Goldilox and the Three Weres: Release Day Review: Archangel's Viper by Nalini Singh

Archangel's Viper
(Guild Hunter #10)
Nalini Singh
Release: September 26, 2017
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Enter New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh’s breathtakingly passionate Guild Hunter world with the story of a woman who isn’t a vampire or an angel…or human…

Once a broken girl known as Sorrow, Holly Chang now prowls the shadowy gray underground of the city for the angels. But it’s not her winged allies who make her a wanted woman—it’s the unknown power coursing through her veins. Brutalized by an insane archangel, she was left with the bloodlust of a vampire, the ability to mesmerize her prey, and a poisonous bite.

Now, someone has put a bounty on her head…

Venom is one of the Seven, Archangel Raphael’s private guard, and he’s as infuriating as he is seductive. A centuries-old vampire, his fangs dispense a poison deadlier than Holly’s. But even if Venom can protect Holly from those hunting her, he might not be able to save himself—because the strange, violent power inside Holly is awakening…

No one is safe.

Review:
We don't know about you, but the much anticipated Venom book is finally out and we are completely here for it! Out of all of Raphael's Seven, Venom's been the biggest enigma for a while. All we've known about him is that he's the youngest of the Seven, he was created by Neha, he's literally poisonous, and that he's kind of an asshole. We get his backstory in this latest installment and it was nothing like we were expecting.

Speaking of unexpected, Holly hasn't had much page time since book four. Maybe we missed all the hints and clues about who Venom's love interest would be, but we totally didn't see Holly coming. She had kind of dropped off the radar, because the last we knew she was still called Sorrow. We knew her story was going to be intriguing once we got it but we didn't expect it to be so fascinating! Her entire existence was as unique and mysterious as Venom's. With there being so many books (and a few years in the series's timeline) since we met first her, we were afraid we wouldn't remember the details of Holly's life, but the author did an excellent job of recapping what happened without it feeling like a massive info dump. And we adored Holly's journey! She changed from a closed off victim to a snarky and self-assured woman who could look forward to her future and finding love. She's really come a long way and we ended up loving her a lot for it.

It's easy to see that we absolutely loved this romance! Holly and Venom are so good once they got together. They've both had hard lives and are individuals who don't trust easily, which made them coming together even more satisfying. They can truly be themselves with each other. Their relationship started slow and grew into this overwhelmingly big thing naturally. It was a classic enemies to friends to lovers romance and it was perfect! The insult banter between them was excellent and a nice change of pace, especially after all the lovey-dovey interactions between Raphael and Elena in the previous book.

We've said it before, but Nalini Singh's storytelling is in a class of its own. The mystery plot was fast paced and totally engaging. We couldn't put it down! We loved finding out more about Holly's transformation and her powers as well as Venom's. The big unknown was fascinating and something we would never have predicted. We both agree that things with Holly's magic got a little weird toward the end there, but it didn't take away much from the overall story. Most of this book overlaps with the events in Archangel's Heart and we loved how Singh perfectly tied the two story lines together.

Overall, we loved this newest addition to one of our favorite series! We can't wait to see more of Holly and Venom in later books. Now comes the long wait to see what and who the next book is about. We have our fingers crossed that it will be an Aodhan and Illium book.

ARCs were provided to both of us by the publisher via Netgalley.