Angels’ Blood by Nalini Singh

Published March 3rd, 2009 by Berkley Sensation

Author’s Website: http://www.nalinisingh.com/

Synopsis from the author’s website:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she’s the best—but she doesn’t know if she’s good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, only one thing is clear—failure is not an option…even if the task is impossible.

Because this time, it’s not a wayward vamp she has to track. It’s an archangel gone bad.

The job will put Elena in the midst of a killing spree like no other…and pull her to the razor’s edge of passion. Even if the hunt doesn’t destroy her, succumbing to Raphael’s seductive touch just may. For when archangels play, mortals break…

Review:

I loved this book!  I could not put it down!  I found myself reading through meals, reading while brushing my teeth, reading in parking lots, and reading late into the night long after I should have been asleep.  I have been looking for a paranormal romance/urban fantasy series to take the place of the Anita Blake series in my life…but that disaster is a story for a different day.  I think I may have found that series with the Guild Hunter Series.

First we have our two main characters, archangel Raphael and guild hunter Elena.  I liked them both.  Raphael has this air about him that is dark, scary, and dangerous.  But at the same time it is so enticing.  I wanted to know about him and I wanted to know what he was capable of.  Elena is similarly dark, scary, and dangerous.  But that was interesting and enticing too.  What really amused me was that through the entire book Elena keeps insisting about how different they are, when they are actually strikingly similar.  The sexual tension between the two of them was a constant tease through this entire book.  After awhile I wanted to just scream at them, “seriously just do it already!”  When they did it was passionate and sensual and such a relief.  It was about time and it was a great scene.

The idea behind this plot was simply fascinating.  It was something that I never would have thought of, and I found that refreshing.  Angels are the ones creating vampires, very unique.  Angels have the ability to turn into blood sucking monsters and kill hundreds, also unique and fascinating.  So many elements of this story were unique for this genre and it was so excellent to read.  I have been craving something I’ve never read before in the paranormal realm and I finally found it.

The only complaint I could possibly make is that there was so much going on that, at times, I had trouble keeping track of everything.  So many things were left unexplained until the very end that they melded together in mind and occasionally I found myself confused.  But this was a minor setback and ultimately didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the story at all.  I cannot wait to move on to the next in the series, and I look forward to finding out what’s going on with Elena next.  The hole in my paranormal fantasy shelf is filled and I couldn’t be more excited to watch it evolve.

Rating: A solid 4.5 out of 5.