Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh 2015 TBR Challenge

 The TBR Challenge this month was a "Recommended Read" and E from Bookpushers had been steadily insisting that I read Nalini Singh for...oh...roughly forever? I'd purchased a used paperback copy of Angels' Blood a while ago, but I have a tendency not to read paperbacks now that I have a Kindle. I mostly read in bed after the lights go out so having a book with its own built-in light source has quickly spoiled me.

Am I ever glad I picked up this one for the TBR Challenge though. I haven't read a lot of paranormal romance and the little I have read hasn't always worked well for me. This is a gross generalization, but a combination of world-building pickiness, a difficulty finding balance between romance and paranormal plots, and a tendency in some paranormals to over-subscribe to traditional gender roles (or maybe worse, insist than the heroine is So Very Strong, but still have the hero save her at every opportunity) biased me against them. Laura Kaye is one author that bucked that trend for me. I really enjoyed her Hearts of the Anemoi series (more fantasy than paranormal, but which tends toward the same subgenre issues). Delilah Dawson's Blud series was another that worked well. And I really loved Angels' Blood. So it's probable that I've been super unjust in my perceptions--judging an entire category of books by the vampire romances I've tried and failed to like over the years.

Angels' Blood does have vampires, but there were a couple crucial differences from the vampires I'm familiar with. These ancient vampires actually behave like I expect ancient vampires to behave. They're not perpetual emotional teenagers hellbent on sex and destiny. They have different thoughts and motivations and sense of time than a mortal. They can actually get a little bit bored with being unable to die. They've experienced lots of loss. They're not just paler, sexier, more dangerous humans. They are recognizably "other". The same can be said of the angels who rule them.

Speaking of which, vampires in this universe are created by and are subservient to angels. And the Cadre of Ten are archangels, the most powerful beings in the universe Singh has created. Raphael, the hero of Angels' Blood, is one of these archangels. And while this book doesn't have much in common with Christian mythology, the conception of angels is exactly like the Biblical one. When angels deign to acknowledge mortals, mortals cower and quake in fear. Raphael should be and is terrifying, just for the sheer amount of power and influence that he wields. But this hero isn't the most powerful being in his universe even though he's quite a bit more powerful than the heroine. The overarching plot is that of a rogue archangel who the hero and heroine team up to find, one who has tasted blood that has made him both more powerful and more unstable.

Elena, the heroine, is a hunter of rogue vampires who have escaped their angels before the term of their service contract is up. And while she can't quite match Raphael, she has a different kind of power, one that is gradually revealed over the course of the novel. She may not be able to blow up buildings with a flick of a finger, but her strength of will and her mortality allow her to exercise a control over the hero that he finds both alluring and terrifying. Plus, in a nod to Loretta Chase's classic historical romance Lord of Scoundrels, she shoots him. He needed shooting. But it isn't just the gun that causes damage. It's primarily the fact that his attraction to Elena has made him just the slightest bit mortal and therefore vulnerable. Not weak. He's never weak. But then, neither is she.

There are skills she has that he doesn't, mainly her ability as a hunter to scent vampires, one that now works on the rogue archangel. The two of them track him through his reign of terror over the streets of New York in a dramatic, gruesome, detective plot that also serves to heighten the romantic and dramatic tension between them. Seriously, the tension. Like the best detective buddy romances though, I thought the build-up was better than the sexual pay-off. I'll be curious to see if the sex holds more power in subsequent novels. Instead it felt almost but not quite like a Moonlighting scenario where I wanted them to stay apart for as long as possible. Their romantic friction was the best part of the romantic arc. That said, the denouement was terrific. On the off chance that folks haven't read it, I don't want to spoil the ending (though in fairness, I saw it coming from a fair distance).

What fascinated me most about Angels' Blood was the way the novel played with the power differentials between all the characters. I'm not sure I came to any strong conclusions about the nature of angeldom, humanity, femininity or masculinity as a result of the novel, but it sure did open up a lot of questions about how much control any of us (regardless of power) can be expected to be able to exert over our own environments. If I'm interpreting it correctly, nearly every character is forced to abandon themselves to a greater power at some point in the narrative, a real struggle when each of them is accustomed to ruling over whatever they consider their domain.

In a genre that seems ever more concerned with ensuring that each character is strong and independent--giving over both heroes and heroines to unreasoning stubbornness and unendingly arbitrary clashes of will--Angels' Blood was a breath of fresh, rain-scented air.
I'm very much looking forward to reading more by Singh, including her new rockstar series, which has been getting rave reviews.

And I'm very, very glad that my TBR yielded up a really satisfying read after last month's Anne Weale debacle. I'm totally in love with the TBR Challenge and can't wait for next month. The theme is "Series Catch-Up" so I'm going to pull out The Two Gentlemen of Altona, the first of Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock's Playing the Fool series. It's only been on my TBR for a few months, but I keep hearing lovely things about the second book so I'm eager to start in on it.

What have you been reading lately?

East of Ecstasy Bourbon Peach Ice Cream

I admit it. My reaction to most paranormal romance has been eye rolling. It's ridiculous because I love fantasy and even some horror; my first "book boyfriend" was the Phantom of the Opera. It's also unjust to dismiss an entire sub-genre because of some horrible covers you once saw fifteen years ago. For the record, I feel the same way about most romantic suspense. Also unjust. I'm working on it.


However, if most paranormal romance is like the Hearts of the Anemoi series by Laura Kaye, I'm well on my way toward revising my opinions. The premise of the series is that the Anemoi are wind and weather gods. Each hero represents a different wind and a different season of the year: winter, spring, summer and in the case of East of Ecstasy, fall. The heroines are all at crossroads in their lives, most having lost someone they loved to accident, death or disease. In each case, they are back on their feet, but maybe still a bit wobbly, making them both receptive to a divine hunk of man appearing in their lives and surprisingly non-skeptical of their love interests' supernatural natures. In East of Ecstasy, we get the resolution of the entire series so don't run right out and buy just this one: these aren't stand-alones.

Devlin is the son of the god of the East Wind, the dangerously mentally unhinged super-villain of the series. Remember when we talked about really broken heroes a few weeks ago? Well, apparently I hadn't seen broken until I saw a broken god. Devlin is so broken that heroine Anna even coins a term for him: Tall, Dark & Angsty. My husband promptly abbreviated that TDA. So if you ever see me refer to a TDA hero again, you'll know what I'm talking about. As for Devlin, I'll just say this: he had a very rough childhood and adulthood hasn't been any kinder. I don't want to go into too many specifics because it's pretty integral to the romance, but when he arrives in the heroine's doorstep, he's literally starving. I suppose given the blog I write, it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise that I have a pretty visceral reaction to starving people. That reaction apparently also extends to fictional characters. Devlin just has so much emptiness to fill. And when yawning emptiness meets vast power, it's clear that not only this relationship, but the entire world may hang in the balance of him getting it together.

By contrast, Anna is quite self-aware and capable. She does suffer from a chronic pain disorder, but manages to take care of her father, who has Alzheimer's, and also manages a thriving career as an artist. That's actually something I appreciated in the entire Anemoi series. Though the heroines all have challenges, they come across as capable, confident and not particularly needy. I guess one of the perceptions I had of paranormal romance was that the heroines always need saving. But these heroines do an awful lot of their own saving, both of themselves and their heroes. Plus Anna is not all she seems, but that's a big part of her story arc so in the interest of not going all spoilery, I'm going to leave it at that.

The plot is more epic than the previous three books, which all seemed more personal and much more about the romance than this last one, which not only had to resolve the romance between Devlin and Anna, it had to resolve the entire series, including dealing with Eurus, Devlin's super-villain father. I'll be honest, the love story in East of Ecstasy did get a little tiny bit overshadowed by the epic battle I knew must be looming, but because Devlin and Anna were such a strong pair, it was easily my favorite book of the series. Watching Devlin come into his own in every respect was immensely satisfying and in the end, it's really Anna who saves the day.

Hearts of the Anemoi wasn't a completely perfect series, but it was close enough that it guaranteed I'll be trying more paranormal romances in the future. And more Laura Kaye too; I already read Hearts in Darkness, her indecently hot contemporary erotic romance set practically in my backyard. If you're new to Laura Kaye and unwilling to commit to a four-book series, start with that one. It's cheap, short and will absolutely hook you on her style.

It's the snow demigod who kicks off the series, Owen, who loves ice cream with a passion, but the frozen treat does manage to make an appearance in nearly every Anemoi book. Particularly peach ice cream, which is Owen's heroine Megan's favorite. There's also a neighbor character who first pops up in the third book who constantly tests out her new ice cream concoctions on the gods next door. And poor Devlin. He's so happy any time someone sits him down and feeds him. He loves everything. It's completely heartbreaking.

I always assumed it was much more difficult than it really is, but if you can make custard and are willing to invest in one piece of special equipment, you can make ice cream. You'll need an ice cream maker or stand mixer with a freezable bowl attachment for this recipe. Also, the bowl really does need to freeze overnight and your custard needs to chill overnight. Rushing either of these steps will result in frustration.

Anyway, peaches are at the height of their season right now in the middle of summer and our farmer's market has tree-ripe luscious peaches by the score. You'll need a pound and a half or so of them. I used five medium size ones, resulting in about 3 cups of peach puree. If you get a bit less, that's fine too. You'll beef up the peach flavor with some peach schnapps.

Speaking of the alcohol, which includes both peach schnapps and bourbon, there is no Anemoi-esque reason for it. I just found some super cool instructions for adding significant quantities of alcohol to ice cream using unflavored gelatin and wanted to try it out. Surprisingly, it worked. I expected the ice cream to be meltier than normal non-alcoholic ice cream, but that wasn't the case. The gelatin really does seem to stabilize it somehow. I haven't tested this recipe without the alcohol and gelatin so I'm not sure what kind of results you might get from leaving it out.

Finally, this ice cream is beyond amazing. I have a pretty tough resistance toward my own creations. I mean, I bake something nearly every day and it takes something extra special to keep me eating it after smelling and tasting it for sometimes hours while I made it. This ice cream? This needs or leave my house immediately or I'm going to eat all of it all by myself, one spoonful out of the freezer at a time.

Someone save me please?

Bourbon Peach Ice Cream
adapted from View From Great Island and Gizmodo

Makes: 1 quart
Time: 48 hours (Hands on: 1 hour)

1 1/4 pounds ripe peaches (about 5 medium), peeled and pitted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups half & half
2/3 cup white sugar
4 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 packet unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup bourbon, cold
2 tablespoons peach schnapps, cold

1. Place the freezer bowl for your stand mixer or ice cream maker in the freezer and let it freeze at least overnight. Put your bottles of bourbon and peach schnapps in the fridge to chill.

2. Roughly chop the peaches and puree in a food processor or blender until completely smooth, should yield 2 1/5 to 3 cups peach puree. Stash this in a bowl in the fridge for a few minutes.

3. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, heat the cream and half & half until hot enough that it's too hot to keep your finger in it, but not boiling, stirring frequently.

4. In a heat proof bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until completely combined and lightened in color.

5. Temper half a cup of the hot liquid into the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Then whisk the tempered mixture back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat until thickened enough that it coats a spatula and drawing a line across the spatula with your finger creates a nice, hard line with no drips.

6. Remove the thickened mixture to a heat proof bowl and whisk in the vanilla extract and peach puree. Refrigerate overnight.

7. When ready to freeze your ice cream, put a 1/4 cup of cold water in a small bowl and whisk in the unflavored gelatin. Whisk in the cold bourbon and peach schnapps. Add this mixture to the chilled peach mixture, pouring it through a fine sieve to catch any large lumps of gelatin. Whisk to combine.

8. According to the manufacturer's directions on your ice cream maker, churn the mixture for 20-30 minutes until it resembles slightly melty soft serve. Remove from freezer bowl with a silicone spatula to a large, shallow container and place in freezer. It will freeze to a more standard ice cream consistency over the next 6-8 hours.