gritty city in a desperate attempt to try to save her family's legacy.
Her father's gambling means the family's artifacts have been lost, and Aspeth is determined to join the Royal Artifactual Guild, become an underground adventurer, find artifacts, and secure her own future and those of her family too.
But achieving her goals isn't going to be easy. As a woman, she won't be accepted into the guild without a chaperone, and her most likely candidate is a grumpy minotaur (who's also her teacher, oops) who also needs a favor. He's about to go into rut, and despite her ignorance of minotaurs and of sex in general, she's pledged to pair with him, and she enters into a rushed marriage. The next day, she begins classes with her female-only group of misfits, who are each hoping to earn their way into the guild.
The cover is arresting, and the sparkles and art are a nod to the novel's fantasy genre. But the cotton-candy-rainbow palette somehow didn't prepare me for the steaminess and frank sexual discussions that begin to hit early in the book and ramp up from there.
I listened to Bull Moon Rising in audiobook form, and hearing it all read to me may have exacerbated my distraction and eventual irritation at the prominently featured and often-discussed instances of specific body parts, excretions, planned particulars, and sex itself. The minotaur character (he's strong, with a heart of gold) is beastlike in his urges and relentlessness, and his "must-mate" bossiness made me uncomfortable, especially set against Aspeth's inexperience and wondrous admiration for him (she's the naive young lady being taken in hand). The "rutting moon" build-up and his Neanderthal-like single-mindedness grated on me as well.
The world-building felt a little unfinished, but the adventure story was compelling, with women fighting for recognition--often by subverting the rules and making their own way; the exploration and danger; the quickly developed and strong bonds; and, ultimately, moral reckonings about the search for, sale, and amassing of ancient artifacts.
I loved that Aspeth is a plus-size woman who loves books and wears glasses and is the irresistible object of affection for the main male character.
I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book!
Dixon is the author of 21 Ice Planet Barbarians novels and dozens of other steamy-romantasy books.
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