Showing posts with label Alexa Egan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexa Egan. Show all posts

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

Review: Demon's Curse - 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.

Imnada Brotherhood Series:
Awaken the Curse (Novella)
Demon's Curse (26th December 2012)

Visit Alexa Egan's website for more information

Review:
Mac is part of an elite military unit who are gathering intelligence during the war, they are also part of a secretive race of shapeshifters called the Imnada. The Imnada were supposedly wiped out by the Fae related Others centuries ago but in reality they have just worked hard to remain in hiding. When threatened with discovery Mac's team do what they have to to protect their clan but as a result of their actions they find themselves cursed. Now with one of his until murdered Mac believes someone has uncovered their identity and that he is their next target. Bianca is a popular actress but when rumours link her to the murder of her close friend she is asked to take leave from her job. She is grieving for her friend and desperate to prove her innocence but she can only do that with Mac's help. Can they work together to catch Adam's killer and possibly find a way to break the curse?

After reading the prequel novella Awaken the Curse I had high hopes for Demon's Curse when I picked it up but unfortunately I found myself feeling let down by the time I finished it. I normally love the combination of a paranormal romance with a historical setting but in this case the book just really struggled to hold my attention and I even found myself skimming sections which is something I never usually do. Firstly I was surprised to see that there was no link between this story and the prequel novella, I wasn't expecting to see much of the previous couple but I did think that Lucas might have an important role to play in the series so it confused me that he wasn't even mentioned. I do wonder if he will crop up in future books but at this point it kind of feels like there was no point in reading the prequel, it certainly didn't give me any information that I needed to read this story.

At 400 pages this isn't a massive novel but the pacing really drags in parts which made it feel much longer than it was. You have to wait a long time between the action scenes and I just found myself getting bored. I know there is always a certain amount of world building to be done in the first book of a new series, in fact that is something I usually enjoy because I like finding out the details, but in this case I had so many questions and it took forever to get any answers. Perhaps it's just me but I didn't even understand what the curse on Mac and his team did to them until about half way through the book! I still don't know much about the Imnada or the Others (on a side note I have to mention what a boring species name Others is - especially when you compare it to Imnada!) and the whole feud between the two groups seems ridiculous.

Mac and Bianca were likeable enough characters but neither of them stood out in my mind, in fact barely a week on from finishing the book I can hardly remember anything about either of them without looking at the notes I took while I was reading. I did like the fact that Bianca's past isn't brushed under the carpet as soon as she meets Mac. She had suffered a great deal at the hands of her abusive husband and that made her especially wary of Mac. Even when she got to know him better and decided to give in to the attraction between them she still had moments where her memories would surface and effect the way she reacted to Mac. I felt that this was a very realistic reaction for someone who had been abused and I really liked the way Mac was so patient with her and helped her work through her issues. I also liked the fact that Bianca wasn't a useless female who sat around waiting to be rescued by her man and that she helped him as much as he helped her.

I would like to find out more about the Imnada and I really want to know what will happen with Lucas (from the prequel) but I'm really not sure if I'll continue reading this series. I can't say that I hated the story but I can only say it was OK, nothing about it blew me away or made me excited to carry on reading future instalments. I may well be in the minority with that though so I don't want to put anyone off giving it a try. Hopefully you'll enjoy it much more than I did.

Source: Received from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Thursday, 6 December 2012

Review: Awaken the Curse - Alexa Egan

Now available only as an eBook, the dark and sexy prequel to the Imnada Brotherhood series about a clan of shape-shifters and telepaths living secretly as humans for centuries.

One very passionate and very scandalous kiss separated university student Justin McKeegan and professor’s daughter Kate Lacey. Now five years later, Justin, the new Lord Duncallan, receives an unexpected summons from Kate’s father begging him to come to Wales. When Justin arrives, he finds Professor Lacey has vanished while studying a mysterious ancient obelisk, and everyone blames the nightwalkers, sinister creatures said to haunt the surrounding remote Welsh mountains. Do these legends point to the existence of the Imnada, a race of shape-shifters said to have died off a thousand years ago? Or is the professor’s disappearance the result of a very human villain? Justin and Kate are determined to find out the truth, knowing it may be the only way to find her father.

Even as they work to unravel the mystery, they find that they’re not the only ones interested in the obelisk and the lost race of Imnada. Treasure hunter Gilles d’Espe believes the ancient dolmen is the focal point of the shape-shifters’ power and would do anything to lay his hands on the last of four silver disks he needs to unlock the dolmen. A disk that hangs around the neck of Justin McKeegan. While Cade, a local villager, is determined to refute both the claims of nightwalker sightings and the power of the dolmen as superstitious nonsense.

Justin and Kate soon find themselves fighting for their lives. Yet every hour they spend together makes it harder to lay aside the bitterness of the past and a very new and very real temptation…

Imnada Brotherhood Series:
Awaken the Curse (Novella)
Demon's Curse (26th December 2012)

Visit Alexa Egan's website for more information

Review:
I have a bit of a soft spot for books that combine paranormal romance with a historical setting, that does cover two of my favourite genres after all so I see it as a two for one deal! Awaken the Curse is a prequel novella to Alexa Egan's Imnada Brotherhood series, the first full length book, Demon's Curse, is being published at the end of December so I thought I'd try this story first.

Main characters James and Kate first met five years ago when James was a student of Kate's father. They fell headlong into a secret affair but things fell apart after they were caught kissing by Kate's father and they haven't seen each other since. But when Kate's father goes missing while investigating an unusual obelisk deep in the mountains James knows he must help Kate find out what happened to him. Kate's father believed that the obelisk is an artifact that was created by the extinct race of Imnada shape-shifters but with local rumours of nightwalkers attacking humans and now his disappearance Kate and Justin wonder if the Imnada are really as extinct as they have been led to believe.

It is hard to introduce a new world along with several different types of supernatural creatures in a novella so although I felt the author managed to catch my interest I have been left with a lot of unanswered questions. That isn't necessarily a problem though and I do think that there is a lot of potential for things to get really interesting in Demon's Curse. I'm looking forward to learning more about both the Imnada and the Others (who are somehow related to the Fae) and the different abilities that they may have. I also definitely want to see more of the mysterious Lucas!

As far as the romance in this story went I felt things were a little rushed but that is something I usually expect when reading a novella. The couple did have a past history so that helps to explain how they rediscover their feelings so quickly but I have to admit that I found Kate's actions confusing at times - especially towards the end of the book. I can't really say too much giving spoilers so I'll just mention I found her actions to James were very cold considering what had already taken place between them. Although Awaken the Curse didn't wow me as much as I'd hoped it would it wasn't a bad introduction to the series and I'm left with high hopes for the next book which I'm planning on reading very soon.

Source: Received from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review

Other reviews of this book:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Kindle:

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