Archangel's Heart by Nalini Singh

I know I have reviewed some of the books in this series, but the most recent one just came out and I am DYING. 

One of the most vicious archangels in the world has disappeared. No one knows if Lijuan is dead or has chosen to Sleep the long sleep of an immortal. But with her lands falling into chaos under a rising tide of vampiric bloodlust, a mysterious and ancient order of angels known as the Luminata calls the entire Cadre together to discuss the fate of her territory.

Accompanying her archangelic lover Raphael to the Luminata compound, guild hunter-turned-angel Elena senses that all is not as it seems. Secrets echo from within the stone walls of the compound, and the deeper Elena goes, the uglier the darkness. But neither Raphael nor Elena is ready for the brutal truths hidden within—truths that will change everything Elena thinks she knows about who she is…

Nothing will ever be the same again.

You can purchase it here on Amazon: Archangel's Heart (A Guild Hunter Novel)

So this book was AMAZING. now if anyone knows me at all or if anyone follows my (rare-ish) comments on Goodreads, then you know that I have a major thing for Illium and Aodhan. I just want the two of them to be together forever (who knows if Miz. Singh will give me that though). I was beyond pleased that we got to get to know Aodhan better in this novel. He had always been interesting to me with his horrific past, but I didn't really feel like I got the essence of who he was until this book. You see him through everyone else's eyes up until now, and he is a lot less calm and fragile then you originally think. I really really like him.

That aside, it was lovely revisiting the main pairing of this series Elena and Raphael. They are discovering new abilities and kicking major ass in the process. I love it when Archangels get pissed when someone over steps their bounds. Don't we all wish we could just smite the people who drive us crazy. The Duo go into what qualifies as a religious sect for the angels, and realize that not everything is how it seems.

I wish we could have gotten to know the other Archangels a little better. We know most of them in passing but it would have been interesting to get to know them a bit more.

The only drawback that I found in this one was that since Elena and Raphael's romance is very set in stone, I wanted to see new romance *cough* Illium/Aodhan *cough*.

I still enjoyed myself and I would definitely say that this book was 5 stars!!

Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

         I loved Angel's Blood, and I super love this book. I'll just jump right in. So excited!

         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...

Click to view on Amazon: Archangel's Kiss

         First things first.... ELENA IS AN ANGEL! That made me so so so happy :) I always felt this sadness about Elena and Raphael falling in love because she would age and die and he would stay young and beautiful forever. But now they can be together forever. I thought it was so sweet that Raphael waited for her and then throughout the year that she slept he would constantly talk to her and check on her mind.

         There were two things that I really loved about this book: we get to see Elena and Raphael's relationship develop and we get some real insight into how angel society works.
Elena and Raphael really begin to trust each other in this book. Elena's nightmares about her past are becoming more frequent and more vivid and she turns to Raphael to help her and he begins to open up about his own child hood. You can really see the love start to bloom between them.

         Now that Elena has become the first angel made the recent memory things have been stirred up in Refuge. Michaela wants to kill her even more because Elena is now the center of attention (and she is wayyyy better than Michaela). There is an open spot for a new Archangel and someone thinks that by killing Elena they will get a free ticket onto the Cadre of 10. And (!) we get to meet little kid angels. So So So So cute. Sam is so cute and I was beyond pissed off that he was attacked. What kind of sick person pulverizes a child? (well, you will find out who in the book). And Lijuan is freaky, you find out all sorts of crazy (true) rumors about her and the dead. She also makes zombies.

         I think my favorite scene in the book is when they are in China and Raphael gives Elena her new knife and she gives him an amber ring. It is the best. You see him feel truly happy and how much he loves her and how he is slowly becoming conscious of how important it is to make other people happy. I also like the scene where Elena gives Sam the dagger that is made out of the dragon eye. It was so heart breaking when Sam got hurt, so to see him to happy about the dagger really got to me.

         I love that we get to meet the rest of the Seven in this book. My favorite is Aodhan, but I have always loved the damaged male characters, and I just picture his as so beyond beautiful in my head, and that moment when Elena asked him to kneel so she could use his sword. Gave me chills. We also meet Galen and Naasir who is a naughty boy and drinks blood from angels. I love this book :) and I am rushing so I can reread the next book in the series.

Angel's Blood by Nalini Singh

         I have always had a thing for angels. They are such interesting creature... kinda like centaurs, but I like angels better. They wing! I think that is so amazing, I am scared of heights but if I had wings I would fly everywhere. It would be so amazing and wonderful. And I have always pictured angels and powerful, cruel, inhuman begins... which actually just made me (In my imagination) want to find one and tame it.

         Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux is hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael. But 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.

Click to view on Amazon: Angels' Blood

          I don't know how well I can explain how much I like this book (I feel like I say that with every book). I really loved the idea of basically everything in this book.

         I love Elena, which is saying a lot because in books like this with a super strong heroine, I usually am a bit wary. I have nothing against strong female characters, I like them a lot, well I like the idea of them, but a lot of the time they are arrogant, and think they don't need any help from anyone. That drives me crazy. But that wasn't the case with Elena. She wasn't afraid to admit when she was out of her depth. She was willing to acknowledge that there was no way she could take Raphael on. She was brave, and strong, and she got her opinion out there without being annoying about it. I also loves the way she looked. Most of the time I kinda forget what the heroine (I mostly end up focused on the male lead) but Elena was so cool.

         Elena though has a lot of dark secrets buried in her past and that freaked me out. One of my biggest fear is serial killer (I know that it is totally irrational) but in this book a lot of the bad characters seem to be like serial killers. Elena and her family were the last victims of one of the best known vampire serial killers of their time and so when she is asked to help Raphael out and to look at the bodies she kinda starts falling into her worst memories.

         Raphael. Omg, so hot. But so scary. I have always had a thing for guys who are crazy powerful (not just magic powers, but powerful presence or strength works for me too) and Raphael has all those things. He is a bastard in the beginning and he really doesn't care too much about humans. But that is not really how he is. You can see how much he actually does care when he sees the victims of the crime and the longer he is around Elena the more he seems to care. That is what one of the other Archangels told him, that if he stays with Elena it will make him a little bit mortal. I really liked the idea of that. These angels have been alive so long that nothing seems new to them, nothing seems exciting or dangerous, and it would become easy to stop caring. But that is dangerous, because the people they rule over expect the angels to keep them safe, and all too often the humans and vampires get caught up in the pointless battles of the angels. But by becoming a little human, a little mortal, Raphael can see the cost of his every action, he can understand the pain that certain things would cause. Sure he can still be a cold hearted bastard, and he is at times, but even as he knows that that is a part of himself, so is this new human heart of his, and that makes him stronger and more dangerous than the other angels, because now he has compassion.

         I loved them together, I could have read about every aspect of their lives together forever and never have gotten bored. they were just so perfect for each other, they challenged each other and it was just so fun to read. And at the end ah! I was so scared that Raphael would lose her. I wanted to cry when she asked him for the secret of the angels. And when you see her lying in the bed at the end, AHHH it's just all so exciting!!

         I liked the idea of the toxin that creates the vampires and how the angels have to be careful to get it out of their blood stream. It seemed to me almost like a checks and balances system. Because humans are so fragile, and vampires have weaknesses too, but as far as anyone knew angels were pretty indestructable (which they pretty much are, their wings are fragile but they heal really fast) but this toxin is dangerous to the angels and if they let it build up it drives them crazy. I liked that.

         Ok, Bitchy Female time. Michaela... I don't give a fuck is she is an archangel, I hate her I want her gone and I want her and her over used girly parts to stay far away from Raphael. When she dusted him with her angel dust I was livid (yeah, I get pretty into books) ugh, how dare she. She is so horrible. And the fact that she wants Elena killed because Raphael wants her more... I mean how childish and petty can you be? And I hate those situations where the guy is forced to be around the bitchy rival. Because Raphael is required to see her on a regular basis and there is nothing He or Elena can do about it. And we all know that Michaela loves that. Hate her.

         And the angel dust thing. I think it is so beautiful. I love that Raphael made a special blend for her, and I love that he lost control of it the first time they had sex. It made me want to squeal. About the sex, I mean I liked it, but I wish it was a bit more detailed. I mean maybe I have read too many erotic novels, but idk, I wished there was more of it. That could have been because I loved all the interactions between Elena and Raphael.

         Now, supporting cast: ahh! I loved them and can't wait to read more about them and am so hoping that all of them get their own books. Dmitri has his own and Jason's is coming out in a couple of weeks. But Illium deserves to fall in love and have an adventure so badly. And Venom... I have read all the books in the series so far, and I still am not sure how I feel about Venom.

         But I love Love LOVED this book, and you should too.

Beneath a Rising Moon by Keri Arthur

         Now, this is a newer book that was on my list for a while. I had just been waiting for it to come out. It was so frustrating, my memory is totally shot so I kept forgetting the date it was released and it seemed like every other day I was like, "Today is the day! It's coming out!" Then I would look and it would be another month, or another two weeks. But! (obviously) it finally came out and I finished it that night (much to the displeasure of my poor eyes, they hate me for reading so much).

         There’s no turning back for Neva Grant. To find a killer, she must seduce the boldest male in the Sinclair pack. Her twin sister lies in a hospital bed, fighting for her life, the fourth and only surviving victim of a vicious attacker. The werewolf rangers suspect the Sinclair pack, and the only way Neva can infiltrate their close-knit ranks is to unleash the wildness within and offer herself to Duncan Sinclair.
 
          Duncan’s appetite for women is legendary on the reservation. But when this new woman stirs his hunger, he finds his desire for her goes deeper than anything he’s ever felt before. When he realizes that she’s playing a game and he’s taken the bait, he is determined to push her to the breaking point. As Duncan and Neva engage in a dangerous dance, they must somehow find a way to join forces—before a cornered killer bites back.

Click to view on Amazon: Beneath a Rising Moon

         I liked this book :) Man.... Duncan.... He's kinda a jerk, but what is it about girls liking jerks.. I dont know. But he was a jerk for a reason, though he jumped to the conclusion that the killer sent Neva much too quickly for me, but he eventually saw the light and realized she was one of the good guys. I think him being jerky added to their relationship though... My boyfriend always tells me that I like being sad, and it made me so sad how he was just so nasty to her. But then when he realizes they are soul mates. Ah, how sweet that was, and he had that moment of insecurity that I'm sure a guy like Duncan never feels.

         Now, Neva. I liked her, and how she was willing to do anything to find the person who attacked her sister, but seriously, she needed to stop being to stubborn and naive. made me want to punch a wall sometimes. If you know that the moon makes you lusty (have felt this way your whole life) and you know that its normal to have sex (have even done it before) and you know there are such things as soul mates and (!) you are willing to do anything to help your sister... stop being a baby and complaining about it, I mean seriously. She goes on and on about how her parents taught her differently, but then she admitted that she had slept with men before during the rising moon. I don't know. Maybe I am a person who accepts things very easily. Like if I had to have mad sex with Duncan for a week to help find a killer I wouldn't whine about it. I'd be like ok lets do this! And then look for clues.

         Ok, another thing I don't like, but I do understand, is her attachment to her family. They are hypocritical assholes, but they are her family and I don't have to be a werewolf to understand that. BUT! Oh my goodness, come on! Her mom got crazy drunk and killed a bunch of people when she was young, yet she is too high and mighty to forgive Duncan for drinking and being a ladies man? and her dad was happier to see her suffer without her soul mate than to see her happy with Duncan. I'm sorry, I love my family, but I would totally ditch them if they treated  me like that. And she was so worried that if she left she wouldn't see her sister. Um... they are twins, right? They can read each others minds, right? Her sister is the crazy rebellious twin, right? Ugh seriously, obviously this girl doesn't know her twin that well. OBVIOUSLY her twin would stand by her!!

         And that skanky bitch? What was her name..... Oh Betise! That ho! Ok, sorry, let me explain.... I think the thing I hate most in the world are skanky hos that try to steal other women's men. I mean it doesn't even matter if the guy isn't interested... the fact that they think its possible makes me want to break things. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! And this woman Betise seemed to think she was entitled to Duncan, ugh!!! And then she thought she could bond with him or whatevs... Oh my goodness I was foaming at the mouth reading that. I would go postal if someone tried that with my boyfriend. That said... as much as I hate women like this I do LOVE having them in stories. They always get me so worked up and so into the story, and I am always so satisfied when their reckoning comes. Now, in this one, oh man, when Neva attacked her, jeez I was so happy. But I wanted her humiliated and punished and making her brain dead, I felt, kinda stole my evil pleasure, it seemed a bit anticlimactic.

         But I did like this book, I love paranormal romance and I'll def have more of it on here. Read this and tell me what you think?