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Wings in the Night #8
Blue Twilight
Book 8 in Maggie Shayne's Bestselling Wings in the Night Series
Death Comes to Endover.
On the surface, Endover, New Hampshire, looks like the picture-perfect New England town, but something is very wrong beneath the surface. Young women are going missing there. Some of them reappear later with no memory of their time in town, while others are never seen again. But whoever's behind the disappearances has made a crucial mistake in targeting a friend of Maxine "Mad Maxie" Stuart.
Private investigator Maxie is more knowledgeable about the undead than any other mortal, but there's more to the events in Endover than even she knows. And not even her longtime crush, gruff cop Lou Malone, can talk her out of taking on the ancient evil that controls the town. Refusing to let Maxie walk into danger alone, Lou stays close by her side. Together they confront a madman yearning for power and his long-lost love, risking their own lives—and Maxie's dream of a future with Lou—with every step they take.
Enjoy the special bonus novella "Before Blue Twilight" Centuries ago he lost his only love, but he never lost hope. Even as centuries passed, he dreamed of the day he would find her again.
Death Comes to Endover.
On the surface, Endover, New Hampshire, looks like the picture-perfect New England town, but something is very wrong beneath the surface. Young women are going missing there. Some of them reappear later with no memory of their time in town, while others are never seen again. But whoever's behind the disappearances has made a crucial mistake in targeting a friend of Maxine "Mad Maxie" Stuart.
Private investigator Maxie is more knowledgeable about the undead than any other mortal, but there's more to the events in Endover than even she knows. And not even her longtime crush, gruff cop Lou Malone, can talk her out of taking on the ancient evil that controls the town. Refusing to let Maxie walk into danger alone, Lou stays close by her side. Together they confront a madman yearning for power and his long-lost love, risking their own lives—and Maxie's dream of a future with Lou—with every step they take.
Enjoy the special bonus novella "Before Blue Twilight" Centuries ago he lost his only love, but he never lost hope. Even as centuries passed, he dreamed of the day he would find her again.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 22, 2005
57 people are currently reading
1327 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Shayne
257 books2,572 followersI live in the teeny, tiny town of Taylor, NY, (Alliteration Alert!) though my mailing address is Cincinnatus, my telephone exchange is Truxton and I pay taxes and vote in Cuyler. All of these are at least in the same rural county in the southern hills of New York State; Cortland County. There are more cattle than people here. The nearest “big” cities are Syracuse and Binghamton and they are an hour away, in different directions, and not really all that big by most standards, though they both seem humongous to me. I look out my window to see rolling, green, thickly forested hills, wildflower laden meadows and wide open blue, blue skies. My road is barely paved. The nearest neighboring place is a 700 acre dairy farm.
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
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August 8, 2015
3.5 stars
November 29, 2023
So, some background on this one (and also this is going to be a long one, sorry). I was gifted this book in 2008- I was 15 and deep in my (first) Twilight phase, and my friend thought this would be something I was into, knowing nothing about it except that it was about vampires. I started reading it, but only got through the prologue before I had to stop- I was still very new to romance and really wasn’t prepared for ~spiciness~ so the book went back on my TBR shelf and has lived there ever since.
I finally picked it up for a readathon because it actually fulfilled multiple prompts (read a book with blue on the cover, and read a book that’s been on your TBR for far too long) and it also fit the spooky season. When I first started this book, I was prepared to think of it as a fun, cheesy book that I wouldn’t love but wouldn’t hate, either. I really enjoyed the female friendship in this story, and was really looking forward to seeing more of Max and Stormy. Honestly, a paranormal series with two gal pal detectives solving spooky crimes seemed like the perfect thing for me (my high school friend was correct, and my tastes have not changed lol). I just wanted a fun girl-boss vampire detective story, but what I got was an immature 26-year-old trying to bone an old man who is somehow still virile enough to FIGHT DRACULA.
*sigh* But let us begin at the beginning.
Before I started this book, I read a bit more about it and found out it was actually the 11th book in a series, (this turned out not to really matter that much but more on that later). The author does a pretty thorough job of recapping previous books- it's pretty awkward and done through stilted, unnatural dialogue, but it did the job.
As may be obvious at this point, my biggest problem with this book was Lou and Max’s relationship (I also didn’t really love Lou in general, but that’s mostly because the grizzled, no-nonsense middle aged ex-cop who is inexplicably “a worthy opponent” for LITERAL DRACULA is not a character archetype I enjoy). To be fair, Lou isn’t really an old man- he’s 44 and she’s 26, but they met when she was a teenager because he was friends with her mom, which is extremely weird (they separate for a while and don’t reconnect until Max is in her late 20s, but she says she has had a crush on him since they met so it's not grooming, but it is pretty icky). I don’t love 20-year age gap relationships at the best of times, but the way they treated each other was horrible. Essentially, Max violates Lou’s expressed boundaries every chance she gets, flirts with him even though it clearly makes him uncomfortable, and eventually traps him in a bathroom to coerce him into having sex with her. Lou, on the other hand, truly believes that it is just “harmless flirting” and that she doesn’t really mean it because he SEES HER AS A KID who doesn’t fully understand the consequences of her actions. He is also pretty condescending- making it very clear that he thinks of her as a kid (even though she’s 26). But instead of firmly putting a stop to the flirting or, you know, leaving her alone completely until she takes the hint, he just ignores it and pretends he’s not secretly into her. May I present to you, one of the worst things I have ever had to read with my human eyes:
“God, why couldn’t she lay off him with the constant flirting and teasing? He was human. He was not a gelding. He was a red-blooded man, and he could only take so much… Max glanced at Lou, and he got the distinct feeling he’d just had a narrow escape- he couldn’t be exactly sure what from. More of her teasing, more than likely. Sure as hell couldn’t have been anything more. But damn, if he ever slipped up- lost the iron grip he had on his self-control… Showed her I’m not a gelding after all…”
YOU'RE A GROWN MAN. YOU’RE FORTY FOUR YEARS OLD. I get what the author was going for- Lou just assumes that Max is teasing him because he doesn’t see himself as a desirable man and can’t seriously entertain the thought that a gorgeous 26-year-old is into him, and Max is just trying to get him to see himself as she sees him- (though later on we find out this was all just a ruse and he did actually know she was serious, and he’s actually just a good old-fashioned commitment-phobe) I just hated the way they treated each other and talked about each other and I’m not a big fan of relationships where one person has to wear the other one down. Beyond their age gap, Lou has expressed that after his divorce, he is not interested in another serious, long-term relationship and that he respects their friendship too much for a purely physical relationship, so he tells her in no uncertain terms that he just wants to be friends- an expressed boundary that Max repeatedly ignores because she is sure that he doesn’t actually mean it and will change his mind. After telling her, again in no uncertain terms, to stop with the flirty behavior, Max decides that actually him saying that implies that she’s starting to get to him and she should flirt even more.
This culminates in her following him into a bathroom, demanding a reason why they shouldn’t have sex, and when he can’t give her an answer, she just… starts? And takes “he didn’t pull free or run away” as a sign of consent? I mean, I know this book was written in 2006 and we were still a decade away from serious talks about enthusiastic consent, but all I’m saying is starting your ~spicy~ scene with the line “smiling, nearly drunk with the power she felt surging through her- the knowledge that he couldn’t say no to her, even if he wanted to- she dropped to her knees, shoving his jeans down as she went” is not going to age well. I also get that just because this would be a problematic relationship in real life it shouldn’t affect my enjoyment- I understand that this is a fantasy, I guess I’m just saying that neither a man 20 years older than me who’s self esteem is so low that I have to convince him to date me while he condescendingly tells me how I feel, nor a woman 20 years younger than me who keeps embarrassingly flirting with me after I’ve told her multiple times to stop is my personal fantasy.
Anyway, I didn’t like it but I’ll stop talking about it. I mentioned before that this was the 11th book in a series but that it didn’t really matter because there was plenty of recap. I also realized later that this is essentially an anthology series, and that this is the only book in which Max is the MC. It is part of an arc, but is either the second book in a trilogy or the 4th book in a 5-book series, depending on how you break them down. Either way, this book ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, which I only want to talk about because it involves something that made me super uncomfortable, so spoilers ahead.
The prologe of this book is a scene in which the vampire antagonist sexually assaults a woman. It's pretty jarring, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The villain of the story being a bad guy who doesn’t understand consent is not necessarily a bad thing- it is actually pretty in-line with what makes vampires so horrific (especially since we learn later that he wipes their memories, leaving them terrified, violated, and confused). As the scene goes on, though, the narration makes it VERY clear that he does not *technically* have sex with her, and also makes it very clear that the vampire is only sexually assaulting his victims for their benefit- like he is ensuring that they only feel pleasure and aren’t afraid… because, apparently he can hypnotize them to think he is having sex with them, but he can’t just… turn off their fear? Again, at the time I assumed it would be a mark of his villainy- it is extremely gross that he justifies his feeding on women without their consent by essentially saying “they get something out of it too” -like being sexually assaulted by him is a consolation prize. As the book goes on, we start to get more POV scenes from the vampire, and we keep getting it reinforced over and over again that he feels bad about the things he is doing (like kidnapping women, sexually assaulting them, feeding from them without their consent, and then wiping their memories) not to mention a scene where he very nobly refuses to sexually assault a 17-year-old girl and becomes enraged at his servant for thinking he would ever assault A CHILD, because sexually assaulting 20-year old women is fine, but someone 3 years younger is just a bridge too far.
By the middle of the book, I started to get very suspicious that there was going to be some sort of redemption arc for the vampire, and that he was going to end up as Stormy’s “morally gray” romantic interest. Puke puke puke a thousand times until I turn inside out. I mean, they even go visit some of his previous victims, who talk about the nightmares they have experienced, and the trauma (one of them said she never goes outside at night anymore and another is in therapy because of the experience) so surely not, right? Surely they understand how fundamentally evil this guy is, right? RIGHT? And then we come to the cliffhanger ending and the reason I have difficulty judging this book on its own without having read the whole arc.
The vampire (who at this point we’ve learned is literally Dracula and that just made me laugh so much) kidnaps Stormy in order to figure out definitively whether or not she’s possessed by the spirit of his former lover (God I love paranormal stories so much) and Stormy is… into it? Reading the synopsis of the next book, it seems pretty clear that Vlad is the romantic interest of the next book, and that it follows a love triangle between him and the 2 souls currently inhabiting Stormy’s body (which is obviously hilarious but I feel like I can’t really enjoy it because of how evil Dracula is and how this story would necessitate his redemption arc). BUT since his redemption arc is seemingly entirely in the next book, I can’t judge it and have to take this book on its own, which would mean that it is ruined by its final lines, which are the first real hints that he won’t ultimately be a villain. Presumably, he also won’t be doing the same horrible things in the next book, so his crimes and his redemption arc are separated into two books which I have complicated feelings about. Anyway, I know I’ve already written way too much about this but I (clearly) have a lot of thoughts about it.
FINALLY: Despite all the problematic relationships and bad characters, perhaps the worst sin of this book is that so much of it is boring. The “mystery” is not suspenseful at all because we already know most of it, so any time spent investigating whether or not there’s a vampire in town felt like a huge waste of time. Overall, I think this book is at least 100 pages too long. I wish this book had been more campy- I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was in the vein of Ice Planet Barbarians which seems at least more self-aware and was so quickly paced and short that I finished it in one day.
TLDR: I’m obviously keeping this book forever as a treasured memento of high school me, but I wish it focused more on the female characters and wasn’t so full of garbage men and bad relationships.
I finally picked it up for a readathon because it actually fulfilled multiple prompts (read a book with blue on the cover, and read a book that’s been on your TBR for far too long) and it also fit the spooky season. When I first started this book, I was prepared to think of it as a fun, cheesy book that I wouldn’t love but wouldn’t hate, either. I really enjoyed the female friendship in this story, and was really looking forward to seeing more of Max and Stormy. Honestly, a paranormal series with two gal pal detectives solving spooky crimes seemed like the perfect thing for me (my high school friend was correct, and my tastes have not changed lol). I just wanted a fun girl-boss vampire detective story, but what I got was an immature 26-year-old trying to bone an old man who is somehow still virile enough to FIGHT DRACULA.
*sigh* But let us begin at the beginning.
Before I started this book, I read a bit more about it and found out it was actually the 11th book in a series, (this turned out not to really matter that much but more on that later). The author does a pretty thorough job of recapping previous books- it's pretty awkward and done through stilted, unnatural dialogue, but it did the job.
As may be obvious at this point, my biggest problem with this book was Lou and Max’s relationship (I also didn’t really love Lou in general, but that’s mostly because the grizzled, no-nonsense middle aged ex-cop who is inexplicably “a worthy opponent” for LITERAL DRACULA is not a character archetype I enjoy). To be fair, Lou isn’t really an old man- he’s 44 and she’s 26, but they met when she was a teenager because he was friends with her mom, which is extremely weird (they separate for a while and don’t reconnect until Max is in her late 20s, but she says she has had a crush on him since they met so it's not grooming, but it is pretty icky). I don’t love 20-year age gap relationships at the best of times, but the way they treated each other was horrible. Essentially, Max violates Lou’s expressed boundaries every chance she gets, flirts with him even though it clearly makes him uncomfortable, and eventually traps him in a bathroom to coerce him into having sex with her. Lou, on the other hand, truly believes that it is just “harmless flirting” and that she doesn’t really mean it because he SEES HER AS A KID who doesn’t fully understand the consequences of her actions. He is also pretty condescending- making it very clear that he thinks of her as a kid (even though she’s 26). But instead of firmly putting a stop to the flirting or, you know, leaving her alone completely until she takes the hint, he just ignores it and pretends he’s not secretly into her. May I present to you, one of the worst things I have ever had to read with my human eyes:
“God, why couldn’t she lay off him with the constant flirting and teasing? He was human. He was not a gelding. He was a red-blooded man, and he could only take so much… Max glanced at Lou, and he got the distinct feeling he’d just had a narrow escape- he couldn’t be exactly sure what from. More of her teasing, more than likely. Sure as hell couldn’t have been anything more. But damn, if he ever slipped up- lost the iron grip he had on his self-control… Showed her I’m not a gelding after all…”
YOU'RE A GROWN MAN. YOU’RE FORTY FOUR YEARS OLD. I get what the author was going for- Lou just assumes that Max is teasing him because he doesn’t see himself as a desirable man and can’t seriously entertain the thought that a gorgeous 26-year-old is into him, and Max is just trying to get him to see himself as she sees him- (though later on we find out this was all just a ruse and he did actually know she was serious, and he’s actually just a good old-fashioned commitment-phobe) I just hated the way they treated each other and talked about each other and I’m not a big fan of relationships where one person has to wear the other one down. Beyond their age gap, Lou has expressed that after his divorce, he is not interested in another serious, long-term relationship and that he respects their friendship too much for a purely physical relationship, so he tells her in no uncertain terms that he just wants to be friends- an expressed boundary that Max repeatedly ignores because she is sure that he doesn’t actually mean it and will change his mind. After telling her, again in no uncertain terms, to stop with the flirty behavior, Max decides that actually him saying that implies that she’s starting to get to him and she should flirt even more.
This culminates in her following him into a bathroom, demanding a reason why they shouldn’t have sex, and when he can’t give her an answer, she just… starts? And takes “he didn’t pull free or run away” as a sign of consent? I mean, I know this book was written in 2006 and we were still a decade away from serious talks about enthusiastic consent, but all I’m saying is starting your ~spicy~ scene with the line “smiling, nearly drunk with the power she felt surging through her- the knowledge that he couldn’t say no to her, even if he wanted to- she dropped to her knees, shoving his jeans down as she went” is not going to age well. I also get that just because this would be a problematic relationship in real life it shouldn’t affect my enjoyment- I understand that this is a fantasy, I guess I’m just saying that neither a man 20 years older than me who’s self esteem is so low that I have to convince him to date me while he condescendingly tells me how I feel, nor a woman 20 years younger than me who keeps embarrassingly flirting with me after I’ve told her multiple times to stop is my personal fantasy.
Anyway, I didn’t like it but I’ll stop talking about it. I mentioned before that this was the 11th book in a series but that it didn’t really matter because there was plenty of recap. I also realized later that this is essentially an anthology series, and that this is the only book in which Max is the MC. It is part of an arc, but is either the second book in a trilogy or the 4th book in a 5-book series, depending on how you break them down. Either way, this book ends on a pretty big cliffhanger, which I only want to talk about because it involves something that made me super uncomfortable, so spoilers ahead.
The prologe of this book is a scene in which the vampire antagonist sexually assaults a woman. It's pretty jarring, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The villain of the story being a bad guy who doesn’t understand consent is not necessarily a bad thing- it is actually pretty in-line with what makes vampires so horrific (especially since we learn later that he wipes their memories, leaving them terrified, violated, and confused). As the scene goes on, though, the narration makes it VERY clear that he does not *technically* have sex with her, and also makes it very clear that the vampire is only sexually assaulting his victims for their benefit- like he is ensuring that they only feel pleasure and aren’t afraid… because, apparently he can hypnotize them to think he is having sex with them, but he can’t just… turn off their fear? Again, at the time I assumed it would be a mark of his villainy- it is extremely gross that he justifies his feeding on women without their consent by essentially saying “they get something out of it too” -like being sexually assaulted by him is a consolation prize. As the book goes on, we start to get more POV scenes from the vampire, and we keep getting it reinforced over and over again that he feels bad about the things he is doing (like kidnapping women, sexually assaulting them, feeding from them without their consent, and then wiping their memories) not to mention a scene where he very nobly refuses to sexually assault a 17-year-old girl and becomes enraged at his servant for thinking he would ever assault A CHILD, because sexually assaulting 20-year old women is fine, but someone 3 years younger is just a bridge too far.
By the middle of the book, I started to get very suspicious that there was going to be some sort of redemption arc for the vampire, and that he was going to end up as Stormy’s “morally gray” romantic interest. Puke puke puke a thousand times until I turn inside out. I mean, they even go visit some of his previous victims, who talk about the nightmares they have experienced, and the trauma (one of them said she never goes outside at night anymore and another is in therapy because of the experience) so surely not, right? Surely they understand how fundamentally evil this guy is, right? RIGHT? And then we come to the cliffhanger ending and the reason I have difficulty judging this book on its own without having read the whole arc.
The vampire (who at this point we’ve learned is literally Dracula and that just made me laugh so much) kidnaps Stormy in order to figure out definitively whether or not she’s possessed by the spirit of his former lover (God I love paranormal stories so much) and Stormy is… into it? Reading the synopsis of the next book, it seems pretty clear that Vlad is the romantic interest of the next book, and that it follows a love triangle between him and the 2 souls currently inhabiting Stormy’s body (which is obviously hilarious but I feel like I can’t really enjoy it because of how evil Dracula is and how this story would necessitate his redemption arc). BUT since his redemption arc is seemingly entirely in the next book, I can’t judge it and have to take this book on its own, which would mean that it is ruined by its final lines, which are the first real hints that he won’t ultimately be a villain. Presumably, he also won’t be doing the same horrible things in the next book, so his crimes and his redemption arc are separated into two books which I have complicated feelings about. Anyway, I know I’ve already written way too much about this but I (clearly) have a lot of thoughts about it.
FINALLY: Despite all the problematic relationships and bad characters, perhaps the worst sin of this book is that so much of it is boring. The “mystery” is not suspenseful at all because we already know most of it, so any time spent investigating whether or not there’s a vampire in town felt like a huge waste of time. Overall, I think this book is at least 100 pages too long. I wish this book had been more campy- I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was in the vein of Ice Planet Barbarians which seems at least more self-aware and was so quickly paced and short that I finished it in one day.
TLDR: I’m obviously keeping this book forever as a treasured memento of high school me, but I wish it focused more on the female characters and wasn’t so full of garbage men and bad relationships.
July 9, 2020
Una coppia umana e un vampiro che è un ...Mito!
Grande storia quella che finalmente si va evolvendo tra Lou e Mad Max, la sorella di Morgan, la compagna di Dante il vampiro!
Ma anche se di una coppia umana si va parlando questo non vuol dire che i vampiri non siano presenti nella trama, anzi...!
Al centro della vicenda che temporalmente si va collocando in contemporanea, mi pare di aver capito, con quella di Sarafina, c'è non solo i notevoli e decisivi passi avanti tra i due personaggi noti ma anche un certo inconveniente di anime e ricordi del passato e di un vampiro in "cerca senza saperlo" della sua sposa perduta secoli prima.
Maxie, ventiseienne investigatrice privata del soprannaturale e non, si trasferisce nella sua nuova casa-ufficio con la collega ed amica del cuore Stormy/Tempest appena ripresasi dal coma in cui era caduta per colpa di Stiles.
Li segue a malincuore per quello che prova per Max (ma non vuole ammettere a se stesso e si auto mente per avere la coscenza pulita) l'ex poliziotto Lou Malone, quarantaquattrenne ma ancora aitante.
Solo che i guai sono dietro l'angolo e un principe vampiro per ecellenza che assoggetta Endover da tempo e tutti i suoi abitanti fa sparire, senza nemmeno volerlo ma per causa del suo servo stolto, due adolescenti a loro note.
Sarà proprio durante la loro ricerca che, non solo il rapporto tra Max e Lou si andrà evolvendo, scompigliando, guastando e rifomando, ma che Storm diventerà l'oggetto del desiderio del principe vampiro Vlad che la crede portatrice dell'anima della donna che ha amato tempo addietro.
Una storia piacevole, emozionante e soprattutto scritta in modo magistrale che mi ha preso tanto da divorarlo come non mai. Ormai affezionatami a questi personaggi e al loro intreccio non vedo l'ora di proseguire con il prossimo libro.
Sono contenta che l'autrice non abbia lasciato in sospeso ed abbandonato questi personaggi. Alla fine, nella serie della Shayne, non ci sono personaggi minori ma tutti hanno il loro "momento di gloria" e uno stesso piano di rilevanza e la cosa mi piace sempre di più!!
Tante sorprese di sicuro mi aspettano visto i richiami che ci sono stati in questo libro con regressioni varie.
N.B.Consiglio comunque di leggere prima del libro la short story di Vlad che fu pubblicata tempo fa sul sito dell' harmony: Before Blue Twilight. Non ve ne pentirete ed avrete un quadro completo per leggere ed assaporare la vicenda.
Grande storia quella che finalmente si va evolvendo tra Lou e Mad Max, la sorella di Morgan, la compagna di Dante il vampiro!
Ma anche se di una coppia umana si va parlando questo non vuol dire che i vampiri non siano presenti nella trama, anzi...!
Al centro della vicenda che temporalmente si va collocando in contemporanea, mi pare di aver capito, con quella di Sarafina, c'è non solo i notevoli e decisivi passi avanti tra i due personaggi noti ma anche un certo inconveniente di anime e ricordi del passato e di un vampiro in "cerca senza saperlo" della sua sposa perduta secoli prima.
Maxie, ventiseienne investigatrice privata del soprannaturale e non, si trasferisce nella sua nuova casa-ufficio con la collega ed amica del cuore Stormy/Tempest appena ripresasi dal coma in cui era caduta per colpa di Stiles.
Li segue a malincuore per quello che prova per Max (ma non vuole ammettere a se stesso e si auto mente per avere la coscenza pulita) l'ex poliziotto Lou Malone, quarantaquattrenne ma ancora aitante.
Solo che i guai sono dietro l'angolo e un principe vampiro per ecellenza che assoggetta Endover da tempo e tutti i suoi abitanti fa sparire, senza nemmeno volerlo ma per causa del suo servo stolto, due adolescenti a loro note.
Sarà proprio durante la loro ricerca che, non solo il rapporto tra Max e Lou si andrà evolvendo, scompigliando, guastando e rifomando, ma che Storm diventerà l'oggetto del desiderio del principe vampiro Vlad che la crede portatrice dell'anima della donna che ha amato tempo addietro.
Una storia piacevole, emozionante e soprattutto scritta in modo magistrale che mi ha preso tanto da divorarlo come non mai. Ormai affezionatami a questi personaggi e al loro intreccio non vedo l'ora di proseguire con il prossimo libro.
Sono contenta che l'autrice non abbia lasciato in sospeso ed abbandonato questi personaggi. Alla fine, nella serie della Shayne, non ci sono personaggi minori ma tutti hanno il loro "momento di gloria" e uno stesso piano di rilevanza e la cosa mi piace sempre di più!!
Tante sorprese di sicuro mi aspettano visto i richiami che ci sono stati in questo libro con regressioni varie.
N.B.Consiglio comunque di leggere prima del libro la short story di Vlad che fu pubblicata tempo fa sul sito dell' harmony: Before Blue Twilight. Non ve ne pentirete ed avrete un quadro completo per leggere ed assaporare la vicenda.
May 22, 2015
This was the last book of the Wings in the Night series that I read as a teenager. I don't think I even finished it back then, I just put it down one day and decided to move on from the whole bookworm hobby altogether. Ever since deciding to reread the series, Blue Twilight is the title that I've most been looking forward to picking up, and I can say that it didn't disappoint.
The stakes in this story don't feel as high as they did in Twilight Hunger, but I don't think they were meant to be. For the first time since Roland and Rhiannon, we have a story in which our main couple have known each other for a significant amount of time prior to getting together, and the focus is accordingly set on the reasons why they haven't gotten together already. I don't know why I walked away from this book before. Lou and Max were both enjoyable characters in Twilight Hunger, and it's great to see them further fleshed out here. And the twist that comes about toward the end of the book sets things up PERFECTLY for the one to follow.
The rest of my thoughts, I've arranged into a haiku:
"Some people forget:
The end result's not as fun
With the wrong route."
The stakes in this story don't feel as high as they did in Twilight Hunger, but I don't think they were meant to be. For the first time since Roland and Rhiannon, we have a story in which our main couple have known each other for a significant amount of time prior to getting together, and the focus is accordingly set on the reasons why they haven't gotten together already. I don't know why I walked away from this book before. Lou and Max were both enjoyable characters in Twilight Hunger, and it's great to see them further fleshed out here. And the twist that comes about toward the end of the book sets things up PERFECTLY for the one to follow.
The rest of my thoughts, I've arranged into a haiku:
"Some people forget:
The end result's not as fun
With the wrong route."
July 3, 2017
Book 8 in the "Wings in the Night" series- at least if you are reading them in chronological order. If you are reading by publishing order then follow the numbering on Goodreads/Amazon.
Great book, definitely one of the best in the series.... it is continued with Prince of Twilight (a book that takes place about 16 years later)..... love Max and Lou in this one! They are soooo funny together I was laughing out loud!
Max "Mad Max" (Maxine Stuart) is Morgan's twin sister (from Twilight Hunger) where we got introduced to Max, Lou, and Stormy. This is the only one of Ms. Shayne's "Wings in the Night" series that the hero/heroine are both human. Max and Lou (and Stormy for that matter) are all PI's who know about the existence of vampires- they help their friends (the good vampires- of course). The plot of the story contains vampires, so you won't be without!
Great book, definitely one of the best in the series.... it is continued with Prince of Twilight (a book that takes place about 16 years later)..... love Max and Lou in this one! They are soooo funny together I was laughing out loud!
Max "Mad Max" (Maxine Stuart) is Morgan's twin sister (from Twilight Hunger) where we got introduced to Max, Lou, and Stormy. This is the only one of Ms. Shayne's "Wings in the Night" series that the hero/heroine are both human. Max and Lou (and Stormy for that matter) are all PI's who know about the existence of vampires- they help their friends (the good vampires- of course). The plot of the story contains vampires, so you won't be without!
September 8, 2012
Maxie "Inte rädd för någonting" Stewart ger sig tillsammans med sin bästa vän Tempest "Stormy" Jones och crushen Lou Malone ut på ett uppdrag. Ett updrag som komer visa sig vara allt annat än normalt, där vampyrer är vardagsmat och självaste vampyrgreven är...
April 10, 2013
Definitely liked this book. This book should be read right after Twilight Hunger. It's not easy to determine the order of books since author created "filler books" later in the game to expand the stories.
Read
December 23, 2014Miniseries: Wings in the Night
March 4, 2018
I enjoyed reading this book. It is part of a series but you can still read this and not be lost if you haven't read the others in the series. Vampires and vampire hunters what is not to love.
May 7, 2025
This is book 8 in the Wings in the Night Series. I felt it worked well as a stand alone book.
Mad Maxie, Stormy and Lou have been called on to investigate the disappeared of old friend Jason's teenaged sister. When they get to the town of Endover nothing feels quite right, not the townspeople, not the police officer (the only one in town) and not their friend Jason.
The investigation mixes with Maxie's persistent flirting with Lou and Lou's stonewalling of Maxie. I'll admit that the flirting got a bit repetitive. Lou's rebuffs and seeing himself as worn out eventually has me agreeing with him. I start to see him as too old for her.
The paranormal story involving Stormy is the real mystery and that was enjoyable.
The book was a good read and though I didn't read the first 7 books, it was a fun read.
Mad Maxie, Stormy and Lou have been called on to investigate the disappeared of old friend Jason's teenaged sister. When they get to the town of Endover nothing feels quite right, not the townspeople, not the police officer (the only one in town) and not their friend Jason.
The investigation mixes with Maxie's persistent flirting with Lou and Lou's stonewalling of Maxie. I'll admit that the flirting got a bit repetitive. Lou's rebuffs and seeing himself as worn out eventually has me agreeing with him. I start to see him as too old for her.
The paranormal story involving Stormy is the real mystery and that was enjoyable.
The book was a good read and though I didn't read the first 7 books, it was a fun read.
July 26, 2025
Something strange is going on in Endover, New Hampshire, everyone seems to be under some kind of spell and not willing to help Maxie and Storm with questions they have about two missing girls. Could this strange force be that of the undead? Maxie knows about the undead and is in Endover to get answers and find the girls. Lou Malone an ex cop and the man of max’s dreams is there to help also, but Lou is fighting a battle himself, he is fighting the feelings he has for Max. Storm is acting strangely after being shot and coming out of coma, she is having black outs and speaking a language that she has no clue about and has a feeling she knows the undead responsible for all the trouble.
This was a good vampire read and keeps you interested in finding out just what the hell is going on!
This was a good vampire read and keeps you interested in finding out just what the hell is going on!
February 20, 2012
Maxine Stuart is Morgan's sister (Morgan & Dante #7)... and we have Jason Beck, Maxine Stuart and Tempest Jones, as teens finding a CD in the burned DPI building with their list of vampires...
and now as adults, Jason has left and become a lawyer... but Maxine and Tempest (aka Stormy), and Lou Malone have joined forces (#?)... Maxine and Tempest are opening their own paranormal investigations centered in Easton Maine, in Morgan's home (she and Dante have given it to her)... I don't think any of them have the belladonna antigen (it doesn't come out). Lou is an ex-policeman, who helped them out in an earlier book... he is disillusioned with the world, by lives by his own standards... he is in his early 50's and feels too old for Max, but he is drawn to Max, she is his best friend... and when Max flirts, he ignores it... Max believes that Lou loves her but won't allow himself to acknowledge it or to accept it... she tricks him into driving the moving truck to the new house in Maine, (making it look like she couldn't handle it)... and snags his overnight bag hoping that he'll stay.
When they get to the new house (5 hours away), they get a call from jason - his 17 year old sister and her friend, out on a road trip, made a jumbled call to him, and he is afraid they are in trouble - He went to Endover (where the message said they were) and the sheriff says they haven't been there... and he needs their help... the 3 head out the next morning. (Lou won't let them go into a dangerous situation alone).
Then we have Stormy - in previous story she was shot in the head, and was in a coma... Morgan reached out to her in a alter world, she revisited her life in pictures - and one hooked back with her in this body when Stormy regained consciousness (wings in the night is developing a mysticism where our greater self resides in 'heaven' and pieces are released to earthly bodies, and when that self dies, it reunites, and the next earthly carnation holds part of the old self - and one of her previous carnations hitches the ride back into a body)... when this alterego takes over, Stormy doesn't remember anything, her eyes go black, and she speaks in a Romanian language... Stormy is drawn to Endover....
In Endover, we have a single vampire - an older vampire - who lives on a island off the coast, and he has cast a thrall over the whole coastal town... the sheriff brings him single women - and the vampire keeps her for a few days, drinks of her while looking at a picture on the wall (wanting the woman to substitute for his love), erases her memory and she wakes up close to her own home, not remembering (though having erotic dreams of the vampire & his taking of their blood). The sheriff brings him 2 17-year old girls (Jason's sister & friend)... and the vampire is not happy - they are too young... but then the sheriff shows him the advertisement of Max & Stormy's paranormal investigations... and Stormy looks like the woman in his portrait... the vampire wants to know more, and when Jason shows up & knows the women, he invades his mind to get him to call the women to come to his aid, so that he can meet Stormy... Jason sees his sister once, is reassured they are being housed safely...
And Lou and Max - get to spend one night together (after Lou and Max are hurt chasing off the vampire) - but just holding one another - and they share a kiss in the morning. Lou shares more of himself than ever before (about his exwife and child who died of leukemia)... then Max is hurt (following Stormy/alterego to the beach & fighting her off when she tries to protect the vampire)... and Lou takes her to his room, sends her in to bathe, she falls asleep, so he drains the water and carries her out of the tub - and when she wakes, she is all over him... and they (of course) have great sex - but in the morning, he tells her okay, she can have her way, they'll just get married. Max realizes that her belief that he loves her deep down is not true - and she takes off, hurt more than angry... taking Stormy to a hyptotist who contact her alterego, and tells her that she must make friends with Stormy's friends.
and Lou takes the opportunity to go out to the island - where Jason has warned the sheriff, so they are there waiting... Jason is beat and returned to the shore - Lou is taken to the dungeon (of sorts) and locked up (after being beaten a bit)... as max is returning, she feels Lou is in danger and rushes... and she wants Lou back as her best friend, accepting that he can't be more for whatever reason... and Lou gets lose (small ankle gun), releases the teens, and sends them to his boat as he fights the vampire... and max & stormy have found jason, just as the girls get there - and she sends them out of town to safety, and to call Morgan as soon as their phones work to come resuce her... and she and Stormy go out to the island (knowing that it is a trap)... and the vampire is using a cattle prod on Lou - and Max confronts him... and Stormy's alterego comes forth, she is his past love, and she is counseling him to learn from his past mistakes of pride and desire for power... and Max frees Lou, and then knocked unconscious - and the vampire - is Vlad Dracul (hmmmm) and he and Stormy leave together (though he is half convinced it is a trick) - next book? and Lou is trying to wake Max - telling her he loves her and can't live without her now that he knows it.... ahhhhh
And morgan and dante show up, they send Max and Lou off the island - say they knew Vlad was there, but wasn't killing so he was left alone - and they burn down the house and go after Vlad and Stormy....
ahhhh
and now as adults, Jason has left and become a lawyer... but Maxine and Tempest (aka Stormy), and Lou Malone have joined forces (#?)... Maxine and Tempest are opening their own paranormal investigations centered in Easton Maine, in Morgan's home (she and Dante have given it to her)... I don't think any of them have the belladonna antigen (it doesn't come out). Lou is an ex-policeman, who helped them out in an earlier book... he is disillusioned with the world, by lives by his own standards... he is in his early 50's and feels too old for Max, but he is drawn to Max, she is his best friend... and when Max flirts, he ignores it... Max believes that Lou loves her but won't allow himself to acknowledge it or to accept it... she tricks him into driving the moving truck to the new house in Maine, (making it look like she couldn't handle it)... and snags his overnight bag hoping that he'll stay.
When they get to the new house (5 hours away), they get a call from jason - his 17 year old sister and her friend, out on a road trip, made a jumbled call to him, and he is afraid they are in trouble - He went to Endover (where the message said they were) and the sheriff says they haven't been there... and he needs their help... the 3 head out the next morning. (Lou won't let them go into a dangerous situation alone).
Then we have Stormy - in previous story she was shot in the head, and was in a coma... Morgan reached out to her in a alter world, she revisited her life in pictures - and one hooked back with her in this body when Stormy regained consciousness (wings in the night is developing a mysticism where our greater self resides in 'heaven' and pieces are released to earthly bodies, and when that self dies, it reunites, and the next earthly carnation holds part of the old self - and one of her previous carnations hitches the ride back into a body)... when this alterego takes over, Stormy doesn't remember anything, her eyes go black, and she speaks in a Romanian language... Stormy is drawn to Endover....
In Endover, we have a single vampire - an older vampire - who lives on a island off the coast, and he has cast a thrall over the whole coastal town... the sheriff brings him single women - and the vampire keeps her for a few days, drinks of her while looking at a picture on the wall (wanting the woman to substitute for his love), erases her memory and she wakes up close to her own home, not remembering (though having erotic dreams of the vampire & his taking of their blood). The sheriff brings him 2 17-year old girls (Jason's sister & friend)... and the vampire is not happy - they are too young... but then the sheriff shows him the advertisement of Max & Stormy's paranormal investigations... and Stormy looks like the woman in his portrait... the vampire wants to know more, and when Jason shows up & knows the women, he invades his mind to get him to call the women to come to his aid, so that he can meet Stormy... Jason sees his sister once, is reassured they are being housed safely...
And Lou and Max - get to spend one night together (after Lou and Max are hurt chasing off the vampire) - but just holding one another - and they share a kiss in the morning. Lou shares more of himself than ever before (about his exwife and child who died of leukemia)... then Max is hurt (following Stormy/alterego to the beach & fighting her off when she tries to protect the vampire)... and Lou takes her to his room, sends her in to bathe, she falls asleep, so he drains the water and carries her out of the tub - and when she wakes, she is all over him... and they (of course) have great sex - but in the morning, he tells her okay, she can have her way, they'll just get married. Max realizes that her belief that he loves her deep down is not true - and she takes off, hurt more than angry... taking Stormy to a hyptotist who contact her alterego, and tells her that she must make friends with Stormy's friends.
and Lou takes the opportunity to go out to the island - where Jason has warned the sheriff, so they are there waiting... Jason is beat and returned to the shore - Lou is taken to the dungeon (of sorts) and locked up (after being beaten a bit)... as max is returning, she feels Lou is in danger and rushes... and she wants Lou back as her best friend, accepting that he can't be more for whatever reason... and Lou gets lose (small ankle gun), releases the teens, and sends them to his boat as he fights the vampire... and max & stormy have found jason, just as the girls get there - and she sends them out of town to safety, and to call Morgan as soon as their phones work to come resuce her... and she and Stormy go out to the island (knowing that it is a trap)... and the vampire is using a cattle prod on Lou - and Max confronts him... and Stormy's alterego comes forth, she is his past love, and she is counseling him to learn from his past mistakes of pride and desire for power... and Max frees Lou, and then knocked unconscious - and the vampire - is Vlad Dracul (hmmmm) and he and Stormy leave together (though he is half convinced it is a trick) - next book? and Lou is trying to wake Max - telling her he loves her and can't live without her now that he knows it.... ahhhhh
And morgan and dante show up, they send Max and Lou off the island - say they knew Vlad was there, but wasn't killing so he was left alone - and they burn down the house and go after Vlad and Stormy....
ahhhh
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 22, 2022
Finalmente una storia d'amore che ha senso in quanto tale! Almeno si conoscono da una vita, si amano sul serio, c'è un'evoluzione del personaggio nel corso della storia. Sono perplessa solo di come appaia (se ho seguito bene il conteggio dei libri, ma ora ne ho il dubbio - questo per me era il nono) precedente all'ottavo libro... Chissà, devo aver fatto danni io! In generale, più pesantino degli altri ma piacevole.
Want to read
February 23, 2021To be honest, I may have read this already. I loved all of these original Wings in the Night series books. I even have the old Harlequin Shadows copy of the earlier books. So, I guess I'll have to do a re-read. Maybe even of the series. Who knows? I already have so many books to read but what's another one? And another one? And reading a book again? I have plenty of time, right? :)
December 12, 2019
this is one I might need to get back to
Its a catch up on two characters that the
were apparently left hanging in a series.
the problem
I haven't read this series yet
so my cart is before the horse
I'm sure I would like it more if I
had the context of the series
Its a catch up on two characters that the
were apparently left hanging in a series.
the problem
I haven't read this series yet
so my cart is before the horse
I'm sure I would like it more if I
had the context of the series
July 13, 2018
Soort Twilight verhaal. Vermakelijk.
August 28, 2024
Holy Shit THIS book has me in its grip. I loved it all, the characters, the angsty romance, the story direction. It was dark and sensual to read, almost coming across in a similar manner to one of Ann Rices books; which i just absolutely adore and having looked for reads that have that similar gothic romancey feel i can certainly say that I found what I was looking for in this one.
December 31, 2025
3.5/4
Lu - Maxine -> Detectives
Lu - Maxine -> Detectives
March 29, 2015
Yes, I suppose I've broken my own golden rule. "Thou shalt not read a series out of order." But to my defense, when I picked it up I was too lazy to notice it was a series before I was into it.
It's always easier to discuss the characters first, isn't it? And really, they're the most important. I found Maxie cutely ambitious chasing her love-interest Lou, her general personality amusing and cushy, while the same went for her friend and semi-sidekick Stormy. I hold no real qualms with the characters in general, with the potential exception of Lou, who seemed too unrealistic and sappy for my taste. His situation of not being in a relationship is too worn by now, and the reasoning - while awful when it's revealed - nearly seems thrown in for shock value alone.
I didn't sense genuine romance that warmed my heart between the two, and while I love romantic sub-plots as much as the next Harlequin hound, it just 'ain't here.' The couple got on my nerves more than once, an unforgivable sin for main characters. In fact, the majority of the story was of them alone. It was predictable how it would end, and I wasn't in the mood for a sappy romance that didn't follow the back cover's promised premise.
The vampire himself could have been interesting, I really have no idea. From one moment he seems determined never to kill, and the next he thinks he must do what he has to and not care because it's forced on him. He's in a smidge of scenes, and the end is a cliffhanger just revealing a small portion of his life. Come on, that should have been in THIS book. It was only a ploy to have the reader curious enough to read the next. It almost works, but not quite as this didn't hold enough punch for my taste. Instead we never get the pay off of endurance by learning about him, what makes him tick, what's up with Stormy, and ...well, nothing. Nada. The character vampire changes personality merely to fit the next plot point, with the bone continuously dangled over the dog's mouth never delivered.
The sisters of the supposed friend were not amiable, either. Instead the giggling valley girl types irritated me further; I'm happy to say the author didn't dwell on them much. The atmosphere wasn't dark as anticipated, nor erotic. Frankly I didn't find anything sinfully sexy about any of the relationships - the vampire and his old love, nor Maxie and Lou. I can get the attraction of a darkish vamp, but have no earthly idea how Maxie is so into Lou. What does he have to offer? Not much from his personality.
What we end up with are stereotypical characters with the exception of Stormy and Maxie. Those two are cute to a degree (although their too bad-ass approach annoyed me) but the rest are grating and over the top. There are layers of cheese to be found in certain situations, and most definitely some dialogue spoken especially between Maxie and the vamp at the end. Ugh. It gets even worse when her 'assistants' burst into the door like a bad remake of the Matrix. And, to make matters worse, all was for naught, for at the end it shows us all wrap-up on the vampire story won't even be in this book!
I'm not going to jump on this series bandwagon. Perhaps I'll give it another chance if another book fell into my lap for free and I was out of other books, but it's doubtful. For fans of the series, I fear you either will be disappointed, or else are into the characters enough to enjoy this mildly. For virgins of the series, I'd wager an earlier book would earn more brownie points with you.
It's always easier to discuss the characters first, isn't it? And really, they're the most important. I found Maxie cutely ambitious chasing her love-interest Lou, her general personality amusing and cushy, while the same went for her friend and semi-sidekick Stormy. I hold no real qualms with the characters in general, with the potential exception of Lou, who seemed too unrealistic and sappy for my taste. His situation of not being in a relationship is too worn by now, and the reasoning - while awful when it's revealed - nearly seems thrown in for shock value alone.
I didn't sense genuine romance that warmed my heart between the two, and while I love romantic sub-plots as much as the next Harlequin hound, it just 'ain't here.' The couple got on my nerves more than once, an unforgivable sin for main characters. In fact, the majority of the story was of them alone. It was predictable how it would end, and I wasn't in the mood for a sappy romance that didn't follow the back cover's promised premise.
The vampire himself could have been interesting, I really have no idea. From one moment he seems determined never to kill, and the next he thinks he must do what he has to and not care because it's forced on him. He's in a smidge of scenes, and the end is a cliffhanger just revealing a small portion of his life. Come on, that should have been in THIS book. It was only a ploy to have the reader curious enough to read the next. It almost works, but not quite as this didn't hold enough punch for my taste. Instead we never get the pay off of endurance by learning about him, what makes him tick, what's up with Stormy, and ...well, nothing. Nada. The character vampire changes personality merely to fit the next plot point, with the bone continuously dangled over the dog's mouth never delivered.
The sisters of the supposed friend were not amiable, either. Instead the giggling valley girl types irritated me further; I'm happy to say the author didn't dwell on them much. The atmosphere wasn't dark as anticipated, nor erotic. Frankly I didn't find anything sinfully sexy about any of the relationships - the vampire and his old love, nor Maxie and Lou. I can get the attraction of a darkish vamp, but have no earthly idea how Maxie is so into Lou. What does he have to offer? Not much from his personality.
What we end up with are stereotypical characters with the exception of Stormy and Maxie. Those two are cute to a degree (although their too bad-ass approach annoyed me) but the rest are grating and over the top. There are layers of cheese to be found in certain situations, and most definitely some dialogue spoken especially between Maxie and the vamp at the end. Ugh. It gets even worse when her 'assistants' burst into the door like a bad remake of the Matrix. And, to make matters worse, all was for naught, for at the end it shows us all wrap-up on the vampire story won't even be in this book!
I'm not going to jump on this series bandwagon. Perhaps I'll give it another chance if another book fell into my lap for free and I was out of other books, but it's doubtful. For fans of the series, I fear you either will be disappointed, or else are into the characters enough to enjoy this mildly. For virgins of the series, I'd wager an earlier book would earn more brownie points with you.
October 15, 2013
If I had read this seven years ago, or, hell, five, it would probably be a five-star read. The characters are absolutely wonderful - I loved Lou and Max back then, and I adore them now -- and the plot is pretty fun, and the sexual tension/relationship between Max and Lou is what I enjoyed so much about reading this book. When I was a kid, I loved this shit. This series was the BOMB for me, because 1. VAMPIRES and 2. The characters and (most important) 3. The sex. When I was younger, like fucking ELEVEN, I just read read read all the smutty (cough Intrigue) books and loved the shit out of it because, I don't know, sex scenes and dynamics and that ~tension~ between two characters was my thing. I even wrote a bit like it, and...whatever. I've matured, changed, and a shit ton of smex doesn't do it for me anymore, doesn't make a good book automatically. BUT! Maggie is like, the fucking QUEEN of sexual tension and the sex scenes themselves, okay. And back then, Max and Lou were my favourite duo of the series and that has not changed. I still adore them.
However, and I don't know if it's just this book or if it has always been like that, but the writing wasn't all that great. I mean, it had it's ~amazing~ moments (especially the sexy things, to be honest, but scenery and witty comebacks), but...How many times do the characters need to sigh? It must have always been like this for Maggie, because when I was younger, I, too, was a victim of sigh-syndrome. My characters were constantly sighing and shrugging. But, seriously, there was one page in this book that must have had "Max sighed" on it, like, five times. And I'm not even exaggerating!
Anyway, it was nice to delve into this series again, a series I had enjoyed so much as a "kid". I will forever appreciate how all the characters' stories entwine so delicately, and also how you can tell a POV just by the way things change in the writing -- their personalities shine through. It's astounding, lovely. I have a deep appreciation for things like that. It's just -- the characters, man. Maggie does them well, makes them diverse, makes them real. Also, I feel I should mention that this was one of those "backburner" books for me. It's literally sitting behind my chair on a table, to reach for whenever I get desperate enough aka don't know what the hell to do with myself. And also it's one where I constantly skip forward (sighing terribly) and skim scenes and then go back to where I am then go back skipping forward, reading like five pages at a time, hundreds of pages ahead of where I actually am, so I knew how this book ended like....three months ago, and all the scenes in-between, but I hadn't actually read it (until 2am this morning), so I didn't want to mark it down as read.
In conclusion: Woulda been better if I had read it as a kid, but characterization is A+++ (minus all the sighing and shrugging).
However, and I don't know if it's just this book or if it has always been like that, but the writing wasn't all that great. I mean, it had it's ~amazing~ moments (especially the sexy things, to be honest, but scenery and witty comebacks), but...How many times do the characters need to sigh? It must have always been like this for Maggie, because when I was younger, I, too, was a victim of sigh-syndrome. My characters were constantly sighing and shrugging. But, seriously, there was one page in this book that must have had "Max sighed" on it, like, five times. And I'm not even exaggerating!
Anyway, it was nice to delve into this series again, a series I had enjoyed so much as a "kid". I will forever appreciate how all the characters' stories entwine so delicately, and also how you can tell a POV just by the way things change in the writing -- their personalities shine through. It's astounding, lovely. I have a deep appreciation for things like that. It's just -- the characters, man. Maggie does them well, makes them diverse, makes them real. Also, I feel I should mention that this was one of those "backburner" books for me. It's literally sitting behind my chair on a table, to reach for whenever I get desperate enough aka don't know what the hell to do with myself. And also it's one where I constantly skip forward (sighing terribly) and skim scenes and then go back to where I am then go back skipping forward, reading like five pages at a time, hundreds of pages ahead of where I actually am, so I knew how this book ended like....three months ago, and all the scenes in-between, but I hadn't actually read it (until 2am this morning), so I didn't want to mark it down as read.
In conclusion: Woulda been better if I had read it as a kid, but characterization is A+++ (minus all the sighing and shrugging).
October 24, 2012
TRAMA: Endover è una ridente e serena cittadina del New Hampshire. In apparenza. Sotto la superficie si agitano infatti oscuri desideri e poteri antichissimi. L'unica in grado di capire che cosa sta succedendo davvero è Mad Maxie. Ma la presenza maligna che controlla la città cerca in tutti i modi di ostacolarla. E nemmeno Lou Malone, l'uomo di cui lei è innamorata da sempre, riesce a convincerla ad abbandonare la sua crociata contro il folle assetato di sangue... e di amore.
Nono volume della serie Wings of the night. Questo è forse uno dei libri della Shayne che mi è piaciuto di meno. Probabilmente perché i protagonisti sono umani e non hanno una storia particolarmente accattivante. Lei è la sorella di Morgan(moglie di Dante) e lui è un amico di vecchia data più grande di diciotto anni che con un divorzio alle spalle e un figlio morto per leucemia non vuole riprovare ad amare. Ma Maxie è testarda e maliziosa e Lou soccombe al suo fascino. Ma stavolta di mezzo c’è Vlad,l’unico,che rapisce l’amica Stormy perché posseduta dallo spirito della sua amata. Sul finale ritroviamo Morgan e Dante che insieme ai protagonisti partono per salvare Stormy. Una storia d’amore che mi ha coinvolta ben poco. Quasi tutto il libro si perde nella ricerca della sorella di un loro amico che viene usata come ostaggio da Vlad per attirare Maxie e la sua amica(investigatrici private). Scene hot in piccolissime dosi,tanta testardaggine,voglia di un futuro che sembra non arrivare mai. Il personaggio meno apprezzato è Lou che non conquista per la sua incapacità di agire e la sua perenne calma piatta. La scrittura è sempre buona ma l’intreccio è piuttosto deludente e per certi versi noioso.
Nono volume della serie Wings of the night. Questo è forse uno dei libri della Shayne che mi è piaciuto di meno. Probabilmente perché i protagonisti sono umani e non hanno una storia particolarmente accattivante. Lei è la sorella di Morgan(moglie di Dante) e lui è un amico di vecchia data più grande di diciotto anni che con un divorzio alle spalle e un figlio morto per leucemia non vuole riprovare ad amare. Ma Maxie è testarda e maliziosa e Lou soccombe al suo fascino. Ma stavolta di mezzo c’è Vlad,l’unico,che rapisce l’amica Stormy perché posseduta dallo spirito della sua amata. Sul finale ritroviamo Morgan e Dante che insieme ai protagonisti partono per salvare Stormy. Una storia d’amore che mi ha coinvolta ben poco. Quasi tutto il libro si perde nella ricerca della sorella di un loro amico che viene usata come ostaggio da Vlad per attirare Maxie e la sua amica(investigatrici private). Scene hot in piccolissime dosi,tanta testardaggine,voglia di un futuro che sembra non arrivare mai. Il personaggio meno apprezzato è Lou che non conquista per la sua incapacità di agire e la sua perenne calma piatta. La scrittura è sempre buona ma l’intreccio è piuttosto deludente e per certi versi noioso.
September 26, 2014
This is the first book in the Wings in the Night series where the main couple isn't a type of vampire or vampire-like person. Instead we have a friend of the vampires "Mad Maxie" and a police detective, Lou Malone, taking the center stage for the romance. There is still plenty of paranormal types to go around though so don't worry about missing her wonderful vampires.
The town of Endover is just plain weird. It's residents seem to be under a constant mind fog and even Max and her friends feel some strange dulling effect on their brains. When the vampire in question targets one of Max's close friends as "interesting" things start to get exciting. You're in for a good old fashioned vampire hunt - at least at first.
This vampire isn't like anything I was expecting though. Maggie Shayne gave me glimpses into his life and mind that make him an incredibly sympathetic character that plays looks to play a major role in a future book. He is devious and cunning and just a little crazy. He is an amazing addition to the vampires of the Wings in the Night series.
- See more at: http://www.bittenbyromance.com/2014/0...
The town of Endover is just plain weird. It's residents seem to be under a constant mind fog and even Max and her friends feel some strange dulling effect on their brains. When the vampire in question targets one of Max's close friends as "interesting" things start to get exciting. You're in for a good old fashioned vampire hunt - at least at first.
This vampire isn't like anything I was expecting though. Maggie Shayne gave me glimpses into his life and mind that make him an incredibly sympathetic character that plays looks to play a major role in a future book. He is devious and cunning and just a little crazy. He is an amazing addition to the vampires of the Wings in the Night series.
- See more at: http://www.bittenbyromance.com/2014/0...
January 9, 2012
There wasn't any problem with the writing or the story line. But I only give it three stars because it wasn't a book you could sink your teeth into (pardon the pun). I found it a bit long winded and actually found myself skipping a few of the last pages because I just wanted to see how it ended. It's a easy going book with nothing too exciting happening in it.
I do like how the author took a different outlook on the "vampires" and made them not evil monsters but actually the only word that comes to mind about the main vampire is a "gentleman".
The introduction said that you don't have to read the books in order to enjoy them but I found that there is alot of reference to things that happend in the past and, as I didn't read the previous books, I had not clue what was going on.
All in all if you want a light hearted read with nothing really too exciting happening then this is a book you will enjoy. But if you are like me and wanted to read it because you like a good horror story or something a bit exciting then you will be a bit disappointed.
I do like how the author took a different outlook on the "vampires" and made them not evil monsters but actually the only word that comes to mind about the main vampire is a "gentleman".
The introduction said that you don't have to read the books in order to enjoy them but I found that there is alot of reference to things that happend in the past and, as I didn't read the previous books, I had not clue what was going on.
All in all if you want a light hearted read with nothing really too exciting happening then this is a book you will enjoy. But if you are like me and wanted to read it because you like a good horror story or something a bit exciting then you will be a bit disappointed.
November 18, 2015
If your reading this review prior to reading the book - be aware that it takes place immediately following Morgan and Dante's story. There is a fork in the stories - the numbers veer toward Sarafina, Dante's great aunt. But this one follows up with Stormy, Max and Lou in which they move into Morgan's home that she left to Max.
Also, be prepared to IMMEDIATELY jump into the next book Prince of Twilight.
Shayne takes a different viewpoint in this book in that she's writing a romance between humans instead of vampires. In fact, the vampire in this book is the villain. The stories are getting more involved with multiple twists and turns that keep you guessing to the end. Who is the rogue vampire who can hold an entire town is his thrall? I never saw it coming.
Also, be prepared to IMMEDIATELY jump into the next book Prince of Twilight.
Shayne takes a different viewpoint in this book in that she's writing a romance between humans instead of vampires. In fact, the vampire in this book is the villain. The stories are getting more involved with multiple twists and turns that keep you guessing to the end. Who is the rogue vampire who can hold an entire town is his thrall? I never saw it coming.
May 22, 2010
What a waste of a few good holiday hours!
The fact that this book is part of a series - but that knowledge wasn't gleaned until halfway through the book - doesn't really help the meagre storyline, and the badly formed and not really concluded at all plotline. The characters felt like pathetic and annoying cliches - spunky, big talking and hot Maxine Stuart, "tough talking" but bruised by life hot cop Lou Malone, Tempest (come ON) Jones and the supposedly pathetic because of his not-manliness Jason Beck. Jason was the only character who remotely interested me, and he was shoved out of the way so that Lou and Max could have a vomit-inducing reunion.
The fact that this book is part of a series - but that knowledge wasn't gleaned until halfway through the book - doesn't really help the meagre storyline, and the badly formed and not really concluded at all plotline. The characters felt like pathetic and annoying cliches - spunky, big talking and hot Maxine Stuart, "tough talking" but bruised by life hot cop Lou Malone, Tempest (come ON) Jones and the supposedly pathetic because of his not-manliness Jason Beck. Jason was the only character who remotely interested me, and he was shoved out of the way so that Lou and Max could have a vomit-inducing reunion.
November 7, 2012
Characters in my opinion can make or break a book. If you can't make a connection with a character you're bound to not enjoy the book much. In this instance, I had issues with Max. Although a pretty good book, I had a hard time with the character of Max and her maturity level. Her obsession with Lou was starting was embarrassing to behold and starting to get down right creepy. She was starting to resemble a stalker. This not so redeeming character flaw lessened my enjoyment of the actual story. I can honestly say that if I'm glad I read was reading the series in order. If I had read this one home, I may not have bothered to read the others.
April 2, 2014
Max and Storm are moving to their new place, courtesy of Max's sister, to start their own private eye business. They get a call from an old friend named Jason. His sister has gone missing. He got a strange call from her. He tried to call back but could not get through. Max, Storm and Lou go to Endover and start working on the case. But the town is strange. The people are strange. Storm starts acting very weird. It's like someone else is in her head. Something happened to her when she was shot in the head on their last case. Will they be able to figure out just what is happening in Endover and rescue Jason sister?
January 3, 2015
I only recently started reading these books but I was hooked pretty quick. I enjoy the fact that Maggie has a different idea of vampires and with this book she has added past lives. This book focuses on Max and Lou's love story more then anything but it does set the picture for another book featuring Stormy and Dracula. I am looking forward to reading that one.
I would suggest reading these books and getting to know the mind of Maggie Shayne. The characters are easy to like and the fact that there is always more to the plot then meets the eye.
I would suggest reading these books and getting to know the mind of Maggie Shayne. The characters are easy to like and the fact that there is always more to the plot then meets the eye.
May 3, 2015
This book has a vampire in it, but is he really such a bad guy?
But the main part of the story involves Maggie and her friends, trying to help out another old friend, who's sister is in the hands of the vampire.
They discover strange things in the little town close to the vampire.
Next to that there is the love story between Maggie and Lou. He has his past and doesn't want to ruin their friendship.
Maggie's friend Storm has her own problems, there seems to be another person in her body and it is reacting to the vampire.
Nice read.
But the main part of the story involves Maggie and her friends, trying to help out another old friend, who's sister is in the hands of the vampire.
They discover strange things in the little town close to the vampire.
Next to that there is the love story between Maggie and Lou. He has his past and doesn't want to ruin their friendship.
Maggie's friend Storm has her own problems, there seems to be another person in her body and it is reacting to the vampire.
Nice read.
August 7, 2011
Not great, not poor, just did not hold my interest. I read this on recommendation from my wife, who is a Maggie Shayne fan. The writing was fine, and I was interested mainly because of the notion of the vampire controlling a town, which was relevant to a story I was writing. I stopped reading about halfway through, but that shouldn't be a considered a knock on the book. Shayne fans likely will feel just fine about this book. So, this is kind of a neutral review.
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