Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh
Series: Guild Hunter #2
Also in this series: Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Blade, Archangel's Consort, Archangel's Storm, Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter #5), Archangel's Legion, Archangel's Legion (Guild Hunter #6), Archangel's Shadows, Archangel's Shadows, Archangel's Enigma (Guild Hunter, #8), Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter #1), Archangel's Heart, Archangel's Heart, Archangel's Heart (Guild Hunter, #9), Archangel's Kiss, Angels' Blood, Archangel's Viper (Guild Hunter, #10), Archangel's Viper, Archangel's Prophecy, Archangel's Consort (Guild Hunter, #3), Archangel's Prophecy, Archangel's War, Archangel's War , Archangel's Sun, Archangel's Light, Archangel's Resurrection
Publisher: Penguin, Berkley
Publication Date: February 2, 2010
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Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…
They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…
This review was originally posted on February 12, 2010.
Yes, Elena has woken up after a year-long coma and she is an angel. She is also weaker than the smallest angel child and cannot fly. This is Elena though and if you read the first book you know that that’s not going to bring this woman down. She will do whatever it takes to get up to full speed, especially after receiving the invitation from Archangel Lijuan. Along with getting physically strengthened Elena is also taking classes and learning about angel history. She befriends a boy, Sam, who looks to be about 4 years old but she is sure is much older.
Raphael is by Elena’s side – there to help and protect her in her weakened state. He enlists his vamps. who pretty much don’t like Elena at all, to get her conditioning in place and increase her strength. While Raphael wants Elena strong, he also wants everyone (other archangels, etc.) to believe she’s weak so that they as a couple will be stronger against others.When evil messages start showing up in the form of beaten vampires with Guild Hunter knives shoved in them Elena and Raphael go on the hunt to find out who is sending the awful messages. When Sam is kidnapped they ramp up their investigations in order to find out who’s sending the threat to Elena.
I really liked this book. While Elena was weak and having nightmares and reliving memories that she’d rather leave buried she was still an incredibly strong character. She just didn’t let anyone get away with crap and I admired that about her. Raphael was incredible. I need to get me some Archangel! lol He loves Elena with everything in him and while others think that makes him weak it really makes him a stronger person.
Of course Nalini’s Guild Hunter/Angel/Vampire world is incredible. The descriptions of the Refuge where Elena was recovering and the Forbidden city where Lijuan lived were just beautiful and at times I felt I could reach out and touch whatever she was describing at the time.
While this is not a fast-paced story it did have moments of combat and intense emotion which were all the more incredible because of their rarity. I would have to recommend that you read book 1 in the Guild Hunter series, Angels’ Blood before you read Archangel’s Kiss as I think you would be lost in AK without doing so.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
i just won this one on a giveaway but i’ll hold off reading it until i can get the first book. thanks!
How far did you get? Because the first 3 or 4 chapters were hard to get through. After that I think you’d enjoy it, though.
I have to agree with Holly, Seneca. It starts off a little slowly but definitely builds.
It was a DNF for me.
Well I guess that blows that theory then. J
I forgot that you didn’t like the first book. I think this series just isn’t for you my friend.
I made it to Chapter 16.
It’s not that I didn’t like the first book, I just that I didn’t think that it was anything special. I think I gave it a C when we reviewed it at Breezing Through,I’ll have to double check on that, though.
Yup, a C.
http://breezingthroughbooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/angels-blood-review.html
What was interesting about this book for me is that when it came out I did not think I would like it. I liked (not loved) Angel’s Blood, so I was not inclined to buy Archangel’s Kiss. However, I am really glad that I did. I thought the second book was really great, and she really made me want to know about a lot of the secondary characters!!
I ,too, loved the relationship between Raphael and Elena, because while they are obviously completely devoted to each other, them being together has not taken anything away from either of their individual personalities. They remain distinct characters. I was also very (and surprisingly) a fan of Raphael’s anti-hero qualities. He was not a good person (archangel), necessarily, but he was by no means evil. I had not originally liked that about him, but this book made it a lot more attractive to me, I guess. I completely agree with your rating of 4.5/5, and cannot wait until Archangel’s Consort!!!