Nadine’s Champion by Ruby Dixon

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Title: Nadine's Champion
Author: Ruby Dixon
Series: Icehome #8
Published by: Tantor Audio
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Format: Audiobook
Narrator: Sean Crisden, Felicity Munroe
Length: 6 hours and 14 minutes
Genres: Romance, Erotic Romance, Science Fiction
Source: Hoopla
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Audiobook Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Diversity Reading Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ IndieBound ✩ iTunes ✩ Libro.FM ✩ Chirp
My rating:

Blurb:

Of all the men on the Icehome beach, Thrand's the most competitive and most aggravating. He's cocky. Arrogant. Turns everything into a rivalry. He's a pain in the you know what.

He also keeps insisting that I kiss him. After all, I'm the one that told him a kiss didn't mean anything. It shouldn't. A kiss is just a kiss as far as humans are concerned. But Thrand's a clone, a race of people called a'ani, and he's been brought up to play hard and to win.

And he wants to win me.

But does Thrand want me for the right reasons? Or am I just another conquest?

My Review:

4 stars — Nadine and Thrand actually weren’t what I was expecting.  And in both cases that was a good thing.

I was expecting Nadine to be a bit more confrontational and infuriated by Thrand’s antics…but while she occasionally became frustrated, she actually maintained a pretty good humour about his strange personality.  She was wonderfully confident and kickass.  I loved that she was strong, both physically and mentally.  It wasn’t that she didn’t struggle with this new life and missing her family, but in general she took her time to feel those things, and then she moved on to trying to make the most of the situation.  I admired it…probably b/c that’s not a strong trait for me.  She was also pretty mellow in a lot of ways, rolling with the punches.  Which is weird, b/c she could also be fiery.  *shrugs*  The contradiction worked for her.

I was not a Thrand fan prior to this book, and even now I know he’ll never be a fave, but he surprised me.  I think because Nadine balanced him so well, not chafing against his odd competitive and cocky side.  He definitely had that side, IN SPADES.  But he also had a vulnerability about him, mostly from the beliefs he’d been instilled with about his worth as a clone and slave.  It was endearing to see how much he cherished every little bit of attention and favour Nadine gave him.  And while he was always grateful, I felt like I did see him grow and accept that he was not what he was led to believe.  I expected more resentment towards Vordis, or more struggle about Angie, but he was pretty focussed on Nadine and I appreciated that.

They really worked with one another.  I don’t know if a lot of people could have taken the time to see into the heart of Thrand, so I’m glad that he had Nadine.  They had some truly fun moments, and definitely a lot of chemistry.

I was surprised that the “action” part was actually pretty short.  I don’t know why, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more tension and action in the story.  It was more relationship than I was expecting.  I think the sky claw on the cover gave me a certain expectation.

I’ve noticed in the last few books, there have been moments that legit felt repetitive…like I began to question my sanity, b/c I was sure they’d had a certain conversation already.  So, if your brain works that way, it may notice that as well.  It happens, but a good edit should find that.

So yeah.  Definitely a solid addition for me.  I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed it, probably because I was expecting to be disappointed.  I love sprinkling these books in when I need a quick easy listen.