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Once Upon a Caveman
Lucy Meadowcroft’s life hasn’t turned out the way she planned. Fifteen years out of high school, her social life consists of sex dreams about a caveman named Rhawn. Granted, they’re pretty awesome dreams, but it’s not like the guy is real, right? Then, her class reunion cruise sinks and she washes up on a mysterious island trapped in the Ice Age.
Every night, Rhawn dreams of Earth, the land of the gods, and of the Destroyer, the deity destined to end the world. Maybe that’s Lucy. Maybe it’s not. But either way, he’s keeping the dark-haired goddess who’s clearly meant to be his. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince Lucy to become his mate, right?
After all, they have a few days left before the volcano erupts.
M/F
Happily Ever After
Another world romance, time travel romance, survival romance.
84,000 + words
Standalone book
Every night, Rhawn dreams of Earth, the land of the gods, and of the Destroyer, the deity destined to end the world. Maybe that’s Lucy. Maybe it’s not. But either way, he’s keeping the dark-haired goddess who’s clearly meant to be his. It shouldn’t be that hard to convince Lucy to become his mate, right?
After all, they have a few days left before the volcano erupts.
M/F
Happily Ever After
Another world romance, time travel romance, survival romance.
84,000 + words
Standalone book
360 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 18, 2015
131 people are currently reading
430 people want to read
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December 26, 2025⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚ ρ𝕣ꫀ-𝕣ꫀꪖᦔ ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆
Back to my comfort author because the year is ending and I feel helpless. Her books are always very ridiculous and silly but like in an entertaining way? They never fail to make me laugh!
Back to my comfort author because the year is ending and I feel helpless. Her books are always very ridiculous and silly but like in an entertaining way? They never fail to make me laugh!
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October 26, 2015DNF @34% NO RATING
As cute and adorable as this story is, I'm going to have to let it go. Rhawn was such an adorable teddy bear and the heroine was mouthy and kickass. But this story made my teeth hurt. Just too cute.
As cute and adorable as this story is, I'm going to have to let it go. Rhawn was such an adorable teddy bear and the heroine was mouthy and kickass. But this story made my teeth hurt. Just too cute.
February 14, 2025
Such a letdown
I’ve really loved and enjoyed this authors other books (cowboy from the future and the zombie one, who’s title name I can’t remember...they were awesome)—and I was really looking forward to this one. So it PAINS me to say how much of a let-down this book was.
The character of Lucy is...annoying, to put it nicely. Teeth-grindingly, “I want to slap this bitch silly” annoying.
Her feminazi screechings set my teeth on edge. I don’t want to read a romance where the heroine scolds the hero for wanting to claim her. I want to read a romance where the heroine is feminine enough, and SECURE in her femininity, to WANT to be claimed by the hero.
Then there was her totally unreasonable vegetarianism. She’s sucked into an era prior to agriculture, where humanity walked a tightrope between starvation and survival, and where eating meat was the environment we had evolved to survive in.
For someone who supposedly “understood” the times, she was particularly stupid understanding about survival and kept harping on vegetarianism with religious fanaticism, completely oblivious of her self-indulgent privilege in coming from the modern age that had seen sufficient agricultural and industrial developments to allow her to survive by offering her vast and endless food options whenever she meandered into a grocery store. In her own time she had the privilege of being choosy. She didn’t have that privilege in Rhawns clan or time.
This self-indulgent fanaticism went sooooo far, that when everyone is facing certain death from dire wolves, she refuses to kill the animal that is threatening to eat them when given the opportunity, even while she is dependent upon the furs and materials that come from animals to survive in those harsh conditions.
And then there was the comparing Rhawn to other men she had slimed around with. Her entire survival is dependent upon rhawn. He protects her constantly, he is attentive and kind and thoughtful and worships the ground she walks on. And throughout it all, she keeps pushing him away, being all reticent and refusing to let him touch her. Now, throughout the book were told how much of a “loner” she is, how untrusting, how she doesn’t get close to anyone. And she’s been having dreams of rhawn since prom, when he touched her in ways no one had before...he’s been in her head and heart for years...soooo HOWWWWW in freakin fucktardation did she allow herself to meet other guys and lower her guard enough to spread her legs for OTHER men to crawl between? She was able to slime around with men she had no emotional commitment or connection to and I just wanted to throw up. It was utterly ridiculous and unnecessary for her to have given her body to loser men, when she was emotionally attached to Rhawn. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?!?! It literally made my skin crawl and despise her as an even more stupid and weak heroine than she already was.
The ONLY great and good part of this book was Rhawn and it’s for him alone that I’m giving the book 3 stars.
I’ve really loved and enjoyed this authors other books (cowboy from the future and the zombie one, who’s title name I can’t remember...they were awesome)—and I was really looking forward to this one. So it PAINS me to say how much of a let-down this book was.
The character of Lucy is...annoying, to put it nicely. Teeth-grindingly, “I want to slap this bitch silly” annoying.
Her feminazi screechings set my teeth on edge. I don’t want to read a romance where the heroine scolds the hero for wanting to claim her. I want to read a romance where the heroine is feminine enough, and SECURE in her femininity, to WANT to be claimed by the hero.
Then there was her totally unreasonable vegetarianism. She’s sucked into an era prior to agriculture, where humanity walked a tightrope between starvation and survival, and where eating meat was the environment we had evolved to survive in.
For someone who supposedly “understood” the times, she was particularly stupid understanding about survival and kept harping on vegetarianism with religious fanaticism, completely oblivious of her self-indulgent privilege in coming from the modern age that had seen sufficient agricultural and industrial developments to allow her to survive by offering her vast and endless food options whenever she meandered into a grocery store. In her own time she had the privilege of being choosy. She didn’t have that privilege in Rhawns clan or time.
This self-indulgent fanaticism went sooooo far, that when everyone is facing certain death from dire wolves, she refuses to kill the animal that is threatening to eat them when given the opportunity, even while she is dependent upon the furs and materials that come from animals to survive in those harsh conditions.
And then there was the comparing Rhawn to other men she had slimed around with. Her entire survival is dependent upon rhawn. He protects her constantly, he is attentive and kind and thoughtful and worships the ground she walks on. And throughout it all, she keeps pushing him away, being all reticent and refusing to let him touch her. Now, throughout the book were told how much of a “loner” she is, how untrusting, how she doesn’t get close to anyone. And she’s been having dreams of rhawn since prom, when he touched her in ways no one had before...he’s been in her head and heart for years...soooo HOWWWWW in freakin fucktardation did she allow herself to meet other guys and lower her guard enough to spread her legs for OTHER men to crawl between? She was able to slime around with men she had no emotional commitment or connection to and I just wanted to throw up. It was utterly ridiculous and unnecessary for her to have given her body to loser men, when she was emotionally attached to Rhawn. Are. You. Fucking. Kidding. Me?!?! It literally made my skin crawl and despise her as an even more stupid and weak heroine than she already was.
The ONLY great and good part of this book was Rhawn and it’s for him alone that I’m giving the book 3 stars.
September 24, 2019
lol that was funny!
March 10, 2019
3.75 stars
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has just asked for readers' favourite tropes. Right at the top of my list is competence porn, and Once Upon a Caveman delivers. The blurb tells you everything you want to know about the loopy plot, which is basically Palaeontology on Speed.
Gannon's books are a little unusual in the fantasy genre: she quickly establishes an "OK-I'll-suspend-my-disbelief" AU, without too much faffing around on "the Rules of the AU" (thank goodness). They are also funny, and delightfully romantic; I really liked The Kingpin of Camelot.
Once Upon a Caveman has "Rhawn the Accursed" marginalised by his tribe, while falling for a time-travelling Lucy, and still idly knocking out the equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks on the walls of his cave ("You made a hang-glider?"). Lucy is impressed (so was I).
If this plan worked, he was going to save so many lives… And he wasn’t even trying. That was the crazy part. He was casually, off-handedly, apologetically brilliant. God, if he was actually focused, he could do anything.
What's very sweet about the book (if a book containing murderous cavemen, simmering volcanoes and an unspecified number of sabre-toothed tigers can ever be described as sweet) is that Rhawn is equally impressed by Lucy's abilities.
Lucy seemed happy with their progress, though… Since she wasn’t nagging him about speeding up the process, he could only imagine she was satisfied with his efforts. She hadn’t destroyed the world or killed anyone, yet. Those were good signs.
His mate was a difficult woman. Beautiful and special and perfect, but difficult…
Now Lucy was in charge [and] the situation suited her perfectly. At times, Lucy would complain about all the people surrounding her or demand Rhawn translate blistering insults to someone who’d pissed her off. But mostly Rhawn saw her blossoming under the new responsibility. And when she smiled, his whole life made sense.
Not a book that takes itself too seriously, so good fun. And, competence porn.
Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has just asked for readers' favourite tropes. Right at the top of my list is competence porn, and Once Upon a Caveman delivers. The blurb tells you everything you want to know about the loopy plot, which is basically Palaeontology on Speed.
Gannon's books are a little unusual in the fantasy genre: she quickly establishes an "OK-I'll-suspend-my-disbelief" AU, without too much faffing around on "the Rules of the AU" (thank goodness). They are also funny, and delightfully romantic; I really liked The Kingpin of Camelot.
Once Upon a Caveman has "Rhawn the Accursed" marginalised by his tribe, while falling for a time-travelling Lucy, and still idly knocking out the equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks on the walls of his cave ("You made a hang-glider?"). Lucy is impressed (so was I).
If this plan worked, he was going to save so many lives… And he wasn’t even trying. That was the crazy part. He was casually, off-handedly, apologetically brilliant. God, if he was actually focused, he could do anything.
What's very sweet about the book (if a book containing murderous cavemen, simmering volcanoes and an unspecified number of sabre-toothed tigers can ever be described as sweet) is that Rhawn is equally impressed by Lucy's abilities.
Lucy seemed happy with their progress, though… Since she wasn’t nagging him about speeding up the process, he could only imagine she was satisfied with his efforts. She hadn’t destroyed the world or killed anyone, yet. Those were good signs.
His mate was a difficult woman. Beautiful and special and perfect, but difficult…
Now Lucy was in charge [and] the situation suited her perfectly. At times, Lucy would complain about all the people surrounding her or demand Rhawn translate blistering insults to someone who’d pissed her off. But mostly Rhawn saw her blossoming under the new responsibility. And when she smiled, his whole life made sense.
Not a book that takes itself too seriously, so good fun. And, competence porn.
April 9, 2018
The book started off ok. I really liked the dream meetings between Lucy and Rhawn but Lucy herself I couldn't stand. Being a vegetarian and not want to consume animals personally is fine but when the live of a whole tribe depend on hunting and she prevents them from doing so because she doesn't like it is not ok. Rhawn even tries to explain it to her bringing up the fact that on this island there are no grocery stores full of food, on the island if you want to eat you have to hunt but she could care less. Apparently 'magical creature' trumps an entire tribe starving to death at sea. Honestly she was a drag most of the book. Also the characters constantly referring to Lucy as 'special' because she was smart in high school is just ridiculous.
Considering the classmates that she interacts with in the book I can't imagine there being much competition. I mean I expected Rhawn to constantly keep calling her 'special' because he's in love with her but for everyone else to keep repeating it was just over kill and over exaggerating. And talk about holding on to old grudges, Taffi and Craig were insane! Overall just an ok, slightly irritating read.
Considering the classmates that she interacts with in the book I can't imagine there being much competition. I mean I expected Rhawn to constantly keep calling her 'special' because he's in love with her but for everyone else to keep repeating it was just over kill and over exaggerating. And talk about holding on to old grudges, Taffi and Craig were insane! Overall just an ok, slightly irritating read. 
September 2, 2020
I'm quickly coming to realise that this author writes absolutely crazy stories that are designed to take the reader completely away from reality and maybe that's exactly what we need right now ? Lucy is at her class reunion and it could be really something because it's on board a cruise ship but alas things just escalate from annoying to downright dangerous when Lucy finds herself on an ice age island with quite literally the man of her dreams !
This was fun, nonsensical and actually had a message. Lucy was the clever student who everyone expected to change the world but somehow her life just got stuck. Rhawn is her would be dream lover who in reality is bright, capable and yet ostracized by his Clan. World's collide and Lucy finds herself plus the odd fellow party goer on Rhawns island fated to either destroy or save everyone. These characters are given opportunities of self discovery not to forget saucy times as reality creeps in and their time on the island runs out. Rhawn is a sweetheart, Lucy perhaps a little cantankerous but I enjoyed their story and of course there's a happy albeit odd ending.
This was fun, nonsensical and actually had a message. Lucy was the clever student who everyone expected to change the world but somehow her life just got stuck. Rhawn is her would be dream lover who in reality is bright, capable and yet ostracized by his Clan. World's collide and Lucy finds herself plus the odd fellow party goer on Rhawns island fated to either destroy or save everyone. These characters are given opportunities of self discovery not to forget saucy times as reality creeps in and their time on the island runs out. Rhawn is a sweetheart, Lucy perhaps a little cantankerous but I enjoyed their story and of course there's a happy albeit odd ending.
dnf
July 11, 2020I can't stand when people don't listen to each other. In addition, I didn't like any of the characters.
September 17, 2015
Fucking. Adorable.
November 1, 2015
VERY FEW TYPOS!!!!!! (except for mixing up if the dress was supposed to be red or blue... XD) No biggie. It was a really sweet and adorable story. There were a lot of cute, funny moments and it was really entertaining to read. Characters were great!!!
September 5, 2017
This book was hilarious and so clever with the humor.
So many stuck on a desert island hidden jokes, Fraggle Rock, Castaway reference. Dinatopia, plus the high school reunion jokes.
Strong heroine, sweet hero. really enjoyed it.
No cheating. HEA.
So many stuck on a desert island hidden jokes, Fraggle Rock, Castaway reference. Dinatopia, plus the high school reunion jokes.
Strong heroine, sweet hero. really enjoyed it.
No cheating. HEA.
no-dnf-zzz-avoid
August 22, 2015Zzz
July 25, 2024
This was a wild ride but in the best way. It was a blast to read from start to finish. I loved it so much! It felt like I was transported into the book with our girl Lucy, when she landed on an island in the Ice Age. I loved watching Rhawn realize how smart, talented, handsome and amazing he is (because he was told by his clan his entire life that he was nothing). I love him so much and how down bad he is for Lucy. Another win from this author for me!! 👏
September 27, 2017
Not bad, just not as good as her fairytale series. One of her earlier books so you see glimpses of the humour and crazy good characters in her later writing. Rhawn is fabulous, such a sweetheart of a hero. Lucy is the one who is a little annoying and harder to sympathize with.
July 30, 2020
It's official I love everything Cassandra Gannon writes. Rhawn and Lucy like most Gannon couples are adorable. I was not expecting to love Warren and Anniah but they stole my heart. Once Upon a Cavemen is an easy fun read. There's so stress to finish it and it can be predictable at the time but that's part of its charm.
March 14, 2023
Just three stars for this one. I was a little disappointed about this book because normally I really enjoy the characters and humor, this one fell a little flat for me because of the lack of chemistry between Lucy and Rhawn. I felt like they weren’t in enough scenes together to show us their attraction.
December 31, 2025
it was a funny and different type of book, perfect to be the last read of 2025!
all the side characters were insufferable so prepare for that
all the side characters were insufferable so prepare for that
January 9, 2025
Time travel colonialism
February 2, 2023
2.5⭐
This is the story of two people from different epochs who dream of each other yearly for 15 years and fall in love. There's time travel, OTT evil cavemen and cheerleaders, a highschool reunion gone wrong, a fight for women's rights, venemous hamsters, a very ripe/angry volcano, wooly rhinoceroses, and a drug dealer shooting a sabertooth tiger with a Glock. All in all, pretty standard for Cassandra Gannon.
Sadly, it was hard to trudge through the middle because it became repetitive and slow - almost like getting stuck in a tar pit. But I loved the characters.
I was just thinking to myself about how different the beginning, middle, and ending were to each other. Rhawn's character in particular felt...unstable (as in inexplicably changing). After the beginning, he no longer felt like a caveman, but a modern man who just happened to have been born in the stone-age.
The author's note in the end explains everything. This was written, on and off, over 10 years. Previous drafts actually led to some of her other books. So I can imagine Cassie herself would be a different person 10 years later, certainly with a different writing style. And that's why I rounded up to 3⭐. Plus I'm secretly in love with her writing, so there's that.
This is the story of two people from different epochs who dream of each other yearly for 15 years and fall in love. There's time travel, OTT evil cavemen and cheerleaders, a highschool reunion gone wrong, a fight for women's rights, venemous hamsters, a very ripe/angry volcano, wooly rhinoceroses, and a drug dealer shooting a sabertooth tiger with a Glock. All in all, pretty standard for Cassandra Gannon.
Sadly, it was hard to trudge through the middle because it became repetitive and slow - almost like getting stuck in a tar pit. But I loved the characters.
I was just thinking to myself about how different the beginning, middle, and ending were to each other. Rhawn's character in particular felt...unstable (as in inexplicably changing). After the beginning, he no longer felt like a caveman, but a modern man who just happened to have been born in the stone-age.
The author's note in the end explains everything. This was written, on and off, over 10 years. Previous drafts actually led to some of her other books. So I can imagine Cassie herself would be a different person 10 years later, certainly with a different writing style. And that's why I rounded up to 3⭐. Plus I'm secretly in love with her writing, so there's that.
Read
May 9, 2024The idea was solid. The execution fine. And the plot classic of its genre.
I really liked the MMC - he was very sweet, protective, accepting, respectful and patient.
The FMC, Lucy, is actually the one who ruined it for me.
She was so snappy all the time. Annoying, a know-it-all and was to be SO superior and better in her beliefs and views, not accepting reality or perspective of others.
The side-characters from the modern world were incredibly stupid - but I assume it was part of the humour (not my kind of humour though)..
I think the story had great potential to be filled with angst, comfort, fear, protectiveness, all the cave tropes and the very terror of being somewhere strange and incredible dangerous - though finding the one person who makes one feel safe and to belong. It could have had deeper feelings, tender moments and I think I would have preferred a more innocent mousy FMC, in whom the MMC could cradle, comfort and protect - in a world where every person is strong and fierce - that would have been cuter.
I really liked the MMC - he was very sweet, protective, accepting, respectful and patient.
The FMC, Lucy, is actually the one who ruined it for me.
She was so snappy all the time. Annoying, a know-it-all and was to be SO superior and better in her beliefs and views, not accepting reality or perspective of others.
The side-characters from the modern world were incredibly stupid - but I assume it was part of the humour (not my kind of humour though)..
I think the story had great potential to be filled with angst, comfort, fear, protectiveness, all the cave tropes and the very terror of being somewhere strange and incredible dangerous - though finding the one person who makes one feel safe and to belong. It could have had deeper feelings, tender moments and I think I would have preferred a more innocent mousy FMC, in whom the MMC could cradle, comfort and protect - in a world where every person is strong and fierce - that would have been cuter.
August 21, 2015
Cassandra Gannon can always be count on for a fun trip to where-ever her mind takes us. Her heroes are always completely devoted to the smart and imperfect heroines. On top of being the typical CG hero -possessive and protective-,however, Rhawn is the probably the first caveman (in romance novels) to be recognized as an intelligent being, one as smart as a modern day scientist/inventor. This is a light romance that will definitely make you smile.
April 20, 2016
Campy
The h was beyond annoying as were most of the characters. H was the only "normal" one and he was supposedly a genius caveman. I just found it all to be too much. Very juvenile writing and dialogue.
The h was beyond annoying as were most of the characters. H was the only "normal" one and he was supposedly a genius caveman. I just found it all to be too much. Very juvenile writing and dialogue.
February 14, 2025
3.75 stars
I can see this as a good coming-of-age book for after high school or even when you're just lost right now.
This book was funny and charming but Lucy was a bit boring and plain compared to Rhawn. She had funny lines but she just wasn't my favorite.
The beginning of the book was a snippet of one of Lucy and Rhawn's sex dreams. It was a bit boring that most of their dreams for 15 years were just them fooling around. There was one dream where Rhawn was sick from a wild hamster bite and that's that. No deep talks and whatnot. And later on, we learned that Lucy never got off from these dreams either? Lol. And when they finally met each other, they didn't have actual many mutual lovey-dovey interactions save for the very very end where they finally have sex. Kinda like Rhawn's feelings weren't really reciprocated until the very end.
Rhawn was considered to be cursed by his clan and he often dreamed about New York and Lucy, who was believed to be the prophesized "Destroyer", who would sink the clan's island to the ground. He was also thought to be dumb as he asked a lot of questions while the clan simply take everything as given. But really, he was smart and an inventor. He lived in isolation and only had his dreams of Lucy as his comfort.
Lucy was on a cruise ship for her highschool reunion event when the boat started to sink. She went overboard and into this blue whirlpool before reemerging in Rhawn's ice-age-but-not-ice-age world. Lucy's jock friend, Warren was transported there too. They met the clan and eventually, Rhawn.
Rhawn was shocked and in awe but Lucy's feelings were just so so mild in comparison. It was as if she didn't know the guy at all except a few friendly talks for like 15 minutes. All Lucy thought was escaping and returning to New York--not one thought spared for Rhawn, the poor guy. It didn't even look like Lucy liked him lol. The clan thought that Warren was the phrohesized "Savior", who would bring them to a new safe location. But Warren was just a himbo jock who gave up things way too easily.
Rhawn wanted to claim Lucy as his mate but Warren threw a fussy fit just for the sake of it lol. They were going to fight it out but Lucy knocked Warren's head with a rock. After that, the clan started to think that Warren wasn't the savior, though they still thought that Lucy was the destroyer. I love Warren's character, he's just such a self-aware himbo lol. I love that he had character growth too later on. Lucy befriended Anniah, the clan's healer, and got her on her side. Anniah and Lucy exchanged necklaces.
Lucy's whole thing was that she studied paleontology because of her dreams about Rhawn and that she really loves animals that she'd prevent Rhawn from killing mamoths even though they need food stores and the animals were going to die anyway. She didn't want to sleep with Rhawn because she didn't want to do it under the guise of someone she's not. Although Rhawn already knew that Lucy wasn't the destroyer and powerless, and that the clan got the prophecy wrong--she was the savior. I think the only time I actually liked Lucy was when she was leaning into the evil goddess dictator role.
The volcano was going to erupt so Lucy ordered the clan to build more boats that Rhawn had invented. Turns out, two more of Lucy's high school friends were transported. Taffi and Craig. They banded together and confronted Lucy and Rhawn when the rest have gotten inside their boats to flee the island. They wanted to know about Anniah's necklace, which turned out to be some really expensive diamonds. Taffi shot Craig and Lucy led Taffi to a sabertooth den.
Throughout the book, her friends kept mocking her that she's always the special one because of her high scores during high school and that everyone expected her to be the most successful, so everyone's soo jealous of her. Her friends were hanging onto their high school glory days and still resented Lucy despite already seeing that she hadn't accomplished anything worthwhile either. So I don't get their constant annoying jeering at Lucy. The book added in a message (that was a bit too on the nose for me) on how you can still do special things despite fumbling at a determining aspect of life, which was nice. I'd love to read if she turned out to be regular Jane and Warren was the actual savior though, it's less cliché I guess.
Anyways, the blue whirlpool suddenly appeared in a lake (not even the ocean) and Lucy and Rhawn were transported back to the ocean where the cruise ship sank. I wished the blue whirlpool was explained more. Rhawn and Lucy lived happily ever after and Rhawn got a vision/dream of Warren living his happily ever after with Anniah in another island. Lucy decided to turn her experience in the island into a book (so cliché...).
I really liked this book. It was funny but not overly funny to be exhausting. There's potential to be better and engaging throughout though.
I can see this as a good coming-of-age book for after high school or even when you're just lost right now.
This book was funny and charming but Lucy was a bit boring and plain compared to Rhawn. She had funny lines but she just wasn't my favorite.
The beginning of the book was a snippet of one of Lucy and Rhawn's sex dreams. It was a bit boring that most of their dreams for 15 years were just them fooling around. There was one dream where Rhawn was sick from a wild hamster bite and that's that. No deep talks and whatnot. And later on, we learned that Lucy never got off from these dreams either? Lol. And when they finally met each other, they didn't have actual many mutual lovey-dovey interactions save for the very very end where they finally have sex. Kinda like Rhawn's feelings weren't really reciprocated until the very end.
Rhawn was considered to be cursed by his clan and he often dreamed about New York and Lucy, who was believed to be the prophesized "Destroyer", who would sink the clan's island to the ground. He was also thought to be dumb as he asked a lot of questions while the clan simply take everything as given. But really, he was smart and an inventor. He lived in isolation and only had his dreams of Lucy as his comfort.
Lucy was on a cruise ship for her highschool reunion event when the boat started to sink. She went overboard and into this blue whirlpool before reemerging in Rhawn's ice-age-but-not-ice-age world. Lucy's jock friend, Warren was transported there too. They met the clan and eventually, Rhawn.
Rhawn was shocked and in awe but Lucy's feelings were just so so mild in comparison. It was as if she didn't know the guy at all except a few friendly talks for like 15 minutes. All Lucy thought was escaping and returning to New York--not one thought spared for Rhawn, the poor guy. It didn't even look like Lucy liked him lol. The clan thought that Warren was the phrohesized "Savior", who would bring them to a new safe location. But Warren was just a himbo jock who gave up things way too easily.
Rhawn wanted to claim Lucy as his mate but Warren threw a fussy fit just for the sake of it lol. They were going to fight it out but Lucy knocked Warren's head with a rock. After that, the clan started to think that Warren wasn't the savior, though they still thought that Lucy was the destroyer. I love Warren's character, he's just such a self-aware himbo lol. I love that he had character growth too later on. Lucy befriended Anniah, the clan's healer, and got her on her side. Anniah and Lucy exchanged necklaces.
Lucy's whole thing was that she studied paleontology because of her dreams about Rhawn and that she really loves animals that she'd prevent Rhawn from killing mamoths even though they need food stores and the animals were going to die anyway. She didn't want to sleep with Rhawn because she didn't want to do it under the guise of someone she's not. Although Rhawn already knew that Lucy wasn't the destroyer and powerless, and that the clan got the prophecy wrong--she was the savior. I think the only time I actually liked Lucy was when she was leaning into the evil goddess dictator role.
The volcano was going to erupt so Lucy ordered the clan to build more boats that Rhawn had invented. Turns out, two more of Lucy's high school friends were transported. Taffi and Craig. They banded together and confronted Lucy and Rhawn when the rest have gotten inside their boats to flee the island. They wanted to know about Anniah's necklace, which turned out to be some really expensive diamonds. Taffi shot Craig and Lucy led Taffi to a sabertooth den.
Throughout the book, her friends kept mocking her that she's always the special one because of her high scores during high school and that everyone expected her to be the most successful, so everyone's soo jealous of her. Her friends were hanging onto their high school glory days and still resented Lucy despite already seeing that she hadn't accomplished anything worthwhile either. So I don't get their constant annoying jeering at Lucy. The book added in a message (that was a bit too on the nose for me) on how you can still do special things despite fumbling at a determining aspect of life, which was nice. I'd love to read if she turned out to be regular Jane and Warren was the actual savior though, it's less cliché I guess.
Anyways, the blue whirlpool suddenly appeared in a lake (not even the ocean) and Lucy and Rhawn were transported back to the ocean where the cruise ship sank. I wished the blue whirlpool was explained more. Rhawn and Lucy lived happily ever after and Rhawn got a vision/dream of Warren living his happily ever after with Anniah in another island. Lucy decided to turn her experience in the island into a book (so cliché...).
I really liked this book. It was funny but not overly funny to be exhausting. There's potential to be better and engaging throughout though.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 8, 2024
Oh man. Lucy is stuck on a class reunion cruise she regretted buying a ticket for, and everyone seems to still be hung up on how smart she was. Is. Anyway, she's been having dreams of Rhawn the caveman for 15 years and even got a masters in Paleontology because ... I guess that's the closest she could get to him otherwise? Rhawn for his part is a dumb jock who's actually sweet and in love with Lucy even though he's only ever seen her in his dreams. He also dreams of New York.
And then the cruise ship capsizes (typical, am I right?) and she time travels with the worst of her former classmates to Rhawn's world/time/island. I don't love how insensitive she is to him at first. I guess she's in shock, but I kept hoping she would get over it faster. This is a book by Cassandra Gannon, after all. It's not going to be your average modern romance with a coffeeshop meet-cute. There's a fun twist somewhere. So yeah - I was rooting for Rhawn and for him to get all the points he needed. I'm sure the rest of the audience was counting along with him. Ending was satisfying though!
I definitely recommend if you're a fan of of Gannon's writing, the Flintstones, or time travel books.
And then the cruise ship capsizes (typical, am I right?) and she time travels with the worst of her former classmates to Rhawn's world/time/island. I don't love how insensitive she is to him at first. I guess she's in shock, but I kept hoping she would get over it faster. This is a book by Cassandra Gannon, after all. It's not going to be your average modern romance with a coffeeshop meet-cute. There's a fun twist somewhere. So yeah - I was rooting for Rhawn and for him to get all the points he needed. I'm sure the rest of the audience was counting along with him. Ending was satisfying though!
I definitely recommend if you're a fan of of Gannon's writing, the Flintstones, or time travel books.
May 22, 2019
Entertaining!
📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚
🍖
Once Upon a Caveman is a entertaining, fantastical love story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
🍖
“I cannot breathe when I look at you. You make my heart pound and the air still inside of me. You are the very breath in my body.”
🍖
Rhawn, an early human circa the Pleistocene epoch, and Lucy, an intelligent, modern woman have each been dreaming of the other most of their lives, creating a special bond but not realizing the other really exist.
🍖
Through the twists of fate, Lucy joins Rhawn in his world and is quickly tasked with figuring out a way to save their quickly dying world. Their relationship blossoms as they struggle to survive and Lucy learns how to be who she really wants to be.
🍖
This is a quick read with a bit of B-movie feel. If you can just sit back and enjoy a story that twists, turns, and isn’t afraid to be exactly what it is, this could be a fun read for you.
📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚
🍖
Once Upon a Caveman is a entertaining, fantastical love story that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
🍖
“I cannot breathe when I look at you. You make my heart pound and the air still inside of me. You are the very breath in my body.”
🍖
Rhawn, an early human circa the Pleistocene epoch, and Lucy, an intelligent, modern woman have each been dreaming of the other most of their lives, creating a special bond but not realizing the other really exist.
🍖
Through the twists of fate, Lucy joins Rhawn in his world and is quickly tasked with figuring out a way to save their quickly dying world. Their relationship blossoms as they struggle to survive and Lucy learns how to be who she really wants to be.
🍖
This is a quick read with a bit of B-movie feel. If you can just sit back and enjoy a story that twists, turns, and isn’t afraid to be exactly what it is, this could be a fun read for you.
September 8, 2025
4.5+ stars. It is such a breath of fresh air to not be able to anticipate anything beyond a happy ending! Possibly, this has something to do with the level of preposterousness, energy, action, chaos and creativity that pervade CG’s books. I found the romance in this one particularly endearing.
There’s an element of grumpy sunshine ishness to this dynamic. Also, fated mates, possessive “mine” mentality, and found family/fellowship.
Both parties have been existing under heavily reinforced descriptions of themselves developed by others and yet have built deeply entrenched insecurities that they must overcome to be together. Nevermind, all the erm… cultural barriers.
At the end of the day, I think the message is that nerds can have muscles, brains and demonstrate enthusiastic sexual creativity.
Plus the world building is awesome and well developed.
Loved it!
There’s an element of grumpy sunshine ishness to this dynamic. Also, fated mates, possessive “mine” mentality, and found family/fellowship.
Both parties have been existing under heavily reinforced descriptions of themselves developed by others and yet have built deeply entrenched insecurities that they must overcome to be together. Nevermind, all the erm… cultural barriers.
At the end of the day, I think the message is that nerds can have muscles, brains and demonstrate enthusiastic sexual creativity.
Plus the world building is awesome and well developed.
Loved it!
April 28, 2022
A Wildly Wonderful Read!
I love a good story with time travel, lost in translation, culture clashes, and a couple that teams up and works together throughout (rather than unnecessary misunderstandings and assumptions). This was like Indiana Jones but the baddies seemed 'harmless' at first, and there were 2 lead explorers. This isn't an insta love and fall into bed scenario though it's skillful the way Ms Gannon uses dreams in this story. Honestly, a fun, exciting read that I read every minute I could.
I love a good story with time travel, lost in translation, culture clashes, and a couple that teams up and works together throughout (rather than unnecessary misunderstandings and assumptions). This was like Indiana Jones but the baddies seemed 'harmless' at first, and there were 2 lead explorers. This isn't an insta love and fall into bed scenario though it's skillful the way Ms Gannon uses dreams in this story. Honestly, a fun, exciting read that I read every minute I could.
February 22, 2024
dnf at 60%
I typically love everything from this author and I tried really hard to like Lucy but she was just so annoying I couldn’t take it anymore. Forcing her morals on Rhawn but also “it’s wrong to hunt animals for food/fur/etc” and going so far as to call the fur she was forcing him to sleep on “murder pelts” while also using them to keep herself warm was a weird take and was a big miss for me. Idk maybe she gets better in the end but I was so put off by her compromise of “it’s okay to kill animals I don’t find cute” I had to just stop.
I typically love everything from this author and I tried really hard to like Lucy but she was just so annoying I couldn’t take it anymore. Forcing her morals on Rhawn but also “it’s wrong to hunt animals for food/fur/etc” and going so far as to call the fur she was forcing him to sleep on “murder pelts” while also using them to keep herself warm was a weird take and was a big miss for me. Idk maybe she gets better in the end but I was so put off by her compromise of “it’s okay to kill animals I don’t find cute” I had to just stop.
April 21, 2025
Either I’m reading too many of her books or this one just kind of sucked.
The MCs were great actually but the story was lame and had no angst at all.
My favourite parts of the book were the half page flashbacks to the dreams they used to have about each other that started each chapter. That detail was the most compelling part of the book.
Safe. Some minor jealousy for both of them but it always get cleared up quickly.
No cheating, no virgins ( I don’t think. MMC might be a virgin but it is never explicitly said), no others for either of them in the book.
The MCs were great actually but the story was lame and had no angst at all.
My favourite parts of the book were the half page flashbacks to the dreams they used to have about each other that started each chapter. That detail was the most compelling part of the book.
Safe. Some minor jealousy for both of them but it always get cleared up quickly.
No cheating, no virgins ( I don’t think. MMC might be a virgin but it is never explicitly said), no others for either of them in the book.
August 27, 2017
This was a fun read, both the main characters are adorable and the situation is totally ridiculous and lot of fun.
I liked all the sciencey fact thrown in about the ice age- I'd never have even considered whether or not saber tooth tigers were social animals so it's interesting that scientists can say from fossil records that they were.
I also really liked that the relationships were equal and the way that smarts won the fights.
I liked all the sciencey fact thrown in about the ice age- I'd never have even considered whether or not saber tooth tigers were social animals so it's interesting that scientists can say from fossil records that they were.
I also really liked that the relationships were equal and the way that smarts won the fights.
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