Archangels can kiss me anytime

I must admit it. Paranormal romance is amazing. 
I really love Vampire books.  Blood and sex ~ sounds like a hell of a party.  I am getting into werewolf books. I like pack thinking.   Biting definitely belongs in romance.  Alien saga novels are quaint but not exciting.  But angel books have potentials. 

Archangel's Kiss continues the story of the Guild Hunters saga as its the third story. 
The heroine of Angel's Blood, Elena Devereaux has transmorphed physically.  Her relationship with the archangel, Raphael, will define her continued existence. These major life changes thrust our pale headed hunter into a tricky world of angel politics and culture. 
It is a hell of a tale.

This review will spoil the reader for the Angel's Blood.  the events take place one year after the conclusion of that novel.  I will try to lessen the effect of the spoilers. 

In Angel's Blood, we meet Elena Deveraux who  is hunter born. She can scent vampires. A necessary skill as a guild hunter, a bounty hunter for vampires. In this world, vampires are enslaved to the angels that crossed them over for one hundred years. Many do not like the arrangement. The guild hunters retrieve runaway vamps for their angel masters.
This video should explain everything (if you know German)...

There you go.  A recap of the first book. 

In this book, Elena wakes from a year long coma and must learn to walk, fight, and fly.  Yes, she wakes up as an angel.  And she has to attend angel school with angel children.

I like Elena.  She doesn't make a series of stupid or bad decisions. She isn't so head strong that she ignores the advice of those smarter than herself. Kudos to Nalina Singh, the author for not turning her into a bitch full of "why the fuck did she do that"  moments.  

The author must have a degree in fashion design.  She explains angel couture in ways that made me imagine her wearing the garments as she wrote the book.  As a girl, I paid close attention to footwear descriptions, even when they contained references to knives and blades. 


There are a set number of archangels in this world.  There are always the Cadre of Ten.  At the end of Angel's Blood, the ten has been reduced to nine.  The lesser angels are expecting to position themselves to be raised to archangel status while the Nine consider the sanity of its oldest member, Lijuan.  Lijuan has organized a ball in Elena's honor.  The mystery behind Lijuan's graciousness and her necromantic hobbies means that Elena will need to be strong by the time of the party.  In addition, to the looming party, there is the inevitable power plays by the lesser angels who see Elena as Raphael's Achilles heel.  They strike out against her as she prepares her body and mind to live amongst angels. 

Singh doesn't lay out good and evil for the reader. Good and evil are related to history and nostalgia.  Ignore it.  Think morality and ethics.  Imagine the morality of a 2000 year old angel and a 50 year old angel.  Power gains with age while the angels ability to empathize with humans lessens.
In the relationship between Elana and Raphael, her archangel lover, the age differences is more than 2500 years.  He is a powerful archangel, she is a fledgling angel who can barely fly.  I loved where this went.  Singh wrote her as a warrior not some pretty pale haired angel.  She didn't not take anything away form Elena in this book.

This is how the story begins.
In angel culture, the two angels would relate as fledgling to headmaster. The other angels refer to Elena as Raphael's pet.  In human culture, they would be man and woman.  Perhaps, soulmates.  Can Elena wrap her head around these Alpha and submissive roles? Can Raphael accommodate her need to be loved as an equal? And where is she going to keep her weapons hidden in her wing modified clothing? 

Singh loves her readers because she spends time with the couple as they develop their relationship.

In addition to the Cadre of Ten, to which Raphael belongs, he has his own group of Seven warriors whom he trusts with his life.   We met the blue winged angel, Illium in the previous book.  Singh, has a weakness for a man's eyelashes.  She projected that weakness onto Illium. He must have the sexiest eyelashes in literary history.  The other six members of his Seven make an appearance in this book.  The Seven include both sexy vampires and sexier angels.  Yummy.   I am hoping there will be more exploration of the Seven in succeeding books. 

I can't end this review without admitting the following.  I was anxious to read some high flying angel sex scenes.  You can look for them yourself.  I am not telling anything.


You can find an excerpt here but be careful, this is the second book of the series.