Another great book in the Ice Planet Barbarians series! Lots of upheaval in this book after the event of the prior book's cave in. We follow Pashov and Stacy in this one after Pashov lost his memories in the cave in. This book was super sad at times as Stacy was going through it, having her mate be physically well but mentally not remembering her or their son. This was a well done story and getting to see them fall back in love was well done.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Barbarian’s Heart is another addictive installment in Ruby Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians series, delivering the signature mix of steamy romance, emotional depth, and survival adventure that fans love. This book follows Stacy and Pashov, giving us a second-chance romance with a twist—memory loss.

One of the highlights of this story is how well Dixon handles Pashov’s struggle to remember his mate and the emotional turmoil that creates. Stacy’s heartbreak and resilience are beautifully written, making it easy to root for her. Their journey back to love is slow-burning yet deeply satisfying, with plenty of heartfelt moments and, of course, the scorching chemistry that Dixon excels at.

While the romance and character growth are fantastic, the pacing feels a little uneven in places, and some of the conflicts resolve a bit too easily. However, the emotional payoff makes up for it, and the world of the sa-khui continues to be as immersive and charming as ever.

Overall, Barbarian’s Heart is a compelling addition to the series that balances angst, sweetness, and spice. If you love a good amnesia trope wrapped in a cozy-but-steamy alien romance, this one’s a must-read!

The Ice Planet Barbarian books are unadulterated fun! Barbarian's Heart had a little more emotional heft as amnesia breaks apart a formerly cohesive couple

✔️ Amnesia
✔️ Marriage in Trouble
✔️ Fated Mates
✔️ Forced Proximity

I love an amnesia plotline - I don't care if this isn't how amnesia actually works. 😆 I need the emotions of the characters to be grounded and true - not the plot!

Though he survived the Disaster episode, Pashov is hurt and when he comes to, he has no memory of his wife and child. This devastates her which makes sense! To complicate matters, he's the one in charge of her survival, what him being from the ice planet and all - and it's super awkward to be that dependent on a stranger.

I loved the push/pull both characters experienced here. Both wanting to do the right thing but end up not. Both wanting to communicate but also not doing that. Feels like an earth relationship 😆

I think tbat's why these books work so well - they are grounded in heart and emotion. Yes of course this is steamy and swoony but it's also so much more

Steam 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

Love this series and love the connection between Pashov and Stacy.
But far, the healthiest book in this series with the most healing and toughest marriage subjects so far, which I applaud.
Happy with the ending and the reconnection!

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Barbarians Heart by Ruby Dixon!

I think this was my favorite Ice Planet Barbarians so far!

I don't think of amnesia or marriage in trouble as tropes I usually enjoy, but I really liked how Ruby Dixon used both of those tropes in this case.
Pashov was terribly injured during an earthquake and lost most of his recent memories, including all his memories of Stacy, his mate, and Pacy, their child. Because of the earthquake, their entire community needs to go on a long journey to live in a new place.
Dixon did a great job showing how alone and bereft Stacy felt while also showing how confused Pashov was. I truly enjoyed this read!

Thank you to Netgalley and Berkeley for the ARC!

I love that the special edition has Aftershocks in it as well, as they are related to Pashov losing his memory. Stacy deserved her own story, since we had to hear about how happy she was when she first landed. It's both heartwarming and heart wrenching in what they both have to go through. In this telling Stacy isn't flat character anymore, we get to see both her and Pashov struggle to find out who they are.

4 stars

"memories aren't a problem, l've been realizing over time. we can always make new ones. and as long as we're together, every day is a new opportunity to love and be happy. sometimes, that's all you need."

I missed my big, blue-chivalrous-aliens more than I care to admit! this novel's main plot orbits around amnesia, a trope that isn't typically my favorite, yet the author brilliantly orchestrated it into the marriage-in-crisis arc.

Pashov and Stacy's quiet, unembellished life held a certain charm, and I was particularly drawn to the way they navigated the delicate process of rediscovering each other; learning, unlearning, and breaking through their own defenses. If you're in search of a read that balances raw emotion with adventure and an undeniably smutty edge, this one is well worth your time.

many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc

This was a pretty tough read. Pashov had a head injury and doesn't remember his mate or his son. Stacy is heartbroken and wants Pashov's memories to return, and doesn't want to be with him until they do. This is frustrating for Pashov because he wants to be a good mate, but has forgotten everything from the time the humans first came to the planet.

I really thought Stacy was kinda selfish here. I mean, yeah Pashov has no memory of her but he has proof through his khui, the parasite that keeps him alive, healthy and matched to his fated mate. Stacy should love and accept him regardless. She’s fighting some demons of her own from the past, which is making the situation that much more difficult.

The story is heartbreaking, but it’s also a tale of strength, perseverance, and resilience… and hot blue alien monkey love.

It was tough to get through but definitely worth a read!

THANK YOU Berkley and Netgalley for the ARC!

Okay so I eat up the Ice Planet Barbarian series, and so naturally, I finished this one in one sitting. I don't think I was expected how real and raw Stacy and Pashov's relationship was in this one...but wow. They were dealing with THE MOST, and Pashov was still trying so hard to be what he needed to be for Stacy and their child. I really liked him! I found myself really connecting to the seriousness of it all, and felt genuine emotions! (Which...it's aliens. So brava Ruby Dixon!) By main qualm was with Stacy who just annoyed the heck out of me from the start all the way to just before the end. Because like....how about we let our guy Pashov try to process ANYTHING??? Like after a brain injury to her mate you would think that she would be more understanding? Nicer?? CARING?? She seemed mostly sad that they weren't getting it on 24/7. Like MY GIRL- your man has PTSD!!! A brain injury!!! Memory loss!!!!!
So overall the FMC was insufferable but aside from her and everything INVOLVING her.... I liked it. And will continue to read every IPB book that is ever released until the end of time.

Book nine in the Ice Planet Barbarians series.

Thank you to Berkley, NetGalley, and Ruby Dixon for allowing me to be an early reader. All thoughts are my own.

Read if you like:

- second chance / amnesia
- relationship in crisis
- fated mates

Thoughts:

- Addictive and super bingeable read
- Swoony with lots of adventure

Rating: 5 stars

Such a good instalment of this series. Even though there are now nine books and the storylines were beginning to feel repetitive, always being about mates discovering each other and their newfound bond, this book follows an established couple going through a hardship in the midst of upheaval. Refreshing and reignited my love for the series! Can’t wait for the next book.

✨Book Review✨

I absolutely love this series so much! I started reading this back in 2019 and I still think about it today. Can we talk about these covers?

I really felt for Pashov and Stacy in this book. This one is slightly different compared to the first 8 with the pulling of heart strings. Poor Stacy getting abducted two years ago and then to have her mate get amnesia and can't remember her or their baby 😭 Plus there's an earthquake so they now have to uproot to find a new home.

Also, I feel like we get to see a different side from Pashov since he has amnesia and doesn't remember the last two years. He tries really hard to be a good mate and father. Reading his pov gave me a lot of empathy for him.

Def recommend if you're a fan of alien romance! Thank you to @berkleyromance @berkleypub @netgalley for the gifted ebook-Ash

I was introduced to Ruby Dixon's writing through the first re-release of her Ice Planet Barbarian Series and I have followed it since trying to be a ARC reader each book. I also enjoy second chance romances, especially if there is a good grovel in the future. That said, I wasn't as enthusiastic about this novel as much as I thought I would be. I did cry because grief is universal and Ruby is a mistress of evoking emotion from her readers, but I've never been a huge fan of amnesia storylines.
All of that is to say, while this wasn't my favorite in the series (Liz and Harlow are my favs) I still enjoyed the read. Stacy, Pacy, and Pashov are a super cute little family who are all just doing their best after an earthquake causes the entire tribe cave to collapse. Pashov is injured and has amnesia, he doesn't remember his mate or kit or even the last several years of his life. Stacy is trying to raise a young kit while trying to navigate a mate who not longer remembers anything they've shared. I did find Stacy to be a lot sharper in this book, she and Pashov try to communicate but really suck at it until they are away from the tribe. Worry not, happy endings tend to be Ruby's thing, but she always makes the characters work for it. Also, thank you to Ruby for NOT having Pashov's amnesia just magically get better because brain injuries don't always end that way. The writing is always well done and the spice is still spicy.

Stacy and Pashov are a delightful couple, and while their connection is immediately clear, this story finally gives us a deeper look into their relationship. I truly empathized with Stacy and the challenges she faced. It was wonderful to see more of the tribe dynamics, while still enjoying plenty of focused time with Stacy and Pashov. The ending was heartwarming! Pashov's devastation at losing their resonance made their reconnection all the more satisfying.

2024 updated ed. re-read: Thank you to NetGalley, Berkley and Ms. Dixon for letting me read an ARC of the updated title. An honest review was requested but not required.
I disliked Stacy just as much as the first time. However, I have to hand it to Ms. Dixon, she truly represents all types in her series. Not every woman is the "let's get it done" type. The world is made up of all kinds, and I respect Ms. Dixon for depicting the women we love and the women we love to hate, because Lord knows they're all out there. Stacy is... not a woman I would get along well with. I found myself impatient with her pity party all over again. I was especially annoyed with her frustration that Pashov didn't remember Pacy's birth. Yeah: that's sad. But there's plenty of adoptive parents out there, or spouses who remarried, and I can't see that their absence at their child's birth made a huge difference.
I didn't viscerally dislike the book as much as the first time; maybe because I'm coming from an "older and wiser" standpoint (ugh) but the fact remains that Stacy really brought the whole thing down for me. ⭐⭐ 1/2


2017
This one was NOT my cup of tea. If you have a hankering for a whiny, bitchy, selfish, deadweight crybaby of a heroine, it might be yours, though.

This is not to completely absolve Pashov of all wrongdoing, as he could have handled a few things better himself. However, it has to be said, he's an alien, and a guy. Ergo, doubly at a disadvantage dealing with a hyperemotional human woman who is incapable of getting through a conversation without crying.

I could not handle Stacy. Her resonance mate almost died, lost his memories and suffered a disfigurement, and all she can do is wallow in a big fat pond of IT'S ALL ABOUT ME. Then there's the cutting-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face insistence on refusing Pashov's help and gestures of reconciliation. Ugh, Stacy. I just can't. Get over yourself.

I really enjoyed this book and getting to come back to this world. I enjoyed the stress this book put me under. I can’t wait to read the next one.

I love this series! Every book is so unique even though you would expect them to be so similar. But each human and their blue alien are so different and how they resonate to each other is always different. This book is about a couple that resonated around the same time as the couple in the first book and they were happily mated with a kit. But the cave that all of them were living in was destroyed in a earthquake or land shake. And Pashov got hit in the head and doesn’t remember the last two years. The more I thought about this it would be so awful to be so blissfully in love then wake up and not remember any of it and on the other side not be remembered.
There was so much processing of this cause she felt like she had to start over and that he wouldn’t remember anything. And he was so happy to have her and their baby in his life. They had to fall in love with who they were and make new memories. All the while the tribe is going to a new cave to start over.
Loved the sweet baby Pacy he was such a cutie.

Where do I even start?

In the author’s note, Ruby Dixon mentions this is one of her quieter books, and she wasn’t kidding. There’s a lot of snow and a whole lot of treading—emotionally and literally.

I typically love raw, flawed characters, but Stacy’s over-the-top reaction to Pashov’s memory loss didn’t entirely work for me. She was so hung up on the idea that their baby would grow up with a father who didn’t remember their birth. And I kept thinking… what about his entire childhood? Isn’t that a little more significant in the grand scheme?

Plus, they’re tied together for life through their khui, so that connection wasn’t going anywhere. His memory forgot her, but his body didn’t. It was only a matter of time before the spark reignited, even if it wouldn’t look exactly the same.

That said, I did appreciate Pashov’s dedication to relearning their relationship. The little moments, like when he made her a new handle-pan for cooking, were so sweet. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to have everyone around you constantly reminding you how different you are now from the person you used to be.

His family, though? Yikes. They could’ve been way more supportive, but to be fair, they’re not human. I guess I can’t project human expectations onto them.

All in all, this was a solid 3-star read for me. I probably wouldn’t revisit it, but I can see why others might really connect with the story.

I feel like this series has really dropped off. Which makes me so sad! I really loved it at first. I hope in the future to read more by Ruby and to re fall in love with her work.