Archangel’s Consort by Nalini Singh (Guild Hunter #3)
Paranormal Romance
January 25, 2011
Paperback, 324 Pages
Berkley Sensation

Reviewed by Mandi

Although Elena is now an angel, she is still very young in the immortal world. With the help of her lover, archangel Raphael and his Seven, those that have vowed their loyalty to him, Elena is getting stronger and wise in the immortal ways every day. She is able to fly now, although the vertical lift off and endurance still eludes her. Now that she is stronger, she has left the refuge and is back in New York City. Since she is the first made angel anyone has ever seen, she creates quite the spectacle.

Although she is now an angel, she still has hunter blood in her, and has gone back to occasionally helping The Guild track rogue vampires. She would be working their full time, but Raphael is scared to keep her out of his sights. She is also still dealing with a father that disowned her many years ago, and giving up her “normal” hunter life. She has moved in with Raphael, and although he accepts her and loves unconditionally, everything is still new and raw.

Terrible storms and deadly weather events have been taking place all over the world. Raphael knows this weather is no coincidence. There is legend that talks of these extreme events when an ancient awakens – and that ancient that is coming to, is his mother. The archangel Caliane. The rebirth of an archangel is on the horizon, and it is disrupting everything and everyone. The awakening process can take up to a year, things slowly building until the unknown occurs. When Caliane went under the Sleep, she was insane. Has her sanity been restored? Will this all-power being cause mass destruction, or take her place among the angels again?

When a child is murdered by a vampire at the same school that Elena’s half-sisters attend, she knows the attack is aimed at her. But soon they discover this is not the normal vampire that goes into bloodlust. Someone else is pulling the strings. As vampires rage, and Caliane slowly awakens, Elena and Raphael must turn to each other when family matters become overbearing, and the love they share for each other deepens even more.

I devoured Archangel’s Consort and it only makes me love this serious more, if that is even possible. Where to start? First, I loved the conflict in this one. The idea of Raphael’s mother, slowly waking (possibly over a year) is just an awesome concept. As Raphael says, “my mother is the monster that scares other monsters.” As she wakes, these tumultuous events occur all over the world, wreaking havoc. Vampires rage, angels rage, and of course there are twists thrown in that make it all that much more fun in the end.

Elena herself is still struggling. Physically, she is getting stronger every day, mentally she is still playing games with Dmitri and the other angels trying to find her place. I LOVE that Nalini Singh gives Elena such a hard road once she becomes an angel. It is so interesting to read her about her immortality, because it is such a struggle. Her wings are heavy and ache, she can’t lift off vertically, which can be devastating during certain situations. She must play these mind games with the other immortals, always fearful they may take their hatred towards her one step too far. She also faces with off with Raphael on more than one occasion. He is overprotective of his hunter, and she doesn’t like to have babysitters.

In this one we get lots of good things with Dmitri, Illium, my favorite Blue Bell, and the dark, mysterious Jason. I’m dying for those three books – their stories are so intriguing and I can not wait to learn more about them. We also learn more from vampire Venom and the angel Aodhan. Nalini Singh’s supporting characters are amazing in this series and add so much to these books.

I saved the best for last – oh Raphael. One of the most intense alphas I have ever read about. There is no cracking jokes there is no goofing off. He is alpha, he is archangel, and he means business. In and out of bed. Oh yes. Although Raphael is ancient, and extremely powerful, he needs his little hunter. He needs her on a level that is so intimate. I think that is a good word to describe their relationship. The romance scenes between Raphael and Elena are powerful, raw, intense, dark – and so intimate. Nalini Singh writes their passion on another level. One of my favorite scenes:

His hand tightened in her hair, wrenching back her head. Do you think you are safe? He pushed his free hand up under her tank top at the same time, long, strong fingers closing over her breast in blatant possession.

“Safe?” Gasping in breath, she ran her own fingers along the part of his right wing she could reach. “Maybe not.” But I’ve always wanted to dance with you anyway.

He squeezed and molded her sensitive flesh. Then dance.

The way she writes the angels, their flying, landing, taking off, soaring in the skies – it really sets up for a beautiful book. To offset their exquisite beauty, the angels are  so far from mortality that they are these creatures that are sometimes so abhorrent. Mortals to many of them are just play things. They can be so violent and cruel. I love the contrast.

This book comes out January 25th and if you have not picked up the first two books (Angels’ Blood and Archangel’s Kiss), I urge you to try this series. All three books are about Raphael and Elena, although in book two and three you also get Raphael’s point of view. They are much darker and intense than her Psy/Changeling books. This is a paranormal series not to be missed.

Rating: A

Recent Reviews:
Love Vampires – 4.5/5
Dren’s B-Spot – 4/5
The Spinecracker – 3/5
All About Romance – B
Hanging With Bells – 4/5
Goodreads

Guild Hunter Series:
Angels’ Blood
Archangel’s Kiss
Archangel’s Consort
Archangel’s Blade (Dmitri’s Book) – September 2011

Author’s Website.

Purchase Links:
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