Beast. Creature. Monster.Dangerous.All of these things have been said about Gren. Willa doesn’t believe it, though. She knows that monsters can sometimes come in appealing packages. She knows that for all of his snarls and fearsome appearance, he’d never hurt her. And she knows she has to get Gren away from the Icehome camp, because no one will ever see him as a person, not when he attacks all … person, not when he attacks all who come close. Not when he’s tied and treated like an animal.
She’s going to save him…or fall in love. Maybe both. Willa doesn’t mind that he’s a beast, as long as he’s her beast.
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What’s better than some Alien Hybrid Hot Dude and a Southern Country Gal who can’t help but love his Beastly-ness, especially when her “cootie” goes off and matches vibration to his (aka, total mates!). A really fun series to devour and laugh-out-loud! Ruby Dixon
First, I don’t think these are stand-alone books in the series. I also think you need to read at least book 1 and 2 from IPB to get the gist of things here. I read books 1-4 in IPB, but I still feel I missed a lot going into this series. I started this series thinking it would be stand-alone, since I hadn’t read all of IPB.
I think this was the worst of the series so far (I’m currently part way into book #5). I really didn’t like Willa. She drove me batty. She was so thoughtless of her actions, and so self-absorbed, & never considered what others were going thru or why things with Gren had to be that way (tying him up for the safety of the rest) in the beginning. Gren was pretty good, I did like him enough that he saved the book as a whole. Without him being written the way he was, this book would have been a DNF. I also felt that it was a bit over-kill with certain things that went on (won’t say, as they would be spoilers). This is definitely a book I would not re-read.
I could not stop swiping pages even though I had all the things to do! Adored the beastly hero and could not cheer hard enough for this couple. And did I mention the sex scenes are blazing hot? Definitely a one-click.
Little slow in places compared to the other books but still just as an intense satisfying need. Love the way all the stories I’ve read so far seem to come together.
This is the first Ruby Dixon I ever read.. Many books later, she has never disappointed. This one remains one of my favorite romance books.
Willa’s Beast (Icehome #3) by Ruby Dixon is a great sci fi alien romance story. More humans and aliens that have been kidnapped or used to being owned by masters arrive in Not-Hoth. Gren has spent his life fighting for his life and being misunderstood. Everyone thinks he is a beast out to kill but he is just scared and lonely. Willa feels for the creature who has once again been treated like an animal and tied up. She knows what it is like to be treated badly so she devises a plan that gets her more than she thought.
4.5 stars. This spinoff series of Ice Planet Barbarians is definitely growing on me!
This spinoff series of Ice Planet Barbarians is definitely growing on me!
WARNING!! If you’re having issues with infection, acute illness or chronic illness with currently acute situation, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!! It’ll make you feel worse. Though there are aspects of PTSD, it isn’t so super-bad. However, I would be careful and be honest with yourself if you’re not sure how strong you are in this department. It isn’t so obvious until the very end. So wait until you’re physically/mentally stable then attack this book with gusto!
Without spoiling things, this book covers what happened when Willa and Gren the Beast disappears from the main Icehome planet settlement in the very early days. Yep! All the little holes and details you were wondering how what happened.
Good continuity. Great character development. Nice balance of action and “a day in the life of” storyline. Good representation of PTSD without being preachy or hitting you over the head with the details. I also appreciate the fact that no settlement is perfect. They’re full of their own quibbles and infighting, so I felt right at home!
Having been a publisher, I will say that I didn’t think much of the cover. Oh, the cover is beautiful and smooth and… and smooth. That’s the problem. Our hero in this tale is furry. The cover has nothing to do with his actual description, and that I rather resent. Come on! Truth in advertising! He’s covered in hair! Short or long! Good thing I chose to look at the overwork AFTER I read the story, but it then disappointed me in a different direction.
As for editing, it did demonstrate better than what the average I’ve been reading lately and maintains what Ruby Dixon has been doing lately in her Ice Planet Barbarians and Icehome series.
Can’t wait to read the rest in this series! These are definitely a keeper so just buy them all!
Like many other reviewers, I was not a fan of Willa. I’m sorry but Gren ATTACKED people at first. Of COURSE they tied him up. People would have died otherwise! Gren admits this. Even though it was obvious that they only did it to protect everyone, Willa keeps judging and disliking them all. Trusts Gren immediately but even after weeks of being helped by people, she won’t trust the nonviolent people? Nuts! She’s kind of selfish and judgmental. I have trust issues too, but not enough to be willfully blind.
Gren, on the other hand, was awesome! The story otherwise was fun.
If you have read the first two books in this series, then you know that we have seen many glimpses into Willa and Gren’s relationship. I’ve been cheering Willa on since she shown interest in Gren. Everyone else was treating him like the ferocious monster he is, but Willa was determined that he shouldn’t be treated like a caged beast.
Willa doesn’t listen to her peers and begins to sneak to see Gren. As things progress, she takes a risk to set him free from his bonds. And, of course, Gren steals her away.
I wouldn’t say that this was my most anticipated book of the series, but I was very intrigued by their storyline as Ruby really already gave away part of their story in the past books. Therefore, Willa was already up pedestal for helping Gren. I loved the fact she was also a southern woman. I loved her compassion and her ability to see past Gren’s rough appearance. But when I read the book. . .
She was made to appear naive and dumb due to the fact she was a “hillbilly.” Her southern accent didn’t translate well to the page – leaving her sounding very phony. I also hated how she did things outside of her character. It was like she had multiple personalities. I hated reading from her perspective.
However, I loved Gren. He was the saving grace to this whole book for me. I still think he could have done better than Willa.
Another downfall to this book was that we had already read the majority of it in the past books. It really killed the mood of the whole book because we really knew everything that was going to happen before it happened.
Overall, it was just a disappointment for me because I was expecting something different. I would still recommend you read it as it is part of the series, but I would just prepare you to not to expect more than what you already know from the other books.
3 stars!
This review was originally posted on Sincerely, Whitney
I love Ruby Dixon’s Ice-planet series. Her characters are diverse, lovable, and utterly addictive.
I listened to the audible version of this story and it was good. There were things I liked and disliked about this story with the narrators voice being one of the main things. For some reason, I just didn’t like the narrator for Gren’s character and Willa’s character voice was okay. Every time it was his characters time to speak all I could think of was Batman. I think I would have enjoyed this story more if I had read the story instead. I also can’t stand the saying “Bless Your Heart” so every time it was said I cringed. I wished some things were a bit different and even though this wasn’t my favorite book in this series, I will be reading the next one.
Willa’s Beast was such a great read. I love how all of the characters in these books have distinct personalities and unique issues to overcome.
This one highlighted how easy it is to let your past experiences color your vision on the present. We all see the world differently. We react to things differently. And oftentimes this is because we view them from the lens of our past. Both Willa and Gren had difficult pasts. They were both mistreated and uncared for. This makes it so hard for them to trust anyone around them. It takes time for them to learn that they CAN trust the actions of people around them. And that people will react to you as you react to them.
I loved watching them learn about each other, fall for each other, learn to love each other even though they did not speak the same language. It just illuminates how love transcends all words.
A cup of kindness starts a conflict
I’m a Ruby Dixon fan, and I never miss a chance to visit the Rubiverse. Whether it’s Corsairs, blue barbarians, or human females rescued from slavery, all her characters are fascinating people who inhabit one of the richest imaginary worlds since Tolkien’s Middle Earth. Willa, one such human female, and Gren, an oddly configured genetic mash-up created to be a gladiator/slave, have been found, thawed, and rescued by the blue barbarians of Icehome. It seems that The Beast – Gren – is not given the same treatment the women receive: they are coddled, reassured, fed, clothed, and given their khui symbionts and their translator chips. Gren goes ballistic and is tied down, knocked out, given a khui but no translator, no comfort, no warm furs… Then Willa goes ballistic. She and the Beast “escape” and set out to live on Icehome, alone – two souls who value freedom above even life itself. In the process of making themselves a new home in a new world, Willa and Gren discover other things they value. So do the other inhabitants of Icehome, and the HEA that results is beautiful – for everyone. I love the way Ruby’s characters develop – finding hidden strengths and learning about themselves as well as their new world. I love the way new people are integrated into the overall story and their many and varied iterations of love and longing. I love the ever-more-complex world of Icehome, and the lessons of the heart that make this remote ball of snow and ice a planetary paradise. Willa and The Beast delivers e everything I love about Icehome, plus a love story that warms your heart – and heats up some other places… Wonderful!
Willa, one of the new girls freed from stasis, decides she doesn’t like how Gren, another alien freed from stasis, is being treated by our beloved sa-khuis. She decides the sa-khuis are horrible people and wants to free Gren and take him away. But Willa doesn’t think things through and the two of them run into more challenges than they could really handle.
I’ve been looking forward to this book like most of the fans following this new series. I’ve enjoyed the sneak peeks and had high hopes for this book as well. I however, found the first half of the book to be weaker than I wanted it to be. Usually I gobble each book up as soon as they released but I found it dragged a lot. Don’t get me wrong, it helped to build their relationship and make it believable. The fact that I found myself putting the book down to take breaks takes that extra star off my rating. I really enjoy the second half of the story. It flowed a lot better and there was more humorous moments that had me laughing out loud. You really see the growth in character, especially that of Gren. Willa, definitely was the weaker character and although I understand her reasoning for doing what she did, I felt like there wasn’t much growth there at all.
The best part in this whole book for me though, is Aayla and her “be a kitten”. Had me cracking up like crazy.
I still recommend this book. Just know the first part might drag a bit but if you hang on, the second part really pulls through.
This book was so absorbing and totally worth the wait! I don’t know what it is about this series, but every time I read one, I am just connected to what the characters are going through and feel like I’m right there with them. Willa and Gren are an unlikely pair, but as you read, you can see the feelings growing despite the lack of words to communicate with, actions speaking louder than words. Sure, Willa was projecting her own past onto what Gren was going through, but we all do that. The plot moves smoothly and is full of adventure, survival drama, emotional growth and an unexpected growing love story between two people who are so outwardly mismatched but internally, mentally and emotionally perfect for each other. It was captivating. You should read it too!
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.
This installment occurs parallel to much of the events in the first two books, but from Willa and Gren’s perspectives. Willa has a big heart for animals and a strong mistrust for humans, stemming from her past with her now-imprisoned mother and uncle. Gren, being exceptionally furry, brings out her most compassionate side when she sees him tied up and restrained. Though both Gren and the Ice Home residents are both doing what they think best based on their experiences, Willa thinks a kinder approach to Gren would be the best way of assuaging his fears and to cease attacking people.
Gren instantly becomes fascinated with Willa as she is literally the first individual to ever show him the slightest bit of kindness and consideration. Despite having never known these things, he reciprocates her kindness like a pro. When Willa frees him and runs away from the Ice Home camp with him, they both have a vastly different view of what they are doing out there and what they are running from. But despite the language barrier and perspective altering life experiences, they communicate quite well when it comes to the basics. Their internal monologues are often comedic in their misunderstandings, and other times, especially when it comes to Gren, heartbreaking. Each has a different type of trust issue, but each of them has a need for a connection with others.
We also get an interesting look at complications that might accompany resonance. Just how strong are the khuis? Just what are they able to fix? And what would happen if resonance didn’t result in the expected way?
This was Ruby’s renditon of the Ice Planet beauty meets the beast. Willa is so empathetic when she sees the man who’s tied down and snarling. She sees things from his point of view and then gets right in there with a plan to free him. Gren is a slave. A slave who’s a gladiator. He has no friends. All he knows to do is fight and win. He figures this snow covered planet is no different. He finds an unlikely ally in a beautiful woman, Willa. After they escape, Gren is injured in a fight with several big snow cats. He’s not doing well. Can they make it on their own or will they have to give up and lean on the tribe for help?
I feel like Willa and Gren face more obstacles than our regular IPB couple, but in the end it is all worth it. 4 stars for Willa’s Beast! I look forward to reading about pregnant Angie and her red guy twin, hoping this is next!!