Great romance, lovely slow burn if you love that kind of trope. I really enjoyed it and I am eager to read more from this author

I honestly thought I wasn't going to like this book very much because I was not particularly interested in Alexander or Zanaya. However, Singh managed to surprise me by getting me invested in their early years and their early relationship. After that, I was hooked and couldn't put it down!

It's a great slow burn and shows just how old Alex and Zani are. It was really frustrating though because Alex was so stubborn. Well I guess so was Zani and they couldn't get it together over centuries?! I loved the lead up and the side stories. Hopefully they manage to communicate better in the future.

How are we still dealing with the same villain? While I love this series there was no need for this book. Learning about 2 ancient was great but it did not move the plot of the overall series forward. I feel like we are just spinning our wheels right now. Singh is a master writer and her books are always technically perfect. Well-written developed and amazing world-building. I just feel like we had a happily ever after for the main series and it is time to move on.

If you haven't started this series, I highly recommend it, but just know that these really can not be read as standalone’s.

I love Nalini Singh’s books! I admit that I’ve missed a few in the Guild Hunter series which may be why I was a bit lost at times. The main characters, Alexander and Zanaya just weren’t my favorite to read about. I didn’t hate it… I just didn’t love it, and again it might be that I need to go back and read the others that I missed? I’m not even sure what I missed to be honest, but reading this made me feel like I missed a book somewhere? Either way, I will again say don’t read this on its own.
. Some say you can read as a standalone, but this is book 15 in the series. I really think to get the full experience you need to read the others before this it any of them in this series to be honest.

I love PNR. I really enjoy this series, but after reading this one.. I’m not sure where it’s going after this. I won’t spoil anything, but I’m thinking it’s possibly got no where to go after a main reason for these books have gone on are done.
What do I know? Could be so much more that we as the readers just don’t see coming yet? I guess we’ll wait and see.

I’ll continue on because I’m not in the authors head.
I enjoy the authors books,
I enjoy this series!
I still think if you’ve been reading this series, it should be read, as well as the books prior, in order of release.. Just My opinion.
With that said… I look forward to future books, but this one was just not my favorite.

I cannot help but think of the song Bad Romance from Lady Gaga. This story has me torn. Ms. Singh does an amazing job of creating two admirable characters and yet their relationship brings out the absolute worst in each other. They are in a spiraling down toxic relationship that breaks them down instead of lifts them up. If Alexander and Zanaya were humans in current day and age, we would highly recommend they end their relationship and be done with it.

The focus of this story is less on the plot and what is going on in the aftermath of Lijuan's psychotic breakdown and destruction of her cadre and pretty much the entire world. There are hints of something else coming but it is very slight because the spotlight is all on Alexander. Alexander's past impacted how he interacts and has relationships in some ways. His admiration from afar of Zanaya until she is of age and equal in power is admirable. How these two interact over the centuries is deplorable. Their in ability to communicate to each other in their preferred love language pains me to witness. These two people are rock stars in the Angel world. People love them. The loyalty they inspire is legendary. And yet, the way they treat is other is abhorrent. I cannot get over how poorly they interact and how they take each other for granted in some ways.

What will it take to break them out of this destructive cycle? Zanaya's fall and possible end is a rude awakening for Alexander. Honestly, I didn't know how this love story would go. I know it has to end in a happily ever after. I couldn't see how this relationship would be able to change even with a deus ex machina. Ms. Singh surprises me with character growth progression for these millennium old couple. Their love story is fraught with misunderstandings, unintentional slights, and too much pride. Following their journey from the initial spark through the dark times and finally to their happily for now, I am exhausted and emotionally wrung out. I loved it! Another winner from Ms. Singh. Recommended for romance readers who never want to give up on love.

Erica – ☆☆
ARCHANGEL'S RESURRECTION is the fifteenth installment in the Guild Hunter series. This cannot be read as a standalone. Even if you've read/reread the entire series, the inundation of past and present characters is still confusing. I couldn't imagine someone new to the series finding enjoyment without knowing the foundation of the world building.

This novel is not a romance, nor is it some complex relationship that evolved over eons. Alexander said to Zanaya. "Our love isn't a madness! The things we’ve done together, Zani. The adventures we've had, the discoveries we've made!"

It's too bad in 400 pages, the reader experiences neither discoveries nor adventures between Alexander and Zanaya. If something other than the madness buried with filler had been shown, maybe I'd believe the love that was told.

Commentary added to the review after reading a third, half, and upon completion of the novel. I wrote these parts in an email draft, waited days as I allowed my frustration to abate, then decided to order my thoughts without allowing my emotions to create a harsher review.

Well, it looks like a book but it doesn't read like one...

The format for this novel is the most bizarre I've ever read – and no, that isn't a compliment. Every scene felt like an introduction. I kept waiting for the story to actually start. Page after page, thinking NOW the story will begin... and it was yet another instance of Singh TELLING the reader what happened instead of allowing the characters to SHOW the story.

Truncated. Zero emotional impact. One-to-three-page scenes featuring overly complex world building, that are basically nothing but filler, fused together into hundreds of pages and called a novel.

Millennia covered in the 30% I've read thus far: told in dual narration. The hero and heroine saw each other TWICE (once from a distance) over a thousand years, speaking ONCE for 30 seconds (if you cut out the hundred pages of inanity, it would have taken 30 seconds to read too). Then, they see each other, immediately kiss (which was written out for a paragraph), then "dance" in the sky (not fade-to-black, the reader blinks and it's over).

In what is the most drawn-out (a millennia) yet insta-love (30 seconds of interaction and they're having sex) romance ever written.

The next page is 300 years later. Two pages later, they fight for a page. Next page, they've been broken up for a decade. Next page, two years later and Alexander decides his brother covering all his windows is an important plot point (yes, this scene does tie in but it was also entirely unnecessary and could have been added/written differently).

That was 30% of the novel, minus inane filler and mind-bleeding info-dumpage the reader did not need. There is zero character development (if you wouldn't learn your lessons when you're over 10-20 THOUSAND years of age, you CANNOT, and nothing I'm told will convince me otherwise, especially with no responsibility taken and no closure).

ARCHANGEL'S RESURRECTION is not a free-flowing story. At. All. No emotion. It's basically a list.

Cliff Notes is more detailed.

While I appreciate what Singh attempted to create, I was left frustrated, bored, and confused, while caring very little over the story nor the characters.

I'm at a loss, wondering why the editor didn't say "why are you focusing on that when it has no impact on the overall story?" On. Every. Page. Editors are notorious for commenting "Show, don't tell" This novel was entirely TELL.

I keep waiting for the story to happen. It's the only reason I haven't DNFed. I keep wondering if there was a method to this madness, which had me turning the page... but when I did, the next page was hundreds of years later, truncated in half a sentence (the reader doesn't even get a full paragraph).

I'm at a loss. At what point will this read as a novel? (Answer, around the halfway mark, but it truly never flows like a novel.)

Singh tells us Archangels struggle to be near one another, so the angst should be through the roof between Alexander and Zanaya since they are soul mates, unable to be near one another.

Eons old, Alexander is possessive, jealous, and unreasonable. Slightly younger, but in the grand scheme of things, what is a thousand years among so many thousands of years? Singh states (using all the characters), how unreasonable and stubborn Zanaya is, yet I never saw a single example of this. At. All. It was quite misogynistic to assume Zanaya was the one getting in the way of their happiness by not submitting when they are equals. All they had to do was see each other, do their archangel duties, see each other, repeat. The issues stemmed when Alexander was stomping all over Zanaya's boundaries, with everyone blaming her for being stubborn. Added to that, the reader is to focus on Zanaya repeating history like her mother, but I saw zero obsession on her part toward Alexander, only loyalty, understanding, and love. (You don't want to know what look is riding my facial expression right now.)

So this angst/drama was extremely childish. It could have been hard-hitting and emotional if written differently. The fact that it continued for tens of thousands of years makes it all that much more ridiculous, especially since the reader was dragged along on that ride over the eons.

32% now. They've broken up twice and gotten back together twice (Alexander bedding others, because he loves Zanaya SO MUCH), along with a major change for Zanaya. Hadn't seen each other in a century... Wash. Rinse. Repeat... in 2% of the novel. Maybe two pages. I'm not exaggerating or being sarcastic.

Epic love story, where the reader has experienced three minutes (reading time) of them interacting with one another (95% of which are disagreements), but was told by the author how many escapades they've had with others, which took up more page-time than they've shared. Also told, never shown, so there is zero emotional attachment between the characters or the reader to the characters.

Still 32%. They've broken up and gotten back together innumerable times over 7000 years now (I'm not being sarcastic), and I feel ready for "sleep" myself, as aged as I've gotten reading this.

In my opinion, all of that should have been cut from the novel. If so proficient in truncation, just tuck two or three pages of a backstory info-dump. It's not as if we actually "experienced" their love story anyway. We were repeatedly TOLD and it wasn't entertaining. Like a sentence every 50 years. Just toss the first third and tell the reader now (Cascade forward).

If all that was meant to form an emotional attachment between the characters, all it succeeded in doing was turning my frustration into anger, along with a strong dislike for Alexander. At this point, after hours of frustration, I'm asking myself why I'm still reading.

34%... Cascade.

Did my impatience pay off? Should I get excited?

This better be where the Cliff Notes end and an actual novel begins.

Zanaya wakes in the Cascade. Seems to be reading as a novel now, but they're bickering during a cadre meeting, which seems like the last thing they'd give AF about. Time and place, end of the world is not for petty squabbles, flirting, and Alexander being Alexander (Apparently their love was so epic he had kids with someone else. That's super romantic.). And Singh is using Zanaya to give us a rundown of Alexander's second and third in command (not sure how Zanaya knows this info – she was asleep and all), as if I'll even remember characters who will NEVER see page-time. (Book finished, I was right. Never interacted with them.)

50% mark.

There were good parts, even if they were unneeded. The bad parts were all Alexander and Zanaya. He was a good archangel and a horrible lover. She was a strong archangel who had to fight to keep her lover from consuming her identity. Since they're not real people, Singh created this dynamic that ruined the story. It wasn't romantic or star-crossed lovers. It was cringe because of the execution.

The Zanaya I've read doesn't seem unreasonable in any way. Strong. Places down reasonable boundaries. Intelligent. Wise. Empathetic. Compromising. Good-humored.

Why is everyone (Singh) saying Zanaya is bad for Alexander. That puts the onus of his misbehavior on her instead of him taking responsibility for his own actions and emotions.

There's no such thing as mutual abuse. There is the abuser and the one reacting to abuse. Alexander is arrogant, patronizing, jealous, petty, and controlling; let's not blame Zanaya for striking back at Alexander with Singh calling it daddy issues. Ad nauseam, the reader is told they are mutually toxic, blaming Zanaya for being stubborn... I just didn't see anyone but Alexander being unreasonable, as well as being stubborn.

When the book starts to flow linearly, it reads as if this was Singh's original starting point and all I wanted cut from the story was written afterward.

Awakened by the cascade, Alexander is NOT treating Zanaya well – he's ragey yet they're immediately back in bed again, pretending it'll be different this time. It won't because he hasn't changed. If he had changed, he wouldn't be angry

Alexander is angry Zanaya went to sleep. Zanaya did the ultimate in self-care to ensure her existence. (If Archangels don't sleep, they will become mad, go berserk on the populous, and then will be put down.) So controlling, Alexander thought he should dictate when Zanaya should or shouldn't sleep, as if he knows her body better than her, and the reader was gaslit by Singh to accept this misogyny.

Irony upon irony, funny how no one is mad that Alexander eventually slept. In fact, Zanaya is relieved to discover this. What did Alexander want? For Zanaya to go mad, to where he'd have to put her down? It's like blaming someone for getting medical care. I do not get this "drama" at all.

This circular relationship cycle has destroyed the novel, more so than the storytelling style. The fact that Singh believes this petty nothingness can carry tens of thousands of years of storytelling...

I get Singh wanted this dynamic, but it's not executed well nor is it as dramatic or angsty as assumed. It's childish, ridiculous, because of their ancient age, and unjust as I don't believe any of the burden of fault rests on Zanaya's shoulders, with Alexander being surrounded by people who blame her, including himself.

No matter what happens next, tragedies or miracles, there is no cure to remove the toxicity known as Alexander in their relationship, even if he changes. Tens of thousands of years cannot be erased, especially when he doesn't take responsibility for even a part of the role he played.

There is no actual reason why they're fighting, even if you add in the Archangel Proximity issue, as it's just petty squabbles that Alexander picks at Zanaya.

Alexander (who wanted Zanaya to be his equal – did he though? or was he being patronizing?) is mad because she is behaving as his equal.

Full stop.

How is that a good plot device?

Let's write that out again. He's upset that she won't allow him to control her. He also didn't want to be with her until she was strong enough to hold her own. Now that she is, he's upset she won't bow to his whim...

That's it.

Does that sound like a tragic love story or a story devoid of love and respect? How romantic, healthy, and mature, so let's blame the victim and have our friends tell her she's bad for him. (Zanaya seemed pretty isolated, without her own support system after the first of the novel, always surrounded by Alexander supporters telling her she's bad for Alexander and cadre members.)

Zanaya is rightfully mad that Alexander is being disrespectful, jealous, petty, and controlling, so we'll blame her for stepping from a toxic relationship before it imploded. Should she have stayed and allowed it to become war? I know. I know. She should have given in, given up her identity, and become Alexander's consort, and all would be right with the world. So let's blame her instead of Alexander.

M'kay!

Every page is a struggle. Tedious. An overwhelming amount of indigestible, unnecessary filler. If executed differently, written as a fluid novel, it could have been good.

I barely tolerated this new form of delivering the story during Ilium's novel. But this was all story "telling" and hardly any time where the reader is immersed in a flowing novel as if it's happening around them.

I hope this trend doesn't continue in the next book. In all the books before, we didn't need a millennia of regurgitated backstory formatted like a plot outline, and we don't need it now. I can't get through the books that are written that way.

I recommend skipping this installment. I wouldn't subject myself or anyone else to this, especially since the main plot was told in all the books before. The frustration wasn't worth wading through eons of a toxic, abusive relationship, where the reader is fed crumbs of details for events where we already know the outcome. Maybe just read the last 20%. That's it.

I got an eARC of this book sometime last year & read it as soon as I got it. I have to admit that I didn’t love it. When it was released, I decided to get the audiobook & try that. Justine Eyre is such an amazing narrator.

The book was good, but it’s not my favorite. I loved both Alexander & Zanaya, but I really felt like the book spanned too long of a time period. The book begins in New York during the war against Lijuan. Zanaya was woken from her Sleep by both the war & the cascade. She wasn’t ready to leave Sleep, but she knew that being awoken against her will means that the world is in serious peril.

After Zanaya is critically injured by Lijuan in the beginning of the book, Nalini takes us back to the beginning of the epic love story of Archangels Alexander & Zanaya. The book stretches from the beginning of their time together, to the middle, and ultimately to the end. I think this book really highlighted the fact that sometimes love isn’t enough. There has to be mutual respect (which there was), but it was also about being vulnerable.

There was an abundance of love between the two, but power came between them. Alexander loved power. He loved having it & amassing more of it. Zanaya knew when it was time to Sleep & didn’t forgive Alexander for not coming with her. Eventually they realized that if they both didn’t change, it was going to be the end of Alexander & Zanaya.

Overall, it was a good addition to the series, but it was far from my favorite.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

How does this series keep getting better and better? I mean, come on now. It's like just when I find my favorite book... Nalini releases a new one that tops it. Favorite book of the series yet!

I genuinely don’t know how she did it, but Nalini Singh managed to get again get me invested in a GH couple. I wasn’t sure how I would feel about reading a story featuring characters I’d only seen in passing (or what feels like passing in a long series like this), but I enjoyed getting to know Alexander and Zanaya.

I received a copy of this book for review from NetGalley. For whatever reason, this one just didn't do much for me. I had trouble getting into it, and I've never really had that issue with Nalini Singh books before. Your mileage may vary, but I had difficulty emotionally connecting with the main character, which made caring about their story harder for me. I've enjoyed pretty much everything else this author has written though, so I will most likely write this off as a statistical anomaly or that I was in the wrong head space, and call it good.

Nalini Singh’s latest entry in her paranormal Guild Hunter series about the powerful archangels who rule the world is the love story about Alexander, the Archangel of Persia, and fellow archangel Zanaya, Queen of the Nile.

The tumultuous relationship between Alexander and Zanaya, which began before either ascended, had burned hotly for thousands of years, cycling from passion to anger to heartbreak. The two estranged ancients had finally both fallen into Sleep but were awakened to join the fight against Lijuan, the Archangel of Death.

The love between Alexander and Zanaya had bordered on obsession. When Alexander sees Zanaya fall during battle, he realizes that all his immense powers cannot help her. As she lies comatose, he reminisces about their lives.

If Zanaya rises again, can they make the changes needed to forge a true and stronger love? Can they work together to fight a new evil spawned from Lijuan’s darkness?

Singh’s latest can be read as a standalone, but much of the scope of the thrilling fight against Lijuan’s evil and the struggles of those involved is lost. Do yourself a favor and read the full enthralling series.

I never regret picking up a Nalini Singh book. I was in a serious book slump and Archangel's resurrection pulled me right out of it. This series just feels like coming home. It's my comfort series and despite how many books are in the series, each and everyone is so unique. I never real like character arcs or plots are repeated and I hope the Archangels series never ends. One of my all-time favorite PNR series. I will never tire of it!

I enjoy when any author writes a familiar scene or event from another viewpoint. Archangel's Resurrection does just this while giving us a front row seat to Alexander and Zanaya's romance. Brimming with romance, humor, drama, and a much loved cast of characters, Singh's latest installment is another winner.

Archangel's Resurrection is what I would call a side novel in the Guild Hunter series. Singh has written quite a few books that give us glimpses into the romance and background of several characters in the world. I was excited to see Alexander's story. The book spans over thousands of years giving readers history of Alexander's youth, his family, brother, his path as a warrior, friendship with Callie (Caliane), and eventually his love relationship with Zanaya. The story is very interesting. I loved seeing Alexander as a child and his roots. A small portion of the book is from Cassandra and her predictions on the future. I really enjoyed this bit and drawing connections to other novels in the series. My favorite part was the ending that jumps ahead by several years to give us a peek at the future. I think it leaves a lot of plot line possibilities for the Guild Hunter world. I will say that those who are looking for a lot of plot progression in the overall arching storyline will not find it in these pages. At times the book felt like an introduction to the characters and a bit of world building. For fans of the series, it can become a bit tedious to read at times. Overall, it's a solid addition to the series. I enjoyed it, but I'm also eager to move on in the overall story arch and see a bit more of Raphael and Elena.

Love this series. Hated this book.

Alexander wasn’t one of my favorite characters so I wasn't overly excited about this book to begin with and the relationship between Alexander and Zanaya was like watching a really bad reality TV series.

Alexander, Archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, Queen of the Nile, have a long history. They met the first time when Zanaya was just a young angel but Alexander was already a millennia old. They noticed each other right away and felt a connection, but it would have been like a twenty-five-year-old dating a kindergartener. So Alexander kept watch on Zanaya from afar, getting updates as the climbed the ranks in another Archangel's soldiers. Even when she made Lieutenant, and she felt she was ready for a relationship, he wouldn't indulge her for another few centuries.

When they finally began dating, what kept them from being a real couple was first the fact that Alexander was so much older and had been an Archangel for so long, that he was very used to everyone jumping when he snapped his fingers and Zanaya wasn't willing to give in to him. This is especially true since Zanaya's mother was abandoned by her father but would run back to him whenever he crooked his finger. Zanaya was determined never to bow to any man. This created a huge barrier towards their HEA.  As both of them felt that their dedication to the relationship wasn't being matched by the other.

As far as the continuing story arc, we pick up just before the war in New York, seeing the fog to overtakes Lijuan's territory and when she sent her zombie horde of children toward Neha's lands, including that idiot archangel who knew better than everyone and flew into the cloud, only to be buried in the farthest reaches of the world so he could maybe have a chance to heal. Zanaya was then attacked and drained by Lijuan during the battle and her desiccated body was taken by Cassandra along with the other archangel's who barely survived the attack. While the archangels still rested, Zanaya recovered rather quickly in less than a decade, but she felt changed by her attack. There is still a dark stain upon the world which was created by Lijuan and it keeps calling to Zanaya.

Thoughts:
Neither of these characters excited me but put them together and their relationship was a disaster. While I admire the fact that Alexander wouldn’t date Zanaya until she was a millennia old and she reached the rank of General, Zanaya and Alexander were a passionate and volatile couple. They are the kind of couple I would actively avoid in my life. They would be on a romantic high for awhile until they began to bicker about Alexander wanting Zanaya closer and more committed to Alexander and Zanaya wouldn’t submit to Alexander's controlling nature. Both believed they were more committed to the relationship and they weren’t getting the same level of commitment back. They would argue and break up for decades or centuries at a time, and then get back together until the fighting began again. Come on, you know a couple like that, someone who breaks up and gets back together over and over again. It’s annoying to everyone but them. Zanaya’s biggest offense to Alexander was deciding to go to Sleep and she was upset that Alexander refused to relinquish power long enough to Sleep although he was past the time he should have gone to Sleep and was acting erratic. We know that he eventually gave in since he was awakened in Nasir's story but he had to once again destroy his relationship with Zanaya before he gave in. You could see how jealous Zanaya was of the bond between Raphael and Elena especially since they had only been together for a moment in angel terms.

The story builds from before the war and through the battle, and can really all that can be skipped as we didn't learn anything new.  We just saw it from another pair of eyes.   It is the last 20 percent of the book where we pick up the battle between Zanaya and the darkness which is calling out to her.

While there was some interest in seeing Raphael's mother and the Hummingbird being treated as a contemporary to Alexander and Zanaya as opposed to the mother-figures we are used to, there really wasn't much to this story to excite me and if you feel the way I do about Alexander, you could probably just pass this one entirely as we had little time with our favorite characters and not much to push the story arc forward.

I have always enjoyed Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series (even with a couple of misses throughout its lifespan), bu Archangel's Resurrection takes on an archangel that I haven't enjoyed since his appearance, Alexander. Unfortunately, I did not care for his long-lost love Zanaya either. Neither character caught me in the way that Raphael and most of his Seven did, and I can't recommend continuing on with this series now that the primaries have been handled.

Veena’s review of Archangel’s Resurrection (Guild Hunter, Book 15) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 25 Oct 22

Alexander and Zanaya, a new development from a reader perspective but one that has spanned eons in the world of archangels. Zanaya, the archangel of Persia, is awakened by the cascade of death, only to become an early fatality of the archangel Lijuan’s vengeance against Alexander. Alexander is left bereft and grieving that he did not get the time or opportunity to mend the rift between them to see where they could go in this awakening. Have the two lovers been given that chance when Zanaya awakens but is left with a wrongness, a taint, that might prevent her from being who she once was?

This story is a departure from Ms. Singh’s normal stories, which are fast-paced and action oriented. We travel with the characters through the eons of their history, getting an unbelievably fascinating peek into the history of angel kind and some characters like Calianne, who shared their youth with Alexander. The very descriptive narrative of these early years makes for a slow pace that chafed at me, and I would have done anything to speed up the pace a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, there is action in pockets, especially since Lijuan has left a legacy of reborn and infection that continues to haunt a world still in recovery mode. And, truth be told, some of my disappointment stemmed from the fact that given the abrupt nature of the ending of the earlier book, I missed the total silence on Sparkles and Blue’s relationship.

I enjoy Ms. Singh’s writing and often pick up one of her books or even a whole series to reread. This is definitely not one of my favorites, and at this time I don’t think I’ll be picking it up for a total reread. However, as always, I am looking forward to where the author will take us next in this world.

Grade: B

Archangel's Resurrection features Alexander, the archangel of Persia, and Zanaya, the archangel of the Nile. These two have a storied past of deep love and deep anger. Their story? It spans millennia. Thousands of years of the deepest emotions until Zanaya decided to take a break-with the Sleep of their kind.

Just as their second chance starts, it is already hitting a major rough patch. This timeline crosses many of the previous books timelines (obviously), so it does help to understand the large story arc from previous books (the Cascade). However, I really had no idea who these two were, so in that respect, I was in the dark. In the past, I have skipped some of the books that don't focus on Raphael and Elena. I can't really explain why, but they are just the ultimate to me. However, I did truly enjoy Alexander and Zanaya's story. Their love is super intense (as being in love for millennia will do). My only issue with the book was at times, it felt slow. The timeline is long and so a lot of the book is time hopping through their story. I skimmed a few times. I think what continues to make this series work for me is the overarching plot arc. In this book, with the millennia of love to tell, it was a little meh.

Archangel's Resurrection is one of those epic love stories that really only works in fantasy. Singh's writing is evocative and enthralling as usual. Honestly, she is one of the best writers. If you haven't started this series, I highly recommend it.

Kinda disappointed, and sad about the development of this series.

To write a love story that spans thousands of years is no small feat, and I fell like the story suffered from just that - thousands of years that kinda dragged at times. And the worst of all I didn't feel the all consuming love between the couple that would have explained such a timeframe.

In the end, I could have gone without this book. Because the reason why I LOVE this series is Elena and Raphael, and to a certain extent Raphael's Seven. I wish that the author would go back and concentrate on the main cast - I miss them dearly.

For me this book was still solidly written, like all of her books, but it was missing a crucial ingredient. Either because it moved so far away from the heart of the series (the main characters), too many new characters are being introduced that leave me kinda indifferent. Another reason why I'm having a hard time caring for all these new couples. Or the story has run its course, as it is, for me.

What I need is an infusion of the old. The beloved. The reason why parts of this series has been on my re-read shelf for years.

Sometimes the old ways are best, on in this case the old crew.