My girl Ruby has done it again. What an absolutely fun and delightful time. Ruby is constantly making me realize I like things that I did not know I liked. This was a super fun story, good plot and plenty of spice! Perfect for my monster romance lovers!

Oh Ruby, I can always count on you to deliver steamy, literal out of this world content, and this was no exception.

Candra & Nemeth are stuck paying for a curse that has been plaguing their world by sheltering in a tower of darkness for 7 years. During this time these enemies discover common ground and are forced to take matters into their own hands when things don’t go as planned.

On premise alone I was very eager to read this, but had a hard time staying invested in the story. When it’s good, it’s really good, but I did find myself wishing that there was more. I wanted a deeper connection between the characters full of yearning, and more substantial developments within the world. It was hard for me to believe that these mortal enemies were really soulmates or if being forced together for such a long time was what really bound them. Either way, I had a good time reading and think any Ruby Dixon fan will enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.
Publication date: 7/2/24

I read "Bound to the Shadow Prince" on Yonder before I read this ARC, and I just grew to love it more and more. I loved that Candra was flawed - she was selfish (for understandable reasons), vain, and flighty. She was forced into an impossible situation and had no choice but to grow. I loved the worldbuilding - Ruby is truly the queen of creating really rich, vibrant magical/alternative worlds without making you feel as though you are drowning in worldbuilding. Nemeth, our sweet, nerdy monster-man. I loved how their relationship developed throughout the course of the story - they had to grow and be vulnerable and take chances with each other. The spicy scenes were spicin' - Ruby, you hit it again with the beautiful smut scenes that were fun but still added to the overall plot of the book. Loved this book so much, I will be recommending it to everyone!!

All the tropes here - forced proximity, magic, there is only one (comfortable) bed, warring nations, monster romance, etc. - hit and hit HARD. I loved this book so much and I cannot wait to have the opportunity to add it to my physical collection as well!

Ruby Dixon fan here.... this is my favorite of all her books that I have read!!

First, it was much longer than I expected and I really enjoyed the whole thing! It was a wonderful spice-to-plot ratio.

I was super curious how the book would explain the timeline but I was delightfully surprised.

I am obsessed with Candra!! I loved how flirty and carefree she is and watching her evolve was amazing.

As usual, the spice was *chef's kiss* - but we expect nothing less from Queen Ruby.

About three years ago, I signed up for a Kindle Unlimited subscription (and saying that out loud makes me too afraid to contemplate what that indulgence has cost me in that time). At the time, the thinking was to sign up for the one-month free trial in order to binge read Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians series, which was experiencing a viral moment, and devoured the whole thing in a month.

Dixon’s latest novel, Bound to the Shadow Prince, is a delight, and is a must for those who are fans of Dixon’s fantasy series Aspect & Anchor. Despite the similarities in book titles, Shadow Prince is a standalone, but is also set in a wholly original fantasy world. The story follows Candra, a princess who is forced to move into an isolated tower for seven years as part of the terms of an ancient curse. Also with her is Nemeth, a prince from a rival kingdom who must also remain in the tower under the terms of the same curse.

For all that Shadow Prince is a romance, it is still a good deal darker than IPB. Yes, the core premise of IPB is dark, in that this group of women have been taken against their will and crash-landed on a planet that possesses no way to get them back to their homes and loved ones. But once you get past that, the series is fairly lighthearted.

In this respect too, its closest comparison is Aspect & Anchor, which also deals with darker themes, and leans more romantasy than romance with a fantasy element. It’s sweet, its steamy. The male lead is nothing short of a growly teddy bear - which is just how we like them - and the heroine has an understandable anger and frustration towards the fact that she is expected to remain locked up for years. Bravery is all well and good, but how many of us can say we’d face that stoically? But all that said, the book was an enjoyable, fast-paced read that is par for the course with Dixon’s work: if you’re a fan, you’ll like this one.

Bound to the Shadow Prince is available July 2. Special thank you to NetGalley and W by Wattpad for the advance copy for review purposes.

Spoiled and selfish Princess Candra is forced to live in a locked tower for 7 years with no company, except the enemy Royal Prince, who happens to be a big ol scholarly monster.

Nemeth is a Fellian, a member of a warring race. According to legends, a member of his family and the Vestalin family must live in a locked tower for seven years, never going outside, in order to protect their lands from the wrath of a Goddess.

Candra has a mysterious blood sickness, so she was never trained to live on her own. Things happen in the tower, Candra runs out of supplies and food stops coming. Nemeth and Candra have to work together to figure out what to do next.

I think this is classified as a monster romance, but he was humanoid so I was able to read it. Nemeth was sweet, Candra though…. I will say she had some serious character growth! This of course was funny as all of Ruby’s books are. I definitely think this could have been about 20% shorter.


3.75 ⭐️

I didn't enjoy this as much as I do Ruby's Ice Planet series, I think because it was longer and took a while to get to the action. We spend the first 60% of the book with our two main characters in the tower they are supposed to stay in for 7 years while they learn to live together and survive. This is also where they develop their relationship. Once they leave the tower, there was some time traveling before we got to Nemeth's kingdom. I wish we had more time in that part of the story to understand the political conflicts and what has been going on while Princess Candra and Nemeth are in the tower. If you are a fan of romantasy and lots of spice this is a good choice but be prepared for some slower moments in between the spice and political drama.

The way this book is formatted makes in incredibly hard to read. I had to DNF it about 10% in, which is sad became I very much like the premise of it but it was giving me a headache.

Forced proximity in a windowless tower.
Enemies to Lovers.
Human Princess x Gargoyle Prince.
Feuding factions.
Immense world building.
Spicy love story.
Mind-Blowing ending.

This is my first novel by Dixon, and now I feel like I need to read her backlist.

Thank you, Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group | W by Wattpad Books

I thought this book was super fun! Not one of my favorite Ruby Dixon's books, but still doesn't fail to hit! Ruby Dixon never fails to hit the mark. Nemeth was so cute, and I really liked how the book ended. It's def worth the read!

It was really fun to read a different Ruby Dixon book! Fantasy really is her thing, so it was no surprise that she would write a book like this. I loved the concept, and the characters were fun to read about. I do think that the pacing was off, maybe a little long at times, but I don't really mind. I would definitely read another book in this series, and look forward to any upcoming books!

Tropes:
• forced proximity
• enemies to lovers
• monster romance
• caretaking - both him taking care of her & vice versa

Candra the whiney sick princess vs a massive winged gargoyle like male with an interesting pp.

The fact that this wasn’t all spice and we had a good conflict & plot was super fun. I think the middle (from 50-75%) dragged a little bit but the ENDING! I wasn’t expecting those twists.

4/5 Stars - Thank you Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group and NetGalley for the free ebook ARC!

I really do love Ruby Dixon's originality. I thought the concept was pretty original and super fun. The book was well paced and the world was decently developed. There were certainly things here or there that had me scratching my head because it was inconsistent or didn't make sense, but sometimes I was just unsure if I personally missed something or it truly wasn't there to catch. Guess I will just have to re-read it!

Characters! I thought overall that the characters were well developed. This is something I think Ruby does well. I am personally very bad with remembering characters on a good day, so the fact that I can remember almost all of the characters (names AND personalities) she introduced says something about her developmental abilities. But Candra.......

I have to rant about her. Her overwhelming ditzy selfishness in the beginning (and easily through the middle) of the story made me have to put the book down at times. She was very absorbed in herself, her wants, and what others did or would think of her to the point of causing me annoyance. It really damaged the relationship for me for a long time since I don't think someone so selfish can TRULY love another. She does get better probably 60% of the way through, but that was a little too long for me. I didn't feel any actual chemistry or affection until that calmed down. Does her selfishness continue? Absolutely. But it was handled in a way that integrated it into the relationship and made it work for me.

Nemeth? No complaints. At the end of the day, he is a simp for his woman, and that is all I require of him.

When all is said and done, those minor things did not ruin the overall enjoyability of the book for me. It did not rip me from the story. I really enjoyed reading this and was loathe to put it down when I had to!

I just want to start off by saying this was my first monster romance ever and I think I have been converted. THIS WAS SO GOOD! I love that it was a perfect balance of spice and plot. Like I don’t think either was sacrificed.

We got forced proximity and a slow burn enemies to lovers the first half of the book and then a survival quest the latter half. I was amazed by the world built and their legends and stories. It definitely shined a light on the fact that there are two sides to every tale, and the one you hear is told from a “victor’s” POV and may not necessarily all be true. A representative from each rival side is sent to The Tower to appease the goddess and must remain inside for 7 years. That long spent in captivity with someone, you’re either going to grow to love or hate them.

The twists really developed the plot, and I loved that there was no 3rd act break up! Just tension, which is expected. SOMETHING has to happen in the 3rd act right? And trust me a lot does.
I’m glad this was a thick book because I was just eating it up and kept wanting more.

Thank you Wattpad Books for the gifted copy, I immensely enjoyed it!!

BK-R
4🌶️, a decent about of on page, fade to black moments and dirty talk.
Characters: 4⭐️
World Building:4⭐️
Plot:3⭐️
POV: First Person FMC

This Monster Romance is a soft-erotica with more about the story than the spice.

We follow out FMC (Candra), who is selected to go be a sacrifice to their Goddess, to love in a tower for 7 years with the enemy. They become close while outside the tower is a war between their peoples.

Thoughts:
This started out awesome. The first 75 pages were my favorite. But everything else became long winded. Yes there were some surprising twists but not enough to carry the story through the dragging. This is not what I was expecting after reading Ice Planet Barbarians.

Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book!

A Romantic Erotic Comedy Fantasy!
Princess Candra is forced to serve 7 years in the Golden Goddesses Tower along with Nemeth, a Fellian from Darkfell, Lios' sworn enemy.
Full of fun, emotional suspense, you get lost in the story and the spice is just a cherry knot😉 on top

Thank you to the NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC.

first all: i LOVE me some ruby dixon and this book was VERY refreshing to read (after some other subpar books)...at first. Negl, this, IMO, should've been split into 2 books (before and after they leave the tower tbh). It started getting dragging on wayyyyy too long and my attention wandered.

But hey, Ruby got me to care about a pairing dynamic I usually don't care about (studious-shy MMC / flirty-outgoing FMC), the writing was engaging, the smut delicious, the unique plot intriguing, and the narrative voice delightful, so still 4/5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. DNF. I will not be finishing this book. This book is slower than I thought it would be and the characters are irritating. I am rating and reviewing so that it doesn’t hurt my feedback ratio.

My only experience with Ruby Dixon is IPB - which I love. So trying something a little different is always exciting.

Our FMC has a sprinkle of Stockholm, in a way, after being locked in a tower for 7 years with a shadow daddy with wings monster hehehe

OH HOW WILL THEY SURVIVE

Tropes
Enemies to lovers
Forced Proximity
Ruby Dixon Spiceeee
Touch Her and RIP
He falls first hehe


Please check your TW <3

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for an eARC of Bound to the Shadow Prince for an honest review.

📚✨Book Review✨📚

Bound to the Shadow Prince
Author: Ruby Dixon

Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Notes: I received a copy of this book as an advanced reader, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

What I Liked:
🏰 The idea of two people from opposing sides being trapped in a tower for years together was super intriguing. Inevitably they fall for each other (this is a romance after all), but that’s only the start of this story!

🏰 I found this story truly compelling and thrilling. It hit all the classic notes fans of Ruby Dixon already know and love (monsters and spicy times) but it also mixed mystery and political intrigue into it. I think this might be my fave Ruby Dixon book yet!


What I Didn’t Like:
🏰Spoiler….I want to know what happens to everyone. Does the rain ever stop? I felt like when they take over, the goddess should be pacified, but yet the rains continued. Maybe we’ll get more and this will become a series! Also, F those dudes in the Alabaster Citadel!

Final Thoughts:
🏰Any book by Ruby Dixon is sure to be a hit with me. If you haven’t read her books yet, what are you doing?? Start reading!



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