ARCHANGEL'S ENIGMA – Nalini Singh
A Guild Hunter Novel , Book 8
Jove
ISBN: 978-0-425-25126-3
September 2015
Paranormal Romance

Present Day

Naasir is one of Archangel Raphael's Seven, and right now he is on a hunt – for his mate.  Though anxious to find her, he'll have to put his hunt on hold in order to find the Sleeping place of an Ancient, the former Archangel of Persia, before Lijuan , the regenerating Archangel of China, finds him and kills him.  To help on his quest, he needs Andromeda, an angel and a scholar, who may have clues as to where the Ancient is Sleeping.  Naasir isn't too happy about being away from his family, about postponing his hunt, or about having to work with a fragile angel.  But then he meets Andromeda, and his senses tell Naasir he has found his mate.

Andromeda only has a couple of weeks left before her four hundredth birthday, when she'll be forced to return to her grandfather's cruel and depraved court.  A little adventure and the chance to meet an Ancient might be enough to sustain her for a short while of her five hundred years of servitude.  Naasir is intriguing, and the more she gets to know him, the more Andromeda is tempted to forsake her vow of celibacy.  But with an insane and deadly Archangel hot on their trail, and the vampires sworn to the Sleeping Archangel willing to do whatever it takes to protect him, Andromeda and Naasir will have quite a fight on their hands.

The latest book in the Guild Hunter series, ARCHANGEL'S ENIGMA pairs up the most mysterious of Raphael's Seven with a scholar with secrets of her own.  Naasir is a bit more than “rough around the edges” but he is fiercely loyal to those he considers family: Raphael and Elena; the angels and vampires who make up the Seven, and their mates as well. He is also funny, affectionate and deadly – an oddly charming combination.  Andromeda has been away from her homeland for a couple hundred years, and though she misses the land she grew up on, her parents don't understand the meaning of self-control, and her grandfather is Charisemnon, the Archangel responsible for not only many angelic deaths, but also a virus that is killing vampires.  She'd love to remain at the Refuge with her studies, but a vow given at her birth requires Andromeda to spend five hundred years as a Princess of the Court, and right-hand to Charisemnon.

It is probably best to read the Guild Hunter series in order, as much of what is happening in this book is a continuation of the books that came before.  Lijuan, who was an ally of Raphael's at the beginning of the series, has now evolved and managed to overcome death itself.  Naasir is very close to his family, Raphael and Elena, and Dmitri and Honor in particular, so readers get a chance to catch up with the characters from previous novels, but other than the situation with Lijuan, the book does stand fairly well on its own.

Filled with adventure as well a romance that is both sweet and funny, ARCHANGEL'S ENIGMA is a book I highly recommend.

Jennifer Bishop