3⭐️ 3🌶️ 5🎧

I’ve been waiting for Ariadne and the Minotaur’s story for what feels like ages now! I love a good forbidden romance with mutual pining. But I have to say I was a little underwhelmed.

In the previous books the MCs were often treated as pawns by others only for them to find their own power, even if they ultimately abandoned it. This book was interesting in that both Ariadne and Asterion were Midas’ pawns but they had zero desire for power. Only the desire to be together and out from under Midas’ thumb. Ariadne’s just wanted to travel the world with Asterion and read fanfics. He just wanted to be with her.

I feel like I was left hanging when it comes to these two more than any other characters in this series and I can’t decide if I’m disappointed by that or if I even care enough about them to want to know more about their future. This felt a bit like a filler book with filler characters. Very little happened that these two characters were needed for. Yes something massive happened, but in the end it probably could have been accomplished without either of them.

However each book makes me more and more excited for Hermes’ book and Zeus and Hera’s books.

The highlight of this book was the beautiful narration by Zara Hampton-Brown and Alex Moorcock. I love these two so much! Zara brings such sweetness to the FMCs and Alex is amazing at brooding growling MCs. I think I would have been even more disappointed in this story if I hadn’t been listening to their amazing performance.

This is probably the darkest romance so far in this series, but Roberts pulls it off pretty well. I especially enjoyed the extra insights into the personalities of Dionysius and Hermes, and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

Dark Restraint by Katee Robert is part of the Dark Olympus series. The plot of this one was very suspenseful and the scenes with Asterion and Ariadne were spicy indeed. The characters of Hermes and Dionysus were some of my favorites, hopefully we will find out what happened with them in a future installment.

In this seventh volume of the Dark Olympus series, war is on the horizon. Imminent, as Hermes says. With the upper and lower city blocked form one another, it needs to be all together or not at all. Ariadne, after a hasty abortion, agrees to a marriage of convenience with Olympus' most coveted bachelor, Dionysus. Asterion has known his whole life that Ariadne is his and he is hers. If it takes some murder, spying and covert operations to get her to realize that, so be it.

This book managed to balance plot and romance beautifully as the stakes get higher and higher. I wasn't as huge as fan of Asterion to begin with but I appreciate how he treats and loves Ariadne unconditionally. The rising action amongst the plot felt really stunning and it was a delight to follow. This romance wasn't my favorite (not for lack of spicy scenes) but still a wonder to read.

Well paced, action packed and steam filled, Dark Restraint is an excellent step towards the end of this series.

This is another great book in this series. I was a bit hesitant about this pairing when it was first announced. But I ended up loving both of them and their interactions. This whole series is drawing me in and I can't believe that we are nearing the conclusion. I love how each book is a stand alone, but they still weave together an amazing background story! I look forward to more!

4 stars
3 spice

I am just not a fan of where the series has went. I was really looking forward to this couple but it started out rocky and didn't get any better. I miss feeling like the romance was front and center. I don't feel like there was enough character growth to make me believe their love story.

I also don't care for the politics of Olympus anymore. I didn't mind it when it was the undercurrent, but now it just feels like it's beating me over the head. It's hard to want to move on from this series but I think I'm just not connecting anymore.

I enjoyed this book, I wouldn’t say it was my favorite of the series but it was definitely amongst some of the better ones! I think what brings it down is my lack of interest for Minotaur and Ariadne, the stacks are high in their love story but it didn’t have me on the edge of my seat as much as I would of liked because I wasn’t really invested in them! I do however always love Katee’s ability to flesh out a character and never have their main characters (especially male love interests) feel like the same person. They are always write interesting characters and unique voices that I feel can be a struggle with series exploring multiple couples throughout.

Despite my thoughts on the main couple, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this book and how much we got to see of side characters like them that scheme or are in the background but we haven’t interacted with that much. That was really great to see and I enjoyed specifically Hermes and Hera (and am really looking forward to their respective books!)

The smut was also good in this, they were absolutely ravenous for each other! But it never got to the point where you were bored or felt like it was too much. It was the perfect amount considering their obsessive/more dark romance! I also found it to be very tolerable for myself as I am not as into dark romance but didn’t find that it was distasteful, it was the right amount for someone like me!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.
SPOILERS TO FOLLOW

THE PLOT REALLY THICKENS HERE. There's always been an underlying plot of something happening to Olympus, someone from the outside coming to attack them AND IT'S HERE. IT'S HAPPENING!! I was so nervous this entire novel because Ariadne and Asterion were literally FIGHTING FOR THEIR LIVES TO BE TOGETHER. I'm almost sad that Dionysus didn't have more of a roll in this novel because he really did seem to care for Ariadne in is own way (even if it wasn't romantic). I didn't expect Asterion and Ariadne to leave but I guess it makes sense. I'm just now very worried for Icarus. I always loved reading the OG Icarus myth (even if it's really sad) and I used to imagine that when Icarus fell, Poseidon tried to protect them. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THEM IN THE ENXT BOOK TOGETHER. But what I'm more excited for is Zeus and Hera which I'm almost positive is book 9!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for granting access.

I have been a fan of the series from the beginning, but I now want to know how it ends. Maybe I top out at 5 books in a series if there's an overarching plot. So I'm torn on where this book falls. I like that the plot advanced! I don't care about Ariadne or The Minotaur. In general, I tend not to enjoy books where the protagonists were antogonists in prior stories. It can work, but even if I think it a good book and story, that is a setup I am unlikelly to love. So the basic structure and existence of this book mean it starts with a couple strikes against it before I start reading.

I did enjoy it and I intend to read the full series. But I will reread Neon Gods and Electric Idol several times before I come back to Dark Restraint.

For completists. And probably those who like "dark" more than I do.

While I absolutely love the Dark Olympus storyline, I will not be leaving a detailed review of this book since I was not able to finish this title. I unfortunately did not love the relationship dynamic of this book.

I wasn’t too excited about this couple BUT I ended up enjoying their insight about Minos, Circe, and the plan to takeover. Especially since Ariadne was hesitant from the beginning and Asterion is only doing this for Ariadne. Not my favorite book from the series but I loved that the action really picked up in this book. We finally get to see more from the overarching plot and finally are getting to the huge conflict.

I am still eagerly waiting for the Zeus and Hera book. And after some crazy things we learn from Hera in this book I need their story asap!

Review posted to Goodreads and StoryGraph on 7/27/24. Review will be posted to Amazon on release date.

Just when you think things in Olympus couldn’t get more dire, Ariadne finds herself a pawn of the thirteen as they wait to see what plot her father, Minos, is crafting up. Ariadne doesn’t want to feel bad about fleeing but part of her knows it was wrong to leave The Minatour, Asterion, as if he doesn’t mean everything to him. When Asterion discovers Ariadne is gone, he decides to make it his mission to hunt her down but matters get complicated when Minos orders him to kill Ariadne for her betrayal. Will Asterion be able to kill the person he’s wanted for most of his life?

Holy smokes Katee Robert!! This series just keeps ramping up. The levels of political scheming happening in this book is wild. You never fully know who to trust or what their intentions are. This book was probably the darkest in the series. I’m normally not a big “you’re mine and I’ll hunt you down” girl but baby Asterion had me reconsidering my position on that. I’m glad that these two got to have a book together even if at first I wasn’t wild about the pairing. Together they’re so caring and thoughtful about the other. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this series.

In reviewing the seventh book in a series, it is difficult to avoid ranking the books… so I won’t avoid it at all. Dark Restraint is probably my fifth or sixth favorite book of the Dark Olympus series, in large part due to the central relationship. The issue is absolutely not Katee Robert’s writing, which remains as good as ever. They are well-known for writing great spicy scenes, but I also really enjoy their action scenes, including chases, fights, hostage situations, and so on. Dialogue is another strong suit of this author, particularly the incredible intense conversations involving Hera.
The problem with this book is that, once again, the author has set themselves up to fail by writing about a couple who are already supposedly in love with each other when the story begins, meaning the reader doesn’t actually get to come along on the journey. This is not the first time Robert has done this: irritatingly, this is actually the fourth time in a row. Radiant Sin, Cruel Seduction, Midnight Ruin, and now Dark Restraint have all gone the tell-don’t-show route of relationship building, and it’s just really difficult to care about a couple when I haven’t had time to see their relationship develop before the author tells me they’re in love.
It was particularly difficult for me to get behind this couple because frankly, these two main characters aren’t developed enough for me to forgive the more disturbing “dark romance” aspects of their relationship. Katee Robert generally writes women as falling into one of three categories: 1) naive, sheltered rich girls who learn to stand up to their overbearing parental figure only after they have found confidence in their sexuality, 2) cold, ambitious girl-bosses who seem evil, but eventually learn to let someone in, and 3) terrifyingly competent, androgynous or masc women who are underestimated by their rivals but usually end up getting what they want. These categories also have the overlapping, sort of Venn diagram category of plus-sized heroines who only understand how beautiful they are after someone puts them in an incredibly expensive wardrobe, after which they are celebrated as “queens” by their male love interest. Ariadne is category 1, overlayed with the final category, and there isn’t much else to her. She is somehow both naive about the world and aware of it enough to be cynical about her future. She insists that she loves the Minotaur, despite the fact that she is legitimately convinced he is going to murder her for the first half of the book. The Minotaur is a pretty terrible romantic lead. Maybe this is a me problem, maybe I just don’t get dark romance, but the gratuitous violence, the stalking, the possessiveness… it was all too much for me. I wasn’t rooting for the characters, as a couple or as individuals.
I do really hope that the author is able to turn things about in Sweet Obsession. I’m holding out hope because it does seem like we’ll finally get to see a whole romance play out instead of getting dropped in the middle of it. All in all, though, I can’t recommend Dark Restraint, and although I did finish my entire ARC, I won’t ever return to read this book again.

I was super excited that the publisher granted my wish to read this one- yay! Somehow this was my favorite book so far in this series even though I really didn’t like Ariadne and the Minotaur. I don’t know, they were such an odd couple to me and it just didn’t vibe. The spice was decent, not her best spice, but I was really into the whole political intrigue that was going on. I feel like I’ve been waiting for something to happen on that front while reading the series and I think we’re finally getting somewhere. Interested to see where the next book takes us!

Unfortunately at this point in the Dark Olympus series, Ariadne & Asterion's love story got a bit lost in the shuffle. It seemed like this book served the sole purpose of acting as filler leading up to bigger stories and moments we've been waiting for from the beginning. The whole plot is essentially an escape plan with tender lovey dovey moments peppered in, and the pacing felt a bit off through the ups and downs. Overall, I don't think this book is a good representative of such a strong series and I just hope that whatever comes next is more engaging.

As a long-time fan of the Dark Olympus series, I have always found comfort in its fun and simple take on mythology, with delightful Easter eggs scattered throughout. However, this book left me feeling a bit disappointed.

The shift towards politics and war has overshadowed the romance that initially drew me to the series. The romantic build-up was almost non-existent in this book, and the smut, usually a highlight in Katee's books, didn't hit the mark for me. I found it hard to root for the couple, which is quite sad given how invested I've been in previous books.

The plot now feels like a bit of a cluster, making it hard to follow with random characters popping up left and right. It almost feels like the series is getting too long and losing the charm it once had.

That said, I'm hopeful for a return to the elements that made this series a favourite of mine in future instalments.

"You've been mine from the moment I saw you. Your father might have been dangling you in front of the Olympians like a particularly tempting fruit, but we both know the truth. You are mine, Ariadne."

“I meant what I said in the maze all those weeks ago. She's mine. I'm never going to let her go.
Even if I have to hunt her down to prove it to her”

Did I love it? Absolutely. Did I fell even more in love with this dark and twisted and mafia vibes like version of the Olympus? Definitely. Have just developed an unhealthy obsession with a man who’s going around calling himself the Minotaur and is absolutely obsessed with Ariadne? Possibly. Once again this author made me a mess. Absolutely thrilled and amazed and delighted to read these stories and these characters. This is book seven in the Dark Olympus series and despite the fact that the single dark romances story are pretty much self-standing. In order to understand the overall plot that’s going on on the background, threatening our characters’ peace, you better read them in order. This time around the romance is spicy (as per usual), it’s addictive and it’s intense but it’s a friends to lovers romance, at least as friends as these two could have been in their world. But the way he is obsessed with her … gosh it made me melt on the floor. The length he would go to, in order to protect her, even when her own father is asking him to unalive her … made me feral for him, while they were feral for one another. There’s something so sexy about two characters being so overwhelmed by their love for one another that they can’t control their action when they’re together. I loved it. And the complex things happening between the Thirteen and Olympus itself … gosh I already know I need more in this series !!

“I don't give a füçk about begging permission to take what's mine. You know as well as I do that the next time you see me, you're going to end up on my ć0čk just like you are right now. And if that has to happen in the middle of a fucking party of these goddamn Olympians, then so be it. I'll claim this püşșy, claim you, where everyone can see it."

"Be ready for me, Ariadne. Or I'll bend you over the table right in front of your fiancé and all those cameras."

“I have been in love with this woman since I was a kid, but it's never felt like this before. As if the overwhelming need I had for her, to be around her, has morphed into something infinitely stronger. As if she's pulled my heart right out of my chest with her bare hands.”

I didn’t love Ariadne and the Minotaur in this book but the plot was giving in this book!

So happy we got Hermes back in this book

Hera- an icon. She’s is the baddies bitch of all and a force to be reckoned with

Literally cannot wait to read more about Icarus and Poseidon tho

Overall rating: 3.5

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC; this is my honest review.

Ariadne and Asterion’s story was one of my favorites so far in the Dark Olympus series. I’m a sucker for the tough MMC only being soft for the FMC, and this book did that SO well. The way Asterion protects and takes care of Ariadne … be still, my heart.

The chemistry was intense — and scorchingly hot! — but it definitely wasn’t the only thing the book had to offer. The high-stakes politics and intrigue are a lot of fun — like the characters, you’re not quite sure who to trust.

This was an all-around great read for me and a great addition to a series I really enjoy.

Oh my goodness this book!!!

I have been so excited to read Ariadne and the Minotaurs book for ages!! It delivered everything it needed to!!👏🏼👏🏼

First of all, the book starts with a BANG. Literally. 🤭 I was pleasantly surprised. I’d forgotten how the previous book had ended so I was a little shocked by the events until it all came back to me.

I seriously can not express enough how much I love this series. The story between Ariadne and the Minotaur was great. Their chemistry was amazing. I love a friends to lovers storyline and they gave me exactly that!!

I’m so invested in the on going events in Olympus and can’t wait to find out what happens next. 🙈🙃