You're Beautiful Tonight (Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh)

Review of 

Archangel’s Blade by Nalini Singh

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past - but Dmitri's need to discover the turth is nothing compared to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face-to-face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel's right hand and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality - the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting... and it will not stop until it brings a blood soaked nightmare to life once more.

Let's star this review by talking about the cover of this book. I mean really? That has to be one of the worst ones I've ever seen. It's absolutely horrible when you look at the other covers in the series, this just looks half-assed. And I get that in the beginning we know Dmitri better, but couldn't we have had even a small hint of Honor? 

Luckily the summary at least is good. 

I was actually surprised by this book. It jumps POVs and main characters seemingly so quickly after three books of Elena and Raphael. Though that isn’t a problem at all. I think it’s a refreshing book, especially after the last one. Now when we do go back to the Elena and Raphael with Archangel’s Legion, it’ll be like seeing old friends after a long time and that’ll be just that much sweeter. Also, seeing inside Dmitri’s head this intimately? At last. 

Now, before I go on, I loved this book, so very much. This is an absolutely brilliant book, with so much pain and yet tender, heartfelt moments. But it is a very difficult read. Dmitri’s a bit of an asshole, sometimes without a reason - there are no excuses given and his perspective helps things (I’m not going to lie, I like my characters a little asshole-y). And Honor’s story is also hard to read about, just because you care about the character so much that her pain is horrible to read about in detail and also because the details are not nice. But then, Singh does it beautifully. 

Honor, who we meet the second we open the book, steals your heart the moment she steps on to the pages. In a way, she’s the opposite to Elena and that’s an interesting dynamic after so much of her. Honor’s a very real person: she stands out from all of the characters with this brutal sense of honesty that she has about herself. The feeling I get from her is that she stays true to herself, even if it’s a struggle sometimes. 

Honor’s someone who tries her best, who feels and does everything by the fullest, even if it’s hard. She just keeps fighting. Unlike Elena, who seems to be a natural in everything, Honor’s had to fight for it. And while she’s a strong person, she isn’t someone who enjoys a fight: instead she uses her brains. She fights if she has to, but she’ll get out of it the way she can. Without Honor, Dmitri could never have carried this book by himself. 

Dmitri, our old friend. I have to say, I have always adored Dmitri - he just fits that 

perfect mold of an ancient vampire: lethal and with a side note of asshole. Dmitri’s certainly someone who’ll do anything to get to what he wants and hardly cares about collateral damage. But then gain, I can’t quite imagine hurting others just because he can and that’s the line of asshole that isn’t acceptable. 

He does have a softer side, but it’s so buried under this warrior-image and his outer shell that he uses to protect himself. He’s so old and been through so much pain that his protective actions have become part of his personality. It’s hard to shed those, even to do it in 300 pages. And what I really like is that he just doesn’t magically become a better person. Instead those walls come down a little and he can breathe more easily again. 

And with this book we see inside his head and while I don’t agree everything he does, I can understand him better. It doesn’t take away his asshole-ness but it’s easier to live with, if that makes any sense. 

Their relationship starts rocky, but there seems to be this something between them immediately. Not quite a tension or immediate passion, but something in-between. They revel around each other and it becomes clear from the beginning how they act different with each other than others. And as the story progresses, you see them mold around each other. Neither changes, but it’s as if they’re dancing around each other, trying to find the correct steps so they’ll be dancing to the same rhythm and won’t step on the other. 

It unravels slowly and you see it as if in slow-motion but it doesn’t distract you from the story. 

There’s an absolute difference in the voice and the feel of this story and the previous three books. Elena and Raphael’s story is perhaps just a little more refined, a little more careful of the details. This book is more rough, the tension’s a lot more pressuring and things are much more sort of “closer to the ground”. We’re not in the fancy world of angels, that we’ve seen. Things aren’t really pretty and Singh isn’t trying to make them any prettier or uglier - she says it as it is and that works for the story. Thanks to that the story is so much more real and it makes you a part of it. That can be  hard on you sometimes when you’re reading the book, but all in all it pays off. 

The story is heavy. I had to stop at some points just because I felt so much for the characters. And actually, the thing is that I feel like this is more of Honor’s story than it is Dmitri’s. It is his also, but have you noticed how some paranormal romance books focus a lot more on the hero instead of the heroine? J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood is a good example of this: it features kick-ass females, but it starts and ends with the males. 

But not with this series and especially not this book. Archangel’s Blade is about Honor’s vengeance, Honor’s journey to being fully herself again. Dmitri takes strength from her to final find a peace for himself as well, but it’s Honor who’s the main character that Singh’s telling a story about. And well, sorry about this, but she truly honors the feelings of Honor and handles her delicately but doesn’t treat her as if she’s weak - because Honor is anything but. 

Now, if I were to have a problem, it would perhaps be the ending, just a little. The book is filled with emotional highs and lows, so the happy ending makes you stop. Things aren’t magically fixed, by no means, but the ending is really, really final. As in checkmate-final, writing a period to a sentence. After so much of things not going the way you want them to, when they finally do go, you don’t know what to do with yourself. So in a way it’s the perfect ending, but that’s the feeling it gives me.

Final thoughts: Archangel’s Blade isn’t like its the previous books in the trilogy. It’s grittier, darker and even more personal. It get sunder your skin. It tells the story about two broken people who suddenly, by working towards separate goals but oddly together anyway, heal themselves just a little. Every problem isn’t fixed just like that, by magic, but you see the struggle and how difficult things are. Honor isn’t Elena, but she carries most of the book and Dmitri just delivers the final blow - I’m in love. 

With Love (Archangel's Consort by Nalini Singh)

Review of 

Archangel’s Consort by Nalini Singh

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux and her lover, the lethally beautiful Raphael, have returned home to New York only to face an uncompromising new evil...

A vampire has attacked a girls' school - the assault one of sheer vicious madness - and it is only the first act. Rampant bloodlust takes vampire after vampire, threatening to make the streets run with blood. Then Raphael himself begins to show signs of an uncontrolled rage, as inexplicable storms darken the city skyline and the earth itself shudders. 

The omens are suddenly terrifyingly clear. 

An ancient and malevolent immortal is rising. The violent winds whisper her name: Caliane. She has returned to reclaim her son, Raphael. Only one thing stands in her way: Elena, the consort who must be destroyed...

I think that by now my reviews concerning this series should come with a warning: Beware the Fangirling. So, consider yourself warned. 

The last time I felt like this reading a series was with A)the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward and B)Daemonica series by Larissa Ione. I think that those are my top three paranormal romance series, with either Ione’s or this one as number one. (Can’t choose which one.)

By now, we know our characters, we know our world. But still Singh keeps pulling these intricate details from somewhere, and yet each and everyone one of them fits like a glove. It doesn’t fee like you’re being stuffed too full or like a continuity error that the author has just glossed over. Instead it’s as if she’s peeling back layers on a very intricate, detailed world that still remains hidden from us (spoiler: I’ve read all five in the series so far, so this concerns them all).  It’s just really wicked to pick up a book and get in to it with this feeling of “What is she going to reveal this time?” 

The back summary tells of something weird going on in the world and that it affects even Raphael. And still, this one time, the main events of the story felt a little lame - but only because the emotional things that Elena was going through were so much the focus of the story. We’re much deeper in her head than before, I feel and we see her and Raphael get very comfortable and cosy together. It warms my heartstrings. 

Though, some of the main events of the story felt a little like strings that were neatly tied and tangled in the web, but that had gotten a little frayed at the some points. They were explained away a tad too quickly or not touched upon as strongly as I had come to expect from the series. It didn’t bother me with the whole reading experience, but thinking back, I can see that the book suffers a little of the “too many villains in one story” -syndrome. Still, Singh delivers beautifully where another author could have stumbled. 

By no means am I saying this is a bad book, I’m just saying that the previous ones had a bigger mystery and more tension. In this, the bad guys are revealed pretty easily and you just wait out the hows and whys. It’s not bad but comparing it to the others you can see a shift in the tension and story. 

All in all, the book feels much more calmer. Though the bad guys are threatening, we’re not that much in a hurry. We can just relax and sit back and enjoy the ride.

In fact, that point about “what is she going to reveal this time” is exceptionally on point when it comes to this book. This book may not have the same high tension mystery that the previous ones had, but instead we really dig deep into our characters. We’ve pretty much revealed details about Raphael and Elena’s past, but in this one we face them alongside the characters as thing re-surface. It’s a spine-tingling thing to read and I love how many tiny things Singh’s managed to make magical without being too much information that could get boring. 

Raphael remained a strong presence, but while we did get to see slightly softer side to him and got definitely even more relaxed with him, he wasn’t as much of a player in this one. Perhaps because we’re so comfortable with him now that we don’t even question it. In the first and second book it was a little like we didn’t quite know where he stood, but in this one we - and Elena, too - know where his heart stands. 

Part of the reason why Raphael isn’t as “big” is because we’re so deep inside Elena’s head. That’s the feeling I had on top of everything when reading this book and the feeling that I was left with when I’d finished. And because Elena is such a delightful character, that isn’t a problem at all. I really think that even with the archangels and vampires and whatnots, she’s the glue that keeps things together. Point of views may branch out and we’ll see new characters and face new things, but it’ll always come back to Elena. It’s not cliché, it’s not boring, because Elena really carries the series on very capable shoulders. And well, one could argue that it’s actually Singh and her talents that carry the series, but even then, the series is in very capable hands. 

Final thoughts: Singh has everything so perfectly under control and she just keeps delivering with her perfect sentences and absolutely perfect storytelling. The pacing is spot on, the characters remain strong and keep getting more comfortable in their shoes so that we see more and more sides to them. This third book has cemented my love for this series for the rest of eternity. 

Go Together (Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh)

Review of 

Archangel’s Kiss by Nalini Singh

Welcome to a dark new world where lethal, beautiful archangels hold sway over mortals and immortals both, with the Guild Hunters caught in between, tasked with retrieving those vampires who break their contracts with their angelic masters. 

Elena Deveraux is a Guild Hunter. She was hired to do the impossible - to hunt down a rogue Archangel - and she succeeded where none had believed she could. But in the process, she fell in love. And not just with anyone: with Archangel Raphael. It's a love that's as powerful and entrancing as it's terrifying, and dangerous. 

But the world won't stand still while Elena and Raphael enjoy their new-found love. Vampires and angels go rogue, and it's still Elena's job to hunt them down and return them to their angelic masters. For all that she is exceptional, Elena isn't invulnerable - and the more obvious her talents become, the bigger a target she could find herself....

(Yet another case of who wrote the summary and did they even read the book. There's just something weird about that summary above.) 

Are you ready for some fangirling? Because that’s what this review might all be about. I’ve read this book now for about five times - in a row - so as someone who rarely re-reads books, that might already tell you how awesome it is. 

Now, the book begins nearly right where the last one left off and I was extremely pleased to see how it moved from there. Firstly, not all the problems where solved magically. I felt like the continuing problems all in all and the difficulties in the relationship of Elena and Raphael, are what made the story worth reading. Hell, what makes the series worth reading. 

I seriously can’t tell you how much I like the fact that things don’t just get magically solved and swept under the rug. 

In the last book, Elena and Raphael only just fell for each other. There was very little conversation about it and even in this book it’s handled as “We love each other, it just happened, oops.” I kinda like the idea of it being a surprise to the both of them, but it’s still maybe a little too much a little too fast, when you consider how long they’d known each other and how little they had good moments. Well, luckily, they admit they might not be equal and they fight about it. They get to know each other, they dance around insecurities and reveal secrets to each other. That just blew me away. It’s obvious how they both want the relationship to work and they work for it. They have conversations about things and even if they go two steps back, they keep working together. 

And that’s how, I think, it really shows that they love each other. Raphael has a serious power-advantage and still he keeps trying to see Elena’s perspective, even if he’s made clear that he doesn’t quite agree. They keep trying and they develop this trust in each other, that even though they’re not equals in power, they’ll still stand by each other against dangers and catch the other if they fall. 

Before, these two characters were a little bit like strangers to us. We were given glimpses to bigger pictures and then moved on. I think Singh’s done that nicely - if you already know the details of something, you’ll only gloss over it in your head. And that’s what it feels like the last book was like and now, as these two characters get to know each other, they also allow us to get to know them. 

Last time Raphael was more distant, but now we get to know him that much better and it’s easier to understand and like him. He really grows and while he changes a little thanks to Elena, it’s not this change from him to Prince Charming.

And similarly, Elena grows, too. In AK, it becomes more clear that she has trust issues and how strongly she cares about the people she chooses to call her family. And it’s interesting to see how she handles the big threats of archangels. She at the same time relaxes and gets more sure in her own footing. 

While I was reading the book, I kept checking the page count. It’s really hard to believe it’s only a little over three hundred pages. It feels like it’s five hundred! There’s so much happening, things that are revealed and how the plots moves... It’s like roller coaster, with slower bits that don’t make it feel like it’s frantic, a race to the ending. But neither is it slow, with lots of info-dumps. It keeps you invested until very last page and then you’re left wondering why there are no more pages. 

Well, having said that, I do have to mention that the last three scenes or so, do feel a little like they were cut for time. They stop and begin maybe a little awkwardly compared to the rest of the book. I feel like it was done on purpose, to make it stand out and to give the book the perfect ending and the next one the perfect beginning. But it’s still very abrupt, like the roller coaster just came out of a curve and then stopped, almost giving you a whiplash. 

With the last book I was pretty sure I’d fallen in love with Singh’s talent and writing, but with this it just became painfully obvious. Her other series doesn’t really sound as captivating as this one did, but when she writes this good, I’m going to have to give it a try. 

Final thoughts: If you’re at all unsure after the last book if you’d like to continue reading, picking this up is worth the try. We get a better picture of the world, all the characters and well, the storyline gets bigger and better. The hero and heroine really steal the show this time and by the time the book’s finished there’s a good chance that you’re hooked on Singh’s writing.

Seal Our Fate (Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh)

Review of 

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she's the best - but she doesn't know is 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 thins is clear - failure is not an option.. even if the task she's been set 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. Because when archangels play, mortals break...

(Note: This hasn’t been edited. I felt so bad for not updating last week, that I just decided to upload this. So the review is mostly all about the feels and none about the grammar. Or logic. Or coherency. Might come back to edit it, but that will be mainly grammar-y stuff.)

There are some books that are just really hard to write about. This one is one of them. 

Now, I adore this book. There are several, many very detailed reasons that I could fangirl for a month about, but which I have shortened below. But then, there are some parts in this book that just made me go either “Really?” or “Just no.” So I have been wrestling with that while writing this. 

Worth pointing out it also the fact that this book is one of those that made me go "Why did I wait so long  to read this? Stupid me." Once again the reason for that was the rather unexciting summary in the back. If you are in any way curious, like the genre or something, definitely worth giving it a try! I always love it when a supernatural creature is given a new twist (but if you take fangs away from my vampires we're going to have words), so I was really, really curious about how Singh would handle angels. Have to say that I love it how she writes them! There is very little religion-y stuff, which makes me go yay and they fit her world perfectly. That's all I know what to say without spoiling something. 

One of the reasons that this book is made of awesome is the main lady Elena. We get so perfectly in to her head and we see the world as if we’re watching a movie. Everything that Elena sees (and well, thinks is important enough for her attention) we see in perfect detail and yet not in a too-much-description-way. Of course, part of this is thanks to Singh’s incredible talent for detail in emotion plus action, but Elena is the star of this book. 

Sometimes, when you have a kickass hero(ine), her badassery seems to be the only thing that she is. Elena is badass, but that’s because who she is, what she’s been through. And we get a slow glimpse of all that she is the moment we get to know her and then, the actual Elena is slowly revealed and it is delicious. While Elena is deliciously good at kicking ass, she’s got these tiny details about just going around that make her jump off the page and I especially loved seeing how she could be equal parts fierce and then caring.

When we meet Raphael, he almost appears to be the bad guy. He’s strong, uncaring and unapologetic about it. He’s the one in charge and you better agree or else. Part of Elena’s relationship with him is him hunting her down and not caring much about her person. And it’s weird because when we see glimpses of his head, he seems intriguing, (deadly) smart and not so uncaring as one would think. The fact that Elena starts out really afraid of him, made me not like him in the beginning. But there are points where we see some hope that he’s not the bad guy. 

Elena and Raphael probably have one of the worst starts to a relationship. Seriously, he almost makes her pee her pants and then he begins a manhunt for her and it doesn’t matter who gets hurt on the way. I was so in love with Elena and really curious about the mystery, that it was the only part that kept me reading. Well, Singh’s awesome writing as well, but until about half-way through the book I cared so very little for the actual romance. It picked up from there, getting some good parts that made me warm up to it. 

The plot is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Singh does this slow reveal, where we get small glues as to what the bigger picture is, but it’s revealed slowly. In part, you can guess the plot as we see these glimpses of what the bad guy is doing, but the actual big reveal - what to me felt like the big reveal that Raphael and co. were hiding - is, well, shocking. 

The end is sort of a true-love-saves-all end, but only partly. The true love in this one doesn’t fix anything. When we get out last look at Elena and Raphael, not everything is okay for them, they have no magical happy ever after waiting for them. And I like that though there was the element of true love is  the exception to all rules, there were still some things that weren’t solved. And  neither of our main characters actually greatly changed because of said true love - sometimes, the brooding hero all of a sudden becomes this loving gentleman, versus the brooding man who ate with his hands, but though Raphael maybe softened towards Elena a little - because of his feelings - he still remained the seemingly uncaring, deadly smart and strong guy. With a little bit of added heart. 

The world of this book is awe-inspiring. It’s part what makes the book so good - and Singh’s writing. There are many details thrown at you, though actually not that much is said about how things are handled, but Singh delivers them in a way that doesn’t stall the story or the leader. There is very little confusion and the parts that did confuse me felt deliberate, like a character was on purpose not telling something, but that didn’t stop the story from moving on. And even then, the confusion would be cleared. When the book’s ending came around, almost all the puzzle pieces had been collected. Though, the ending is vague enough to make me itch for the next one. 

The world wouldn’t be complete without an amazing cast of other character, from vampires, angels to hunters - with little details Singh introduces every character that Elena passes and we know everything important. Well, not everything everything, but everything that gives us a clear picture of what this person seems like, the way they speak and move and then a glimpse of the actual person who may be hiding underneath - there are some delicious hints about Raphael’s people and I’d really like to know all about them. 

Final thoughts: Definitely one of the best paranormal romance books that I’ve ever read, I think I actually would rate this higher than Black Dagger Brotherhood, but I’ll say more about that once I’ve read all the books in the series. The romance started as blah and I’ve definitely read steamier ones - the physical part wasn’t that exciting, in case you’re wondering - but the details, emotion and action that Singh delivers work out all the kinks. The plot is delicious with surprises and mystery and the characters fully corporeal-feeling. Elena is the kickass star of the book and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one.