Introducing Dragonfly the first of our guest reviewers. The rampaging DF reads extensively in a lot of genres, sadly not horror, shares our love for Down Under novels and movies, and in her spare time fights evil where ever she can find it. DF takes up the challenge of Chick Lit, with the first of the Guild Hunter novels. Over to Dragonfly and Angel's Blood.
Talk us through it
Angels' Blood is set in a contemporary but alternative reality New York City, where Angels and Vampires are no longer myth, but an accepted part of the modern mix of life. In this beautiful and seductive world, Vampires are "made" by and serve Angels, and they all in turn serve/have alliances with one of a group of higher Archangels who have divided the world into territories they control from a lofty height well above the mere mortals. This novel challenges any traditional notions and myths of both Angels and Vampires; Angels and Archangels are not scions of a higher being, rather they are a species of near God like immortals themselves, very much like ancient Gods and Goddesses. Vampires are not the traditional murderous blood suckers, randomly killing innocents to feed, but are mostly very sexy and urbane creatures, sought out by the "beautiful people" to experience the all consuming drug like thrill and addiction of the very mutual pleasure and pain that these dark beings and their mortal lovers provide each other. The exception to this vamp/human harmony is the odd Rogue vamp who gets filled with Bloodlust and slips the chain for a bit of 'killin and feastin' spree, cue our girl… The Guild of Hunters is a long established, necessary and respected part of this society. Our heroine is a Guild Hunter by the name of Elena Deveraux, a gifted hunter of rogue vampires who calls on her own super human powers and skills to hunt and capture those murderous renegades who escape the firm hand of their Angel masters. Elena is strong and independent and good at her job, so much so she finds herself, almost against her will, employed by the Archangel of New York - Raphael, on a secret mission to track and capture the most important and deadly rogue she has ever faced… along the way she faces adversary, is haunted by tragic past events, and is locked into a deadly game of seduction and power play with the God like Raphael.
My thoughts:Angels' Blood cracks along at a page turning rate, very sexy and dark in places, definitely one for the girls and with enough thriller and horror elements to stop it from being purely a "romance with bite" - Angels' Blood kept me entertained and was read in one session. This is a very adult paranormal romance novel, (nothing like the Twilight series with its sexless whiney little girl heroine and wimpy wet Vamp). There are a lot of F bombs and pretty graphically described sex scenes and interactions, some of which seemed a little wooden, and I would have expected a higher level of verbal sophistication from an Archangel, but things did smooth out as the story developed, and those minor quibbles were definitely forgiven as the story romped along and I had great fun with it. I have never read anything else by this Author, nor is this Genre one I would normally read, however I did enjoy the dark sexual tone of the book very much. Angels' Blood is a great fun, juicy, sexy read, I enjoyed this very much, and am looking forward to the next installment - Archangel's Kiss. Nalini Singh's website can be found right here. Angels' Blood and the sequel Archangel's Kiss are being distributed and marketed Down Under by Hachette, check them out by clicking through.
ScaryMinds Rates this read as ... An unexpected treat from the Paranormal Romance genre.
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