A steamy return to Olympus with political plots and intrigue!

This is book #5 in the Dark Olympus series, so if you're here you're probably wondering if this one is worth your time. YES! Absolutely! This is not a standalone, and references a lot of what happened in book 4. Just like putting on a cozy sweater, I loved returning to Olympus surrounded by characters we've learned to love (and loathe), especially when Achilles and Helen reappeared.

The book starts off fast and doesn't let up. It's Aphrodite's wedding day to Hephaestus, and Adonis shows up asking her to run away with him. From there we watch the relationship between Aphrodite, Adonis, Hephaestus and Hephaestus' bestfriend Pandora, tangle in a hot, steamy web you won't want to escape. I especially appreciate the low-angst when it comes to our main characters feeling jealous.

If you've been listening to the audiobooks, you'll be pleased to know that Alex Moorcock and Zara Hampton-Brown are back! Zara's voice is like silk, I love the way she voices both Pandora and Aphrodite. Alex did a great job with keeping the many male voices separate with different tones/pacing.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this advanced listener copy.

This book is best read in the kitchen, while someone you love makes you breakfast. Oh and don't forget to put on your bulletproof vest, it's going to be a wild ride.

Cruel seduction was great! I really enjoyed what the author did with Eurydice. I liked that there wasn’t a forced romance between Theseus and pandora too.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for an eARC of the audiobook.

The narration itself was great. What I struggled with was the messy messy relationships …which I probably should have read the synopsis beforehand. It has a MMFF poly relationship going on. Too much for my brain lol. There was also a lot of politics it seemed.
Katee Robert writes a lot of steamy scenes as expected.
Loved returning to this world but these couples were not for me.

This could be a matter of my own expectations, but this book left me a bit cold. It is super heavy on the plot and political machinations. NGL, I was also expecting a foursome from the character art I saw and we did not get that. The spice that we did get was good, but again, this is a plot heavy book.
Since I did the audio for this, I’ll say the narrators were ok. The male narrator had an annoying voice for women, and the woman narrator tended to sound kind of young and breathless.

So, maybe 3.5 stars? I did still like it more than Electric Idol, which remains my least favorite.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the requested copy to review. All opinions are my own.

Katee Robert's Dark Olympus series just keeps getting hotter. Cruel Seduction is the story of Aphrodite and Hephaestus--united in matrimony for political reasons, each of them determined to see their side emerge victorious. Olympus is in danger. Unrest and assassination attempts abound in the aftermath of the former Hephaestus's murder. Minos is taking advantage of this instability to further his own agenda, which is the downfall of Olympus and the 13 ruling Olympians.

Aphrodite and Hephaestus loathe each other, but their chemistry is explosive. Add in Adonis, Aphrodite's ex, and Pandora, Hephaestus's best friend, and you have a foursome for the ages.

As the Dark Olympus series has expanded, Robert has done a great job of building out the world. The politics, the relationships, the intrigue, and the drama is incredible. Helen, Achilles, and Patroclus had cameos in this one, and I loved exploring the dynamics between Aphrodite/Hephaestus, Hephaestus/Adonis, Hephaestus/Adonis/Aphrodite, and Aphrodite/Pandora. It really was a "why choose?" kind of situation. The ending left me in the good kind of shock, and now I can't wait to see where she takes the characters next.

Zara Hampton-Brown and Alex Moorcock delivered fabulous performances for the audiobook version. Each had two separate character perspectives to flesh out, and their skills were more than a match for the task. I could easily track which chapters were whose, thanks to their incredible voice-acting skills.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the advance listening copy.

Two can play the seduction game. The only problem, hearts are all too quick to get involved....

Do we ever know what Katee Robert will do next! Nothing should be a surprise!! But oooohhhhhweee!
Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Adonis, & Pandora are now my favorite in the Dark Olympus world!
Enemies to lovers, Arranged marriage, Life Threats, DONT TOUCH MY WIFE! AHHHHHH. (:

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media & Katee Robert for this ARC!

Cruel Seduction
By: Katee Robert
Dark Olympus, Book 5
Released date 8/8/23
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Narrated by: Alex Moorcock, Zara Hampton-Brown

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Dreamscape mediafor an advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh where to begin with this. The 5th installment in the 'Dark Olympus' Series by Katee Robert brings so many of your favorite KR staples back. This is a queer friendly, sex positive, nonjudgmental look at poly relationships and I can definitively say- I've never read anything quite like it. I was worried going in that I would not care for the new Hephaestus as the last time you saw him on page HE WAS DOING A MURDER. So I had some strong concerns about him being a principle in this story when I didn't really want to hear about him at all and boy was I so delightfully incorrect about that. His character growth was a delight to read and turned him into a character I really enjoyed and no spoilers but I cannot wait to see what the up coming books have in store for Hephaestus' roll. The other characters were also a delight for the time that you saw them.

Unfortunately that is the extent of what I can say Robert really did perfectly. The characters while being enjoyable were not as fully flushed out. I think Robert's publishing schedule is to blame but the last few in these series have seemed less and less complete. You get a taste of something fun/hot/interesting but you never get to fully dive in. When I finished this book I thought my ARC lost a few pages since you only ever really get closure from 2 of the 4 mains and even then the resolution leaves so many unanswered questions. You have the characters lamenting the same feelings/thoughts over and over again and it wastes precious page time. it's supposed to be 'an open poly knot' but you don't even see 1/2 of the pairings interact or have any sort of closure. It was honestly pretty frustrating. I would rather have a thoroughly flushed out plot than have 3 books a year.

Also for this book having 4 principles and having this mediocre level of spice is *wild*. I know no book owes you spice or whatever but the spice does set these books apart, and yet there was only a solid 2.5 chili's in this bad boy.

Lastly, and I think this might be just a me complaint but the set up of the entire series needs an adjustment. If there are only 4 main characters than why are Theseus, Eris, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Adonis, and Pandora ALL also main characters. Maybe this is the minority opinion but it gets confusing. Also I had an eCopy as well as the audio and guess what Eris sounds just like when spoken aloud? You guessed it: 'Ares.' so that wasn't confusing at all.

Overall I'm still going to be a Katee stan and I actually see her for a signing next week but my girl needs to rest those creative juices.

Thank you NetGalley, Katee Robert, and Dreamscape Media for this ARC copy of Cruel Seduction in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

This was book #5 in the Dark Olympus series. Books must be read in order for the best reading experience.

I read the ARC ebook before getting to also experience the audiobook. These books get taken to a whole new level with the audio experience. The quality is really good, and the narrators did an excellent job in bringing each character to life. - Highly recommend

This time around we follow the open poly knot that is Aphrodite (Eris), Hephaestus (Theseus), Adonis and Pandora.

After the secret the 13 kept closest gets out due to the series of events from Minos's party - Olympus finds itself changing whether the people are ready or not. The drama ensues when Aphrodite and Hephaestus decide to marry - and keep the citizens of Olympus distracted.

Distractions involving one party's ex (Adonis) and the other's closest friend (Pandora).

When twisted games of politics and deceit go awry - they quickly discover that more than the stability of Olympus is at stake... their hearts are as well.

This book kept me on my toes, and was scorchingly hot! I cannot wait for the rest of the world to get their hands on this one... OR to see where Katee takes this world next!

Read if you love:
-Enemies to lovers
-Greek Retellings
-LGBT+ representation
-Dominant Men
-Morally Grey characters

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great and spicy romance. I adore these Greek myth retellings and cannot wait for more from Katee Robert.

I received this ARC from #netgalley and it did not disappoint. Per usual with our lovely @katee_robert the 🌶️ was 🔥. I loved the dynamics of our main characters. They each brought something different to the table. Theseus (I may be butchering the spelling of his name. I listened to the audiobook.) surprised me as being my favorite. I love a bad man turned good. 😏 Oh, and we have the most superior trope of all time (don’t at me, I’m right, you’re wrong 😜), touch her and you die. 😍

If you’ve been following along in the Dark Olympus series, continue on my friends because it only gets better with this polyamorous, on par spicy installment!

And if you aren’t a part of the #darkolympus fan club yet, then what the hell are you waiting for!? 😜

Oh👏My👏Good👏ness👏 I snagged the audio version of this book and it did not disappoint. The drama was plentiful; although, it did become a little too much. But did this stop me? Absolutely not 😅Definitely appreciated the updates on characters from previous books. The four main characters were well written as was the storyline. There was some 🌶️ that was hella good and super messy! Enjoyed the book and truly looking forward to the next one!

Would definitely recommend to others…and could be a stand-alone due to briefs references to the previous books. However, the little blips were not sufficient for a full understanding.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the gifted ARC (audiobook)…as all opinions are my own.

Cruel Seduction is book 5 in the Dark Olympus series. Katee Robert does it again with a fabulous Dark Olympus novel. Wicked Beauty & Radiant Sin will still remain my all time faves.

🔥 polyamorous MMFF
🔥 marriage of convenience
🔥 enemies to lovers
🔥 spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
❄️ heavy on Olympus politics

I thought the narration was done well. Although I would have liked 4 different voices for the 4 different characters to follow along better.

Cruel Seduction is book 5 in the Dark Olympus series. It took me a minute to get my thoughts together for this ALC. Katee Roberts always delivers a great story with lots of spice, steamy scenes, and drama! The drama is always always, but for some reason, this book is not my favorite. It just had too many POV, 4 actually, and I just couldn't keep up with WHO IS WHO now. But normally, when I listen to audiobooks, I read the book at the same time. So hey, it's could be just me. This will be released on August 8!

I would like to thank Katee Robert, Netgalley, and Dreamscape for allowing me to review the ALC for my honest opinion

The narration was great. They did an awesome job making each character have such a distinct sound. And I enjoyed the multi pov.

I really liked the overall story. The polygamous relationship was so well done. I just wish there was more of it.

The steamy scenes were amazing as I've come to know from Katee. She never disappoints there.

But it felt a bit rushed through and the plot only slightly developed for the whole series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of release in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved this one and didn’t want to leave this book and polyamory relationship (FFMM) I do wish the book had more with them all together then how quickly it ended but I still loved the emotions, depth and characters that I still have this 5 ⭐️

I’m Katee fashion she always delivers on 🌶️ content.

Thank you to Netgalley for audio ArC to read and review.

I received this ARC Audiobook in exchange for my honest opinion and I was so thrilled when I got approved for this book because Katee Robert is a huge author and I’m just a small account, but life was good and I got lucky! 🍀

The book is called Cruel Seduction and it is the fifth book in the Dark Olympus series, which is a modern retelling of Greek myths with a dark and sexy twist. 🌟 The book is about Aphrodite and Hephaestus, who are forced to marry each other by Zeus, and their complicated relationship with Pandora and Adonis, who are their lovers. 💕

I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately I had to stop listening halfway through because of the narration. 😢 I have ADHD, and reading was part of my therapy when I was a kid working with a teacher in school. She noticed that I could hyperfocus (which is when people with ADHD put their full attention in something they are super interested) when I was reading, and she encouraged me to do this to help me with school, because I was struggling a lot. 📚

When I’m reading and it’s a multiple POV, I sometimes need to go back to the beginning of the chapter to remember who’s POV I’m reading if the story is a bit confusing, because I get lost. In audiobooks, it helps when we have different narrators because I can easily connect to the voice and focus on that. 🎧

However, this book is a polyamorous romance and they are using the same female and male narrators for the voicing of our two female and our two male characters, and although the voice is slightly different, in my ADHD brain, they sounded the same and I got lost. 😕

I was really starting to get into the story because I love enemies to lovers, arranged marriage and polyamorous relationships, but I had to stop because I kept mixing up the voices and got so confused. 😭

I think I will wait for the book to be published to continue. It is expected to be released on August 8, 2023.

I hope the audiobook publishers take this into consideration for future projects. 🙏

This was 3.5-4 star read for me!

It's predictable but also hot. I'm mostly here for the smut and some of the plot. The Dark Olympus series is starting to merge into one massive story in my head with drama at every turn. I was immersed in Aphrodite's troubles but it also fell a bit flat for me. It wasn't as exciting as the previous books, but I still enjoyed the overall plot and obstacles that the characters overcame.

This whole series has been great. And spicy. But this one - phew!

The four main characters were all fantastic, and the angst and tension was strong! And the feelings ran deep!

Also, the narration on this audio is fantastic!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

If you like this series more for the queer rep and different relationship dynamics then this is a nice instalment to the Dark Olympus series. It also notably has a bit more action than previous books I've read in the series. I didn't much care for the audio because it just didn't click with me. I'm looking forward to more but I honestly will probably forget this by next month.

***3.0 Stars***

I received an Audio Advanced Copy from Netgally in exchange for my free and honest review.

Overall,

I enjoyed this next installment in the Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert. I think as far as the characters go there was some depth to a couple of them but I would have liked to know a bit more about Pandora and Adonis as individuals. The story overall was fun, and we learn alot more about the over arching issues going on in Olympus. This probably would have been a 4 star book for me up until the ending. It felt very abrupt. Everything was resolved and then it was just over. There were some decisions that felt like they came out of left field. The romance was good.

Audio.
The narrator is the same as the rest in the series and I enjoy her narration.

Recommendation,
I would not consider this a standalone. You will need to read the first 4 books in this series in order to understand all that is going on. This is a dark romance, but for the most part pretty light in those aspects. There is some spice.