Demon's Curse (Imnada Brotherhood #1) by Alexa Egan

A fast-paced and captivating debut—the first in the dark and sexy Imnada Brotherhood series about shape shifters in Regency-era England. 

A rising star on the Covent Garden stage, Bianca Parrino believes she has everything she wants. Independence. Wealth. And a life finally free of her violent, abusive husband. But when her close friend, Adam, is murdered, and Bianca is suspected in his death, she is unwittingly drawn into the search for his killer, and soon must question everything she believes—about her friend, about herself, and about a world she never knew existed. 

A member of the mysterious race of shape-shifting Imnada and part of an elite military unit, Captain Mac Flannery gathered intelligence during the Napoleonic wars. As a result of a savage massacre, Mac and the men he served with are cursed. Now one of them has been found murdered, and Mac suspects the existence of the Imnada has been discovered at last. His only link to unearthing the truth is the beautiful actress who turns up unexpectedly at Adam’s funeral. 

Before long, Mac has more to contend with than Bianca’s overt mistrust, his ill-fated attraction to the haughty and beautiful actress, and his ongoing search for an end to the curse. Because Adam’s killer is back, and Mac is next on his list.

 This was an interesting mix of genres in a book. To me, it was mostly a historical romance and a PNR with a dash of fantasy for flavor. It held all three of these genres and it blended it nicely. I would however, disagree with part of the book's blurb. It isn't a fast paced book, but rather slow paced as some historical romances tend to be with some fast paced action on occasion.

In this story 4 shapeshifters of the clans of Imnada all go to help the war effort and defeat Napoleon. As they are gathering information, they find themselves exposed for what they are and they are bound by their clan law to eliminate any threat. When the threat comes from a fay-blood they become cursed and must endure the shift to their animal nature every night. This makes them anathema to the clans and they are banished. All are looking to eliminate the curse while a member of the fay-blood is looking for revenge. One was murdered and this is what brought them back together after their cursed night and expulsion from the clans.

The love interest is between Bianca, the friend of the murdered man Adam, and Mac, a clansman to Adam. Mac falls for her not because of her beauty nor popularity, but because of her strength of character. Of course this is not easy for either of them as Bianca has PTSD from a previous marriage and Mac is suspicious of everyone not in the clan. Can you say frustrating romance with periods of aw? :)

I have to admit that I was not always thrilled with Mac. I really loved the fact that he cared enough for Bianca to help her through her PTSD, but found him infuriating when he would trigger her problem because he couldn't decide what he wanted. He knew he triggered her problem and yet he didn't. Yes, I wanted to kick that shifter in his hind end. :P However, this became a nice contrast for Bianca and I found her to be someone who had great strength within. I know many of you love this kind of frustrating tension, but I sometimes think enough is enough. But that is just me. :)

I give this mix of genre book 3 stars. I really do think that this series will take off now that this world is established and I'm curious as to what happens next. It's not a cliffie, but not everything is solved and I want to know how they solve it. I recommend this book to those that love historical romance and want something a bit different.

I received this book from Pocket Books and no compensation for my review was given.

Btw, I found the cover a good one so I'm nominating it for:

I have been enjoying this meme on Felicia's The Geeky Blogger's blog and have finally found some time to join in. The other players are Amanda from On a Book Bender, Christi from Smitten with Reading. Button made by Missie at The Unread Reader

Would like to see his eyes, but the chest is good... :D