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Four Risdaverse Tales

#0.5 - The Alien's Mail Order Bride
Ex-soldier Emvor doesn’t mind the quiet of his chosen life as a farmer. He doesn’t even mind that most nights are lonely on remote Cassa, but he does need help around his farm. A mail- order bride from his homeworld seems like the perfect solution. Unfortunately, the person that arrives is Nicola.

#2 - When She's Married
Escaped convict Vordigar has two choices - he can be shipped back to the Haven prison system, or he can marry one of the locals. Vordigar’s not interested in forever. Or marrying. But one night in Piper’s bed changes everything.

#0.75 - Pretty Human
Varrik va’Rin is the lord of an ancient noble house and used to getting what he wants. So when he sees the strange, delicate human known as Milly, he decides he wants her. And he’ll do anything to have her, reputation be damned.

#6 - When She's Bold
Lucy doesn't really need a husband. She just wants one. Rektar is patient, and gentle for all his hulking form. He’d be a great husband. He’s also completely clueless that she's flirting with him, so it's time to be a little more...obvious.

*** This is a compilation of four previously published novellas in the Risdaverse series. It contains no new stories.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2021

144 people are currently reading
567 people want to read

About the author

Ruby Dixon

161 books19.8k followers
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. :)

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5 stars
423 (42%)
4 stars
361 (36%)
3 stars
189 (18%)
2 stars
27 (2%)
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2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 60 reviews
Profile Image for Ꮗ€♫◗☿ ❤️ ilikebooksbest.com ❤️.
2,947 reviews2,676 followers
June 23, 2022
Cute intro to the Risdaverse!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💚🖤💙❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🪐🪐🪐🪐
Character development: 🤖😚👽🥰

The heroine: Nicola - a human woman who is running away from aliens that see humans as animals or sex workers, she cons her way into the mail order bride program and ends up with a seven foot tall grouchy blue alien.

The Hero(es): Emvor - a scarred Mesakkah alien and former soldier moved out to Cassa and became a farmer because he wants peace and quiet. He doesn’t like associating with others, and especially doesn’t like talking about the past. He doesn’t want an emotional connection, but wants a female to warm his bed and help on the farm so he orders a Mesakkah bride.

The Story: Emvor expects a tall, blue, homely wife from his home planet from whom her only wants the barest amount of affection. Instead he gets a tiny, fragile human who is afraid of just about everything and needs protecting.

This was a novella, so I don’t want to give away too much about the story. Though I did enjoy it. I liked Emvor as the battle hardened gruff alien. This book was told in dual points of view and narrated by Mason Lloyd and Jillian Macy in dual narration. I like both of these narrators and enjoyed it quite a bit.

Scarred escaped convict meets human farmer girl!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🌎🌍🌏🌎
Character development: 🤨👽🙄👽🥰

The heroine: Piper - she does what she has to do to survive. She is a human woman alone on an alien planet. She is desperate to save her farm and to do so, she needs a man from the jail to help her with what she needs.

The Hero: Vordigar - an escaped convict, hiding out from bounty hunters on Risda III, he is balled to jail by the local authorities. He is forced to share his cell with some farm animals and soon to be sent to an off world prison. He is offered the chance to stay on Risda III due to a marriage law, but he refuses after finding out his ‘bride’ was to be human.

The Story: Piper plays the dumb, naïve human in order to bribe the authorities by purchasing Vordigar as a slave. Though she immediately tells Vordigar of her plans in order to convince him to stay with her. She knows he is plotting escape and hopes to get what she needs from him before he does.

Jillian Macie and Mason Lloyd did the narration on this one, like the rest of the Risdaverse series. They are very good and their voices work well for this type of book. Though I must say I like duet narration much better than dual narration because I hate women doing men’s voices and vice versa. I like it best when the male narrator does all the male voices and the female does all the female voices. However, I will listen to the audiobook as long as there are two narrators. I rarely listen to books with only one.

I liked the story in this one a lot better than The Mail Order Bride. I liked that Piper is a strong woman doing her best to survive after her friend was killed. One thing I disliked about this book and The Mail Order Bride was that both the male characters have badly scarred faces. I don’t know why author’s do that. Why have a scarred or ugly (as both male characters described themselves). When you could write a gorgeously handsome man. I mean he can have scars on the body if you want a scarred character, but why mar their pretty faces?

The nobleman and the slave!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
Character development: 🤖🙄👽🤤👾

The heroine: Milly - she was abducted and bought by a wealthy woman and brought to the Mesakkah home world in order to be the woman’s gift to a wealthy and cruel alien.

The Hero: Varrik va’Rin - he is a Lord and head of house va’rin, a VIP on his planet Kes, and one of the biggest players in society. He is used to getting his way and when he sees Milly, he wants her. He attends a month long party at another of the important houses.

The Story: Lady Draneeran is hosting the party and Varrik assumes she will end up proposing a marriage alliance between their two houses. He plans to entertain the offer in order to keep the wealth and standing his name garners. He is wealthy and stuffy, the kind of alien that won’t allow others to use his name because he is the highest ranking noble at the party.

This was a very short novella, though this is the one in the series I wanted to read most after reading the blurb, I didn’t really like how stiff and snobbish Varrik was. Though I liked the fact that he treated Milly like a valuable person from the start even though she is a human, who his kind thinks of as nothing more than a slave or an animal.

Adorkably Hesitant Hero!



The following ratings are out of 5:
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙
Romance: 💙💚🖤💜❤️
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📘📙📔
World building: 🪐🪐🪐🪐🪐
Character development: 🤖🙄👽🤤👾

The heroine: Lucy - a curvy girl on an alien world. Lucy loves to cook and has a crush on a Massakah male named Rektar. She loves to cook and brings him food every day.

The Hero: Rektar - a massive blue straight-laced military alien. He works on Risda’s Port Authority. Rektar has some issues from his past and doesn’t think he can get a woman, especially one as pretty as Lucy. He is awkward, and endearing and has no clue she has been flirting with him. He has a crush on her but thinks she is just lonely and wants company.

The Story: Most of the people on Risda are unfriendly, especially towards the Mesakkah since Mesakkah law is so strict and the people don’t look to kindly on the people that enforce the law in any way. Before arriving on Risda, Rektar and his co-worker went through all sorts of training on how to deal with humans and other aliens who were abducted from Earth and spent time as captives or slaves. So he enacts a lot of the training tips he learned. Things like not getting too close or looming over them.

I liked this one from the start. Rektar was in the military since he was young and never spent much time around females so his reactions to Lucy were so delightful. Lucy thinks Rektar is a clueless flirt. The story was cute from the start.

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Profile Image for Dani.
631 reviews198 followers
September 18, 2021
Reread: Listened to the newly released audiobook!
Hoopla is my savior.

~~~
4 stars for The Alien's Mail Order Bride & Pretty Human 💖
3 stars for When She's Married & When She's Bold
Profile Image for Jac K.
2,517 reviews490 followers
February 19, 2024
I listened to the audio (on Everand). The series reminds me a smidge of Grace Goodwin’s Colony series, but instead of the alien’s being sent to a farm planet… it’s the humans. In a nutshell, human females have been kidnapped and traded as sex slaves/pets and can’t be returned home, so they’re sent to Risda and given farms to support themselves. This contains four of those novellas.

The Alien’s Mail-Order Bride

When She’s Married

Pretty Human

When She’s Bold
Profile Image for Stephen.
473 reviews65 followers
September 25, 2021
So I was browsing though my Kindle yesterday and came across Dixon’s Ice Planet Barbarians series. I am decidedly NOT the target audience for Dixon’s work but I remembered the series as quite fun - I did read I think 18 books in the series back in 2017!

My short review of the first book captures the series for me:
Billed as: Alien. Sex. Romance.
Aliens: Yes and well developed (pun).
Sex: Yes. A lot. Graphic. But fun in the sack kind.
Romance: Chic flic fun kind vs brooding, domineering.
I enjoyed it. Fun, fast paced, light hearted romp (pun).
Got me wondering what Ms. Dixon had written lately. Decided to download this collection of short stories. Her formula remains as above: Alien. Sex. Romance. Fast paced. Fun. And that’s no slight. Dixon is a very good and compassionate writer. Her female characters in particular are always charming, with surprising diverse. The guys less so, but thankfully they’re all generally good, relatable guys, not the Adonis bad boys so typical in romance fiction.

Rating the individual stories in this collection:
--The Alien's Mail Order Bride: Just ok for me. 3 stars.
--When She's Married: Same. 3 stars
--Pretty Human: Liked the juxtaposition between the jaded Varrik and spunky street-smart Milly. 3.5 stars
--When She's Bold: Some good humor in this one as Lucy pursues the clueless Rektar. 3.5 stars.

Each takes less than a hour to read.

If you like cute romances, steamy sex, and are looking for a fun romp with with happily ever after ending (sorry that sounds like an ad for porn), this collection will make you smile. More than worth the few dollars it sells for on Amazon. And a good intro to Dixon's oeuvre.
Profile Image for Kimmylongtime.
1,312 reviews128 followers
March 14, 2025
I gave this a reread today because it has some of my favorite books from the series. I love everything Ruby Dixon but I hold this series near and dear to me!!! Ugh, I can’t wait until Marcia gets her own book. To work at a fertility clinic and help ladies see their babies and never getting to see your own little bundle is brutal. Ruby we love you give this woman a baby and a banging mate !! Please and thank you 🥰😍
Profile Image for Bookworm123.
99 reviews4 followers
March 30, 2024
I loved the first three stories, and didn’t care for the last one. My only complaint was that each story was wayyy too short!
Profile Image for Danielle Hays.
Author 2 books28 followers
May 7, 2025
Actual rating: 3.75/5 stars.

The Alien's Mail Order Bride: 3.5/5
When She's Married: 4/5
Pretty Human: 4/5
When She's Bold: 4/5
Profile Image for Chrissy  Loves Books.
829 reviews11 followers
April 1, 2023
3.5 stars
Short Novella length stories about human women who are kidnapped by aliens and find happiness on another world. All the plots are cute, easy to follow story lines, and lots of sexy time.
Profile Image for Renecia.
494 reviews3 followers
July 23, 2023
I liked it. But I'm a fan so I didnt doubt that I would like it. The narrator was great! On to the next.
Profile Image for Laz the Sailor.
1,802 reviews80 followers
February 29, 2024
These short tales explore various aspects of human females in the Risdaverse. Nice little fillers on some of the mechanics of the society. But since they are short stories, they really don't have much depth, and each requires an almost instant agreement for sex and marriage.

If you enjoy this series, read these shorts. But don't start here.
Profile Image for Kayla.
1,695 reviews17 followers
April 26, 2023
The Alien's Mail-Order Bride:
Emvor couldn't resist Nicola although he tried . . . And he tried hard 🤣🤣🤣 It was cute. Good thing he came to his senses. He would have missed out. Nicola couldn't be a more ideal partner. And poor Nicola. I swear a lot of these girls go through soooooo much before they find happiness. Luckily she was able to win Emvor over. Someone who'd have her best interest and safety at heart and not be looking after their own pleasures only.

Pretty Human:
Lord va'Rin gets props! Not for being an asshole . . . which he tends to do. But for putting anyone in their place that mistreats Milly. It's endearing, even if he is practically a brat to everyone else. A look at Milly! She got lucky!

When She's Married:
It's cute that Vordigar thought he was going somewhere. Or assumed no one would make an attempt on Piper when he was gone. Also cute that he thought he'd be able to find another mate candidate and not be effected. So cute. Great job Piper. Clink Clank! 🤣🤣🤣

Yaaaaaaassssssss, one of my favorites. Go after your man Lucy!! Besides the grumpy/sunshine trope, the shy/bold trope is in my top 3 favorites.

4.5 stars
Profile Image for Courtney.
901 reviews43 followers
April 5, 2022
What can I say? All of these were just light and fun with a nice amount of steam - classic Dixon. I liked all the characters in these short stories. Strong and resourceful heroines and sweetly possessive heroes. Do they all kind of feel the same? Yeah, maybe a bit. But if you like Dixon's style, you'll like these. I'm not sure if I could pick a favorite out of the bunch, but definitely no duds in here. I don't think you necessarily need to read all the other books in the series to understand these, but a bit of familiarity with the universe would be helpful.

Profile Image for Jenni.
6,404 reviews78 followers
October 6, 2023
A SciFi Alien Serial Romance by Ruby Dixon is good. I am not sure how I stumbled upon Ruby and her books, but I love it and am rereading the whole series and het other series.

Humans being abducted by aliens and badly mistreated. It makes for an interesting read where there are mates, language barriers, horney aliens and earth women. It is fun and witty and at times heartbreaking, but it is certainly something different and I now find myself strangely addicted.
Profile Image for Simara.
600 reviews3 followers
July 31, 2025
Surprisingly good. I wasn’t able to finish the last story because the title was removed from the plus catalog but the first three were surprisingly interesting. The way the author describes the aliens, the connections with the humans and the chemistry had me believing it all. Very good chemistry and romance. Really great narration with distinct voices for each character and adding the needed internist to the story. Recommended.
Profile Image for Erica Testa.
409 reviews18 followers
February 13, 2021
I love these short and sexy Risdaverse novellas! I think I’ve reviewed all of these individually, but I very much that they’re bound in one paperback now! Any fans of Ruby Dixon will greatly enjoy these stories, they are short and sexy and lay excellent groundwork for the long future Risdaverse tales (a la the epic serial When She Purrs, When She Belongs, When She Dances, and When She’s Bold).
1,014 reviews11 followers
November 9, 2021
Loads of love

As I finished each of the stories I thought, this one is the one I’ll concentrate on. In the end I couldn’t choose so I’ll just say the Tales are a gorgeous collection of love, how important it is, how it strikes without warning sometimes and how handsome those big blue aliens are. Ruby Dixon never fails!
Profile Image for Maja.
596 reviews7 followers
January 16, 2022
3.5 stars rounded up. These were fun. A collection of short stories that follow the same plot. A human and and alien are on the same planet, the humans are all farmers and need strong aliens for protection. The humans are looking for marriage of convenience and then they fall for the alien. There is humor, smut and fun.
Profile Image for Asia.
207 reviews1 follower
July 26, 2025
Verdict: Four Hits, No Misses

I honestly liked every story in this collection, which almost never happens. Each one was fun, sweet, and had just the right amount of that classic Ruby Dixon charm. I only wish they were longer—I could’ve spent way more time with all of these couples.

If you’re looking for quick, cozy sci-fi romance hits, this is a solid pick.
Profile Image for Kayla.
624 reviews
July 28, 2025
I don't indulge in alien romance much but figured this would be a good one to take a gamble on. I ended up liking all four stories. It was nice that they were similar but each were different enough that you got to see other aspects of how this society is run and how each character falls into their roles in it. Sweet and spicy in all the best ways.
112 reviews
February 12, 2022
Normally I steer clear of short stories; they’re just not for me. But Ruby Dixon has a way of writing short stories that makes you feel as if you’ve read a full novel. Story telling genius. Loved every one of them.
Profile Image for Romane | Bookylicious.
818 reviews30 followers
February 14, 2022
Adorable!

4 novellas about our favorites blue alien, smut and lots of super cute moment, what can a girl ask for?

1st : ⭐⭐⭐/5
2nd : ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
3th :⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ( I didn't knew that I needed it in my life)
4th :⭐⭐⭐/5
Profile Image for &#x1f496;&#x1f4da;BOOKZAMILLION&#x1f4d6;&#x1f498;.
1,390 reviews96 followers
March 7, 2022
Loved them!!!!!! More please!!!


Total Book Experience 10/10

Plot/Storyline (structure)10/10
Writing (Errors) 10/10
Characters 10/10
Again-able 10/10
Emotion 10/10
Book Cover 10/10
Visual/ Illustratable 10/10
Addictiveness 10/10
Threshold quality 10/10
Unique 10/10
1,455 reviews3 followers
May 6, 2022
I read these previously through Kindle Unlimited but I wanted the paperback and I totally enjoyed reading the stories again. I love the strength of all the women in these stories and the hunky male aliens. There is lots of fun and steamy times and happily ever afters.
480 reviews
September 8, 2022
I enjoyed listening to the audiobook and visiting these old friends. One of the main reasons Ruby’s Risdaverse stories are among my favorites is bc they aren’t fated-mates but couples who come together from various backgrounds and learn to work and love each other.
Profile Image for Pam Farmer.
30 reviews
April 15, 2023
awww

It was such a good book. She is trying her best to get her man to notice her! And he is trying to do as they have been told and not “scare” the human women. Especially her. So she pulls out everything she can to get her man!
Profile Image for Kimberly.
1,145 reviews40 followers
July 13, 2023
These couples are so fun

What do you get with this book? Three new big blue aliens and their human mates. I truly enjoyed all the couples and their stories. I love Ruby Dixon's writing and plan on reading everything that she has about her big blue guys!
89 reviews1 follower
January 4, 2025
Listened to this book in audiobook form . It was a bargain due multiple books in one . I liked the first 3 novellas but the last one was so dull . I do enjoy the novellas and will continue to read.
Profile Image for Oscarb1007.
436 reviews
February 9, 2021
What a sweet and hot set of stories. Just what I needed to brighten the week😁
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