Proceed With Caution:
This book deals with severe anxiety and has mentions of abduction.
The Basics:
While this is the sixteenth book of the series, it primarily takes place way back at the beginning. It starts in the present (end of series), flashes back to when the women were first stranded, and then picks back up where we left off. That's because we're finally getting Ariana and Zolaya's story!
My Thoughts:
Barbarian's Beloved takes us way back to the start of the series when Ariana and Zolaya were of the first couples to resonate. It actually starts a little bit in the present with Ariana missing her mate while he's away helping the Icehome tribe get set up for the brutal season. She then thinks back to their first meeting and resonance. We never saw much of these two through the series, so I was happy to finally get to know them better.
Ariana was always referred to as the crier in the series, and Barbarian's Beloved finally explains why. She struggles with anxiety, and of course being light years from Earth, there's no pharmacy or therapy. Being abducted then crash landing on an alien planet would mess with anyone's mind, but Ariana took it harder than most. Lucky for her, Zolaya was super sweet and understanding of her condition. This easily could have turned into a "healed by the power of love/sex/resonance" story but it doesn't. Zolaya is just endlessly patient and works hard to find ways to comfort his mate and ease her mind.
It was fun taking a stroll down memory lane in Barbarian's Beloved. The women and the tribe have come a long way since that initial meeting. I remember being disappointed that a few of the ladies' stories were skipped over, so I'm glad to be able to read them now from a new perspective.