Book Review: Archangel’s Shadows by Nalini Singh

Guest Reviewed by Gyn 

Title: Archangel’s Shadows
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Guild Hunter #7
Heroine/Hero: Ash/Janvier
Genre: MF Paranormal
Length: 384 Pages
Publisher: Berkley Jove
Release Date: October 28, 2014
Available at:  Berkley Jove, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb:  In the wake of a brutal war, the archangel Raphael and his hunter consort, Elena, are dealing with the treacherously shifting tides of archangelic politics and the people of a battered but not broken city. The last thing their city needs is more death, especially a death that bears the eerie signature of an insane enemy archangel who cannot— should not—be walking the streets.

This hunt must be undertaken with stealth and without alerting their people. It must be handled by those who can become shadows themselves…

Ash is a gifted tracker and a woman cursed with the ability to sense the secrets of anyone she touches. But there’s one man she knows all too well without a single instant of skin contact: Janvier, the dangerously sexy Cajun vampire who has fascinated and infuriated her for years. Now, as they track down a merciless killer, their cat-and-mouse game of flirtation and provocation has turned into a profound one of the heart. And this time, it is Ash’s secret, dark and terrible, that threatens to destroy them both.

Review: Holy!! Heaven!! Hallelujah!! Those are a few of the angelic words I can think of to describe how absolutely transcendently amazing this book and this series is. We’ve been waiting for Ashwini and Janvier’s story since the very first novella in The Guild Hunter series brought us into their world.

Ash, a hunter with The Guild formed an instant connection with Janvier when she was first assigned to hunt the vampire with a sexy Cajun drawl. Over the years, that connection has been strengthened as they played their little game of cat and mouse, and now they find themselves working together against an even bigger enemy. The tension and unspoken love between them has finally reached its breaking point, and Ash has to decide if she can take a chance on eternity with Janvier.

So, first off, if you are at all familiar with Singh and her writing, you know that she builds the most impeccable paranormal worlds. And if you’re not familiar….get on that, because her books are fabulous! I have no idea how she manages to keep it all straight, but what I find even more confounding is how she writes in a way that has ME keeping it all straight! There isn’t a character I don’t remember, a setting I don’t feel like I’ve been to or a plot I don’t recall. I was able to pick this book up and feel immediately at home.

And all my favorite people came to visit me!! We get some time with Raphael and Elena, Dmitri and Honor, and my dark and sexy Naasir, and my sweet and sassy Illium, and my poor tortured Aodhan and… you get my point! It’s one of my favorite things about Singh’s stories; they are long enough that you can have it all, because despite the fact that all these characters are thrown into this book, it is still very much Ash and Janvier’s story.

A story that can be summed up like this:

“I’m keeping a secret from you, a huge, terrible, bad thing.”

“You won’t tell me this secret?”

“I can’t… But you have a right to know, and once you find out, you’ll hate me for allowing this relationship to go so far.”

“Ashwini, I’m yours… Hating you is an impossibility.”

 So their love story, filled with wanting and tension that just breaks your heart and makes your girly bits tingle, is told amongst the overall arc of The Guild Hunter series. You know how with some urban fiction and series each individual novel barely forwards the story? Well, that’s not true at all. So much Ba Bam is packed into this novel, and I am dying, DYING, for the next one! Which, when I think about it, might not be so bad if I get to meet some angels of my own!

P.S. For my fellow lovers of m/m romance….I’ve got a secret to tell you!! There are a few tiny slivers of guy on guy action that just made my heart race and have me obsessing over finding a way to convince Nalini Singh to hop on the growing trend and write a full m/m novel! I would set fire to my entire library to get a book with a certain blue-winged angel and the diamond in the rough only he can touch!!

Overall Impression: It was amazing!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*