This series has been hit or miss for me. I've really loved a couple of them and some of them have just been "meh". Unfortunately, this one fell into the latter category for me. I just couldn't get on board with Ariadne and the Minotaur's story. I didn't feel like there was a solid plot, it was really all over the place. There was a lot of confusion for me.

This won't deter me from reading books in this series in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was hot!!! I really enjoyed the hotness and I’m here for the story, I cannot wait to see what happens with Olympus and I’m much more interested in the next books. This pairing was sadly not it for me but I still had fun.

Another steamy edition to the dark Olympus series. This book follows the minotaurs story and although I thought he would be an absolutely unredeemable character after his actions in previous books, I should know by now that this author has a way of making everybody's motives come to the surface so that readers can understand and eventually be rooting for this love story, even though it stars a villain. The city of Olympus is becoming a even more brutal playground for the rich and elite, and it will be interesting to find out if the city will still be standing by the end of the series.

I genuinely think this may be my favorite book in the Dark Olympus series. The minotaur/Ariadne romance has been built up throughout almost every book in the series so far and so it was so satisfying to finally get to read their story.

I was obsessed with everything about this book. I'm also obsessed with Katee Robert's ability to write a riveting romance while also continuing such a complex overarching series plot line. Can't wait for the next book!

Thank you to Netgalley for my ALC copy.

The narrators nailed this one. It picked the series back up with the spice and drama we've all come to love from Katee Robert.

As much as I was obsessed with Neon Gods, 3 or 4 books into this series my interest was waning, dark Restraint pulled me right back in, I feel like we finally have traction again in this series as the main plot line is progressing. I loved learning more about Ariadne, and I feel we were set up so well for the next book in this series. Katee Robert, you’ve reeled me back into this series!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love this series so much and never want it to end even though I know it will. This is a series that I can reread or listen to many, many times. This book was no different. I excited to go back and reread this series and find anything I missed and get all the spice again.

Thank you NetGalley for an audio copy of this book.

The narrators hit this out of the park! They were perfect for these roles and easily brought the characters to life. All Katee Robert fans will be pleased with this one!

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this and I love the series. This isn’t my favorite of the series and I felt like there was less plot in this book than the previous ones. It was still enjoyable but not my favorite.
I loved Dionysus and I am looking forward to Icarus’ story if he has one.

I enjoyed the audio and thought the voice actors did a good job portraying the characters.

*Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape audio for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Restraint is the seventh book in the Dark Olympus series, but I've only listened to Midnight Ruin from this series. I enjoyed that book because it primarily focused on the main characters' relationship, so I didn’t feel too lost. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for this book—I was completely overwhelmed by the politics and the sheer number of characters, both appearing and mentioned.

Ariadne and Minotaur’s relationship felt more like a subplot, so I struggled to get invested. Ariadne herself was somewhat irritating, and I strongly recommend checking the trigger warnings—abortion is usually a hard limit for me. To fully appreciate the world Katee Robert has built, I think you’d need to start from the beginning. On the plus side, the smut was excellent, which I’ve come to expect from KR, but overall, this was just an okay read for me.

🎧The audio was just fine, I'm not a fan of either narrators but they did a good job

⚠️𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠/𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐤⚠️
- Abortion (off-page)
- Child abuse
- Guns/violence/murder
- Drugging

#DarkRestraint #NetGalley

Of the Dark Olympus series, this one wasn’t my favorite. At times it seemed pretty repetitive. Not gonna lie, I was really hoping for a bit of action with Dionysus. Towards the end it really picked up though and I did fall in love with their love story.

The narrators were exceptional as always!

While not my favorite pairing/dynamic so far in the series, it did actually keep my interest and the characters grew on me. The minotaur can feel troublesome, but a few key lines in the book turned my perspective of him around. I adored Dionysus in this story, and how atypical it feels towards his traditional lore narrative. I enjoyed Ariadne's perspective and she did wonders for grounding and helping the reader navigate the story.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for this ALC!

- I’ve mentioned how this series is struggling to balance everything as the plot becomes more significant, but I think this one did a better job of having enough plot to keep things moving without taking everything over!
- Okay the “Touch her and die” trope mixed with “I’ve been ordered to kill you” created such incredibly delicious tension and I’m obsessed.
- While I wanted more background from both characters, I think the pacing (which was really quick) would have suffered if that was added.
- There are major TWs, and I recommend checking those before reading.
- The audio for this one was so well done, and it really helped me sink into the story!
- I love the headline recaps that Robert has done-it’s been so long since I read the first few, and that really helped me remember what’s going on.

Ohhhhhh did this add another piece to the puzzle! I'll be honest, I'm to the point where I want the storyline developed more than the smut. I have officially reached the, what is going to happen and who is going to make it through, stage. Don't get me wrong, I'm not skipping past the steamy bits but the plot has moved along so wonderfully.

My favorite thing about this book was the relationship trope. Something about the childhood crush, love-at-first-sight tropes always get to me, probably because I love the idea of finding your person so early in life.

I did get lost a bit in the actual Olympus plot, though I'm not sure if that has something to do with me or this major piece of the story feeling like Too Much. Though I guess that tends to happen sometimes in romance novels.

Overall, I really enjoy this series and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next and who the next book will be about!

This was a great addition to the Dark Olympus series. It was interesting learning more about those on Minos's side, although can we really say Ariadne and the Minotaur are on Minos's side?

I've enjoyed seeing Ariadne throughout the previous books, so I liked seeing her perspective of the conflict in Olympus. It was also great seeing more of Dionysus! I wasn't expecting that, so that was a fun surprise. The Minotaur was obviously different than we've seen him before.

I'm interested to see the ramifications of the events of this book and how they will ripple out to effect the others in Olympus. As always, I'm looking forward to the next book in this series!

I didn't think it would be possible to enjoy the political moves better than the couple in these books. Of course the smut is always enjoyable but their relationship was...meh.

Ariadne is the least strong of all the female characters so far. Apart from her hacking abilities, there's not much to her. She's just a sweet girl. The Minotaur is a monster of a man who adores her but I just didn't get the vibe between them.

Plot wise though, this story had it all happening. Major moves, major revelations, double crossing and distrust oozing out of everyone.

The ending gives us a glimpse of the next book's characters (Icarus and Poseidon - sounds like fun) and I also can't wait for Zeus and Hera's book. That is a hate/hate relationship so far so it will be interesting to see where that goes.

This is fun with great spice! I didn’t read books 5 or 6 but I still understood enough of the plot.

This book is a loose retelling of the Minotaur and Ariadne. In this, the Minotaur is not an actual monster but a kind of crime enforcer. He’s been obsessed since childhood with Ariadne, daughter of his crime boss employer. The two share a spicy moment but then Ariadne runs away and, for reasons that didn’t entirely make sense to me, gets into an arranged engagement with Dionysus.

The first half kind of jumps around and is a bit confusing, but the second half picks up and the plot at the end is plotting!

It's spicy. It's dark. We are ratcheting up the mafia-esque tones of this Dark Olympus World with each new book. This story gives us a look at the other side of the equation both outside of Olympus and within. We see a little of my favorite character, Hera. And a refreshingly kind(?) portrayal of Dionysus. It's exactly what you expect from Katee Robert and a nice addition to the series.

This one actually had more plot than the others in the series. I did like that for the most part kind of. So I listened to the majority of the audiobook but switched to the ebook occasionally. I feel like I was more invested in the story/plot when I was reading the ebook. Since this did have more plot than the others in the series, the audiobook made it a little harder for me to focus on that since I’m typically listening while working and doing household chores and getting interrupted a million times. I like the narrators and found the book to be easy to listen to, but again, hard to focus on the plot. Overall, if you are looking for a book that furthers the plot a lot in this series, then you will probably enjoy this one.