Angels' Blood (Guild Hunter, Bk 1) by Nalini Singh

Angels' Blood blew me away.

The world building, the characters, the depth of emotion. What incredible skill Nalina Singh has as an author. Not to mention the ability to write a romance without anyone quaking or quivering or any of the other cheesy romance novel words that usually have me rolling my eyes. I didn't roll my eyes a single time, and for a book that focuses as much as this one does on a romance, that's saying something with me.

That's not to say it's mostly romance. No, it's as much action as it is romance. Possibly more. I've listed this one as both Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance, because it qualifies as both but neither description really works by itself, either. It's not a cheesy romance, and it's more than just urban fantasy.

Here is the blurb from the author's site:

Vampire hunter Elena Deveraux knows she's the best—but she doesn't know if she's good enough for this job. Hired by the dangerously beautiful Archangel Raphael, a being so lethal that no mortal wants his attention, only one thing is clear—failure is not an option...even if the task is impossible.

Because 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…

But what that blurb doesn't tell you is what an incredible character Elena is. And it doesn't tell you how great the world building is. Or how three dimensional the rest of the cast of characters are written. It doesn't tell you that you may well stay up until two in the morning finishing the book, because you reach a point where it is impossible to put the book down until you know how it ends. Angels' Blood easily gets a 10 of 10 from me.

Book Rating: 10 of 10

I look forward to the next books in this series. There is a short due out this fall in the Anthology Must Love Hellhounds, and then book two in the series, Angel's Kiss, is due out sometime in 2010.





Guild Hunter series:
1. Angels' Blood
*. Must Love Hellhounds (short story: Angels' Judgment) (09/01/09)
2. Angel's Kiss (2010)