Archangel's Storm (Guild Hunter, #5) in Nothing But Reading Challenges

Jul 04, 2011 Jess rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: for_review, paranormal

Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads

This was an interesting installment in the Guild Hunter series in that, the book and characters took on a different feel than previous books. Coming off Dmitri’s story where he was a very big presence on page and just in general, Jason is quite the opposite. He has that archangel edge, being one of Raphael’s closest friends, he does what needs doing in his world, but he’s quiet, dark, very emotionally closed off. Having love in his life was an interesting Review posted: Happily Ever After - Reads

This was an interesting installment in the Guild Hunter series in that, the book and characters took on a different feel than previous books. Coming off Dmitri’s story where he was a very big presence on page and just in general, Jason is quite the opposite. He has that archangel edge, being one of Raphael’s closest friends, he does what needs doing in his world, but he’s quiet, dark, very emotionally closed off. Having love in his life was an interesting balance between how he had love once and refused to let himself go there again with his heroine, Mahiya, who has never known love and wants it badly, wants to be love but most important to her, she wants someone to give her love to.

The story takes place almost completely in Neha’s territory. An archangel in the Cadre, her consort has been killed and as an act of goodwill (and a way to help try and keep her powers under control) Raphael sends his spymaster Jason to Neha to try and find the guilty party. As a way to insure his loyalty while in her home, she requires he blood bond to Mahiya, her niece and “toy” as Mahiya’s father was Neha’s now dead consort and her mother was Neha’s sister. Neha killed her sister and isolated her consort for hundreds of years, but kept the young Mahiya at her home, providing a place for her to stay, but gave her nothing in the way of love. Once Mahiya reached adulthood, all bets were off and Mahiya knows that it’s only a matter of time now before Neha has her killed as well. She’s used to being treated as nothing, a prisoner in her own home, she’s been beaten, has had anything she’s loved taken away and she now knows her only chance is to use Jason’s appearance and hope to gain his help in securing her freedom. Jason promises her nothing, but they come to an agreement to share information and in return he’ll do what he can to help her.

As I was reading the story, I kept thinking that the pace made it seem as though not much was really happening. Jason and Mahiya spend a lot of time trying to figure out not only who killed Neha’s consort, but other murders that are occurring, people close to Neha are dying and they’re trying to track clues to find the killer. There are a few very important pieces of information that come up that not only impact this story but the overall storyline for the archangels and specifically the power surrounding angels who are part of the Cadre. It’s a time of change and power fluctuations are starting to have a big impact. It’s something that’s just beginning, but will absolutely have greater meaning to Raphael, Lijuan, Neha, et al as the series goes on.

“I can’t give you what you want,” he repeated, some unknown thing tearing and ripping inside him at the thought of having to sever his connection to her, when it was the first time in his life he’d trusted even a part of himself to a lover.

A soft smile. “Did I make any demands, hmm?” Lifting her free hand, she ran her fingers along his jaw. “I have so much love inside me, Jason. So much. And I have never been allowed to shower it on anyone – no one has wanted it. Let me stretch the wings of my heart with you.”

He could feel his fingers tightening on her wrist, forced himself to loosen his hold. “Will it be enough to love and not be loved?” he asked, knowing it was a brutal question. “To give and never receive?”

Her smile grew impossibly more luminous. “You have no idea what you give me.”

The spotlight in all these books for me is the romance. Jason and Mahiya are such strong characters on their own, they’ve each overcome tragic pasts, especially Jason and their romance has a slow build up. Jason makes it perfectly clear that while he wants her, it will never be more than that. He can’t let love back into his life and we find out why through small flashbacks that culminate into the full scene taking us back to the defining moment in his young life when, as child, he had the one person he loved more than anything taken away from him. That was the moment I went from liking Jason to loving him. His scenes with Mahiya felt understated, going from the previous book with a very naughty Dmitri; that isn’t Jason at all. Even though the scenes when they’re together felt quieter, they were still intense and the emotion between them kept building. I enjoyed their romance and I liked watching Jason find a sense of home again with Mahiya.

I found Mahiya to be an easy heroine to care about. Even after all the angst she’s had to go through because of Neha, having a father who didn’t care about her at all and being afraid to love out of fear that harm would come to those she did, as it had in the past, she is still filled with so much hope. She accepts Jason for who he is and accepts what he can give her and of course she hopes for more, but there’s strength in her for loving him and not expecting anything in return. This love and caring that she shows Jason starts to break him down and he opens up to her like he hasn’t to anyone else ever. This couple may not be as dominant as Raphael and Elena, or as wicked and naughty like Dmitri and Honor but they fit, and their romance is very reflective of the people they are and it’s satisfying to see play out.

Dmitri to Honor:

“My beautiful wife, whom I’d like to peel out of her dress and set naked in my lap so I can do debauched things to her sexy body.” He never had been much good at behaving.

A faint shiver. “You shouldn’t be let out to torment women.”

Smiling with a slow deliberation that brought slumberous heat into those eyes of haunting green, he leaned in close, his next words a purr against the shell of her ear. “I only plan to torment one woman for the rest of eternity.”

A small supporting storyline takes place for Dmitri and Honor and centers around her decision to change (or not) into a vampire. I loved getting a little extension on this couple’s story and seeing Dmitri so devoted to Honor made me sigh every time they came back on page. There’s always that one character who shows up or gets mentioned very briefly that I immediately want to know more about. Aodhan is that character for me in this book. With just one small paragraph describing who he is at this moment, an angel who can’t bare touch and desires isolation, I want to know why and even more, I want to know who the female is that’s going to cause him to let her in. He’s also close friends with Illium and I can’t wait to see more of this friendship through the series.

I enjoyed this latest installment in the Guild Hunter series. Jason is a hero living in darkness and finds his match in an angel who’s filled with love and hope. They have a sweet romance, understated at times and it worked for them. I like the progression of the Cadre storyline, especially with the new developments in Neha’s life. I’m excited to see that pick up steam with the next book, which will take us back to Raphael and Elena. ...more

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Jun 09, 2011 layla is a picky reader rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-magic, reviewed, favourites-of-2012, rating-2-stars, part-of-a-series, author-nalini-singh

My rating: 4/5 stars
First line: “Hush. Jason didn’t know how long he’d been hiding in the dark place in the ground where his mother had put him, telling him to “hush.”
Favourite quote: “I have so much love inside me, Jason. So much. And I have never been allowed to shower it on anyone—no one has wanted it. Let me stretch the wings of my heart with you.”
Song of choice: Stay by Hurts

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Let me start by saying that this is my first attempt at writing a review for a book of Nalini Singh’s. ...more

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Mar 28, 2011 Shawna rated it really liked it

Shelves: author-nalini-singh, heroine-beautiful-bombshell, scifi-futuristic-fantasy-misc-pnr, im-a-cover-hottie-ho, psychic-special-abilities-powers, violence-not-for-the-faint-hearted, pnr-paranormal-romance, urban-fantasy, hh-love-commitment-marriage-phobic, hh-post-traumatic-stress-disorder

4 stars – Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Romance

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Oct 13, 2011 Jessica B rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: released-in-2012, vampires, angels-fallen, favourite-reads, delirity-challenges, re-reads, nalini-singh, jessica-s-2012-challenge, 2012, 2021

This was definitely by far my favourite from this series. I found with the earlier instalments that I would find my self confused by the writing style but this book feel together so perfectly.

I loved the back story that we got on both Jason and Mahiya throughout the book. It made the angels they had become seem more real. The romance that bloomed between the two was a slow burn that had me struggling to book the book down until I caught a glimpse of their first kiss.

I'm really glad I continued ...more

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