Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Wings in the Night #1-3

The Maggie Shayne Twilight Shadows Bundle: An Anthology

Rate this book
Book 1 in Maggie Shayne’s Bestselling Wings in the Night Series The Thin Line between Love and Death…

In two centuries of living death, vampire Eric Marquand had learned to live with the cruel fate that had condemned him to walk forever in shadow, forever alone. Then he found the woman he knew was meant for him—and understood that to possess her was to destroy her.

Against all reason, Tamara Dey saw clearly that her destiny was eternally entwined with Eric’s and that she must not only accept but welcome the terror and splendor of the vampire’s kiss. She trembled at the thought of spending eternity in his arms, but was her trembling born of desire…or fear?

Don’t miss a single title in Maggie Shayne’s Wings in the Night
Twilight Phantasies
Twilight Memories
Twilight Illusions , with bonus novella “Beyond Twilight”
Born in Twilight , with bonus novella “Twilight Vows”
Twilight Hunger
Embrace the Twilight , with bonus novella “Run from Twilight”
Edge of Twilight
Blue Twilight , with bonus novella “Before Blue Twilight”
Prince of Twilight
Demon’s Kiss
Lover’s Bite
Angel’s Pain
Bloodline , with bonus novella “Vampires in Paradise”
Twilight Prophecy
Twilight Fulfilled

637 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

30 people are currently reading
732 people want to read

About the author

Maggie Shayne

290 books2,558 followers
I 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

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
531 (51%)
4 stars
298 (29%)
3 stars
164 (16%)
2 stars
27 (2%)
1 star
4 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Megan.
1,560 reviews55 followers
September 27, 2007
The first 3 books in Maggie Shayne's Vampire series ("Wings in the Night") are in this book. EXCELLENT! I cannot say enough about Maggie Shayne's Vampire series.... I love them all!!! These first 3 though are Maggie's core vampires, you will see them again... although Damien in only one book, and it was in an anthology, and had a couple of sentences and that was it.

"Twilight Phantasies" focuses on Tamara Dey (a Chosen- i.e. special blood type that contains a Belladonna antigen- they die early because of it and are the only humans that can be changed into vampires) and Eric Marquand - a vampire scientist of sorts. Jameson Bryant is a boy in this book- he will have his story in Born in Twilight.

"Twilight Memories" focuses on Rhiannan and Roland de Courtemanche (both vampires- Rhiannan is Roland's maker). Tamara and Eric show up in this story as well.

"Twilight Illusions" focuses on Shannon Mallory (a Chosen) and Damien Namatar (oldest living vampire). My all time favorite of any and all of the "Twilight" or "Wings in the Night" series. Tamara, Eric, Rhiannan, and Roland all make appearances in this story.
Profile Image for Crystal.
Author 1 book11 followers
November 22, 2010
A seriously wonderful writer. Book 2 had me IN TEARS. The characters are so real and honest. The premise of the books works well (more traditional vampires). I can't wait to read the next!
3,389 reviews24 followers
November 16, 2010
Twilight Phantasies

Eric - French Revolution, 1793, an honorable aristocrat who got arrested after getting his mother and sister to safety... before his beheading, Roland shows up - a man who has saved his life twice as a child, comes to him in prison, and they exchange blood, and he is turned... Roland is a vampire, who has watched over Eric, a Chosen, with a blood antigen that makes him a potential vampire...

200 years later... Eric has been lonely, and he is drawn to child Tamara, with a psychic connection... when she suffers a tremendous blood loss after being cut by a broken window, he goes to her in the hospital... feeling her slipping away, he gives her his blood, and she recovers - their connection stronger than ever... she stays with her the night, telling her stories &singing toher...and then he goes far away from her, to minimize his obsession... but Tamara came to the attention of Daniel - a paranormal investigator who identifies the antigen in her blood & hypothesizes about a vampire visiting her... he has tried to study other vampires, killing 2 by taking too much blood, and losing his partner to a 3rd where they took less blood, and she grew too strong... so Daniel administers a virus to kill her parents so that he can become her guardian to study her and to wait for the vampire to return...

Daniel has a younger partner, Curt... Daniel comes to love Tamara, but Curt continues to see her as a subject... when she is in her mid 20s, she begins having nightmares and insomnia, and Eric feels her calling to him... he returns to her, and though at first neither trusts the other (he is afraid she is partnered with Daniel to capture him, and she doesn't remember him and just sees an intimate stranger who knows too much about her), they become friends and ultimately lovers... she accepts him as little by little she comes to understand what he is and what he has done for her... Roland returns to help Eric... Curt goes over the edge, and kills Daniel (who is considering meeting Eric as nonevil to please Tamara) and makes it look like Eric did the killing... he also kidnaps a young, psychic charge that Tamara has been caring for... and at the final confrontation, with Eric & Tamara being held, they start to get free, and when Curt returns, Tamara shoots him... She then asks Eric to make her like him so that they can be together forever...

Twilight Memories

Roland's story... Roland, turned vampire in the middle ages - and has lived for centuries with the guilt and fear of his aggressive self - the man he was, and the vampire he feared he could be... he was a powerful knight, and rages led to the defeat of numerous enemies... and when he sought to make amends to a young woman whose family he had destroyed (they attacked first), she took her own life rather than submit to him (or so he thought)...

and Rhiannon (aka Rhianikki) princess of Egypt, firstborn of Pharaoh, immortal, a goddess among humans, envied by women and worshipped by men... and yet she feels unworthy.. her father found her unworthy, in favor for her younger brothers, and Roland, in his passionate selfcontrol, would keep his emotional and physical distance from hr, adding to her feelings of unworthiness... she enjoys life, enjoys interacting with humans, and has a panther as her companion - whom she connects with telepathically... she comes to Roland every 50 years or so, when she can not bear being apart, and spends some time with him then flitters off... she was captured for a short time by the DPI, and keeps tabs on them... and learns that they are after Jamey, the Chosen boy that Roland is caring for, so she goes to him again...

And Rhiannon, Roland, Eric, and Tamara do what they can to protect Jamey... this time, not just from Curt of the DPI, but from Lucien, a man who wants leverage to force Rhiannon to convert him - he wants immortality...

Poor Rhiannon and Roland - for every step forward, there is two steps backwards... but Rhiannon does manage to learn of his fears, and in his telling, he starts to feel a measure of peace... and Roland comes to understand how much she needs approval... towards the end, when both have realized that they don't just feel lust, but that they feel love... she attempts to be the mild mannered woman she thinks Roland wants... it doesn't work, and Roland is finally ready to love her just the way she is and not to be threatened by her... ahhhh

Twilight Illusions

Damien, aka Gilgamesh - 6,000 years old, turned when he lost his best friend to death - by what may be the 1st vampire... and he isolated himself from all - the Chosen, people, and other vampires... he only allows himself contact via an audience - currently as a magician... but the bloodlust is getting to him - it gets worse until he must take blood - but he hightly values life, and only takes a little... he does not know that Anthar, of his own time, has stalked him through time and now plans to destory him (really ? !? - 6,000 years for revenge?)...

So 2 women who were at his shows, and from whom he took blood, are dead... he doesn't think he could have done it, but he isn't sure - (Anthar has gone in behind him and killed them)... and one of the women is Shannon's friend - the two of them ran away from molestation/foster home together, and made a life... Shannon is now a PI, and the police are not doing anything, and the only clue she has leads her to Damien...

and to complicate things, the DPI is in town... and also gunning for
Damien... and Shannon is dying... as a Chosen, her lifespan is shorter, and thoughshe is a little young, she is dying...

They are, of course, drawn to one another - both sharing in their grief at losing a friend... both drawn to the story of Gilgamesh... and Damien is very much wanting to protect his emotions... Eric comes to him, and helps to explain some things... and then Damien must choose to allow Shannon to die or to transform her withouther permission... and he cannot imagine living without her, and so he changes her...

Anthar kidnaps Shannon, and takes her to ziggurat that he constructed piece by piece - Damien comes for her...followed by Eric & Tamara and Roland & Rhiannon... in defense of Damien, Shannon attacks Anthar, and Damien uses his power to incinerate Anthar...

and Damien takes himself into a small room to allow Shannon her space so that she can leave ... and Shannon goes to him, and they make love... and Shannon tells him that she loves him... and the Gilgamesh poem's stanza, that she is the someone who can take away the memory of death...
Profile Image for Krystal.
909 reviews28 followers
May 28, 2018
This was not my first in this series I read (that belongs to Morgan and Dante's story) but I loved hearing about the founding couples in this compilation when I found it a few years later. Shayne's vampire family tales were some of my favorites in high school and they mostly hold up upon re-reading. While showing their age a bit, when you're dealing with vampires that are ancient, time is sort of relative to the story.
Profile Image for Kelsey.
45 reviews
November 24, 2022
I have Maggie Shayne to thank for my decades-long love of paranormal romance. My poor version of this book is in tatters from how many times I have read it. I will always come back to this series with fondness.
Profile Image for Jamie Kline.
198 reviews4 followers
October 16, 2010
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
Profile Image for Jenny.
537 reviews24 followers
December 15, 2014
Years ago, when I first started reading paranormal romance a friend of mine gave me a huge box of these - thus began my unbearable OCD when it comes to series (whether it can be read as a stand alone or not). This box was a mish mash of different authors and series, two of which were Demon's Pain and Lover's Bite of the Wings of the Night series by Maggie Shayne. So, of course, I couldn't read those two without reading the books that came before those, then as time went on and many series later, I began searching for the Wings in the Night series (I prefer hard copies to e-books), lo and behold it is one of the hardest series to find in bookstores. As time went on I finally gave in and bought Twilight Phantasies on my Nook and, as I knew I would, I fell in love with the most basic vampire romance (this was probably two years ago)...did I mention I prefer hard copies over e-books? Well I do so began my hunt (again) for this series. Finally, a few weeks ago, the used bookstore in my area had this copy of the first three books in the Wings of the Night series, so I grabbed it.

Although these stories are your typical vampire romances, I loved every single one of them and look forward to a search and rescue operation for the rest of the series in hard copy. It's interesting how all the characters tie into one another as the books continue. If you're looking for a vampire romance with no frills - this is the series for you.
Profile Image for Jaymy M..
154 reviews11 followers
August 28, 2013
This was my introduction to vampire and paranormal. Been hooked since. I've nearly every one of the Wings in the Night books. (I considered these the true "Twilight" books as the name's in 3/4 of the titles in the series; so much that it I couldn't even consider Stephanie Meyer's series for years.)

And if it says Maggie Shayne on the cover, you can bet it's going to end up on my shelf. From her the Brands to the Wings in the Night, I have yet to be pick up a single Shayne book that I didn't like.

I owe Maggie Shayne heartfelt gratitude for a couple of decades (how odd does that sound... seems like just yesterday I was reading Rhiannon and the crew in high school, now my son is in high school) of fabulous reading, an addiction I happily indulge.
145 reviews16 followers
September 15, 2011
Reading the first Wings in the Night book, I was really hit with the Harlequin improbability of it all. I had read some other Maggie Shayne books in the past and loved them, so I decided to plug through and give it a chance. I am really glad I did. The stories really had matured by the third novel, and started to become more a story of each character rather than stories of their prowess in the bedroom.

The third novel definitely shows us what Maggie Shayne is capable of,and I am really looking forward to reading further on in the series to see what else she has in store.
Profile Image for Sara.
852 reviews25 followers
September 1, 2011
I enjoyed Twilight Phantasies the most out of these three novels. All of the main characters are well developed in all three novels, and all three stories are connected together.


Spoiler ----







The last story, Damien's, I expected to like the best, but it smarted a little of her being held against her will, and she was changed against her will - which I am not a fan of. It has a happy ending, but I don't like the way they got there.
Profile Image for Donne.
1,495 reviews70 followers
November 23, 2015
Not as exciting as some of the other paranormal romances I typically read but I did enjoy it. Each story focuses on one particular character or couple and each story seems to pick up a few years from the ending of the last story. The next story will focus on Jamie and if the same time frame continues, I'm guessing it will be a few years and he will be an adult by then so that should be interesting.
Profile Image for Constance.
16 reviews3 followers
Read
June 19, 2011
The whole *Wings in the Night* series is pretty good. Easy reads and the romance scenes are border line written porn. But I like the way the author Maggie Shayne adds Christian, Greek, Babylonian mythologies with the different characters and Gilgamesh even makes an appearance. HOWEVER, Maggie Shayne edits her own books and she sucks at it!
Profile Image for Jeanette.
153 reviews2 followers
January 26, 2023
I picked this book for the story "Twilight Phantasies". Skimming through the rest of the book, I see that there is more to the story than what is in just this portion. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the story but I now know why I was left feeling like something was missing. It was too quick in the storytelling and quick to end. I'm sure once I complete the WHOLE book I will feel better :)
1 review
September 15, 2010
This is the start of this series and the whole thing is just amazingly well written, and I love the characters. This really turned me on to Vampires more then any other Vamp series I have read since.
248 reviews1 follower
August 6, 2011
I stumbled across this book during a heavy romance faze but I outgrew that and still love this series. The base theory on vampires is really clever and the characters and storylines of each book just enhance it. I've re-read it more times than I can remeber
Profile Image for Sara Kalt.
387 reviews1 follower
December 26, 2011
Engaging but not super fast, new to me series. If the characters just said what they felt these would be VERY short books. I like how the characters from earlier stories are part of the next in the series. I'm curious whose story is next!
Profile Image for Christina.
8 reviews1 follower
June 3, 2012
This book has the first 3 books in the Wings of the Night Series and I just love these books. Maggie's the first author to introduce me to romantic vampires! I was hooked after I read the first book.
Profile Image for Kim.
154 reviews5 followers
March 6, 2015
Love this series & was totally drawn into the characters in each book. Great PNR with enough suspense to keep one interested in the story. Maggie Shayne does a great job. I bought Wings in the Night, Vol. 2, as soon as I finished Vol. 1.
Profile Image for Erotic Horizon.
1,738 reviews
Read
August 16, 2008
Wings in the Night: Twilight Phantasies / Twilight Memories / Twilight Illusions (Twilight Series Books 1, 2, & 3) by Maggie Shayne (2001)
Profile Image for Kris.
844 reviews8 followers
March 21, 2011
classic romance...just ok for me. it's a 3 story book and i wasn't even inspired enough to read the next one...but may go back to it later....
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.