Joint Review: “Angels´Blood” by Nalini Singh

Remember my first Joint Review with Anna about “Eternal Kiss of Darkness”? No? Then go and check it out, right after you´ve visited Anna´s blog “Books to Brighten Your Mood”. Well, Anna and I certainly did! Since it was so much fun for the both of us, we deceided to try it once again. After one having to give up one one book before, we finally settled on one:

Author: Nalini Singh

Title: Angels´ Blood

Genre: Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy

Published: March 3rd 2009 by Berkley

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…

So, here´s what we thought about it:

Characters:

Anna:
My feelings towards the characters in Angels' Blood are quite mixed.On the one hand,i pretty much loved Elena.She was smart,independent and unwilling to bend in front of anybody no matter how powerful that one might be.She was a strong minded woman who no matter what happened in her life was strong enough to overcome it and continue with her life.Although i couldn't quite understand her relationship with her father (i thought that her father's reactions were a bit far streched,but ok,i've read worse things so far) and some things of her past were left unanswered (there might be a second book in the series,but i don't see why we couldn't get a more detailed glimpse in Elena's past since it was constantly reffered) but all in all,Elena was a loveable character,one you could somehow relate to.
Raphael on the other hand... not so thrilled about him.Granted he is a sexy character and a powerful one,but i just couldn't totally like him.What with his constant bluntness and arrogance i just couldn't imagine him as sexy as the writer wanted him to be.He may be a powerful being,living for centuries but i don't know,i just think i like my man somehow less confident over his sexual prowess,no,not less confident,just not mentioning all the time how good he is and how certain he feels that i'll sprawl my legs open for him sooner or later.
One more thing i have to say on the characters is that i was tired of how good looking and unbelievably sexy were almost every supernatural male character in this book...Whether it was a vampire,an angel or an archangel,every single male character here was mindblowing sexy!I just find ii too good to be true!

Me;

Right at the moment, I like angels. I´ve already read four books with angels as main characters in a row. After finishing Angels´ Blood, I´m not really sure if Raphael really is an angel. Besides the fact that he has winges and is immortal, there is absolutly nothing angelic about his behaviour. He is rude to say the least, arrogant, cruel and has no idea how to treat a woman. While I still thought this bad boy behaviour had its appeal at the beginning of the book, I was more and more annoyed by it as the story unfolded. Another thing that I really didn´t like: forcing Elena into having sex with him by manipulating and controlling her mind. So not sexy.
Elena is a heroine woth all the attributes you´re expecting in an Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance book. She´s indpendent, holds her own and kicks (vampire) ass. She is also very very pretty. At least that´s what it seems like since pactically every male in the book that crosses her way wants her instantly. She seems to be quite rich (I want her appartment!)and she´s never bitchy or whiny. I have to agree with Anna though, I´d like to lear a bit more about her and her background.
One thing I´d like to mention about the cast of supporting charcters: I love Illium! Blue and silver wings are much more pretty than white and gold. Why not write a book about him??

Plot:

Anna:

This book starts immediatelly promising the reader the hunt of a very dangerous archangel gone bad.As one might think,i expected for this hunt to start soon after the first chapters but unfortunatelly that didn't happen.I had to wait for almost the half book for the real fun to start.The first half has some excitement and the reader isn't bored in any way but the second half is definitely better.
The romance on the other hand was good.I failed to catch the chemistry between those two for the better part of the book.The sexual tention just wasn't believable and i spent most of my time wandering why they didn't have sex already and get done with it.Elena may not want to be the sex toy of a powerful man but she succumbs to him after a very stressfull series of events...???
Apart from those,i liked the world Singh created,where angels are most definitely not creatures of the God,all good and pure,but capable of such monstrosity one could not imagine and vampires are angels' creations,bound to them for servitude.I have to say,it was an original concept,one i haven't read somewhere else.

Me:

If I´m totally honest, than I have to admt that the plot is not really something original. There´s an archangel gone bad. Elena has the soecial means and talents to find him and while the psychotic murderer kills women, the two main characters fall in love. That´s about it. The worldbuilding was good though. It´s a new concept taht vampires are made by angels and the explanation why only certain people can become a vampire given at the end is reasonable enough. The other angels make for interesting additions to the world and the author weaves in another short subplot that wakes your interest for the next book.
The romance is well, difficult for me. Like I said, Raphael just didn´t work for me. Also, I´m ot that big a fan of the "I saw him instantly fell in love with him and want to spend the rest of my live with him". And for a woman so proud of being independent it felt like a bit of a stretch that Elena wants to have sex to forget about something horrible.

Favorite scene :

Anna:
The one where Elena meets Michaela.That scene has such amazing lines i couldn't help but laugh all the time while reading it."Royal bitchiness" is officially one of my favorite lines!

Me:

It´s not so much of a scene, more like a detail, but I really admired the rose made of diamonds. As a sucker for all things sparkly (not neccessarily expensive), that´s something I would want. And, like I already mentioned: an angel with blue and silver wings! :)
There is one thing that sometimes annoys me about myself: Angels´ Blood is not a horrible book I couldn´t finish, but just not so good that I can´t wait to read the next in the series. Still, I want to know where the storys and characters go. Plus I like the cover of book three. So I think, well, why not give book two a try? Maybe it´s better and then you can by the pretty book three without a bad concience. Is it just me or am I slightly weird?

All in all: 3 of 5 stars.

I