Spotlight & Giveaway: Barbarian Lover by Ruby Dixon

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Ruby Dixon to HJ!

Hi Ruby and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, Barbarian Lover!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

Aehako has had his eye on Kira since she arrived, but she’s afraid to get involved with him because of REASONS. And then the aliens that kidnapped them return, and Kira goes on a one-woman mission to make them leave. Of course Aehako helps her. And of course they fall in love.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“You were mine the moment you landed on this planet, Kira,” Aehako says. “It does not take a khui to tell me that. Nor will I let anyone take you from me. So, come, we shall remove this shell from your ear and free you from worry, and then you will fall into my arms and lick every inch of my skin to show me your appreciation.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• Kira and Aehako were a bit of a change from the prior two books because they were ‘choosing’ each other instead of resonance pushing them together. This one was more of a friends to lovers sort of story.
• This was also the first ‘full’ novel – the first two books were released as serials you had to read one section at a time. Readers told me they preferred to get the full story at once and so that’s what I did.
• I felt like this book was the filthiest (to date) since there is some toy usage. Ironically, someone actually wrote me and asked me to remove all the sex from the book and send it back to them. I declined.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Their personalities. Kira is a bit of an Eeyore type and Aehako just wants to make her smile. She’s drawn to him for his cheerful sunshine personality and his constant flirtiness. He’s drawn to her because he wants nothing more than to be the one to cheer her up.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

Obviously the scene with the toy! It was Chekhov’s dildo – I couldn’t have the hero give her one and not have him use it on her!

Readers should read this book….

Because Kira is an average woman who discovers her inner badass and Aehako is the flirt who loves to watch her shine.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

I am currently working on FLOR’S FIASCO which is the next Icehome and should be available sometime in August. For those following the special editions, BARBARIAN MINE comes out September 13th!
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One copy of BARBARIAN LOVER for a U.S. only winner.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: Would you want to resonate, even if it meant possibly resonating to a stranger? Or would you rather choose your lover?

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 

Excerpt from Barbarian Lover:

“Aehako came by this morning,” Megan comments, poking at a coal with her stick.

“I’m not interested in Aehako,” I say pointedly, and then nibble on a chunk of my breakfast.

“He’s interested in you.” She looks up at me. “If you mated him, you’d get your own cave at least.”

I can feel my forehead setting in a frown. “I didn’t resonate to him.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t hook up.” Megan is serious.

I’m shocked. “I’m not going to sleep with a guy just because it’d get me a cave. Besides, where would we go? There are no more caves!” I gesture around us. “People are sleeping in the storage rooms as it is.”

Megan shrugs. “Might not be a bad thing to have a guy looking out for you here, like Vektal does for Georgie. And Aehako’s nice.”

I feel my face flushing with embarrassment. Aehako is nice. And handsome, for an alien. And flirty. And . . . I didn’t resonate to him, so none of it matters. She thinks Vektal protects Georgie, but Georgie’s pretty dang capable on her own.

And it doesn’t matter because they resonated to each other. Now they’re mates and stuck like glue, and Georgie’s pregnant.

Claire’s silent at this exchange, but talking about men gives me the approach I need. I choke down another cooked chunk of tasteless meat and give Megan a meaningful look, asking her to leave for a few. She gets up and heads back to her bunk, bundling in the furs and turning to the wall. I’ll have to deal with that, too, I think. Soon.

Instead, I touch Claire’s arm. “Can we talk?”

A wary look crosses her pixie face. She nods.

I gesture at the translator jutting out of my ear. It’s a bit like a conch shell made of metal that sticks out of the side of my head. “I told you what this does, right?”

Again, Claire nods.

“Did I mention that it also allows me to hear a lot of stuff? More than your average person would?”

“Like . . . ?” Her voice is a mere whisper.

I lean in. “Like girls that aren’t mated going to visit men at night.”

Her face flushes an angry red and she jumps to her feet. “You think you’re my mother?”

“What? I-no! I just-”

“I’m an adult,” she says, her fists clenched, and for a moment, I think she’s going to hit me. I’m so surprised by her anger I can only stare at her. “I can have sex for sex’s sake, you know. I can do what I want. And excuse me if I’m trying to find a little fucking comfort in a bad situation!”

“Claire, please. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. That no one’s coercing you-”

“Not all of us are stuck-up prudes like you,” she huffs. She flings her cooked meat into the fire, uneaten, and then storms away out of the cave.

I’m left behind, my mouth hanging open slightly from that outburst. Wow. My feelings are a little hurt, but I’m mostly just shocked to hear such a violent outburst from such a small, timid person.

Not all of us are stuck-up prudes like you.

Ouch.

“That went well,” Megan comments, rolling over in her bed to look at me.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“The same thing that’s wrong with all of us rejects,” Megan says. “She’s just trying to find a place for herself.”

I bristle a little at her words. “We’re not rejects.”

Her shoulders shrug. “We didn’t resonate. You can’t help but feel a little rejected over that.”

I did . . . but I also knew why I hadn’t. “Don’t be discouraged,” I tell her. “If you want a family, I am sure at some point you’ll resonate for someone. The healer said that sometimes these things take time.” Which also explained why I hadn’t resonated, but I keep that thought to myself.

She makes a soft snorting noise. “I know why I didn’t resonate, Kira. You don’t have to try and make me feel better.”

“What do you mean?”

She sits up in her nest of furs, and for a moment, the expression on her face is incredibly sad. “I was pregnant, remember?” Her hand touches her stomach. “They sucked it out like it was nothing. And mind you, it was unplanned. Just a stupid night at the club that led to drunken sex. I don’t even know the guy’s last name.”

I say nothing. How can I judge? The life we left behind seems so very long ago.

“But I still think about it,” she says in a soft voice. “I still wonder about it.” She looks away for a moment, then blinks rapidly. “But I think maybe my khui knows my body isn’t ready for another child yet. So maybe it’s giving me time before it puts me back on the horse.”

“Oh.” I don’t know what else to say.

“And Josie has an IUD,” Megan says. “I think that’s why she hasn’t resonated. Maybe the other girls are on some sort of birth control. I’m starting to think that all of us that didn’t resonate just aren’t fertile.” She looks at me. “You on the shot?”

I shake my head.

“Huh.” She shrugs. “So, yeah. Josie hasn’t said, but she’s scared that someone’s going to figure out that she has an IUD and can’t get pregnant, and she doesn’t know how they’ll react. I can’t really blame her for trying to integrate herself.”

I say nothing. Josie has been working herself to the bone, learning how to tan, and weave, and everything else she can think of. I thought she just had a lot of nervous energy to channel. God. I truly am clueless. Of course she’s scared. We all are.

These alien men are interested in us because of what we represent. We’re wombs. We’re a chance for family. If we can’t give them that . . . at what point do they stop feeding us? Stop housing us?

Suddenly, the walls of the cave feel very narrow and enclosing. I breathe hard. “I . . . think I need to take a walk,” I tell Megan. I have to get out of here. I’m starting to feel trapped again. The walls feel as if they’re closing in on me. Have we traded one captivity for another?

What are they going to do when they find out that I’m sterile? That when my appendix burst as a child, it infected my ovaries and I won’t ever have children?

What will happen to me then?

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

The third novel in the international publishing phenomenon the Ice Planet Barbarians series, now in a special print edition with bonus materials and an exclusive epilogue!

Kira has been fine being alone on this strange alien planet—she doesn’t want a mate, anyway. At least that’s what she tells herself. But when Aehako comes along, everything changes….

As one of the few humans stranded on the ice planet, I should be happy that I have a new home. Human women are treasured here, and one alien in particular has made it clear that he wants me. It’s hard to push away the sexy, flirtatious Aehako when all I want to do is grab him by his horns and insist he take me to his furs.

But I’ve got a terrible secret—the aliens who abducted me are back, and thanks to the translator in my ear, they can find me. My presence here endangers everyone…but can I give up my new life and the man I want more than anything?
Book Links: Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | kobo | Google |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Ruby Dixon is an author of all things science fiction romance. She is a Sagittarius, a Reylo shipper, and loves farming sims (but not actual housework). She lives in the South with her husband and a couple of geriatric cats, and can’t think of anything else to put in her biography. Truly, she is boring.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | GoodReads |