Archangel's Kiss by Nalini Singh

Title: Archangel's Kiss

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Guild Hunter # 2

323 pages, Paperback

Publication: February 1, 2010

Source: Personal Library

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Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux wakes from a year-long coma to find herself changed—an angel with wings the colors of midnight and dawn—but her fragile body needs time to heal before she can take flight. Her lover, the stunningly dangerous archangel Raphael, is used to being in control—even when it comes to the woman he considers his own. But Elena has never done well with authority…

They’ve barely begun to understand each other when Raphael receives an invitation to a ball from the archangel Lijuan. To refuse would be a sign of fatal weakness, so Raphael must ready Elena for the flight to Beijing—and to the nightmare that awaits them there. Ancient and without conscience, Lijuan holds a power that lies with the dead. And she has organized the most perfect and most vicious of welcomes for Elena…

MY THOUGHTS

Archangel’s Kiss picks up exactly where Angels' Blood ended. Elena, the guild hunter, has been reborn as an angel and is just waking up from her coma. She now has to rebuild her strength and learn what it means to be immortal. As word of Elena’s condition spreads among angelkind, one of the Cadre members, Lijuan, throws a ball in her honor. Except someone seems determined to make sure Elena never makes it there, and everyone suspects Lijuan is behind the attacks.

One of my biggest issues with the first book was Raphael. I thought he was cringe in Angels' Blood, but he’s even worse in this one. Most of the book is just Elena and Raphael being extremely cringey together. All they do is think and talk about sex and of course, actually do the deed… nonstop. Elena acted like an animal in heat, which was gross, and then I had to sit through Raphael repeatedly telling her he couldn’t have sex with her yet because what he wanted to do to her would be too rough and might break or kill her. It made me want to barf every time it came up. To make things worse, Elena has nightmares about her family being attacked, and the only thing that soothes her is, you guessed it, sex.

There was barely any plot. The first 78% of the book was all of that, with maybe 1% of Elena training to fight and fly, and another 1% spent hunting a killer. The numbers might be exaggerated, but that’s genuinely how it felt.

The story and any semblance of a plot don’t actually show up until after the 80% mark, when Raphael and Elena arrive in Beijing for the ball. I did enjoy seeing the key players and getting page time with characters we only heard about before, like Jason, Nazarach, and Neha. The best part of the book was probably the final scenes and Illium, he’s funny without even trying.

I really tried to give this series a chance and hoped I would enjoy the second book more, but sadly, I didn’t. This book was mostly smut with no plot, and I need actual substance in my reading. With that said, I will not be continuing the series.