Barbarian's Mate by Ruby Dixon (Ice Planet Barbarian 7)

This big blue alien book completes what I think is the main story arc. Josie is the last of the first batch of human women to get a book aka mated. But since there are 22 books, more humans must find their way to Not-Hoth.

Josie finds herself resonating with Grumpy McGrumpsterfire, Haeden. Determined to not find herself in a love-less situation again, she rejects the resonance and runs away. On her ice planet walkabout, she comes across the ship that Kira crashed in her book when she was re-abducted and finds that there are two women in stasis there. She also finds human-eating birds as big as a bus. Let’s just say she needs her knife for that experience.

I loved that this book was clearly setting up more books because I was doing the math and trying to figure that one out, but I don’t like an enemies-to-lovers trope. Josie and Haeden hate each other, or rather, that’s what Josie thinks, and then it just felt so meh with how quickly she got over it. Yes, yes, talking is all we want, but I also need the mental arc the MC goes on to be convincing. Am I asking too much of a sex-book? -Ford