Archangel's Kiss (Guild Hunter, Book 2) |  | Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Seller: bay-city-books
Rating:  61 reviews
Sales Rank: 45869
Media: Paperback
Edition: Original
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0425233367
Dewey Decimal Number: 823.92
EAN: 9780425233368
ASIN: 0425233367
Publication Date: February 2, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
New York Times bestselling author of Angels' Blood
Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find that she has become an angel-and that her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, likes having her under his control. But almost immediately, Raphael must ready Elena for a flight to Beijing, to attend a ball thrown by the archangel Lijuan. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan's power lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena...
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
 Another great addition to the Guild Hunter series February 3, 2010
Shannon C. (USA)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
Archangel's Kiss picks up about a year after Angels' Blood left off. After the fight with Uram, when vampire hunter Elena and Archangel Raphael almost died, Elena wakes up from a year long coma to find out that she's been turned immortal. But she's not a vampire; she's the first Angel to be made in recent history. Angels are usually born, not Made. It's extremely rare, and makes her a point of interest for the other Archangels in the powerful Cadre of Ten. In fact, it makes her a target for those who want to strike out at Raphael. In his love for her, she's become his weakness.
Raphael has taken her to the angel's Refuge, where she heals and trains to use her new body. She hasn't lost her hunter born abilities, so she hopes to eventually go back to her Guild Hunter duties. She keeps in touch with her best friend Sara, director of the Guild, and Deacon, Sara's weapons master hubby, who works on some new weapons to fit her new body with wings. Her training and snarky interactions with Raphael's Seven (his top lieutenants who help him to run his holdings) are humorous at times. With the exception of Illium, the blue winged angel we met in Angels Blood, the Seven do not approve of Elena. Although Raphael has ordered them to protect her, they view her as a weakness for their Master. It was also funny seeing Illium's flirtings with Elena, and Raphael's jealous "MINE" responses. I was intrigued to learn more about the Seven and hope to see more of them in future books. I'd love to see a books focused on Illium, Jason and Dmitri. They are my favs. Illium especially...I'd like him to find his HEA.
Elena as a character is very interesting. She's a strong woman who went through a traumatic experience as a child and who is estranged from her family as a result of that experience. No 'mary sue' character, she struggles as she grows in her new body and surroundings, and her struggles make her that much more interesting. She also is challenged with her relationship with Raphael, who is so much older and stronger. She will not become a pet, and seeks to find equal ground between them. One of the strongest beings on the planet and a member of the Cadre of Ten, Raphael is used to getting what he wants. He is not only powerful, he is cruel and vicious at times. With her human heart in an immortal body, Elena is adapting to being surrounded by predators. Elena makes Raphael more human in his love for her.
The plot primarily revolves around what's going on the Refuge--Elena's training as well as a series of kidnappings. The kidnapping and torture of the victims are suspected to be done by a powerful angel hoping to be able to join the Cadre of Ten. There are also suspicious actions that seem like someone is trying to turn Archangels against each other, and upset the inner workings of the Cadre. Elena is targeted as pawn in these actions, trying to pit Raphael against Michaela. Of course, Michaela can't stand Elena anyway and has already targeted her on her own. Elena is involved in the hunt for the perpetrators as they try to determine who is behind the attacks.
Meanwhile, the worries about Lijuan, the oldest and most powerful of the Archangels, continue. Jason, Raphael's spymaster, reports that she is growing her army of the reborn dead. When Lijuan invites Elena and Raphael, as well as the Cadre to her home for a ball, they must take the opportunity to face her even at the high risk to themselves. Lijuan has a nasty surprise for Elena, and the identity of the angel behind the attacks comes to light.
If you've read Singh's Psy Changeling books, her Guild Hunter series is darker...especially so with this book. If you like darker paranormal romance books like Black Dagger Brotherhood by JR Ward, you'll enjoy this series. Raphael is the ultimate alpha and the dark plotlines, intriguing characters, and disturbing enemies will pull you in. Only area for improvement for me was the battle scene at the end. Seems there should have been a bit more to it. But that's really a minor thing. All in all, I love this series--couldn't put it down. Definite keepers!
Other books in the series:
Angels' Blood - book one, full length novel
Must Love Hellhounds - anthology focused on characters from book one
Angels' Pawn: A Companion Novella to Angels? Blood - novella
If you are on the hunt for more books like this, check out my list of paranormal romance and urban fantasy favorites...
http://www.amazon.com/Paranormal-action-romance-must-reads/lm/R214ESW3HL12HM/ref=tag_lag_rb_munk_lmfull
(copy and paste into your browser window)
WOW - Exceeded all my expectations! February 3, 2010
P. Ferrera (Boston, MA)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
It's rare that a long-awaited book meets my high expectations let alone exceeds it like this powerhouse second installment of Elena and Raphael's love story. One word sums it up = WOW! This book was everything and MORE I wanted to see for these two characters.
Rachel became a little more humanized, still scary as hell, still extremely alpha male dominant and possessive, his MINE sends a shiver down my spine. He can be scary powerful but he more than proved in this book his absolute love for Elena with his tender care during her nightmares and his respect for her plea to have some privacy AND especially his opening up about his own troubled younger years. I fell MORE in love with him in second book. I really love how Singh penned this extremely strong archangel struggling not to smother his angel-made woman b/c he didn't want to change her or break her warrior woman spirit.
BRAVO to Singh for penning Elena as emotionally fragile yet at same time with such a core inner strength she slayed her darkest nightmare come to life. Bravo to Raphael for not doubting her strength and letting her serve the killing blow. Bravo to Elena for not being too stupid to live and respecting these powerful supreme beings and her own limitations. She wasn't that rashly foolish Elena as much as one a smart, warrior woman who knew when to fight and when to run.
Singh managed to build a real deep bond of utter trust between them, and they came out far more equal than I expected. Elena stared down Raphael's darkness and instead of flinching as he expected, she vowed to be his conscience, his inner light, to keep him anchored to humanity.
Finally, I've loved Singh's PsySeries but often when finished reading one of those books I feel the relationship development comes way too secondary plot to the world building. Such was the case in 1st book of Archangel Series and while I loved it, I was thirsty to read more focus on relationship and in THIS book the relationship is ALL... the plots, even the background of the characters are all woven brilliantly to develop and build and build upon the growing love AND trust between Elena and Raphael.
Elena made Raphael far more mortal and he made her stronger, more immortal. They met in the middle in a way I didn't expect this early in the series. How rare a true alpha male meets his alpha female partner, and that's how the book ends, in no doubt whatsoever these two are warrior soulmates and the sensuality between these is off the scales HOT!
WOW!
AMAZING!!! February 27, 2010
Samantha Young (The Milky Way)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is seriously amazing - the imagery and details are so beautiful and it's like you're really in the setting and the scene.
Nalini Singh has developed her characters so deeply that Raphael and Elena seem like real people that could be found in real life if angels and hunters did, in fact, exist. While they are not perfect, have a realistic love and their relationship is not automatic - each one has to work to not lose themself to the other and destroy that which makes them them. These extremely stubborn and headstrong couple learn how to comprise in their relationship and, although it is not always happily ever after, it is very real.
This book is also rife with danger, mystery, romance, humor, and snappy comebacks as well.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book if you're looking for a fun read (and no, it's not just because I have a major crush on Raphael - the guy is HOT, what can I say? ^-~) ... trust me, you WON'T regret it! :D
Also, I suggest that you read the first one as well! Angels' Blood
did not want it to end March 1, 2010
crystal "Ree"
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Nalini Singh continues to impress me. Her writing is so powerful, and puts you right there in the scene with the characters. I did not want this story to end. I love the fire that Elena and Raphael generate. I cannot wait until the next segment in this series. Ms Singh has become my new #1.
Fascinating, Intense, and Ultimately Satisfying February 7, 2010
Tracy (Fort Myers, Florida, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Nalini Singh's Angel's Blood was a favorite read of mine last year, and I had waited with much anticipation to see how the series would continue. Often the second book of a new series is a bit of a letdown, as it either focuses too heavily on the world building that didn't occur in the first book or too heavily on character development that wasn't satisfactorily explored in the first book. Singh's second in the Guild Hunter series didn't fall into either of those traps. In fact, Singh writes delightfully against the norm here, giving us a familiar albeit alternative world that isn't thoroughly fleshed out (yet) in either book, instead allowing the reader to glean a satisfactory amount of information in bits and pieces (about the world and the characters both) without hitting them over the head with excessive exposition. Ultimately, this method lets the reader keep the STORY as the focal point at all times. That being said, it seems from this reader's perspective that while there are a lot of unanswered questions about the world of angels, vamps, and hunter born, Singh herself has a very clear and fantastically detailed awareness of the world in which her characters live. Simply put, she writes NOT like she's developing the world as she goes, but that she is in iron-clad command of it. I hadn't realized until I was reading this book just how rare that is, in much the same way you don't always realize how thirsty you are until you start drinking.
There is a complexity of mythos and plot here that, were Singh not the artisan she so clearly is, could easily get away from an author, yet the story never overwhelms the reader, and the characters - flawed and damaged, and a little scary (or a lot) - battle not only their situation, but the surprisingly human pitfalls of avarice, vanity, power, and independence. I hesitate to call Archangel's Kiss a literary masterpiece, but there is more than a mere glimpse of brilliance in this intelligent and powerful book filled with intelligent and Powerful characters.
With a deft and at turns fanciful and realistic hand, Singh pens Elena's and Raphael's evolving relationship while fleshing out the world of angels and archangels and vampires, an often brutal and cruelly pragmatic world that allows to go unpunished often hideous executions of beings that transgress (or don't, as the case - and their master's whims - may be), while the laughter and innocence of children is held in highest regard. It's an unusual yet intriguing dichotomy.
As to Elena and Raphael... their relationship is at the core of this particular book and the characters are evolving into a more three dimensional and symbiotic partnership that is both deeply moving emotionally and - on a strictly personal note - phenomenal to experience. I commend Singh on giving her readers an unflinching reality that elucidates the strengths and weaknesses of BOTH characters while shining a sometimes harsh light on the dangers and potential crises that arise when two such disparate...people?...beings?...start forging a bond of love and respect that can thrive not just for a lifetime, but potentially millennia. She hasn't wrapped up such a momentous task between the covers of this book, as is often the case in paranormal romance series', nor should she have. And the fact she didn't not only satisfies me as a reader, but it gives me hope for a series that can stay fresh long into its run.
Suffice it to say, Archangel's Kiss is my favorite read of 2010, and while the year is yet young, it'll take a lot to topple it from this particular pinnacle.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 61
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