Curse of the Wolf King

Gemma Bellefleur wants to leave an old scandal behind her. Instead, the fae king Elliot captures her on his land, planning to hold her for ransom. She talks him into a different arrangement: help him trick someone into loving him before his curse kills him, in exchange for her freedom.

Elliot has spent years hating humans, and his curse is nearly due. Gemma is meant to find him someone else to love, but working that closely with him turns her plan against her: the attraction growing between them is real. Breaking the curse would save his life, though it would also turn him into a wolf for good.

The book retells Beauty and the Beast inside Faerwyvae, the fae world Tessonja Odette also uses for the Fair Isle Trilogy. It reads as new adult fantasy romance, with wolf shifters standing in for the beast and fae court politics standing in for the original's household. This is the first book in the Entangled with Fae series, though each entry is written to stand alone.

The romance is slow burn and stays open door rather than explicit. Odette writes toward a happy ending throughout, so the tension comes from how Gemma and Elliot get there rather than whether they do.