CURSED BY FIRE is book one in fabulous Jacquelyn Frank's new Immortal Brothers series. It is a fantasy set in an alternate world with gods and a light touch of magic. The gods feel similar to the Greek pantheon- fighting amongst themselves, and with all-too-human deadly sins and foibles.

The kind of gods I really love to despise. Our hero, Dethan, and his three brothers have been punished for centuries for their hubris in tracking down and snatching the gift of immortality. Dethan and his brothers were all plunged into separate hells for their eternal punishment. Dethan has been condemned to burn alive over and over in an endless cycle after his body regenerates from his last fiery torment. Frank is pretty creative in the gruesomeness, right?

Dethan has lost all hope of salvation, until the Goddess of Conflict, Weysa, arrives in his hellfire. She offers him escape from his punishment if he will raise an army to defeat her rival gods and restore the people's worship of her. Dethan is returned to his world centuries after he was banished for punishment, and must find a way to build another army to follow him. Dethan is a very manly man, with gorgeous muscles and a firm mien. I expected the men around him to burst into song like Gaston's firends in Beauty and the Beast, "I'm especially good at expectorating!" Dethan is only a jerk at the pre-torture beginning of the book, though, and then transforms to a competent and ultimately a loving man. It's wonderful to read as he goes through his metamorphosis.

Selinda is heir to the throne of Hexis. Her father is uncaring and frankly nincompoopish parent and an incompetent king. He traps Selinda into betrothal with a truly heinous man, Grannish. Grannish finds Selinda distasteful, but agrees to marry her in order to usurp the role of ruler over Hexis. Grannish never quite tips over into a caricature of a villain, and heightens the drama considerably. Dethan agrees to enter a pragmatic bargain to save Selinda's city from a warring tribe hovering outside the city's gates in exchange for Selinda in his bed. This bargain allows Frank to showcase her well-honed skills in writing bedroom scenes!