Angels’ Blood (Guild Hunter #1)

I suppose some people like this sort of thing. I did NOT. I thought this was going to be the story of a strong woman hunting a mass murderer with perhaps a bit of romance. NOPE. No strong woman, no action, not anything that I would call romance. I simply do not understand how any woman having her thoughts invaded and her life threatened can be overwhelmed with lust for the man who is abusing and threatening her. And that is ALL that the first 2/3 of this book were: Him abusing and threatening her, her being overwhelmed with lust for him. If I hadn\’t wasted my money buying the book, I would not have finished it. There was finally a tiny bit of plot introduced near page 200, and even then the lead character kept forgetting about tracking down the killer because she was so overwhelmed with lust for the \”romantic\” lead. The sex scenes weren\’t even remotely arousing. I can enjoy a well-written sex scene. These just bored and aggravated me. I don\’t understand how this book has such a high rating. The \”story\” made me think that whoever wrote this book was badly abused by her father as a child, and so she equates emotional abuse with \”love\”. In case you don\’t already know, ABUSE IS NOT LOVE. Whether it\’s your father or your lover, anyone who treats you badly or makes you feel bad about yourself, does NOT love you. Don\’t waste your time with them.

I read some 20 – 30 books a year. My journey from the fantasy genre goes from C.S. Lewis & Tolkien, to current giants like Eddings, Donaldson, Sanderson, King etc. Ive become a fan of urban fantasy through the Jim Butchers Dresden, Hearnes Irob Druid & even the Ilona Andrews team. Read all of them. It seems the big thing with urban fantasy now is sex. Feminine POV sex. If I had to read one more time how wet Elena was I was going to vomit. I learned to anticipate and skip those episodes (seemed to be about a 1/3 of the story?). Ok, with that off my chest…the book presents an interesting premise, I guess. An alternate world ruled by angels & vampires. These angles are not heavenly but appear to be a higher form of vampire from whom all other vampires are spawned. Like I said, interesting premise. Unfortunately the author choses to spend all of her time developing the sexual content of the primary relationships and not the characters or the plot. This was a I need to download something before boarding a plane purchase. IMHO, this one is truly 1 or 2 stars

My first book I\’ve read from this author. It was enjoyable. Not the best I\’ve read, but the characters were well developed and the setting described well. The book was based on a action type story which is great, and initially I wasn\’t sure if the supernatural world was made known to \’normal\’ humans, but you later discover that it was and that Archangels and Angels were living amongst the humans on earth. The author tried to bring in an element of steam into the novel, but for me something was lacking and it seems to happen and then dissipate just as quickly. I didn\’t feel a real connection between the characters, but overall I did enjoy the book. When I saw the prices of the next books in this series I realised that (for me) it wasn\’t worth the cost – currency/exchange rates taken into consideration as well. It\’s a lot more expensive that my most favourite author\’s books and I may have considered purchasing, even at the inflated price, if I was completely engrossed in the novel. I don\’t want to complain too much since it takes skill to write a book and create these worlds and characters, but for me it wasn\’t gripping enough to justify the cost of the next books in the series and I did feel like the characters just sort of fell in love at the end of the book with very little build up. I had a bit of whiplash.

I adore this author\’s other big series, Psy-Changeling, so I was excited to start this series. I\’ve read a few of the little novellas that start this series out and they\’ve been pretty good. And while I did enjoy Angels\’ Blood, I\’m thinking this isn\’t going to be an obsession the way Psy-Changeling was. This world is really interesting. Vampires are created by angels that are very much a part of the everyday life. When an angel makes a vampire, the vamp agrees to 100 years of service in return. Some vamps change their mind about that service and take off. That\’s where the hunters come in. Elena is a hunter born meaning she\’s able to track vampires better than your average hunter. She can scent them. Human and from a family that\’s not happy with her \”choice\” of employment, she\’s one badass hunter. Raphael is not just an angel but an archangel. He\’s come into that power after hundreds of years of being an angel. His past experience with human women is not a happy one but he\’s very drawn to Elena despite needing her for a hunt that might get her killed. This author is a master at creating dynamic worlds, rich with the promise of many wonderful stories to come. A paranormal world that lives very much in our own world with just a few additions to our history books, it creates a comfortable and satisfying place for the drama to unfold. I enjoyed Elena and Raphael\’s story but what surprised me was that their story isn\’t over. This series doesn\’t have different couples for each book set in this exciting world. No, it looks like at least the first three are about this couple. Somehow that just made me sad. It was clear they still had story left. Their relationship isn\’t quite right at the end. These two have dominance issues. The badass in Elena gets in the way of the power that is an archangel. It\’s just not a stable ending for them. But I do like a couple to be settled at the end of a book. I may read the next book but not right away. While I enjoyed this one, it just didn\’t compel me to rip open the next book. Maybe I\’m just not a vampire girl. Maybe I\’m just not an angel girl. Most likely, I\’m just not in the mood to read on right now.

I really do love this series and its been quite a while since I originally read this hence me wanted to do a full reread starting with this one. I loved this just as much the second time around the genre is urban fantasy combined with romance and its fast-paced and action-packed throughout. The story is so imaginative its set in an alternate earth universe where angels rule at the top and the highest of them all are archangels. Raphael is the Archangel of New York and he has a problem. One of the other Archangels has gone rogue killing innocents across the city he needs a hunter to scent him out so he can contain and destroy the threat. Elena is a born hunter employed by the Guild an organisation that bags vampires and returns them to their masters the angels. Vampires are made and part of the price of this is the service of time owed to their overlords. When Elena is summoned to Angel Tower by Raphael himself she knows that to refuse is not an option. This is a graphic one in terms of gory descriptions Raphael and Elena are basically on the tail of a serial killer psychotic angel. This balanced the plot with the romance very nicely but this story is essentially more plot-driven than romance-driven. I liked where we eventually ended up here and that ending was fabulous and definitely makes you want to continue on with Elena and Raphaels story. The world-building is good and even though certain things werent explained fully here I know having read this series before that these explanations do come and the more this series progresses the more we do learn. I cant wait to dive fully into the next book which again focuses on this particular couple. A well written and imaginative series with Angel\’s vampires and humans.

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