1st read: October 2020
2nd read: May 2022

Willa's Beast is a decent book, but it was a bit of a letdown after liking Lauren's Barbarian and Veronica's Dragon as much as I did.

The first half of Willa's Beast was pretty good, with the characters getting to know each other despite the language barrier and trying to survive in the wild. I didn't like the second half as much though. It had some good moments, but it seemed to drag and Willa's extreme level of mistrust got kind of irritating. ( )

I enjoyed this book which was nice since the last few of this series I read I found pretty meh. I was beginning to wonder if I was over this series. I liked this one and I do like how the guys are always so protective of their females. That’s something that can really make a romance for me. ( )

Willa and Gren.
A sweet story than also has a sad and touching story concerning both their pasts.

Ruby Dixon as always writes the language misunderstandings fantastically. They are so hilarious.

Other background characters stories are teased at, leaving you wanting more.

I recommend you read the stories in the series first as each story builds with each couple. Start with The Blue Barbarians then move on to Icehome.
Her other books about the Pirates and Dragons give you some insight into the world that the characters on the planet have escaped from, whether slavery or kidnapping. ( )

We're back on Not-Hoth, but we aren't really talking about my favorite big, blue, horned aliens, at least not straight on. This book is about one of the human women that were found in the cargo hold of the captured ships and a former gladiator who was also in a stasis pod in that ship.

Willa has no cause to trust anyone. Everyone she's tried to trust in the past has managed to betray her, so the big blue aliens seem like they are a little too good to be true, since they are just helping everyone out without seeming to want anything to be true. Well, they are helping everyone out except for one being, the big furry guy. No, him they have trussed up and guarded. No one is trying to help him out at all.

Gren hs absolutely no clue what's going on. All he knows is that he's woken up to a whole bunch of people he doesn't know, someplace he doesn't know and he is going to do everything he can to escape this slavery. So, of course, he's going to fight everyone possible to make sure he's safe. So the blue guys tie him up. No one tries to get to know him. No one thinks to feed him. No one, except for Willa. She decides to take him and escape.

There's a lot that's going on here. First, you have the 2 broken people who have no clue how to survive on Not-Hoth but who know that they need to be together. Then you have how protective Willa is over Gren. There's also Gren's search in trying to figure out how to handle this new world. Altogether, incredibly interesting story and I can't wait to get to the next stories with our barbarians. ( )

Ruby Dixon has the corner on her Ice Planet Barbarians! I fell in love with Gren....a former slave, saved by the people of the Ice Planet. He had been created, and abused, and forced to fight for his masters so he has a lot of trust issues. But he is a wonderful being with a warm good heart.

Willa....wow I really struggled with her. First of all if you are going to write a Southern girl who uses Southern slang....get it right. I grew up in the south and no one calls a person ya'll....ya'll means more than one person. And the sugar thing really was annoying. Plus she did one stupid thing after another that put a lot of people in danger. I know, I know....it is alluded that she had a horrible childhood/adulthood. But instead of talking with her rescuers she decided to almost kill someone to free Gren. And that really bothered me about her. I get the trust thing. I get her reasons for wanting him free but everything she did was stupid and thoughtless.

I will admit that skimmed a lot of the sex because it was just ...too much for me this time. But to each there own...I guess some really love it.

But over all ...ignoring my issues with the heroine... I loved this book. I love the planet and the people and their struggle to survive. Maybe I will love the next heroine....anything is possible.

( )