Archangel's Storm

I think this might be my favorite of the series -- the world building is more thought-out than previous installments, the plot isn't all slash-hack-gore, and the h/h... I loved them both. Singh's heroes have gotten kind of samey-same for me, but Jason's patience and quietness and gentleness really made him stand out. And watching him and Mahiya sort of unintentionally help each other heal and accidentally fall in love in the process ... yay. Really enjoyed this one in a way that renewed my interest in this author.

This was another heart-warming and heart-wrenching romance by Nalini Singh. This one stars Jason who is one of Raphael's seven and who is his spymaster. When Archangel Neha's consort is murdered, Jason goes to her court to try to find out who killed him. There he gets to know Mahiya who is the daughter of Neha's sister and her consort. That makes Mahiya a constant reminder of Neha's consort's infidelity and her betrayal by her sister. Mahiya has learned to keep a smooth face and a low key presence as she struggles to find a way to escape Neha's court. Mahiya has grown up believing that Neha killed her sister after Mahiya's birth.

Together Mahiya and Jason try to solve the murder of the consort and the subsequent murders of others in show more Neha's court while gradually getting to know each other. Jason quickly comes to like Mahiya's hidden strength and intelligence and her optimism even in the face of her troubles. Mahiya also comes to love Jason because he treats her with respect and courtesy.

Jason's troubled past - which we see in a variety of flashbacks - has convinced him that he is lacking something that would allow him to connect with other people. He doesn't feel that he will ever be able to love or even understand love. But Mahiya isn't giving up on him. She is determined to love him whether or not he is ever able to love her back.

This story also adds to the story arc by featuring some of the strange new powers that some angels and archangels are developing. Neha has developed some very frightening new powers. It also talks about a cascade of power that may cause widespread devastation.

This story was a wonderful romance between two strong but damaged characters. I was rooting for them to find a happy ending since the very beginning of the book. I really liked getting to know more about Jason in this story too.

This is a must-read episode for all fans of the Guild Hunters series and would also work for those who are new to the series. The intriguing hints about other characters and romances will encourage readers to seek out the other books in the series too. show less

Archangel's Storm is the fifth book in the Guild Hunter series and it has been a while since I have read a book from this series and I have no idea why I stopped because Archangel's Storm was superb and I had so much fun with this book. I really loved what Nalini Singh did with this story and it was very obvious that she did her research in the location and I appreciate that quite a bit. Archangel's Storm is fantastic and this is where we take a break from Raphael and Elena and where we get the dark angel's story---Jason.

Jason, is in Raphael's close circle of his seven angels and is also known as the man who can get whatever information that Raphael needs and is a bit if a enigma to many. Not many know of Jason's true capabilities. show more Jason is famous for being the spymaster but there is a plot going on and Jason is to find out the truth behind the murder of Neha's mate. Now Jason is called in because Neha is becoming unstable and the only way to prevent her from going completely beserker on the world is to work with her and make a blood vow with her niece Princess Mahiya,
I'll find my vengeance in living a life overflowing with happiness. In drowning myself in love, not hatret.

Jason knows there is no one he can trust in Neha's territory but he is determined to get to the truth even if his suspect is Neha herself. But as he and Mahiya start to work together and begin to have a level of trust, Jason starts to realize how different Mahiya is from her aunt. She is strong but it's not quite as obvious as it is with Neha. Mahiya is very young though but has been tormented by her aunt all of her life. She is the product of her mother having an affair with Neha's consort and mate. But as the murders of those in the court keep piling up, the truth of who is behind everything will shock everyone and there is a war coming one only that Jason and Mahiya can prevent.
I have so much love inside me, Jason. So much. And I have never been allowed to shower it on anyone--no one has wanted it Let me stretch my wings of my heart with you

This book kicked ASS!! Its was simply a superbly written romance that I easily got on board with here and I am in love with seeing how this book was portrayed. I loved seeing such emotional growth that we see in our characters here but most especially Jason and Mahiya. Jason is a very private individual, he lost his parents when he was young and has learned to be strong and powerful but never lets anyone get close until Mahiya where he learns to let go of those strong shields around his emotions. Mahiya, is young especially in comparison with Jason's age, however, she has such a strong inner core of strength and courage. Some would think her weak, but she isn't. She is cunning, keeping herself alive when her aunt would love nothing better than to see her killed. I love how despite all the years she has known deception and evil in her life, she has never allowed it to touch her and has remained innocent of the evil machinations surrounding her all of her life.
She wanted to run her finger over the blade of him even if it made her bleed, wanted to dance too close to the flame, wanted to take a risk that could destroy her

Now I would say this romance is a mix of unrequited love and forbidden love. Mahiya knows about 40% way into the story that she is in love with Jason, she is new to love of course, but she knows what she feels for him is genuine and knows that Jason may never feel the same for her. Now Jason is closed off from any deep emotion due to the experiences he had when he lost his family. But boy does he fall hard for Mahiya, it takes him a long while to realize that he really loves Mahiya even though he believes himself not capable of giving that to her. But seeing these two solve the mystery together, find the truth behind what happened to Mahiya's mother and the slow burn love story between these two is breathtaking. Jason and Mahiya are perfect for each other, and find such healing with each other and seeing them overcome obstacles together and find they're happy ever after was so beautifully penned and BRAVO to Nalini Singh in writing a story that is brilliant, endearing and unforgettable!!

2026 Re Read Thoughts/Review:

I had to up my rating on this book. It was originally 4 stars....but I am raising it to five stars. This book just hit different the second time reading it. I loved the heroine so much more now. Seeing so much more of Jason was a delight. We see his background and his loss of loving parents. And how that affected him to become the spy for Raphael. Seeing his devotion to Mahiya was deeply moving. Mahiya is the type of heroine I am drawn to the most especially now. I found her so deeply strong but its not apparent. She is more vulnerable and gentle but has such a strong heart and a spine of steel due to the abuse she has been dealt in her life. Seeing Jason who sees the woman when everyone has seen her as a tool or toy to play with was so moving. And the ending was precious. Let me in tears and my heart so captivated. show less

This was another heart-warming and heart-wrenching romance by Nalini Singh. This one stars Jason who is one of Raphael's seven and who is his spymaster. When Archangel Neha's consort is murdered, Jason goes to her court to try to find out who killed him. There he gets to know Mahiya who is the daughter of Neha's sister and her consort. That makes Mahiya a constant reminder of Neha's consort's infidelity and her betrayal by her sister. Mahiya has learned to keep a smooth face and a low key presence as she struggles to find a way to escape Neha's court. Mahiya has grown up believing that Neha killed her sister after Mahiya's birth.

Together Mahiya and Jason try to solve the murder of the consort and the subsequent murders of others in show more Neha's court while gradually getting to know each other. Jason quickly comes to like Mahiya's hidden strength and intelligence and her optimism even in the face of her troubles. Mahiya also comes to love Jason because he treats her with respect and courtesy.

Jason's troubled past - which we see in a variety of flashbacks - has convinced him that he is lacking something that would allow him to connect with other people. He doesn't feel that he will ever be able to love or even understand love. But Mahiya isn't giving up on him. She is determined to love him whether or not he is ever able to love her back.

This story also adds to the story arc by featuring some of the strange new powers that some angels and archangels are developing. Neha has developed some very frightening new powers. It also talks about a cascade of power that may cause widespread devastation.

This story was a wonderful romance between two strong but damaged characters. I was rooting for them to find a happy ending since the very beginning of the book. I really liked getting to know more about Jason in this story too.

This is a must-read episode for all fans of the Guild Hunters series and would also work for those who are new to the series. The intriguing hints about other characters and romances will encourage readers to seek out the other books in the series too. show less

Princess Mahiya is the niece of the Archangel Neha. A privileged position – or it would be if she weren’t the daughter of Neha’s cheating husband and Neha’s own sister. Neha is more than a little bitter and not above using Mahiya as a scapegoat for her parents’ actions

But when one of those parents, her father Eris, is brutally murdered the Archangel Raphael offers to send Jason, his spymaster, to help investigate in the hope of curbing Neha’s growing instability and rage. But for Neha to trust Jason in her lands, she needs someone to bond with Jason – the disposable princess seems like an ideal choice. But Jason sees far more in Mahiya than ever Neha did.

This book has an excellently balanced and paced storyline – it show more combines character development, mystery and romance in a perfect amount that none of it is neglected and none of it is overwhelming. We have a series of murders to investigate and not once does it feel like the characters are ignoring that mission – but nor does that mission get in the way of us seeing the characters and allowing the characters to show they have their own agendas beyond the mission they have been given. They’re not just servants and we really get to see their own personality. Similarly the romance doesn’t get in the way of the mission and it doesn’t subsume the characters own personality in a wave of oh-how-hot the other is but it still allowed to grow in strength and depth over the course of the book with enough passion to keep it real without the melodrama to make me want to roll my eyes.

I especially like how Mahiya doesn’t expect a long term relationship and though would prefer one, understands if it isn’t on the cards. The best line of this is when someone worries about Mahiya getting her heart broken to which Mahiya accepts it could happen – but that she’d live through it and heal. She acts like a mature grown up – more, she acts like the immortal creature she is and that a bad love affair won’t destroy her.

On top of that we have some nice building of meta – it’s a nice slow burn which I think this story needs because the early books in the series pulled out the vast epic so early that we needed a more slow burn to prevent the idea that vast epic disasters afflict every week. There are lots of questions and hooks left in this world to bring in a vast number of storylines which points to a rich world and a lot of meaty plots to come.

What I loved most about this book is how it flipped the script – both on the last four books in the series but also in the genre in general.

Like every paranormal romance character ever, both Jason and Mahiya have tragic pasts (a tragic present in Mahiya’s case) and Jason follows the same pattern we see a lot of male characters with tragic pasts do – he’s cold and distant and unable to connect with people. He isn’t, however, cruel which is a very nice change nor is he aggressive. His tragic past that still haunts him isn’t treated as an excuse for him to lash out at others – he’s distant, cold and his emotions are dampened. He’s isolated but he doesn’t force that isolation with savagery or cruelty or bitter womanising with the inevitable trail of desperate women who just want to love him dogging his wake (like Dmitri) which is very nice to see.

But Mahiya is even better. She has taken the constant abuse she takes from Neha and found a wonderful strength in NOT becoming like her. She isn’t vengeance obsessed or defined by her hatred nor is she broken or hurting and needing a man to save her. Neither of these would be bad things because people respond to abuse differently, but both are very typically written and commonplace. Mahiya breaks the script. She knows she has strength, she has worth and she has value. While Neha has tried to isolate her, she has found some friends who surreptitiously treat her well. Mahiya’s vengeance is a vow to survive, to escape and to flourish. She is hurting but she isn’t vulnerable, others are much stronger than her but that doesn’t make her weak and she is quite willing to patiently use the immortality angels are granted to get free and have the life she knows she deserves – a life that is based on love and joy and not Neha’s hatred. I love her resolve to be everything Neha isn’t, her determination to be better and her strength to know she is worth better – a strength and realisation she came to on her own, she didn’t need Jason to show her it.

From the very first meeting Mahiya was clearly strong and capable – and it’s a very different kind of strength from Elena or Honor that we’ve seen in past books. Mahiya is subtle, crafty, alert and politically adept and the way it is written is really impressive – Jason is impressed by her but so am I reading about her. I also love how she is quick to put Jason in his place when he presumes to make judgements on her life and actions – she knows what she does and what she has to do to stay alive in Neha’s court; Jason does not and her has no right to criticise her for it. It’s a great scene and Mahiya is an excellent character

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Archangel Raphael’s spymaster Jason finally gets his own romance in Nalini Singh’s Archangel’s Storm. With a title like that I was expecting non-stop action and excitement; what I got was a mystery that builds to a stormy conclusion and a quiet romance for a hero who lives in shadow.

I love Nalini Singh's Guild Hunter series and the broken/damaged characters who are a part of it. All the members of the Archangel Raphael's Seven are intriguing in their own ways, but three of the angels have attracted me the most – Illium (Elena’s angelic best-friend, also known as “Bluebell”), Aodhan (an angel so broken inside he cannot stand to be touched), and Jason. I was thrilled to see Jason was the hero of Archangel’s Storm since I show more really wanted to know more about his backstory and the childhood that scarred him to the point of contemplating death as a release. I was a little nervous about it, too, since abuse can come in so many horrible forms. While his childhood WAS tragic, thankfully it wasn’t quite as black as I had envisioned (I think Aodhan’s story will be worse). Flashbacks to Jason’s past are spaced neatly throughout the story and provide a counterpoint to events in the present, gradually revealing why he has distanced himself from other angels and the possibility of love. But it is the attraction he feels for Princess Mahiya (Neha’s adopted daughter) that makes him question that distance for the first time.

Gentle, kind, and scared of developing attachments to others for fear they will be punished for befriending her, Mahiya is a different heroine than previous ones in this series. She is not a fighter but a diplomat, skilled in the evasions and politics of the royal court she was raised in and dreams of escaping. I liked the way she was portrayed by Singh as an angel who has seen the ugly side of life and not allowed it to break her. She is full of hopes and dreams which is a nice balance for Jason’s darker outlook, and has the intelligence to assist him with the ins-and-outs of his investigation. The romance develops gradually and never feels forced, and the chemistry between Jason and Mahiya works. However, the intensity that propelled character actions in previous books is not present here, slowing the narrative down a bit.

In addition to the slower pace and quieter tone, this is the first book in the series to almost completely remove one of the Seven from the familiar surroundings of North America and the angelic stronghold The Refuge. Jason is separated from his team and placed in a new environment – India – that provides a very different feel to the story, one with a slightly exotic edge to it. There are visits with other members of the Seven, as vampire Venom stops in Neha’s court for an information exchange and Jason keeps in contact with Dimitri with updates via phone. The conversations with Dimitri also give us little glimpses at Honor’s transformation into a vampire, which is a nice addition. The murder mystery at the heart of Archangel’s Storm has some solid twists to it and as the investigation unfolds, the tension gradually builds and the pace quickens. The revelation of who was behind the murder didn’t feel like it was coming out of left field – enough hints were dropped that I began to suspect who was behind everything, but not so many that I felt the reveal was anti-climatic. It also sets things up for major unrest in the area that could have serious consequences in future books.

Nalini Singh takes a quieter turn with the romance of angels Jason and Mahiya in Archangel’s Storm. With an isolated hero and a gentle heroine investigating a high-profile murder, the tension slowly builds throughout the story and ends in a confrontation that shakes the foundation of Neha’s territory. Mystery and romance, rather than action, are at the heart of Archangel’s Storm, and with its slower pace and more reserved tone it feels more like a spring shower than a hurricane. show less

I've been looking forward to learning more about Jason since book one of this series. He's the silent spymaster with the hinted at dark past. I was soooo happy when Singh announced Jason was getting his own book. Finally we get to learn why he is so silent and emotionless. His story is so sad and tragic. Gosh, I can see why he doesn't trust emotions, why he pushes them deep inside. He only sees darkness within himself and doesn't believe he could ever have a real connection with anybody.

But he finds himself captivated by Princess Mahiya. They meet when he offers his services to the archangel Neha to discover who killed her consort, Eris. Mahiya is the daughter of Neha's sister and Eris. Neha did not take their infidelity very well - show more killing her sister and imprisoning Eris. Mahiya is now virtually a prisoner in her aunt's court and dreams of freedom. And now that her father is dead, she fears there is no reason for her aunt to keep her alive. She's a very strong character. Mahiya never let her aunt's cruelty break her. And she's smart. Jason never really stands a chance - he's drawn to her almost immediately.

Added to that story line - we get some great moments between Dmitri and Honor. I was happy we got a little continuation of their story. And this book begins a story arc that hints at great upheaval and devastation. Label me intrigued. show less