I ended up picking up Curse of the Wolf King: A Beauty and the Beast Retelling (Entangled With Fae, Book 1) by Tessonja Odette after reading The Fair Isle Trilogy. I was going to read other books first, but I really wanted to see what happens with King Flauvis after reading the trilogy. Plus, I enjoy Beauty and the Beast retellings. I was curious how the wolf king who was one of my favorite side characters next to Franco in the original trilogy would become cursed. And what exactly that curse meant. And how he would handle a human since he very much was on the side of getting rid of all humans during the original trilogy. He loved his Unseelie form, so I was half expecting him to be in that form the majority of the book. Not in a Seelie form that we’ve never seen before. But it makes sense he wouldn’t be in his wolf form during this book. It would be a hell of a lot harder to break his curse if that were the case.
Synposis
A beastly fae king with a deadly curse.
A devious bargain to break it…
All Gemma Bellefleur wants is to leave her past behind and forget the day scandal broke her heart. But when she’s captured by a trickster fae king who threatens to hold her for ransom, she’ll find herself at the top of the gossip column yet again.
Unless…
Plagued by a curse that will soon claim his life, the human-hating King Elliot will do anything to save himself. And if Gemma can use that to her advantage, she might be able to bargain her way to freedom. All she has to do is help him break his curse.
There’s just one hitch—to do so, they’ll have to trick someone into falling in love with the beastly, brooding Elliot.
With a devious alliance made, their scheme begins, bringing Gemma and Elliot into very close quarters. Soon, an unexpected desire stirs where once there was only hate. But Gemma must fight it. For when the curse is broken, Elliot will return to his true form—a wolf—and be lost to her for good.
Can Gemma sacrifice her budding feelings to save the king’s life? Or will love force her to give up something even greater…her heart?
ACOTAR meets Bridgerton in this standalone fairytale retelling of Beauty and the Beast. If you like slow burn romance, wolf shifters, and brooding fae royals, then you’ll love this swoon-worthy story in the Entangled with Fae series.
*NOTE this book is upper YA/NA featuring mature situations and some adult language. The romance is slow burn but leads to moderate steam.
Curse of the Wolf King is a complete stand-alone novel set in the same world as The Fair Isle Trilogy. Journey back to Faerwyvae or begin your adventure for the first time with this enchanting tale. Each book in the Entangled with Fae series can be read on its own and in any order. Happily ever after guaranteed!
Book Details
- Published: April 7, 2021
- Page Count: 408 pages
- Genre: YA Fantasy and Folklore
Thoughts on Curse of the Wolf King
This book occurs 20 years after the ending of The Fair Isle Trilogy. The courts have been redrawn so many are in entirely new locations and have been updated over the years to match. Each court has two royalties: Seelie and Unseelie. Which was something that didn’t seem like it would happen at the conclusion of the trilogy, and yet there are apparently two. Curious to know who the two rulers of Autumn and Fire are since we know one of the pairs is Aspen and Evelyn. But the book focuses on the Winter Court with King Flauvis, who has learned how to deal with his missing leg. And he’s been cursed. If you read the trilogy, you would’ve already guessed that right away the second a three-legged white wolf appeared. I mean you could kind of guess that from the title of the book, but if you didn’t read the previous series he doesn’t have a name. It’s been forgotten with the curse. As his court was moved to what used to be the human area of the Fair Isle, he doesn’t know what areas were protected for humans and what ones weren’t. Plus, the dude was dealing with losing a leg, so it’s kind of understandable he didn’t know. But this leads to the incident that triggered the curse. He killed a human who killed a wolf, as a result, he was cursed to lose his magic, his immortality, his Unseelie form, and his memories. He would have one year for every individual he killed to break the curse or those four things would be stripped from him forever. Meaning he was cursed for 5 years in total. There are two ways in which he can break the curse:
- Sarcifice what he values most of the four to keep the remaining three (i.e. lose his wolf form which to him is same as death in his opinion).
- Have a human that holds Flauvis in high esteem that they sarcifice something they treasure most in exchange, and he’ll regain all four things.
If he does not break the curse, then he will lose all four things resulting in his death as his mortality will check up to how old he really is in human years. So, he’ll die within a matter of seconds or minutes if the curse doesn’t break. Not just him but everyone in his household. Whichever route he takes to break the curse or not will affect them as well. If he gives up his Unseelie form, they all lose their Unseelie form. As time goes on, more of their memories disappear. The children cannot remember their parents, or anything prior to the curse. It’s sad to witness it. Unlike Beauty and the Beast, where the household was merely furniture and household objects. This curse does the same thing to the household as it does to Flauvis.
I love the curse is handled in this retelling more than in the original. One, he admits to the curse right away. Two, he tries to use trickery to break it as he nears the end of the curse. He has three months left (though it turns out to be less). Not to mention, he doesn’t exactly imprison the damsel. I mean he does try to hold her as a hostage as she saw through his deception but ends up striking a bargain after learning that her father wouldn’t trade anything to get her back. And they agree together to get Imogen Coleman (Maddie Coleman’s daughter which I guessed straight away based on personality) to fall in love with him so she can break Flauvis’s curse. Since Gemma doesn’t like Imogen, and Flauvis just wants the curse broken fully. However, while it might be their goal to get Imogen to break the curse. Gemma and Flauvis fall in love to a point where he eventually decides he’ll break the curse himself if it means getting her instead of being forced into marriage with Imogen for the full curse to be broken. However, he finds he cannot do it himself. During the scene he makes that statement, I realized what it meant. The thing he values most is no longer his Unseelie form, but Gemma and he doesn’t want to sacrifice her to break the curse. Or rather his memories since they involve her.
I thought it was interesting that the book takes place from a new character named Gemma Bellefleur, instead of from Flauvis’s POV. Or at least alternating between the two. Mostly as we’re already familiar with Flauvis from the trilogy. I have a feeling that’s going to be the same for the next book Heart of the Raven Prince, which I know will be Franco. I loved each of their personalities in the original trilogy, so I was excited to read each of their standalone books. Because the guys are each a mood. Of course, since he doesn’t know his real name he goes by Elliot.
We also get other characters from the trilogy. Maddie makes an appearance and honestly, I’m surprised at her viewpoint of fae considering she was married to Cobalt for a time. But also not because she was a horrible person. But she spent months with the fae and their luxuries, one would think at least some of it rubbed off on her. Nope, she’s just as horrible as ever looking down on anyone who isn’t a proper and chaste lady. And treats her step-daughter Clara horribly. She has turquoise hair (half-fae due to her mother being from the Wind Court), she doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment. I’m glad she’s going to be in the next book with Franco, as it will make for an interesting Cinderella story. Foxglove makes an appearance as an interior decorator, along with Amelie Fairfield who is helping him on a project in Vernon. We also learn that Foxglove and Fehr the djinn are officially mates. Gemma ends up recruiting their assistance to make Flauvis’s estate look presentable as well as him (sorry I can’t refer to him as Elliot in my head, he’s Flauvis even if Gemma still calls him Elliot after the curse is broken). Amelie reminds a white wolf with three legs and it is related to her sister, but she doesn’t remember exactly who Flauvis is. But that’s not really a surprise, Amelie wasn’t involved in politics after escaping Cobalt and has spent her time since the war designing fashion.
I won’t spoil how the curse is broken, or who ends up plucking the rose to break it. But I liked how the story ended. Nyxia makes an appearance as she was the one originally to curse Flauvis, so she appears when it is broken right before the final petal falls. Though I won’t spoil between Gemma and Flauvis which one broke the curse, I’m glad it wasn’t Imogen. While she may have agreed to break the curse on the condition of marrying Flauvis, I can’t stand her. She’s horrible to the people around her. And while the wolf king may have been prickly, he doesn’t deserve to be stuck with her for the rest of his life. I’m also happy that Gemma was able to repair her relationship with her little sister Nina. Who finally defended her and told her to just be happy in life. Even if that wasn’t in human high society as their father had wanted.
The romance between Gemma and Flauvis/Elliot is good. Though it takes place in the span of a month, it does feel like a slow burn. The two clearly develop feelings for each other as Gemma tries to teach Flauvis how to woo Imogen. And it’s clear that even though they try to deny those feelings, they care deeply for the other. Gemma due to her past, and Flauvis because he has never experienced deep feelings like that before. Of course, as they love each other, it’s impossible for them to want to go forward with their scheme of getting Imogen to break the curse. Gemma is jealous and heartbroken over what it means. And Flauvis would rather die than lose Gemma, which he almost did. Stubborn wolf king.
I enjoyed Curse of the Wolf King by Tessonja Odette. I’m going to read a prequel short story next called To Rule a Fae Throne though I’m not going to do a review on it. Then I’ll be reading Clara and Franco’s story, which I know is going to be teasing and sarcastic at least on Franco’s side. Plus, it will be nice to see Clara get away from her step-family. The Colemans, at least Maddie’s side, are not nice people. Overall, I would give this book a 3.75 out of 5-star rating.
Love ya,
Mae Polzine
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