Guild Hunters
Series:
Book 2:
Archangels Kiss:
Elena Deveraux and Archangel Raphael
Summary:
Elena has just woken up in the Refuge from a year long coma,
only to find out that she is now sporting wings. An ambrosia laced kiss from
Raphael has Made her an angel. This is the first instance of a Made angel in so
many millennia, that no one can even remember an instance of a Made angels, it
has become a myth among angels. Almost immediately after Elena’s waking she is
again thrown into the vicious world of angels. She has two months to get ready
to attend a “ball” in her honor hosted by the exceedingly creepy Archangel of the
Far East, Lijuan. The rumor is that Lijuan has created an army of animated
dead. If that is not enough there is a killer running around the Refuge,
killing and attempting to implicate the other Archangels in a mislead attempt
to become the next Archangel of the Cadre. So now Elena’s hunter skills are
being utilized in between grueling training sessions with Raphael’s Seven.
Review:
What is unique about this situation is usually with a tale
of paranormal romance once the author has figured out how to make the mortal
immortal the tale ends and we move onto a new couple. With this series the
first three books focus on Elena and Raphael, so we get to see the struggle
that Elena goes through when it comes to her newly found immortality. As
Raphael’s mate she has become the focus of many and instantly gained may
adversaries that would love to see her dead. She does not have the luxury of
getting used to her new body, she has to get in fighting shape like yesterday,
and it’s not young vampires she would have to defend herself against but
powerful vampires and angels as well as archangels. Then there is Raphael
himself who is still autocratic and has never really been in any sort of
relationship as is the same as Elena so the two struggle to figure out how two
such strong personalities can find a comfortable middle ground where Elena can
feel like an equal member of the relationship when the power base between the
two are so disparate.
Elena more than ever is facing her personal demons in this
book. She has awaken from her healing with her horrific childhood memories
close to the surface. Her nightmares have surfaced so that they are even
invading her waking moments as well. In this book she is literally going to
have to face her demons. This is not the time that Elena can deal with this,
right now she needs to get into fighting shape and flying ASAP. With the threat
of Lijuan looming over her head, she is also being stalked by Michaela, the
Archangel of Europe and vampires keep turning up either dead or brutalized with
a Guild Hunters knife. Everywhere she turns there is a threat. She is just
trying to keep her head above water yet retain her humanity as well as keep
Rafael from crossing that very thin line he is straddling.
Raphael is straddling that thin line between truly losing
himself, he knows that both of his parents went mad and that is never far from
him mind. He greatly fears that one day he will finally lose himself, but now
he has Elena who is determined that he will never go that far. Raphael is used
to blind obedience from most people in his life, only his Seven have earned the
right to question him. Now he has Elena questioning him at every turn, wanting
to be his equal in the relationship, as if a baby immortal could be his equal.
He definitely has to get used to this relationship thing. At one point when
Elena asked him what she was to him and he says you can call me “Master” I
about died laughing. I could almost visualize Elena reaction and it was not
good. But his worry over Elena’s well being and her survival is really
endearing. It is good to see such a powerful immortal care so tenderly about
someone other than himself. I continue
to love Raphael.
Since this book primarily takes place in the Refuge we see a
lot more of Raphael’s Seven. They are a a seriously intriguing bunch of males.
They are seriously bad ass and kind of scary. They have little humanity left if
they ever had any to begin with at all. Blue Bell is the only one that seems to
embrace his humanity and even he has some serious fighting skills, he can
behead with the best of them. Dmitri continues to torment Elena with his scent
and is a brutal trainer. Venom is often present, and I can’t wait for his back story
and we get glimpses of the other Seven as well. Aodhain will be really
interesting but it is Jason that continues to intrigue me the most.
As with other Nalini Singh novels she knows how to keep a
story moving so that you will never be bored. I enthusiastically recommend a N.
Singh novel to anyone and this one is no exception.
Rating:
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