Reviewer: Tracy Archangel's Viper by Nalini Singh
Series: Guild Hunter #10
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 Prophecy, Archangel's Consort (Guild Hunter, #3), Archangel's Prophecy, Archangel's War, Archangel's War , Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's Sun, Archangel's Light, Archangel's Resurrection
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: September 26th 2017
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 400
Add It: Goodreads
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Series Rating:
Once a broken girl known as Sorrow, Holly Chang now prowls the shadowy gray underground of the city for the angels. But it’s not her winged allies who make her a wanted woman—it’s the unknown power coursing through her veins. Brutalized by an insane archangel, she was left with the bloodlust of a vampire, the ability to mesmerize her prey, and a poisonous bite.
Now, someone has put a bounty on her head…
Venom is one of the Seven, Archangel Raphael’s private guard, and he’s as infuriating as he is seductive. A centuries-old vampire, his fangs dispense a poison deadlier than Holly’s. But even if Venom can protect Holly from those hunting her, he might not be able to save himself—because the strange, violent power inside Holly is awakening…
No one is safe.
Holly was brutalized by a psychotic archangel, forced to drink his tainted blood and had to watch her friends die in the most horrific way. She survived, however, and now it’s four years later and Uram’s blood is turning Holly into…something. When angels turn humans the humans turn into vampires. Not so with Holly. She’s part vampire and needs blood but she also needs food to survive. She has strange powers and her bite is poisonous. Holly has been hiding from her friends and mentors all of the changes that have been taking place in her and the powers that are getting stronger and changing all the time. She’s scared of what they all mean. Now that Venom is back, however, she can’t hide any longer as he sees her for who she is.
Venom has been at the Refuge for the past two years and only mentoring Holly via phone calls once a week. Now that he’s back he sees that that hasn’t been enough. She’s learned a lot from Janvier and Ashwini but Venom sees the changes in Holly that others might not have noticed. He sees that she’s a lot like him and he tries to teach her how to deal with those changes. When he heads out with Holly to see who has a bounty on her head he gets to know her even more. Though he tries to ignore the attraction between them and the admiration he has for her he soon realizes that she’s the one he needs in his life – permanently.
Wow. Venom and Holly’s story was SO good! I wasn’t sure how this was all going to play out as Venom has been nothing but stoic in the previous books. I wondered if he could fall in love and what that would look like. I now know and it was beautiful!
I loved the banter between Venom and Holly. Even when they fell in love it didn’t end and that was nice to see. Just because they fell in love didn’t turn them into mushy baby talkers. Lol Of course Singh would never do that with her characters, but I still appreciated it. 😊
The story revolved around Holly and the strange thing that was growing/awakening in her. Not only was she freaking out over that but then something new and different gets added to the mix when Holly meets another of Uram’s survivors. I couldn’t believe how strong Holly was to put up with what was going on inside her. Sure, she was physically strong but her mental strength was incredible. She went through some amazing situations that would break a normal person but she got through them like a champ. I was so impressed by Holly, can you tell?
Venom was awesome. I loved him in this book. He was strong and capable, understanding and compassionate, caring and loving, and sexy as hell. Could you ask for a better hero? I also loved how he let Holly do her thing and didn’t try to control the situations. I want a Venom of my own, oh yes, I do. Lol.
Singh’s writing, storytelling ability and world-building were once again AMAZING. I don’t know how she does it time after time but all of it combined blows my mind…every time. I picked this one up and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. If you’ve been reading the series you won’t want to miss this one. If you haven’t read the series? You’re seriously missing something wonderful.
Rating: 5 out of 5