Lady Aspeth is a Holder in need of an artifact to save her family's hold. So she ventures out to become a member of the Royal Artifactual Guild and that's when the trouble begins. (1) She's female, (2) hard work is not in her nature, (3) book smarts are not enough. Because she's female she needs a chaperone and with Hawk, a Minotaur, is getting ready to go into rut, they agree to marry.

The romance was sweet with grumpy Hawk quickly becoming obsessed with Aspeth, and Aspeth has no idea what she's in for. The secondary characters quickly bonded together and became a family willing to risk everything for Aspeth.

This book was much better than I anticipated. I found the characters delightful and laughed out loud throughout the book and eagerly look forward to the next installment.

I received this advance review copy from NetGalley & the publisher for my honest review.

Some may already know this, but I'm a total sucker for Ice Planet Barbarians. It’s mindless smut and ridiculousness, but I just eat it up. Going into this book, I expected a similar vibe—short, steamy, and to the point. But this story didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I didn’t go in expecting a deep plot or major character development, but even so, it just didn’t flow or have the “wow” factor as I’d hoped. I found myself bored and ready for it to end. Unlike Ice Planet Barbarians, which keeps things simple and focused, this book felt unnecessarily drawn out, with too much happening just to stretch the story. The premise had potential, and I really thought I’d enjoy it more, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me.

Ruby Dixon has already been one of my comfort authors and with this book, she solidified her spot on that list. This isn't my first Minotaur smutty read (a sentence I never thought I'd write) but this one was so much better than anything I could've expected. It blew me away and I had such fun! It's gonna be one I re-read at some point.

This sub-genre isn't my favorite, but I enjoyed it for the most part. The world-building is good, with interesting potential. But I couldn't get over my annoyance with Aspeth.

I love Ruby’s ice planet barbarian books! I’m up to book 8 so far.
Had to grab this one cause I’ve always been fascinated by Minotaurs. Just love how Aspeth who is a highborn daughter, who runs off and tries to save her family. She’s awkward but lovely with horrible eyesight and only nobles have spectacles. She’s just squinting and getting close to everything lol so no one notices.
Hawk the Minotaur needs a group of 5 recruits and he somehow ends up with her and 3 other women and a lizard. They are a laughingstock to the guild cause apparently women aren’t allowed except one who is a drunk now.
Aspeth talked Hawk into being her chaperone by marrying her cause there’s a conquest moon that puts the Minotaurs into heat so he agreed. There’s also talk of rutting and knots and these two are just adorable as they explore their relationship.
The exploring for artifacts in caves and trying to pass all the tests is fun and frustrating at times cause they aren’t given a fair shot.
Definitely add this to your list if you like fantasy, romance and adventure!

This was extremely unhinged and very entertaining and I ended up liking this book more than I expected. There was such good tension between Aspeth and Hawk and I loved that Aspeth was able to hold her own against him. She's quirky, resilient, and funny and I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked her character. Hawk, on the other hand, is grumpy and obsessive and I thought he was a solid character. The side characters were also a nice addition to the story and I loved the way they developed into a team. I always love a good found family trope.

I was satisfied with how Hawk and Aspeth's story wrapped up at the end of this book and I definitely plan on reading more books in this world.

Ruby Dixon welcomes us to a new world in Bull Moon Rising. The book starts a bit slow because there is a lot of world building. Like her Ice Planet Barbarian series, this has a non-human male lead. In this case, a Minotaur!

I liked the plot and the characters! The romance feels a bit more like side plot, and oddly, I was okay with that. The story was interesting and kept me turning pages. I adored Aspeth! She is so endearing. I enjoyed the archeology vibe as well (it reminded me of Indiana Jones, but with monsters).

Bull Moon Rising could have been shorter. It felt like it dragged in places and it took away from what was a good plotline! On a personal note, I hate the term "rut" or "rutting". Its just not attractive at all. So, that kind of turned me off. This book had good bones-interesting characters, exciting plot-and if a few things were changed, I would have absolutely adored it! It was still a solid read for me!

What a hoot! A hilariously fun monster romance set in a delightful historical fantasy setting. A mixture of what paperback smutty historical romance reads like and fantasy fiction; it's cozy but spicy with cool worldbuilding, magic, and creatures. I can't say I've ever read a Minotaur romance before but this was just plain fun & despite the obvious physical differences, Hawk reads like the typical big, brooding, possessive leading man who will do anything for the woman he loves that we often see in romantasy books. In a world where women aren't typically 'allowed' in, our FMC Aspeth finds herself in a marriage of convenience with a Minotaur, Hawk, so that she may join a team of apprentices in the Royal Artifactual Guild. Despite there being virtually no women, except for the one technically in charge of her team, Aspeth's team is made up of 4 women and a Slitherskin which surprised me since she was the only one who seemed to be given a hard time about it. But I loved the camaraderie of their group and each of the individual quirky members. It definitely gives girl power vibes there and I loved the friendships in this one as much as the romance. It's very well written with a great plot, lots of laughs, many spicy scenes, a bit of mystery and the perfect ending. Any fans of Ruby's other books are likely to devour this in one sitting and anyone looking for a light monster romance should check this one out!

💙marriage of convenience
💗hidden identity
💙monster romance
💗danger and deception
💙magic
💗friendship
💙archeology
💗hilarious quirky lovable cast of characters
💙big tough cinnamon roll mmc x cute loyal nerdy noble fmc
💗found family

Thank you Ace for the DRC via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I picked this one up to have something light and fun to read at jury duty, and that's exactly what I got! The first book in Dixon's <i>Royal Artifactual Guild</i> series plunges you into a very different world than the one of <i>Ice Planet Barbarians</i>, much more rooted in fantasy than sci-fi, and in many cases a lot cozier than that other series. In fact, aside from the marriage-of-convenience and minotaur-in-rut elements, it was a much cozier fantasy experience overall! I hope there's more to come in this world — maybe a sequel romance for Gwenna? Very charming, compulsively readable, and an exciting setup for a new series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this edition from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The prose was a bit underdeveloped for my taste, but I still had a lot of fun with this one! A fast read and pretty easy dip into the world of monster romance. I'd give it 3.5 stars.

I was able to read this because NetGalley provided with an arc. I loved this romantasy. Great Read. I would read more by this author.

A woman who will do anything to become part of the Royal Artifactual Guild finds herself agreeing to a marriage of convenience with the very teacher of who wants her out of the Guild. Aspeth is the daughter of a holder, her family is completely broke since her dad gambled away all their magical artifacts and she broke off her engagement with her fiancee when she found out he only wanted her for her land and money... two things she actually doesn't even have. Aspeth has a plan: she'll join the Royal Artifactual Guild and explore the world and find magical artifacts..... too bad the biggest thing in her way is that the Guild does not want any women in it at all. Her workaround? Marry a guild member who will let her become an apprentice and who better then the surly minotaur who is in desperate need of a partner for the ceremony he needs to go through. Despite their differences, can they make a real marriage work between them? This was an extremely slow burn read and honestly, Aspeth was just kind of annoying. I really wish I liked this more but felt myself getting bored while reading this. It just never really hooked me and I wanted so badly to love it. It just felt slow and anticlimactic if I'm being honest. While this was a miss for me, if you like slow burn romances with magic school/training, give this one a go, maybe you'll have more fun with this than i did.

Release Date: October 15,2024

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group | Ace for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Ruby Dixon never misses! I just love the way her books are so easy to get into and how original her characters are! I mean... a MINOTAUR??? Who would have thought?! Love her!

This copy was kindly given to me by the publisher and Netgalley for review. All opinions are my own.

There is just something slightly addictive about Ruby Dixon books. As someone newer to monster romance, I found this one probably tamer that others I have picked up, still not sure if its the genre for me but nonetheless, this was a fun addition to RD's books. I found it had a bit more plot and world building compared to her Ice Planet Barbarians series which was a pleasant surprise. For how fast I read these, that they are a nice refresher between reads, I would keep reading if this turns into a series.

When the Ice Planet Barbarians first got popular/started being published in deluxe editions at my store, I initially scoffed at how ridiculous the series sounded. But enough folks said they genuinely enjoyed it, that I picked up the first book -- and was surprised to find there was more substance to the characters/story than I had expected, and something about Dixon's writing style was really fun.

This is the first in a new, Greek mythology-inspired series from her, and I really enjoyed it! Dixon has a way of creating magical worlds that still have a grounding in reality, with their own rules and cultural touchstones. And her characters are interesting and likable, with palpable chemistry together, and enough emotional heart/heft to them individually AND together that makes the steamy scenes even more fun. Already can't wait for the next book in this series!

Bull Moon Rising was a decent start to a new series. I've enjoyed Ruby Dixon's books in the past, and while I liked this, there were quite a few things that could have been better. I found the pacing to be really off. There were times when the plot was moving quickly and then would drag, then would pick up again, then slow back down. The irregular pacing was a struggle to get through. I also think the world building was WAY too heavy at the beginning of the book. There was a lot of information at once, and paragraphs upon paragraphs of info dumping.

I did really appreciate the found family aspects of the story! And besides the issues I had with the pacing and worldbuilding, The premise of the story and romance was super interesting and I would be interested in reading the next book!

3.5 Stars
I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get into this book until we got to Hawk's first POV chapter and learned about the Conquest Moon and all of a sudden I was invested lol. I was surprised to get a really fun adventure story out of this and I enjoyed all the side characters as well though I wish the romance between Aspeth and Hawk was there more (also I feel like I would've been okay with a bit more spice, the tension was built up so much for not enough payoff imo).

Thank you NetGalley & Berkley Publishing Group for the ARC!

Ya know… did I know going into it that it would be a Minotaur romance… yes yes I did. And I thought it would be fine because I’ve read and was able to tolerate IPB…. HOWEVER I unfortunately was never able to look past the Minotaur thing and I feel like it really held me back personally from enjoying this book.

3.5 Stars
This is a book that I picked up on Net Galley because the premise was interesting.
I enjoyed meeting Aspeth and Hawk, but have to admit that I had a bit of a hard time getting invested in the story. I'm not sure if the issue was the fact that Ms Dixon is a new author to me or that the world involved is brand new.

Aspeth is a bit spoiled and her expectations of real life are unrealistic. We see most of the story from her point of view. We see her mature and evolve in slightly unexpected ways, making her easier to like. Hawk and the other five fledglings support her evolution and grow on the reader.

There is definitely commentary on societal norms (past and present) that influence the story as well.
Overall, Bull Moon Rising was entertaining, but I'm not sure I am invested in the world around the Guild enough to come back and see what happens next.

This was such a fun romantasy full of Ruby's signature humor, smut, full world, and feral simp MMC.

Ruby Dixon always infuses so much depth to her worlds, yet her worldbuilding is easily understandable and weaved into the story so well that you feel no boredom or confusion. And this world was so interesting!

We find our FMC about to arrive at the Royal Artifactual Guild. We learn about the magic of the world and how artifacts of the magical civilization of ancient times are used today in the feudal society for war and social standing. Lady Aspeth knows finding artifacts as a guild member is her last chance to save her land after her father gambled them away.

But despite being well-educated, Aspeth is naive to the real world. Luckily, her maid and best friend, Gwenna, is with her and is a delight. But even Gwenna can't help her when they learn women need chaperones to enter guild training, if they're allowed at all.

So Aspeth finds a chaperone - a husband.

Hawk is a Taurian and guild artifiacer used to cleaning up after humans in the tunnels or in training. But since he can't leave the city as he needs to work, he will need to use a human to get through the Conquest Moon, a period of insantiable lust that drives the procreation of Taurians. And who presents herself as a candidate to go through the time with him? Aspeth.

Right place, right time amiright?

Now Aspeth and Hawk are wife and husband, student and teacher, and virgin and raging bull. All as their team needs to succeed in training or they become guild servants, their mentor loses her job, and Hawk can't pay back his debt.

There were definitely times you had to shake your head at Aspeth's naivete and optimism, but she always was planning and thinking and learning which 1) delicious is spicy scenes 2) useful in a world that underestimates women.

Hawk fell hard, fast and while it did take a while for the final consumation, I liked that they took their time to get comfortable with each other and explore each other (and many chances they did take ;).

If you've read other Ruby Dixon books, you'll get her taste of smut in a new font (minotaur) which was fun (the Conquest Moon def gave resonance).

Overall, I'm excited for a new Ruby world to explore and loved that we got a full length story. I enjoyed Aspeth and Hawk and look foward to more from this world (Gwenna next?)!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Feat: marriage of convenience, minotaur x human, fantasy world, (magic) archaelogy, virgin (30 yo) FMC, monster romance, breeding/rut, lots of spice (but slow burn to final act), teacher x student

4.25 stars
3 spice