Tender Cruelty by Katee Robert

23 hours ago 4

Tender Cruelty

The only way to review a book this late in a series is in a lightning review. There’s only so much you can say without spoiling the entire series. Suffice to say, spoilers for the preceding eight books lie ahead.

It is finally Zeus and Hera’s turn! PRAISE BE! I was one of the chumps who thought this would be book 3. Anyone else?

Can you believe?! Things are happening!

The threat of Circe has been hanging over Olympus for ages now and there hasn’t been much movement in the Circe plot. In Tender Cruelty, so much is revealed. We learn some of the truth about Hermes and we meet Circe. I’ll say no more than that outside of spoiler tags.

Here we go!

First, the plot. Circe’s plan to destroy Olympus is gaining traction. The entire city has been evacuated to the countryside because of the sea blockade. After the sea blockade fell apart in the previous book, the Thirteen are left floundering and trying to find Circe because they know she’s in the city.

The romance between Hera and Zeus involved a pleasing thawing of relations between the two. Although it is SHOCKINGLY revealed very early on that the two have sex in the dark every night and have done so for their entire marriage! I’m not sure if I’m on board with marital relations from the start or if I wanted their enmity to be even more all-consuming. Although how you get more intense enemies than the many-book-spanning ‘active plot to kill’, I’m not sure.

I would have liked more time with Hera and Zeus in their lovey dovey stage so I could relish the sweet tenderness a bit more, but the bigger Circe plot had different demands.

Don’t even attempt Tender Cruelty unless you’ve read the others in the series. I’ve been awaiting this story since early in the series, and if you read nothing else, please know that I really enjoyed Tender Cruelty (mostly because THINGS HAPPEN) and it brings me joy that I can recommend it to you.

Looking ahead to the final installment in the series, I believe we are offered drama of the highest order. I can’t wait.

– Lara

I was his wife. His lover. His sworn enemy. The ice queen to Olympus’s most hated king.

*A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Hera and Zeus.*

The barrier that’s protected Olympus for generations has fallen. The enemy’s breached the gates and the Thirteen are scrambling to protect themselves, their loved ones, and the city they’ve sworn to protect. At least they would be if they weren’t at each others’ throats instead.

Hera has no intention of letting her husband, Zeus, survive the oncoming storm. But despite the white-hot hatred burning between them, when Hera and Zeus are forced to work together, enmity crystalizes into something brighter. Hotter. Too powerful to deny or destroy.

Hera never bartered on falling in love with the man she married—the man she once swore to kill. But now, standing back-to-back in the ruins of Olympus, she may be forced to admit that she’s been wrong about Zeus all these years…and there may be something about their marriage worth saving if they can survive long enough to turn sworn enemies into something more.