Review of Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

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...

I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of Nalini Singh's Archangel's Kiss from Wendy who is the bestest girlfriend in the whole wide world. I got it yesterday afternoon and was done with it by the wee hours of the morning. I just had to finish it. It was so good I just couldn't be bothered to do anything else, like sleep or eat or acknowledge my poor long-suffering hubby. *sigh* But if you read this book, you'll understand.

I'm very much afraid my review is going to go the way of the squeeing fangirl. Sadly, I don't think that can be helped. I shall try to at least be coherent and do more than just say, "Raphael, hot." "Give me more!" But I can't guarantee anything.

You may remember my joint review with my hunny Wendy from The Book Lush of the first book Angel's Blood. If you don't remember, check it here. I liked that book, but I wasn't in love with it. So, I have to say, I'm in love now. Big time, hardcore, lurve. Archangel's Kiss was so awesome. It was dark and hot and sweet and hot and tender and hot and gritty and hot. Oh, did I mention it was hot? I'm a sucker for a sweet and hot mix and let me tell you, Raphael was his usual scary ass alpha self, but when he went sweet for his Elena? OMG! He killed me, y'all. Freakin killed me.

The aspect of the story of Elena trying to recover from her year long coma and trying to adapt to angel society was very well handled I though. She had to work hard physically and emotionally in this book and that felt real and made me root for her. She's tough, but she's not stupid and she is trying to learn to trust Raphael.

I loved, loved, loved, Raphael and Elena in this book. They butted heads a lot. They danced around each other, both unsure of how to deal with this intense relationship that developed so fast, but neither was willing to give up. They both want to fight for it, because it matters to them. It's tough and they both carry ugly scars and they both could hurt each other so deeply, but they want it bad enough to keep trying, and that to me, is real love.

We see more of The Seven and way more angel society in this book and it was all quite fascinating. We see Elena struggle to hold on to her mortal attachments while trying to build a place in an immortal society and a bond that will last an eternity with her Archangel lover.

I just can't say enough great stuff about this book. It stuck with me after I read it, making it hard to jump into another story right away because I wanted to linger with these characters a little while longer. Oh, and speaking of characters, if you're a fan of Illium, you get to see some bluebell hotness in this one. Man, a guy that has a great sense of humor and is a vicious warrior? I'm all over that, baby.

I highly recommend this second installment in Ms. Singh's Guild Hunter series. It is just a great all around story that you'll want to read over and over.

I give this book an A. So, what are you waiting for? Go out and order it right now.