Barbarian's Beloved

Huh. A sympathetic, realistic exploration of mental health set in space with blue-skinned, horned aliens.

Ariana finds herself on an ice planet, essentially married to an alien. And she has an anxiety disorder. There is no Xanax on blue barbarian alien planets, apparently. Dixon does a really good job of showing the best and worst of Ariana, the way her disorder affects her and how she is able to live with it. And Zolaya, that horned furry beast man, is a real treasure of patience and care. Maybe he’s a little too perfectly perfect, but the book is already treading a fine line between believability and fantasy in setting and plot, so it’s not a stretch to have a beta alien hero who immediately “gets” the ins and outs of an show more anxiety disorder and says/does all the right things for Ariana. Overall, I commend Dixon for tackling a difficult subject and making it not only sympathetic but interesting and compelling to read. show less

This book is yet again another amazing story. Some serious issues covered in the guise of a light hearted book.
Ariana and Zoloya.
This couple resonated early on in the series but we didn't get to see it at the time, they were just a background couple. We just knew Ariana cried a lot.
The book starts off where the previous book ended with the dragon leaving to return to Icehome and the 2 camps still split. Ariana is in the ' village' and Zo is helping out the new arrivals.
But then we get an 8 year flashback to when they first resonated.
I thought this really worked as when this time period was covered the reader went with Liz and Rahoosh and their story of resonance and then joined the main group when they returned. But in this book we get show more to see what happened to the group while Liz and Rahoosh are gone.
Zo is amazing. Ariana suffers from anxiety, extreme anxiety and the way he patiently deals with her is fantastic.
There are also some interesting insights into the children, the next generation of resonance stories possibly, I hope.
If you have read the series you will definitely want to read this one. show less

Not bad. I like the flashback to the past with this one. The hero was ridiculously sweet and the heroine was likable, but her actions were frustrating sometimes.

Great story

I read every Ruby Dixon story as soon as I possibly can because I love them so much. Her IPB series is a sweet series filled with instalove and HEAs, perfect, quick reads.

This was fine I guess, but the structure was weird and I ended up returning the audiobook about half an hour before the end because I just didn’t care anymore. So I guess it’s a 2.5?

Omg

I just love this series. I think this is my favorite because it hits very close to home. I get mind avalanches all the time.