By the Horns

Royal Artifactual Guild, Book 2

De: Ruby Dixon

Narrado por: Hiro Diaz, Felicity Munroe

In a world of magical artifacts and fantastical beings, a woman with a deadly magic secret needs the help of the minotaur she’s trying to forget in the sizzling sequel to Ruby Dixon's New York Times bestseller Bull Moon Rising.

Gwenna has always considered herself a normal person. A former servant, she wants nothing more than to land a steady job with the Royal Artifactual Guild so she can make some steady coin to send home to her mother. She's not special. She's certainly not a necromancer. That would be impossible, given how necromancing (or any 'mancing) is forbidden upon penalty of death. So if the dead keep talking to her? Well, she's going to keep on ignoring them. They're not going to stand in the way of her dreams.

Also standing in her way? One big, arrogant, far-too-flirty Taurian named Raptor. They slept together once, and now he wants more . . . but she doesn’t have time for that. Her focus is on being a fledgling, a trainee for the Royal Artifactual Guild. But Raptor won't go away. He's on a secret mission for the guild to find an artifact thief.

Problem is, he thinks the thief is Gwenna.

How can she convince Raptor that he's got the wrong girl when all the signs point to her? And how do you tell a Taurian you can't date him because you hear dead people and it might cost you your life?

©2025 Ruby Dixon (P)2025 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Dixon writes a steamy whodunit with fleshed-out characters in a broadening fantasy world.”—Library Journal

"Dixon scorches the pages with intense and frequent erotic scenes but still finds time for ample character development and intrigue. Overflowing with both heart and heat, this is sure to please series fans."—Publishers Weekly

"Part murder mystery, part fantastical world lore, and all romance, Dixon's fans will be thrilled to follow Gwenna on her adventure, while also swooning for the rogueish Raptor as he falls for Gwenna."—Booklist

Ahhhh just as good as the first

Loved the performance, love this whole universe! I really hope Ruby keeps writing more artificer guild stories, the magic system is so cool, and I love the character development. I love all her sci-fi romances, but Ruby’s contribution to the cozy fantasy romances lately have been top tier.

Emotional Rollercoaster

Well done Ruby!!

This entire book is a twist. Ruby took some risks in this book, and they worked well.

I enjoyed learning more about the Torians and artificers.

The main characters are well defined and lovable. There’s a lot of crossover from the first book in this series. Please read them in order.

Pleasantly surprised

Where do I begin? The narration, story, and ending are all wonderful. I listened to the first one and was very surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and wasn’t sure if I would like this one as much, but it’s just as good. The narrators are fantastic and I enjoyed the listen immensely. Spice is a solid 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ of 5 since it’s a Dixon novel, but it’s well done and not the entire plot. I hope she continues this series because it’s honestly one of the better ones I’ve listened to in awhile. Just get it- you won’t regret it!

So Good!

I enjoyed everything about this story. The secrets were so much fun and the gifts were so intriguing. I hope that she has more books coming in this verse. I would devour every one of them.

YASSSSSS

Called it as to who the thieves were😂 the voice narrators really love their jobs amazing

One of the best series she has written!

I absolutely love this story and the narrators!! Especially Hiro! He has that alpha man voice that is just perfect! I hate listening to books where the voice doesn’t match the character it just throws me off. Hope there will be more in the future!

I enjoyed this so much 💜

I love me a good duet narrated audiobook!
Gwenna and Raptor's story was everything I hoped it would be.
Bull Moon Rising was really good, but this one was so much better in my opinion.
I think I'm just more of a fan of Gwenna's character.
She was a sassy and take no shit kind of girl and I LOVE that in a FMC.
This was a nice long listen but honestly I could have kept going. That's how much I enjoyed it.
This is a book that I will definitely be getting a physical copy of as well 💗

More Please!

I'm in love with this series and all of the characters. please tell me there will be more.

Great, but stingy on the artifacts

For a series built on the hunt for artifacts, you’d think there’d be more, you know, artifacts. In the first book there were mentions of horseless carriages, dead artifacts, and hints at the civilization that went before. Here, the artifacts are nothing more than Macguffins: was there even one description of what a particular artifact did? Gwenna’s necromancy was also overlooked for most of the story, only coming out in the final quarter of the book. And, for a series with minotaurs and slitherkin, I was hoping for one or two new fantastical beasties. Alas, the world building, new characters, and even the culprits were a distant second fiddle to the romance.

On the plus side, the romance between Raptor and Gwenna was delightful. The duet narration continues to rock the story. And, I like that there’s some overlap with the characters from book 1. Here’s hoping for a book 3, maybe with some cool, working artifacts.