Scan barcode
A review by lenoreo
Barbarian's Mate by Ruby Dixon
4.0
https://celebrityreaders.com/2021/04/05/barbarians-mate-by-ruby-dixon/
4 stars — Honestly, I was super worried because Josie frustrated the crap out of me for the first half of this book. I didn’t understand her blind spots, I genuinely just didn’t. First half was 3 stars maybe. But then she finally got a clue, and the plot picked up and the second half was 4.5-5 star. So I averaged.
Josie Josie Josie. I don’t dislike her in general, but she held on to her hate for Haeden waaaayyyyy past when she should have figured things out. Like, she barely softened after hearing his story. And she couldn’t see how she was hurting him. I want to try to give her a bit of leeway, but I had a hard time doing it. She just came across so harsh, and I genuinely disliked it. I just kept feeling bummed over and over again. I guess she’s just not that observant? Thankfully she eventually started to figure things out, and then I was pretty happy with the way things went.
Haeden was much easier to like and connect with — maybe it’s because I could see in his head and knew he didn’t dislike her, he was just protecting himself. And even though he was harsh and gruff on many occasions, he had enough sweet moments to compensate. Someone just needed to take the time to get inside his head and *try*.
Once they connected I enjoyed them together — good steam factor for sure. And Haeden was ridiculously adorable with how gullible he was to her teasing.
For me, the other part that truly saved this book was the action and plot developments. I felt like not much happened in Tiffany and Salukh’s book, but this one had a LOT! It added heightened emotions that helped me invest in Josie and Haeden.
So yeah — could have been a flop, but was saved by the second half.
4 stars — Honestly, I was super worried because Josie frustrated the crap out of me for the first half of this book. I didn’t understand her blind spots, I genuinely just didn’t. First half was 3 stars maybe. But then she finally got a clue, and the plot picked up and the second half was 4.5-5 star. So I averaged.
Josie Josie Josie. I don’t dislike her in general, but she held on to her hate for Haeden waaaayyyyy past when she should have figured things out. Like, she barely softened after hearing his story. And she couldn’t see how she was hurting him. I want to try to give her a bit of leeway, but I had a hard time doing it. She just came across so harsh, and I genuinely disliked it. I just kept feeling bummed over and over again. I guess she’s just not that observant? Thankfully she eventually started to figure things out, and then I was pretty happy with the way things went.
Haeden was much easier to like and connect with — maybe it’s because I could see in his head and knew he didn’t dislike her, he was just protecting himself. And even though he was harsh and gruff on many occasions, he had enough sweet moments to compensate. Someone just needed to take the time to get inside his head and *try*.
Once they connected I enjoyed them together — good steam factor for sure. And Haeden was ridiculously adorable with how gullible he was to her teasing.
For me, the other part that truly saved this book was the action and plot developments. I felt like not much happened in Tiffany and Salukh’s book, but this one had a LOT! It added heightened emotions that helped me invest in Josie and Haeden.
So yeah — could have been a flop, but was saved by the second half.