Generally I'm not a fan of paranormal romances that have the Fey running around being jerks. I'm actually not terribly fond of the Fey as a rule, unless we're in a fantasy setting. Urban fantasy/Paranormal does not count. Not even Historical Paranormal Romance set in 1816 (possibly my favorite of all years for Regency romances for no reason I can ascertain). But I give Egan credit--I was invested enough in the Hero's plight that at the first mention of the Fey I didn't jump ship to a new book.

Admittedly part of what kept me going was that Bianca (our Heroine) spent a fair amount of time wanting to throttle Mac for various idiocies. Note to Heroes everywhere - its probably best just to come clean about your worries, cause you don't earn smexy times by withholding that information. Bianca was a sort of heroine I like--she has gumption. She has to deal with a lot of crap in this book and Mac really adds a boatload more that she didn't need. She keeps her head high and speaks her mind, determined to not falter.

Mac for his part, was more interesting when he wasn't mooning over Bianca. Its not that I begrudged them a romance, but there are times when Egan sets this up more like an urban (historical) fantasy, then a paranormal (historical) romance. The sudden shift from the mystery of how to help Mac and his friends to how tormented Mac feels and how he needs Bianca to the ongoing problems of the Imnada didn't feel genuine. They felt a bit more forced.

I liked that Egan played around a bit with the 'shifter' curse Mac and co find themselves stuck under. There's a deeper purpose at play for the Imnada and honestly I can't wait to see how the next book plays out. ( )

Wow made it over half way through this and just totally lost interest.

Unfortunately this is one of those books that really didn't work for me. I know plenty of people love paranormal romance by Jennifer Ashley, Jacquelin Frank or Kresley Cole. I'm not one of them, but if you are, don't discount this book because of my very short review.

What went wrong? What you have here is a great promise to deliver, fabulous cover, mysterious synopsis... I was expecting something akin to Firelight by Kristen Callihan, beautiful, Gothic, fairytalish, - what I've got is a jerky, stubborn alpha male, wooden main heroine, tropes upon tropes of classic historical romances and paranormal romances and very little action...

I was bored out of my mind, peeps, and kept skimming the pages to get to the end and be done with the misery. There was absolutely no attraction between Bianca and Mac. They were telling us there was, but they were not showing it, and I think the whole problem with this book is that there is hell of a lot of talk and very little show.

I do not recommend this book, but again, I was the wrong type of reader for it. Plenty of people will find it just fine. ( )

Originally Reviewed At:Mother/Gamer/Writer
Rating: 3 out of 5 Controllers
Review Source: Publisher
Reviewer: Ariel


Demon’s Curse, the first novel from Alexa Egan and the first novel in the Imnada Brotherhood series was not a bad first novel, but it wasn’t great either.

Demon’s Curse tells the tale of Mac Flannery, a shapeshifter from a race called the Imnada and Bianca Parrino, a beautiful actress. Mac, along with three other Imnada, Adam, Gray, and David, participated in Waterloo, where Adam slaughtered a Fey-blood, magical beings that have been at odds with the Imnada since the days of King Arthur. The Fey placed a curse on the four soldiers, forcing them to shift every night rather than them shifting by choice. A year later, Adam is murdered and now Mac is convinced that someone is after the Imnada.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this novel really just didn’t grab me. To begin with, the pacing is really odd. Some parts felt really speedy and other parts felt as though they dragged on forever. Because Egan has created a world of Imnada, I expected there to be a little more explanation as to the race and some of the terminology used, but I had to pick up most of it from context. I did find out at the end that there’s a glossary, so definitely look back to that if you ever get confused. The few battle scenes that were in the novel I expected to be really drawn out and detailed, and they weren’t, which is good or bad depending on how much you care about the battle scenes.

The relationship between Mac and Bianca just seemed random to me. They initially come together because Mac hears the rumors that Bianca was Adam’s mistress, and Mac assumes she knows something about Adam’s death. It was clear that they were going to be together, because they’re the hero and heroine of the story, but other than that, I didn’t necessarily feel the chemistry there.

Since the prologue of the novel began with the four shifters, I kind of assumed that the friendship between the three remaining men would be a main focus of the novel. I was wrong. They weave in and out of the novel, but I wouldn’t call Gray and David main characters at all. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just isn’t what I expected based on the prologue.

One of my main problems with the novel (other than the weird pacing) was that towards the end of the novel, there were some new terms and new types of people (Realings). It just seemed thrown in close to the end, and I know it’s a series, so the Realings might become a bigger part of the novel later on, but it just seemed odd to throw in a Realing so close to the end of the novel without any real explanation.

All of that being said, there were good things about the book. The interesting parts of the novel were really interesting and kept my attention. The ending was intense, and I had a hard time putting the book down once I got to the last few chapters. I loved that the demons were shapeshifters, because I feel as though shapeshifters aren’t done as often, so that was different.

Overall, I give Demon’s Curse 3 out of 5 controllers. It wasn’t anywhere close to being the worst thing I’ve ever read, and the concept of the story is really interesting, but it just didn’t grab me.

( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales.

Quick & Dirty: A good concept for a historical paranormal, but didn’t deliver in the way that would keep my interest.

Opening Sentence: One of the mythical race of shape-shifting Imnada and a member of an elite military unit, Captain Mac Flannery suffers under a ruthless curse.

The Review:

Demon’s Curse by Alexa Egan is the first book in the Imnada Brotherhood series. Set in a historical setting, Egan tells the tale of a secret race of shape-shifters who demand secrecy in order to survive. With a life long rival with the Fae Blood, the Imnada Brotherhood must do what they can to protect their race from the Other and from human knowledge.

Captain Mac Flannery and his Imnada brothers have gathered at the funeral of their late brother, Adam. In a brutal and public murder, Mac and his brothers gather for the first time since their banishment from their clans. Mac must find Adam’s murderer, and he needs to start with the rising actress, Bianca Parrino. Bianca is an actress on stage and off. She brings forth a persona to keep others at bay. Bianca feels she has her independence and her wealth, and that is more than enough to keep her life content. When her close friend Adam is murdered, Bianca is one of the main suspects. She must prove her innocence, and depend on the one man she least expected.

Set in historical England, in a regency era, Bianca is independent and a free thinker. She survived an abusive marriage, is a successful and sought after actress, and is coveted by many eligible bachelors. Bianca built up a wall, shutting off her heart from the rest of the world. My connection to Bianca was a little slow. For one thing, she didn’t stand out. In the beginning of Demon’s Curse, I kept mistaking her for the antagonist, and that is never a good thing.

Mac was a difficult man to get to know. One minute he was tough and against his current life, and the next he couldn’t stay away fast enough. I didn’t think the transition between his feelings were smooth enough. It wasn’t realistic for me to accept. Mac was so focused on the murder and the curse that it wasn’t easy to accept that he could love a woman so easily. At least not to me.

I couldn’t connect to a lot of things within Demon’s Curse, but what I couldn’t connect to could be the thing that you do. It was a little difficult for me to engage with the characters. I felt the way they were introduced, there wasn’t anything tangible for me to grab on to. The details that I did grab onto wasn’t enough to keep me engaged.

The history of the Imnada was a little confusing, and I felt that the message was lost in translation. There wasn’t a simple laid out backstory of the Imnada brotherhood and their culture. I felt myself skimming through the pages looking for little bits of information. The culture of the clans, the shape-shifters, and the Imnada is what really intriguied me, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Everything was detailed, maybe too much to a point. It seemed like Demon’s Curse had too much of everything.

With so much information and events taking place, I felt the pacing was a little slow. The first half of the book seemed to drag for me. A lot of my personal preferences kept me from connecting, often times feeling that I was bored with the page. It was a little disappointing, mostly because the idea of the Imnada and the curse was different and interesting.

In the end, this wasn’t for me. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t for you.

Notable Scene:

He stepped behind her, close enough that his breath tingled against her neck. His desire lighting the deep ocean blue of his gaze. Her own passion flared, and she leaned her head back for a moment against him, closing her eyes as his hand took up the silver necklace, his fingers on her skin sending shivers down her spine to pool wet and hot between her legs.

Their eyes met in the glass as he lowered the necklace into her open palm, understanding passing with a physical shock between them. With a smile cold as a blade, she closed her fingers around the silver links as if they might burn her, but only coolness met her fingers. “Silver. Who knew such a beautiful weapon could bring down such mighty beasts?”

FTC Advisory: Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books provided me with a copy of Demon’s Curse. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )