First Book of 2026

 Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon 

Was this well written? No. Did it have a good plot? Also no. Did I enjoy it? Immensely. This book was ridiculous and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of. I picked it up because of the hype it had been getting on BookTok and was a bit concerned, but that concern was unfounded. This is not good literature, but it is a good time. Georgia and a dozen other women get kidnapped by aliens. Ugly ones. But, the aliens were only supposed to kidnap 6 since they only had enough pods for 6, but since it went so smoothly they decided to take more. Then the spaceship malfunctions and they get abandoned on an ice planet. Before that, Georgia and some of the other women come up with a plan about how they are going to overpower their captors and try to get free. But, then they get abandoned with only one guard, that Georgia kills. She puts on his suit and goes out exploring the ice planet and encounters Vektal. He is a big blue alien with a tail, but unlike their captors he's neither mean nor ugly. He is also convinced that she is his mate. He protects and cares for her, in more ways than one. They aren't able to communicate very well, but she is able to convince him to return to her ship to save the other girls; this becomes easier once they see the frozen body of one of the girls. He realizes there may be more, which means more mates for his people. They return and luckily the bad aliens put a translator on one of the women so she and Vektal are able to communicate and it's agreed that Georgia will leave the furs and most of the provisions they brought and that she and Vektal will return to his tribe and he will bring help to rescue them and he will be able to do this because he is the chief of the tribe. The rescue goes well. On the way back to their home they hunt a beast that has a special worm that will allow the women to survive the harsh climate and potentially mate with the men. Oh, and Georgie is already pregnant with Vektal's baby so she definitely needs the worm. She goes first as the leader of the women and then they all follow suit. Georgie wants to contribute to the tribe and makes Vektal take her hunting, but that doesn't go well and they have a conversation about the other ways she could contribute. It was sweet. Knowing that this series is light and fluffy and so consumable is delightful. I will be reading the next book.