Curse of the Wolf King by Tessonja Odette

Dates Read: May 16, 2023 – June 7, 2023
Date Published: April 7, 2023
Source: Owned hardback

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But no. There’s no room for me. Not when society has already decided who I am and what I should be. A daughter. A woman. A wife-in-training. Quiet. Demure. Chaste.

Gemma is determined to get out of her poor provincial town. (Beauty and the Beast retelling, duh.) She simply won’t accept her father’s wish for her to marry a well-off suitor and become a baby-making housewife for the rest of her life. So, she pursues a job where she can save money and make it out. She follows a “help wanted” ad to a rundown manor and soon finds herself cornered by wolves. A beast comes to her rescue and tries to convince her to stay with him. Headstrong Gemma sees him for what he is, seeing right through the scheme he’s playing at. She counters his scheme with an offer. She’ll help him find someone to fall in love with him and break the spell that has befallen himself, his manor, and his servants. In exchange, he is to give her a sum of money that will help her to leave town and start fresh in her mother’s homeland of Isola. What she doesn’t expect is to become fond of the Unseelie beast king and to be drawn to the caring, selfless man under the mask.

I don’t hate his smile. In fact, it isn’t terrible at all.

This was such an enjoyable read. I admit the beginning was a bit slow. From the time we meet Gemma and follow her around town to the time the wolves close in on her to the time she is finally told what the heck is going on and a deal is struck. That seemed to drag on BUT I did so LOVE the story once we got into it. The Unseelie King was so fun to read and the ending of this book nearly broke me. I was feeling everything. Frustration, hope, relief, shock… I was just on a rollercoaster of emotion in the last quarter of the book. I felt like I knew where it was going but that didn’t hinder the reading experience for me. I just genuinely enjoyed it.

“Dance with me, Gemma. I’m begging you. I cannot do this without you.”

I have to say, though, I am a sucker for Beauty and the Beast retellings. So that could be a factor here but I really did like it, regardless. I needed a standalone after reading TWO series that destroyed me (one of which I was waiting on the final book for) and this delivered!