Book Review: Archangel’s Lineage

Book 11 of 2024

Archangel’s Lineage. (Guild Hunter #16) Written by Nalini Singh

Ah. Sigh. My favourite guilty pleasure series. I LOVE THESE CHARACTERS. Which understandable makes it very hard to be objective at all! In fact I do not think I will even try.

I loved that this series took us back to Elena & Raphael and gave us some more of their story.

I like that we showed a skip in time post the battles of the previous books, although as I often find in books, I was frustrated that people just don’t get to live happily every after, that there is always a new battle, or a new issue, or something else that is getting in the way. This one was a nice way to wrap up the legion storyline, which I thought was cool.

I would genuinely just like a book of all the seven in new york going about their normal life, and us getting a glimpse into that!

Overall I enjoyed it – but fully acknowledge my bias!

Mrs K

Book Reviews: Starlight

Book 8 of 2024

Starlight. Written by Olivia Wildenstein

Book three of the Angels of Elysium series.

OK, so book three, lets bear in mind that I read all three of these books in one week, so there was no time elapsed in terms of not being in the world, I lived and breathed the world created for a week. I think that is one thing that Olivia Wildenstein does really well – creates these amazing worlds which are complex and amazing.

This third book in the series was probably my least favourite. However as with the second book I did really enjoy that this book was focussed on a different part of the book, that again we had moved forward in time 18 years. So it was the world, and the story but there were gaps.

This story had a lot more action – a lot closer to a thriller, and at times it felt like the angel story was more to the background, but it was still there.

However I did love the ending, I loved all aspects of getting the cathartic happy ending that we all long for particularly at the end of a trilogy!

Mrs K

Book Review: Celestial

Book 7 of 2024

Celestial. Written by Olivia Wildenstein. Angels of Elysium Series #2

Ok, so the first thing I have to say that I am really enjoying about this series is that each book is within the world but seperated by time, and so is quite different. I really like this that it does not try to pick up where left off or follow the exat same story.

So this one picks up just 4.5 years after the previous book but focuses on characters who were more fringe characters in the first book.

In ninety-two days, the feathered appendages that link me to the people I loathe finally come off. Dear, winglets, you will not be missed.

Celeste has spent the last four years building a life outside of angelic guilds—parties, check—pursuing human ambitions instead of celestial ones—college, check—and shedding feathers across Parisian cobblestones and more recently New York sidewalks—speaking her mind, always check.

She swore off angels, but the death of the woman who took her in the night Leigh died brings them soaring back into her life . . . and not just any angel but the most detestable one, the one complicit in Leigh’s death—Seraph Asher.

It is another spicy book – although perhaps not as spicy as the first book!

I think I did not enjoy this book as much as the first book, that could be because there was a clear shift in the romeo and juliet retelling, but it was also much more of a slow burn than the first book.

Overall – you would obviously need to start the series with Feather. But this was a good book!

Mrs K

Book Review: Archangel’s Resurrection

Book 79 of 2022

Archangel’s Resurrection. Written by Nalini Singh. (Guild Hunter Series #15)

One of my all time favourite guilty pleasure series. This book didn’t disappoint however I almost was disappointed initially because the story is of Alexander and Zanaya, and I did not really see these two as worth of a story at this point.

However, once I got into this story it was another absolute ripper. I loved hearing from the point of view of people who had lived or measured time in thousands of years. I love the way they talk about things over time, and how decades etc don’t matter in the scheme of things. This was quite good because most of the other stories that we have had have been “newbies’ our younglings and it was very nice to see how they adapted to the world changing and language etc.

This story was fantastic, and I loved the cassandra storyline finishing and even the war finishing. I feel like the series is now in a good place to move forward.

Another great book in a great series. Nalini Singh beautifully develops these characters and the world.

Mrs K

Genre: Guild Hunter Series, Archangel’s Resurrection, Nalini Singh, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy Romance, Romance, fiction, Adult fiction, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Fantasy, Vampires, Angels,

Book Review: Archangel’s Light

Book 59 of 2021

Archangel’s Light. Written by Nalini Singh. Guild Hunter Series.

Wow. Just Wow. I have literally been counting down for this book, and I was so excited for it. As so often with Nalini Singh I was not disappointed. This book – is the much awated Illium book. Elena’s Bluebell. However what you see as you read this is that before he was Elena;s Bluebell, he was Aoden;s Blue. The simplcity of that name in itself in so many ways sums up so many aspects of what this book is like.

I was worried about this book – I think for two reasons, one was that it was a beloved character, and the second was that I thought she might do her first foray into a homosexual relationship. I was worried that because I know this has been a big critique for sometime that it would come across tokenistic and not quite right. As with everything with Nalini Singh – I should not have worried. It was done perfectly. It was not a book so much about a relationship as about self discovery and also about how to survive and grow beside someone as they grow and change. It was a beautiful reminder that even in a mortal human life we change so much – and of course we will do the same if we lived for half a millenia. This book was beautiful.

There were so many moments when my heart melted just a little bit, so many parts of the book where I wished I could just freeze time so that this book would last forever.

Alas it did not, and despite have several other books on hand I may just start this book again. One of these books every year is simply not enough!!! I need more, I wish I could rediscover this whole series again!

Hopefully I have not given away too much with this review – but if you have not already – you should definitely read this series. I am always hesitant to compare authors – but if you are a Maas fan – this could be a series for you.

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Angels, Vampires, M M Romance, Friendship, Adult, LGBT, Guild Hunter, Nalini Singh,

Book Review: Grace and Glory

Book 35 of 2021

Grace and Glory. The Harbringer Book three. Jennifer L. Armentrout.

So this was one of my hotly anticipated releases of the year. Sadly I feel it did not live up to the hype. There was some confusion initially about the release date. Like I had it written in every single diary/planner that I had and was so excited. Then on release day it said it was not available in NZ on kindle for another month. This was a massive let down. In the end it came out on the 7th, but took me much longer to start.

There was lots to like about this sequel, however there were two big things that I had issues with. The first was teh pacing. The start of the book was unbelievably slow. The second part of the book, all the action felt like it happened in like one page! (Exageration I know!) The second thing I really didn’t like was teh education about the degenerative eye condition. I know that this is a deliberate choice on behalf of JLA as she was diagnosed with something herself. However as a reader if felt both inconsistent, and also thrown in your face every second! It felt like there were very few sentences without some mention of the eyesight.

I really don’t want to give anything away, and as such intend to keep this as a spoiler free review, however despite the pacing issues, this book pretty much gave me everything I wanted from this series. I was a little disappointed lately with A crown of Gilded Bones. However this one, in contrast really went into as much detail about all sorts of aspects that were amazing. Lucifer was brought topside, which was fabulous (and clearly will give us a spinoff series later on?) I loved the references to pop culture as we know it, Tiger King, Supernatural, Highlander etc. These were well done, and so awesome to really help place these events in the world outside our window.

The characters were amazing, and the relationships all strengthened and grew in a way that you would expect. I also liked that characters really stopped seeing the world in black and white and instead were very much able to live within the shades of grey.

Overall – this was a fantastic ending to the series – and if you have enjoyed the earlier books I highly recommend that you follow up!

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Speculative Fiction, Angels, paranormal gargoyles, urban fantasy, demons, romance, teenage fiction, Harbringer, Harbringer series, JLA, contemporary fiction, Lucifer, Grace and Glory,

Book Review: Forging Darkness

Book 4 of 2021

Fallen Legacies Book 2

Forging Darkness. Written by Julie Hall

So this book came out the same day as another book that I had pre-ordered. If I am honest I read this one first because I wanted to savour the other one.

This book was very different to the first one. The first one was set in the acadamy and I really enjoyed that component of the book. However this book moved away from the acadamy which made it really different. While I enjoyed it – I probably would not have finished it if I had not read the first one. It was an attachment that I had to the characters that allowed me to continue going.

I will say – though – that despite feeling a little meh about the book, the ending was definitely enough for me to keep reading. Which is a definite positive. Other things though that kept me on the positive side of this book include the characters – they really developed a lot in this book, and so did their relationships. I look forward to seeing that more.

As always for me, I liked that there was nothing that was solidly black and white – instead the real interest lay in the gray area – where things are not always what they seem, and people have motives which can make a morally wrong choice seem not quite so bad! For me this is always the place where I really enjoy the motivations of a character and being able to see what is important to them. I think in this book that is especially the case with Emberley, especially because she did not grow up in the world of the fallen, she sees things quite differently.

If there was one thing I am quite aprehensive about it is probably the “elders” or the council – I have had enough of the stereotype where they always turn out to be the bad guys!

Still – watch this space as I will be pre ordering the next book!

Mrs K

Genre: Paranormal, Angels, Young adult, speculative fiction, fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, paranormal, Julie Hall, Fallen Legacies,

Book Review: Stealing Embers

Book 66 of 2020

Stealing Embers. Fallen Legacies book 1. Written by Julie Hall

So this was a book that I had a sample of on my kindle. I often get samples when I read something about a book and think it sounds good. Often the sample just lives permanently on my kindle, however I was struggling to sleep and so started reading. THe sample had three chapters and by the end of the sample I most definitely needed to keep reading! There was absolutely no question about that!

I really really really enjoyed this book! It was unique and fun. It was well explained and well set yet at the same time the pace kept up and I needed to know what was happening next.

There were probably a couple of things that felt a little cliche. But that is ok! I can definitely cope with cliche when the story and characters are as engaging as this one. It kind of felt like a slightly more grown up version of the Keepers of the Lost City series – in the way that it was set at a school and the kind of kindly head mistress.

The characters here were really engaging. I really enjoyed the main character, who for a female fantasy character actually came across pretty strong and not too whiny! The male character was more traditionally for fantasy a bit of an ass. However he rationale was well explained and you could almost feel sorry for him! The friends were awesome! the sorts of friends that everybody wants to surround themselves with. Loyal, caring and willing to risk everything for you.

The setting was brilliant, it was set in our world, which is always my preference I love the whole world outside your window element, but with a little bit more.

Also… for the record and without giving anything away – Tinkerbelle is my fave!!!! If you enjoy Young adult fantasy and school series then you most definitely need to add this to your list!

Mrs K

Genre: Stealing Embers, Falling Legacies series, Julie Hall, Fantasy, Paranormal, Angels, Young Adult Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy, Urban fantasy, Young Adult, Supernatural, Speculative Fiction, School fiction,

Book Review: Archangel’s Sun

Book 64 of 2020

Archangel’s Sun. Written by Nalini Singh

Book 13 of “A Guid Hunter Series”

So this book was released and I read it straigh away. No real surprise there. WE know how much I love this Guild Hunter Series. THis particular book was one that I was looking forward to. I was looking forward to learning more about the Hummingbird. Learning more of her story. WOW was I not disappointed.

What was interesting to me was that I read a kindle copy, and then my friend bought me a signed copy after I was finished. The book was much smaller than what I was expecting, which upon further reflection seemed about right to me. There were aspects of this book that while they may not have felt rushed they most certainly could have been developed in more detail. Certainly towards the end of the book we moved to a “two weeks…. two months” later type situation.

What I do like – is that the series is kind of at an impasse on where it can go from here, having tidied up one overarching story. However there are so many characters I still want to have their own book. There is so many stories I need to hear.

I really loved this book, I loved the idea of healing and rediscovering oneself, I loved the idea of becoming what you need to be for yourself. And oh boy do I love the idea of being so old that no one and nothing scares you.

My favourite line from the book was

“I am an archangel. I do not drop things.”

I really liked that after the hugeness of Archangel’s War Singh was able to bring the story back to being about the development of one character, while still giving us snippets of the clean up and consequences of the war. For me it is the focus on the individual characters that makes this series so endearing.

Finally – my final comment is that I loved that the guild hunters were back in this story, although not on actual first name basis it was good to remember they were there.

I would have liked the relationship between Titus and the Hummingbird to slow down a little bit but that is a minor want – probably more because I wanted to savour the story more!

If you have read this series then it will come as no surprise to you that you need to read this new book. If you have not read this series then you NEED to start! ASAP – because it is really actually fantastic!

Mrs K

Genre: High Fantasy, NZ Author, Nalini Singh, Guild Hunter Series, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Romance, Urban Fantasy, Angels, Vampires,

Book Review: Angel’s Flight

Book 62 of 2020

Angel’s Flight. A Guild hunter Collection. Written by Nalini Singh.

This is one of my all time favourite series, and after reading the last book I just needed something a little less serious to sink my teeth into before I read the rest of the books that I had at home!

I didn’t quite feel like re-reading this series or any of the books – although I often do. So I found this – this was a series of three Novella’s which gave little snippets into stories that you know happened but give a little more background and they were so good! As a rule I have avoided the novellas that authors put out as always just end up disappointed that it was not a full story. However this worked perfectly.

It has also given me the inspiration to create a diorama of the Refuge – complete with angels and homes etc. I am super excited about this project – although cautious – it can always turn out so much worse than you plan! haha!

If you have not already – I really can’t recommend the Guild Hunter series enough – it is a great light read which is so so cool!

Mrs K

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Angels, Vampires, Paranormal Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Adult, Short Stories, Guild Hunter, Nalini Singh