The Wolf King by. Lauren Palphreyman | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spice: 🌶️🌶️

Title: The Wolf King (Wolf King, #1)

Author: Lauren Palphreyman

Format: borrowed (KU)

Pages: 475

Publication Date: 9/14/25

Categories: Fantasy, Romance, Politics, Werewolves, Romantasy, Enemies to Lovers

When a princess is kidnapped by an alpha , war rages between the humans and the wolves. But soon, forbidden attraction starts to grow. . .

Princess Aurora longs to escape the castle and the marriage that has been arranged for her.

But on the night before her wedding, at a dog fight where captured werewolves are made to fight for sport, she spares the life of a young wolf. It puts her on the radar of the powerful alpha who was going to kill him. And it changes everything.

That night, when the alpha escapes, he kidnaps her and takes her to the rugged lands north of the border — where the once warring werewolf clans are beginning to unite. He thinks that she is the key to winning the war against the humans.

Only, as they spend time around one another, forbidden attraction starts to grow. And as Aurora learns that not all wolves are bad, the alpha discovers that she is in danger from both his enemies, and those he once considered friends.

With monsters on both sides, a bloodthirsty war between humans and wolves raging, and undeniable passion growing between them — will their story end in love? Or tragedy?

And will Aurora ever get home?

Does she even want to?

Content Warning: violence

+ I kept seeing this book on KU and then finally saw someone say on here how much they loved it. So I downloaded because I felt like I was in a romantasy slump (I took a break to finish arcs), and was craving a good romantasy. And I’m so glad I read this one, because I devoured it!

+ Princess Aurora is about to be married to a horrible man so when the alpha from a werewolf clan kidnaps her she goes willingly – telling herself she is saving her people but secretly knowing she is saving herself. from her future husband. Aurora was raised to be poised, and in control of her emotions but once she is free from her duties she learns she has to toughen up in a different way because now she’s surrounded by werewolves and they have their own hierarchy of doing things.

+ This is a romantasy and Callum, alpha of Highfell, is charming! Yes he is the enemy because he kidnapped her and basically wants to hold her hostage but he was very easy to fall in love with because he’s a good guy, loves to tease Aurora even when she throws a fit, and clearly they have a physical attraction that’s hard to deny. I thought their relationship was very sweet and he’s very protective of her. It does get spicy between them.

+ I really enjoy the politics of the werewolves and how they are fighting the humans. Even though there are a few characters to learn, I didn’t have a hard time keeping track of them. I actually felt like there were so many intriguing characters, like Blake. Blake…he is mysterious, dangerous, can’t trust him, very full of red flags and yet, I’m wondering if this is turning into a love triangle? Not sure I want that to happen. And what does that say about me that I want to know more about the really bad boy instead of Aurora staying with the really good guy?! 😅 But it’s hard not to fall for these werewolves in kilts! Anyway, there is a lot of politics and right now Aurora is the pawn and I want to see how this ends up for her character.

~ I think I want to see a little more fight and growth in Aurora and I’m sure it is coming. I’m grateful for Callum and his goodness because she would’ve been passed around and bartered if not for his protection! But eventually I want to see her take power into her own hands.

~ I really hope it’s not a love triangle, but why am I not set on Callum being her love interest? Because of Blake.😅

Final Thoughts:

I needed a romantasy to read this week and this came through! I devoured it and the second book (review coming) in 2 days. And now I have to wait for book three which bums me out so bad. 😅 I’ve always been a fan of fae and vampires more than werewolves but this one is so fun, it might be because of the kilts and the charm! I enjoyed the politics, the werewolf hierarchy drama, Aurora being a human princess among wolves, the romance, the spice and Blake. So glad I finally read this one!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Weekly Wrap Up | 7/13/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ Hubby and I are going to Las Vegas on this weekend, to catch Lady Gaga on Saturday. I think this is the first time we are leaving the kids behind together (usually one of us stays back or the kids come with us). So yes, I’m a little anxious over that and probably won’t stop worrying until I make it back home lol. But I’m excited to go to a concert – last concerts I went to in Hawaii was Backstreet Boys (they were amazing) and New Kids on the Block (and TLC was the opener!). Lady Gaga is on my concert bucket list. Beyonce is too and I had tickets but it’s for the following week and I told myself it was crazy to flight out 2 weekends for concerts. 😅 I regret I sold the tickets sigh…BUT that means I’m definitely going to her next concert for Act III – hoping it’s in 2027 so I can start saving NOW.

Blog Posts:

Love Unmasked by. Becky Dean | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
New Book Releases This Week | 7/8/25
Top 5 Tuesday | Top 5 books with sizes in the title | 7/8/25
Book Covers with People on the Cover | TTT | Top Ten Tuesday | 7/8/25
The Bewitching by. Silvia Moreno-Garcia | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️
WWW Wednesday | 7/9/25
Silvercloak by. L.K. Steven | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
Let’s Talk Bookish: Book Hype | 7/11/25
The Jasad Crown by. Sara Hashem | ARC Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Books I Finished

Currently Reading:

Roots of Darkness by. Demi Winters

A Steeping of Blood by. Hafsah Faizal

Once a Villain by. Vanessa Len

The Night Prince by. Laura Palphreyman

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

K-pop Demon Hunters – Soundtrack – music is sooooo good!
We Were Liars (Amazon Prime) – finally finished it and I was like OH YEAH that was the twist!! The twist is good but man was it a sad/dark show.
The Buccaneers (Apple TV+) – still going since I only get an episode a week.
Kesha (new album) – so good!

Why does this song make me think of all the red-flag MMC’s we all fall for in the books! LOL…

Videos I Posted to Youtube:

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

Instagram | Tiktok | Youtube

WWW Wednesday | 7/9/25

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

How is everyone’s week going? It was a quiet 4th of July, I buckled down and FINALLY finished all my July arcs. 😅 I have only 2 more August arcs to read and then a whole bunch of September arcs. Will be glad to read non-arcs soon but honestly, a lot of the arcs I got I’m so grateful for and have been really good this year!

What are you currently reading?

A Steeping of Blood by. Hafsah Faizal – 13%

Once a Villain by. Vanessa Len – 1% just started

The Executioners Three by. Susan Dennard – just started

What have you just finished reading?

Wrath of Dragons by. Olivia Rose Darling – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Theory of Dreaming by. Ava Reid – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Soul of Shadow by. Emma Noyes – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Game On by. Ki Stephens – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

Heir of Storms by. Lauryn Hamilton Murray – where is my fairyloot book? It’s taking so long.

Roots of Darkness by. Demi Winters

A Land So Wide by. Erin A. Craig

The Dating Prohibition by. Taj McCoy

Witch You Would by. Lia Amador

What are YOU reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 7/6/25

Aloha friends!

Another week is over and here’s what happened:

+ I’m in my Labubu buying stage. I didn’t really want one but I wanted to get one for my daughter, since I didn’t know what else to buy her in South Korea as a souvenir. But I was out of luck when I went to Pop Mart there and then we tried looking at Pop Mart vending machines there and at Haneda airport and no luck. So when I came home, I felt like these bubus were haunting me because I couldn’t find one (and no I did not want to pay $75 for one – I wanted it retail price!) I was like, I’ll buy one on the Pop Mart app and went on tiktok to learn all the tricks of Labubu hunting 😅. The app was tedious and hard. It took me awhile to score one. But I scored them easier on the tiktok live US shop – it’s actually so much easier to buy it there. Anyway…my daughter has like 4 Labubus with more coming – Big Into Energy ones. 😂

She has Sisi, Ququ, Coca Cola, and Hehe. Her Coca Cola Labubu couldn’t put the red shirt on so my daughter gave it to Ququ and put a triangle on the shirt and I was like “press play?”. She said no, it’s YOUTUBE! 😅. Anyway, my best friend thinks they look scary and demonic (but her niece is obsessed so she’s buying an unopened one from me for her). I think they are cute! They remind me of Where the Wild Things Are – a book I loved reading to my son when he was young (apparently it scared him and he didn’t tell me until he was older 🫠).

+ My hubby and I have a trip to Las Vegas in 2 weeks! We’re going to see Lady Gaga in concert. I’m trying to figure out what things we can do in Vegas besides EAT and gamble? Any ideas? Last time I went with my friend was for a concert and again all we did was eat and gamble 😬. We aren’t really down for the nightlife – we are so boring, we sleep early at our age! One good thing is the hotels are so huge you have to walk a lot anyway so that’s good with all the eating.