Review--Archangel's Blade by Nalini Singh

The severed head marked by a distinctive tattoo on its cheek should have been a Guild case, but dark instincts honed over hundreds of years of life compel the vampire Dmitri to take control. There is something twisted about this death, something that whispers of centuries long past--but Dmitri's need to discover the truth is nothing compared to the vicious strength of his response to the hunter assigned to decipher the tattoo.

Savaged in a brutal attack that almost killed her, Honor is nowhere near ready to come face-to-face with the seductive vampire who is an archangel's right hand, and who wears his cruelty as boldly as his lethal sensuality--the same vampire who has been her secret obsession since the day she was old enough to understand the inexplicable, violent emotions he aroused in her.

As desire turns into a dangerous compulsion that might destroy them both, it becomes clear the past will not stay buried. Something is hunting...and it will not stop until it brings a blood-soaked nightmare to life once more.

In Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter novels, Dmitri was never really a fave character of mine. He always seemed so cold. But in Archangel's Blade, I totally fell for him!!

We get his whole story in this book, his past about who he was before he was a vampire and an archangel's right hand man. He was once a decent person, believe it or not! Of course it took awhile for me to warm up to him still. Throughout the book we get little flashbacks of his life as a human and his human wife whom he loved more than anything, then a powerful being, an angel, took a shine onto him. And if a powerful deity wants you, then you're basically screwed--all mythology teaches us this, especially Greek!

Honor is without a doubt one of the strongest heroines I've ever read about! She was brutally attacked some time ago, and her kidnapper held her for 2 months. 2 months of inexplicable torture. It's been some time now since she was rescued but she's still healing emotionally, she's taken to always having weapons on her and around her apartment, she's a broken woman trying to heal herself and survive.

When she's asked to look at the severed head Dmitri found, she does so, but she isn't psyched to be working with a vampire, since it was vampires that held her prisoner. Dmitri wasn't my fave right away in the beginning either. He soon decided that he wanted to take Honor to bed with him. To (basically) be just [another] woman for him to pleasure and move on from.

But as time goes on, he soon learns more about Honor than he thought he would. Including about her torture. He soon decides that he's going to help her. He plans to find the ones who victimized her and torture them in return.

Basically then we have Honor and Dmitri trying to solve two cases, the case of the beheading and finding Honor's torturers. In that time we learn about Dmitri's past and he becomes a changed man. And it was a nice transition.

Soon some other things become apparent as well. I won't get into details, but there are some hints thrown here and there and I soon made an accurate predication! Yay me!! But the romance that sparks between Dmitri and Honor was really beautiful in a way. For Honor is attracted to Dmitri, yet she still fears the vampire part of him. Her body reacts in violent ways when he gets near. She's going to have to fight her own personal battles so she can withstand his touch that she so longs for!

Overall this was a pretty good read! I really enjoyed getting to know Dmitri more. He's no longer an a-hole to me anymore. He's a damn fine man! And vampire. Elena and Raphael do make some appearances, which was nice! Missed not having them as the stars, but Dmitri and Honor were truly read worthy! I do so hope that Nalini might have a book with good ol' Bluebell though!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars