In the latest installment of the Dark Olympus series, we follow Aphrodite and Hephaestus, who marry each other in a true act of convenience. Neither can stand the other, but to keep the number one enemy of Olympus from destroying everything, Aphrodite decides to marry Hephaestus. As the saying goes: keep your friends close and your enemies closer. What neither of them expects is just how much they are drawn to each other. As hate turns to something more and their wicked plans to make the other sweat by involving their respective loved ones in a dirty fight for power, emotions get blurred, lines get crossed, and what started as a marriage of convenience might just turn into the messiest yet best romance of their lives. Yet Olympus is still reeling from what happened and when push comes to shove, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Pandora, and Adonis will have to decide whether to prioritise love or power.
Talk about a marriage of convenience, alright. Katee Robert did not take this trope lightly and instead paired the most (seemingly) incompatible people together who are basically just waiting to have the other shipped off to the afterlife—while also unable to ignore the growing attraction between them.
I was initially a bit hesitant with the setup for the polyamorous relationship (Hephaestus and Pandora, for example, have never been more than friends) but I shouldn’t have worried. As always, Robert offers up dynamic, complex bonds between all the characters involved and makes the open polyamorous knot feel like the perfect solution to everyone’s messy emotions. And talking about messy: I loved how every single character was a hot mess yet somehow met their perfect match in each other. Adonis, for example, was such a strong addition to the overall relationship dynamics, which I did not see coming. His growing attraction to Hephaestus and the way he’s trying to ignore it had my heart pounding. Not to mention the friendship between Pandora and Hephaestus that only got more intriguing once Aphrodite came into the mix. It was such a joy reading about everyone’s different perceptions of themselves and their growing bonds with each other.
On top of that, there’s a whole lot going on in Olympus that is driving the stakes higher and higher. If you thought the last book upped the ante, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Olympus is threatening to combust (or collapse) with the way political tensions are rising and as new players are gambling for power, older ones try to keep the peace—while also keeping their loved ones safe. One thing’s for sure, there’s a storm coming to Olympus and I for one can’t wait to see what happens when everything finally goes down.
Seductive, entrancing and downright cunning, Cruel Seduction is a must-read for fans of the marriage of convenience trope and who can’t get enough of the scheming world of Olympus.
Cruel Seduction is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 8th.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
He was my enemy. My lover. My husband. And the one man I swore by all Olympus I would destroy.
*A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Aphrodite and Hephaestus (and Pandora and Adonis).*
Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she’s not about to start now―even if that means marrying Olympus’s enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet.
Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his new wife in her place. Her ex, Adonis, seems like he’ll do the trick. It doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous in the way of fallen angels, either.
The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they’ve come to love.
