Everyone knows Megan and Cashol hit it off the moment they resonated… didn’t they? But when Josie goes into labor, an off-hand comment makes Megan point out to her friend that no, things weren’t always so smooth. Just because resonance is immediate doesn’t mean it’s immediately perfect.
But also…just because it’s an instant bond doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Sometimes it’s very, very right.
Ruby Dixon is an author of Science Fiction Romance. She likes fated mates, baby-filled epilogues, and cinnamon roll heroes. She also likes to write biographies of herself in the third person, because it feels more important that way.
Ruby also loves coffee and dirty books and will probably be a cat lady at some point. :)
De vuelta a las cuevas con la verdadera historia de Megan y Cashol
Barbarian's Tresure serie Ice planet Barbarian libro 18
Mí humilde opinión:
Según la historia que todos saben, Megan y Cashol no podían estar más felices cuando resonaron.
La historia es otra muy diferente.
Y cuando Megan visita a, su a punto de dar a luz, amiga Josie le cuenta cómo fue realmente resonar con Cashol.
Siempre lo menciono, amo los libros de RD. Me enganchan y diría que hasta me apasionan. Me encanta como teje increíbles historias de aliens, son románticas y fantásticas.
Me encantó conocer la historia de amor de Megan y Cashol. Cómo sucedió verdaderamente todo con ellos. Fue muy sexy y dulce.
Ya la autora había dicho que nos traería las historias de algunas mujeres que habían resonado y no supimos cómo fue que se relacionaron con sus chicos azules.
La verdad me gustó mucho la personalidad de Cashol y Megan aunque estuvo un poco intensa pero comprensible cuando ella está en un mundo extraño.
Simplemente me encanta leer a los personajes de esta serie y saber cómo les va aunque sea tan cortito.
Después de mis últimas lecturas necesitaba leer algo de RD, siempre me levantan el ánimo mágicamente.
Cashol and Meaghan have been with us since the beginning and it was so nice to go back in time and see how their resonance played out. What seemed like a quick and instant love match thanks to their khui’s was in fact not all sunshine and daises. I like that while these two didn’t have a wild love affair or hate the sight of one another like some of the other couples lol they had a beautiful story nonetheless. It’s amazing how in tune the sakhui are with their mates and I loved Cashol winning over his hesitant mate.
Short review: I generally include Ruby's note she has written as Author's note section for my IPB reviews It's been established that Megan was pretty much a homebody ever since arriving on the planet, so that limited the scope of their particular tale. I couldn't exactly send them trekking all over the planet to have adventures, but I'm also surprisingly okay with that? Because I also like that smaller stories. It allows me to 'hang out' in the cave a bit more, and in this case, show the friendship between Josie and Megan.
Review in image/gif:
My Josie and Megan --
Recommended: Yes, but not as standalone
Aftermath: (possible spoilers)
We have been down to only 1 couple story (Nora and Dagesh) and after that uncertain times for the series. While it would be hard to let go of this world and these amazing characters but would be alright to leave them in peace having their happily ever afters.
Nothing really interesting happens. They resonate. They get together. They fall in love. They get pregnant. We didn't need this one. Dixon should have just made a real-time story with the two of them.
As expected, the story featuring a girl named "Megan" didn't work for me.
Not only did Megan's foot fetish keep working its way into the narrative (despite not being handled very well by Dixon, who seemed out of her element), but her behavior with Cashol was disingenuous and frustrating.
Like many of the original human women, Megan harbored a lot anxiety about whether she would be "cast out" by the tribe if she didn't pull her weight and/or shack up with a dude immediately. The problem is, we've already seen this represented (and represented better) with Ariana, Josie, etc. It really wasn't necessary to have it rehashed, particularly because Megan's anxieties manifested in such a silly way. The crisis of the book is her freaking out that the tribe is going to abandon her because they think she's going into the supply cave and taking a bite out of all the vegetables.
I mean. . . for real. Taking a bite out of all the vegetables. -_- Obviously it's a damn rodent!
Anyway, Cashol was an okay but unremarkable hero. He didn't leave much of a mark on me except that he was one of the least attractive and most easygoing of the sa-khui men. Perhaps he would have been more memorable if he hadn't been paired with such a dud of a heroine, but alas.
It's telling that the two women Dixon provided kinks to (Megan with her foot fetish and Nora with her spanking fetish) have been left last for IPB. And that's all I'm gonna say on that, lol. Here's hoping that Nora's story is a bit better!
This wasn’t bad, but I liked it less than most IPB/IH books which usually get like 3 stars from me therefore I had to give this one less. I just found Megan a bit annoying with her insecurity. It’s not totally unjustified, but it was annoying to me so 🤷🏼♀️ I also don’t tend to love the “let’s go back and tell these stories I skipped over” books in general so this one was no exception. Also I had like 30 mins left in this audiobook for almost a week and I finally just finished it 💪😤
This book series is crack and Ruby Dixon is my dealer.
Although I personally love her more technologically-advanced Risdaverse and Corsairs books, this series was a delight in all honesty. Very fluffy and escapist reads.
My favorites are Summer, Elly and Maddie's books, in that order (and no. I am too lazy and will not look up the book names).
Barbarian' s Treasure es una lectura facil y simple. Me gusto mucho conocer como fue el inicio de la relacion de Meaghan y Cashol, y aunque me hubiera encantado leer mas escenas de ellos como familia en la actualidad, no puedo negar que las partes del pasado fueron muy tiernas.
Este tomo no es el mas adictivo o complejo, sin embargo, es un libro sencillo y perfecto para leer en cualquier rato libre del que dispongas, te aseguro que te enamorara, sobre todo si eres seguidora de esta autora y su trabajo.
Plot --- 3/5 Main Characters --- 4/5 Supporting Cast --- 4/5 Steam Level* --- 4/5 Violence --- nothing graphic or major Language --- yes! (lots of f-bombs and c-bombs) POV --- Dual
*Note that steam level is not a rating so much as a how hot was it: 0/5 - clean; 1/5 - mild (nothing descriptive); 2/5 - 3rd base action/1 home run; 3/5 - now we're getting somewhere (a couple of full-on steamy scenes); 4/5 - yes please! (erotica territory); 5/5 - they did EVERYTHING in this one, y'all
Barbarian's Treasure was okay. I liked Cashol a lot, but Megan wasn't my favorite character to read about. There was a sweetness to the story, but not enough happened in either the past or present parts of the story to hold my interest.
In this installment, we revisit the beginnings of resonance for Meghan and Cashol, who seemingly had such a great beginning. In this story, we flashback to how they really didn't have it so easy. Meghan was scared and worried she couldn't pull her weight in the tribe...she had fears of being kicked out and was longing for security. Her resonance to Cashol provided exactly that. And despite Cashol loving her from the first and wanting to take things slow for Meghan, she needed to get pregnant quickly, assuring her security within the tribe. After learning that Meghan gave herself to him for anything less than love, he is determined to seduce her into loving him as he loves her...to make her happy and secure in their relationship and in the tribe. Meghan is not such an easy project in that regard.
Bit of a trigger warning: Meghan was pregnant when she was originally kidnapped by aliens and those bastard aliens basically aborted her baby while she was captive. It doesn't happen on screen here, but it is talked about and Meghan definitely still feels grief about it.
I liked this one quite a bit. I think this kind of format, where resonance itself isn't the problem, but figuring out how to live as mates is, is more my style. It looks at the whole situation from another dynamic and I liked that it was a bit of a fresh take on it...especially since these stories can feel a bit repetitive. Makes me miss the stories like Stacy and Pashov's or even Kira and Aehako... Cashol in this one is absolutely a dear and I love him. He's clueless about how to help his mate but he wants to do anything that it takes to make sure he's not pressuring her or that she can be truly happy (not just pretending). He's so patient and what's more is that he LISTENS. He doesn't always understand, but he tries. Meghan was a bit harder to like, mostly because she sees Cashol in such utilitarian terms - we're mated now, so I'm secure in my presence here - instead of appreciating him for who he is. I do understand where she's coming from and why she'd have those fears...and the fact that resonance means you don't even know the person when you end up mated to them. I think what I didn't like about that is that she never really acknowledges (or maybe doesn't know) how much hurt that caused him and she never apologizes for it. I still feel bad for Cashol when he hears that his first time making love to the woman he'd already fallen for was her chance at getting a bit of security. That never really gets addressed or anything and I so wanted it to be. Overall a nice installation and I think I'd read more of these if they were added in.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I just checked and December was the last time RD dropped an Ice Planet book, with it being Penny’s Protector. It’s so weird to think about the fact that I was skeptical about starting this series in the fall, and now RD said the last couple of this series (Croatoan) will be Nora + Dagesh.
I enjoyed this like I enjoy any RD blue alien book. But I liked this one less, simply because I found Meghan to be whiny. Arianna was described as whiny, but I liked her more. Meghan was just exhausting.
4 1/2 stars, this was a fun read. I really liked getting Megan and Cashol story. I figured we knew a lot about them from others books so it was fun to see their actual store through Megan and Cashol eye's. This was a sweet and fun read and though I am always excited to read these books the more we read the closer we are to the end of these books.
Personalmente cuando lees los primeros dos libros de IPB y describen cómo los protagonistas de esas entregas ven a las primeras parejas resonar crees que para ellos es fácil de asimilar y que todo es felicidad... pero no es así, y la historia entre Cashol y Megan lo demuestra.
Ellos aparentan desde la aparición de sus personajes que son "una pareja feliz y perfecta" pero en la intimidad hay desconfianza y miedo. Puedo decir que Megan se pasó de lanza cuando pensaba que Cashol era "feito" JAJAJA. Hay escenas de pasado y presente, si eres fanático de IPB lo disfrutarás. Megan es rubia y esbelta, yo siempre la imagine castaña oscura. No fue memorable.
🛸 Personajes: Cashol, Megan, Holvek, Joya, y Trueno.
This review may contain spoilers, so fair warning, upon reading the review. Barbarian’s Treasure is one of the more recent additions to the Ice Planet Barbarian series and I have to say that I have deeply loved this series. It has been such a blast. Now they have their own style and these books might not be for everyone but they are just great short snippets of romance of a world that is without distraction and is the perfect way to escape reality and enter this world of sexy strong protective males and women who capture their hearts. I know that this author can be intimidating to read at times because she writes SO fast, it does help her books are shorter than the norm but I am working my way through her books because they are entertaining and fun.
Barbarian’s Treasure features our two main characters in: Cashol-Blue horned ice planet alien, not the most attractive of the males, but has a beautiful smile Megan-Quiet, reserved, mourning the loss of a forced abortion, fears being tossed out of tribe Barbarian’s Treasure was such a delight to read in, and I am loving these books in audio. These narrators actually do such a wonderful job in showcasing them so well. Now the male voice -Mason Lloyd you have to be careful not to go too fast, with these narrators I try to stay at 1.5 speed and no faster because his voice will sound different and it can be distracting. So that is my recommendation if you listen to these books.
Barbarian’s Treasure is Cashol and Megan’s book. Now, this does have a flashback story-based line, so be aware going into this one here. Cashol and Megan’s relationship always seemed to be a textbook case and no one in the tribe ever suspected that their story wasn’t easy, it was always assumed their bond was easy and smooth. But when Megan’s friend is going through labor for a new baby, Megan recalls for her friend their REAL story, the one left untold. Megan was part one of the original women that was kidnapped from Earth and crash-landed on the ice planet. But she was pregnant when she was kidnapped and the aliens that kidnapped them didn’t like that and forced an abortion on her. And she is still mourning the loss of her child. But she also fears being kicked out of the tribe. She sees how some of the women are treated by some members of the tribe and wants to be useful and always working so hard to prove herself. When her qui and Cashol’s qui sing together, she feels a sense of relief that if she can have a baby, she will have a set place in the tribe. Cashol however is told by his tribe leader, that he must take it slow with Megan. There is a HUGE lack of miscommunication and leads to hurt and mistrust on both sides. Cashol and Megan will have to learn to be transparent with each other, their expectations and hopes for each other but it’s not an easy road to let go of misconceptions and fears…
But I want a mate who smiles at me with her eyes and tells me her thoughts, not a mate who tells me that she is fine and her eyes are full of worry
Barbarian’s Treasure is one of the more heartfelt books of the whole series. My heart just ached for Megan especially. She has lost so much and I didn’t really like so many members in the tribe in this book. I wanted to shake them all in how they treated Megan. Like really, she works so hard and gets easily taken advantage of. Now Megan is more reserved and keeps so many things to herself. The miscommunication that happened between Cashol and Megan….easily solved in a five-minute conversation haha but I actually felt like this misstep in their relationship was pretty sensible. I mean they both are from different cultures and have internal doubts about themselves so it makes sense they would have some hills to travel before they could get to their HEA. The best moment is when Megan has an emotional breakdown and everything comes out in the open. It was such a tender poignant moment and how much Cashol cares for Megan. The way these males are with their mates is so beautiful. They are willing to do anything to just make them smile. It is SO precious to see. They are so devoted to their mates and it’s one of the main factors why I am so drawn into these books. And plus….they are sci fi romance and there just aren’t enough books in this genre, right?
Cashol smiles and brushes a lock of hair back from my face. “You are my treasure, worth more than all the mah-nee in your world.”
Overall I found Barbarian’s Treasure to be a true delight and almost made it to five-star status for me. It’s a story of sweet love, complete devotion and the true challenges in making a relationship work and matter in the long run.
Oh, MAN, I always love revisiting the original group from IPB. They're just so fun. And weirdly comforting. Like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket on a cold day. Heh. Considering the environment on Not-Hoth, that's pretty appropriate, don't you think?
Anywho. Megan and Cashol. She's sort of an understandably driven mess (seriously understandable, by my estimation) and he's the gentle jokester who tries to give Megan the space he thinks she needs to grow comfortable with them as a couple. Except she misunderstands his intentions and he misunderstands her discomfort and things spiral downward until they figure things out.
In other words, things weren't immediately perfect for these two. Megan put on a brave face while trying to find a way to make herself indispensable to the tribe and to Cashol and it wore on her. It wasn't until she fully understood that Cashol wanted her for her, not for what she did for him, that things turned around. As for Cashol, he is an utter sweetheart who is more than delighted to make Megan the center of his world.
I seriously adore spending time on this icy planet and love love love seeing everyone get their happily ever after. And the babies. SO MANY BABIES. YES!
3 stars. I hate to say it, but I’m glad that this series is over. I didn’t love the last three books, and I feel like RD ran out of interesting ideas for these couples.
Ofc this one was yet another flashback (ugh) and we learned the story of how Megan and Cashol became a couple. Imo, this story has been told before. Megan has doubts about being accepted into the tribe and thinks that she will be kicked out of she isn’t found to be useful enough. How many times did we see the same thing already in this series? Add to that her anxiety about being disliked... and it just feels like a mashup of previous stories.
I have a few more complaints that I’ll just put here to vent... the weird foot fetish felt very very random. Why was that even a part of the story? I hated that Megan wasn’t attracted to Cashol and called him the least attractive in the tribe (def made me dislike her). I get that she went through some traumatic shit with the loss of her baby, but she came across as super uptight and I felt like Cashol deserved better. That is all.
Safe; Cashol was a virgin, Megan had her baby aborted for her by the aliens who kidnapped her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Barbarian's Treasure was a sweet way to close out this series. It's the second to last of the rewind books; this time revealing how Megan and Cashol's relationship developed. I had completely forgotten about Megan, since she doesn't really get up to much during the main series. But she's the one that the bad aliens had forced an abortion on when they kidnapped her. This does play a role in their resonance, as Cashol tries to go slow to allow her time to heal. However, Megan doesn't want to go slow because she wants to cement her place in the tribe, but she agrees to go slow because she believes he's shy about being a virgin.
Clearly, the big "drama" of Barbarian's Treasure is the misunderstanding about how to progress their relationship. There is another matter involving nibbled roots, but that was ridiculous and felt random. I also wasn't expecting a foot fetish! It's not a huge thing, but Megan's love of Cashol's feet comes up several times. I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone got a little kinky. All in all this was a satisfying ending.
Това е историята на Мегън и Кашол. Една от двойките на Ледената планета на варварите, които резонират първи. В тази книга Руби Диксън ни връща назад във времето. След като Мегън и Джоузи, и двете бременни към момента, се събират, за да си погостуват, Джоузи казва на Мегън,че според нея връзката между Мегън и Кашол е била перфектна от самото начало. Това подтиква Мегън да й разкрие истината за отношенията между нея и Кашол в самото начало.
Още щом се озовават на ледената планета, Мегън знае, че единствената причина да бъдат приети в малкото племе е факта, че са жени в детеродна възраст, а в племето има куп необвързани мъже и почти никакви жени. Мегън обаче се бои, че тя няма да може да се обвърже с никой от мъжете, тъй като двойките биват избирани от тяхното кхуи, симбиот откриващ перфектните двойки за създаване на потомство. Мегън вярва, че може забременяването й да е проблем, тъй като, когато бива отвлечена, тя е бременна. Детето, което е носила (бебе от свалка за една нощ с непознат, което е смятала да отгледа сама) е премахнато от извънземните, които ги отвличат, и към страха от неизвестното, се добавя и мъката и депресията по изгубеното дете. По тази причина Мегън прави всичко по силите си, работи денонощно, за да си подсигури, че дори да не резонира, може да бъде пълноценен член на обществото им.
Кашол е луд по Мегън от мига в който я вижда. Скоро след това двамата резонират и той е на седмото небе. Останал без никакво семейство преди години, той е вярвал, че завинаги ще бъде сам, затова резонирайки с Мегън, той е готов да направи всичко за нея. Когато обаче разбира, че тя се бои да не бъде отхвърлена, и пред всички играе ролята на щастлива нова съпруга, каквато всъщност не е, той е решен да й даде време да го обикне и да свикне с факта, че никой никога няма да я прогони от племето.
Тази книга бе доста спокойна, без излишна драма, нямаше големи приключения или епична любов. Имаше двама души, които търсеха пътят един към друг. Мегън се претрепваше от работа, за да докаже, че може да е полезна, слагаше си щастлива маска за пред всички, дори и пред Кашол, докато в сърцето си изпитваше вледеняващ ужас, че може да бъде отритната. Мисля, че бе грешка от страна на Кашол да опитва да й дава време, като гледаше да стои далеч от нея, и дори спеше отделно. Това само подсилваше тревогата и несигурността на Мегън. Скоро обаче той осъзна, къде му е грешката и бързо показа на половинката си, къде й е мястото и колко е желана. Частта с нагризаните НЕкартофи, за които Мегън се пошегува, че ги е нагризала и всички й се вързаха обвинявайки я, раздвижи малко положението. Тя беше наранена и търсеше начин да избяга, а Кашол бе готов да къса глави, задето бяха обвинили несправедливо половинката му.
Частите от "настоящето" с раждането на третото дете на Джоузи и Хейдън, и факта, че сина на Мегън и Кашол се бореше като всяко друго дете за домашен любимец, беше много сладурска и интересна. Хареса ми и чакам следващата книга за Стейси и Пашов.
Тук авторката споделя, че те са последната двойка. След това и тя не е сигурна как ще продължи, защото, подобно на нас и на нея не й се разделя с тези двойки. Но за щастие авторката е на мнение, че няма желание да проваля щастливият край, който е дала на всяка двойка до сега, и вероятно ще продължи историите им в книжките за медените им месеци.
The first time we see Megan is in Having The Barbarian's Baby and I didn't like her then. Maybe it's because she was whiny from pregnancy. So I was ready to give her a chance in Barbarian's Treasure, but she annoys me even more now.
I don't get her fear of getting kicked out of the tribe. She even mentions no one has ever said anything like that, but for some reason, this unwarranted fear drives her. Ruby Dixon tries to relate this fear to Megan's past experiences on Earth where she felt unwanted or rejected, but I didn't buy it.
Megan does say she was a horse girl. . . so maybe that's part of her problem. LOL JK 😂
I was also confused as to why Megan's personal struggle was fear of being rejected by the tribe over the trauma and loss of her baby. Vektal made it such a big deal when Cashol and Megan first resonate, but it doesn't seem like it's that big of an issue for her. So did she ever really work through it? Of course, there are a few emotional moments where Megan discusses losing the baby, but it seemed odd for it not to have played a larger role in this story.
But my biggest issue with Megan is her first thoughts about Cashol. She says,
"He’s not the best looking of the barbarians. In fact…he might be the ugliest? Which is unfair because they’re all ridiculously attractive by human standards".
That's so awful. Even Liz, who was taken aback by Rahoosh at first, never called him ugly. . . did she? It just rubbed me the wrong way and made me feel like she was unworthy of Cashol. Like, apparently, she's not exactly the hottest of the human women, so who is she to judge. I don't know why this bothered me so much.
And when Cashol calls Megan his treasure. . . I see what Ruby Dixon did there with the book's title and everything, but it was so cheesy and made me cringe.
Overall, this is one of my least favorite IPB stories because Megan sucks. Worth reading once, but never again.
This was such a cute and low angst read. Technically it’s nothing special or nothing I haven’t read before but for some reason I just really loved it. I love coming back to this series every so often as you can just pick up from where you left off. This is definitely one of my favourites I’ve read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 🌶🌶 Novella Alien x human Kinda foot fetish?