A collection of novels and short stories about vampires falling in love (see Msg 107 for review of first in series). Overall pretty good stories, but I wouldn't recommend reading them all together like I did. They start to get a little predictable. I'm going to wait a little bit before diving into the rest she wrote.

3/5 ( )

I picked up this book on a recommendation from my mom, because she really liked Maggie Shayne's other (non-vampire/paranormal) books. Wings In The Night contains the first 3 books in a series.

Twilight Phantasies is the first book in the series. We first meet Tamara, who lost her parents at a very young age. She, along with her guardian Daniel St. Clair and his partner Curtis Rogers, work for a sect of the CIA called DPI (Department of Paranormal Investigations). Daniel and Curtis have been working on the case of Eric Marquand, who they suspect to be a vampire. Tamara doesn't believe any of it and tries to discourage them...until she encounters Eric for herself and ultimately finds out the things of legend might really be true after all. And there is something about Eric, even though she doesn't remember him, she feels like she's known him forever. Through the course of the book she begins to remember things about her life and begins to fall in love with Eric, even though she knows she will hurt her "father" in the process.
My opinion: I really feel like I didn't connect with this book. I didn't develop feelings for the characters, which is a let down for me. My biggest problems with this book were: 1) I didn't like the way Tamara spoke, it was like she was from a different time period or just overly proper; either way it just didn't work for me; 2) Some of the details about vampires and the story in general were repeated one too many times. Overall though it was a nice love story, albeit a little predictable.
My rating: 3/5 stars

Twilight Memories is the second book. It centers around Roland, a vampire guardian who is looking after a 14 year old Chosen one, Jamey, who lost his mother. And who should come around but the one person he tries to avoid: Rhiannon, also known as Rhianikki, princess of Egypt. She is one of the oldest vampires and has her sights set on Roland, however he always rejects her advances. She is used to rejection, it is nothing new to her; her father was the first one to cast her away just because she was female. What she doesn't know is that Roland has kept secrets about his past hidden from everyone, because he is afraid of hurting those he loves. They both try to deny that they love each other, but as they work together to hunt down a DPI agent determined to take Jamey and a man thirsty for immortality, they find it impossible to ignore their feelings.
My opinion: I liked this book considerably more than the first. The characters seemed to grab my attention more and the story was more compelling. I really loved Rhiannon because she was such a strong woman and was more powerful than the men because she was older (and she didn't mind letting them know). I also like that Eric and Tamara made an appearance in this book...I love when books like this, even when centered around a different group of characters, manages to include the ones you know and love too.
My rating: 4/5 stars

Twilight Illusions is the third book. It centers around the oldest living vampire, Damien. He lives a life of seclusion, not wanting to get close to anyone because of losses in his past. Shannon is a PI who is trying to find out who killed her best friend Tawny...and all signs point straight to Damien. Shannon also finds it hard to get close to people due to the circumstances of her childhood. Another woman is missing as well; she, along with Tawny, both participated in Damien's magic show and then ended up missing or dead. She tries everything to find out the truth, even going so far as to try and break into his house. She is sick and knows she is going to die soon, so she is desperate to find Tawny's killer before it's too late. Unfortunately, Damien isn't even that he didn't kill them. Damien doesn't want to care about anyone, but it isn't long before he's taking bullets for Shannon, saving her life more than once. They begin grudgingly helping each other try to unravel the mysteries, never thinking that they would fall in love in the process.
My opinion: LOVED this book! It was great, I really fell in love with these characters. They were just very believable and the storyline is incredible. The characters from the previous two books make appearances as well.
My rating: 5/5 stars ( )

This vampire book is a combination of 3 individual stories. The book is boring at first but her writing gets better as the book goes on. ( )