Embrace the Twilight (MIRA) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Her beauty is spellbinding. Her hunger is insatiable. Her power is immortal.

Return with Maggie Shayne to the dark, erotic world of wings in the night . . .

A creature of the night, Sarafina revels in the glory of vengeance and rage. And she tries not to remember a time when she knew the meaning of love . . . before she was betrayed by the curse of her blood.

She plays for kicks, but never for keeps. Even when she spots William Stone at a local nightclub, she wants only to possess him long enough to satiate her deep, passionate hunger. His power and his strength excite her. But Will is much more than anything she could ever imagine.

He is a man of almost inhuman courage and defiance. He is as boldly alive as she is -- yet he is mortal. And he is irresistble.

Her dark desires lead them both into a world where dangerous interlopers are playing deadly games with Immortals. And as she is pulled into a bizarre vortex of vampire hunters madness and duty to protect the tender heart of the young girl who holds the powerful legacy of The Chosen, both Sarafina and Will find themselves forced to confront a hunger more powerful than any other: love.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Mira (March 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1551666685
• ISBN-13: 978-1551666686
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #280,902 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sarafinas story: MUCH better than anticipated, March 13, 2004

By	Dr W. Richards "wmr-uk" (Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Will Stone, a US military special agent captured by Islamist militants and being tortured, finds his mind slipping away from the pain being caused him to a place where he can see and feel a beautiful gypsy girl, Sarafina. He can only watch and try to warn her as she is betrayed by her younger sister and her lover, taken as a sacrifice to a waiting vampire - who doesn't kill her, but turns her into a vampire.

Back in hospital in the US, Will is still haunted by the dreams he's had of Sarafina. He still believes that they were no more than dreams, until one day he startles a man called Jameson Bryant who is stealing blood. Bryant reminds Will of the vampire Bartrone he had seen in his dreams... and when Bryant confirms that he is indeed a vampire, Will begins to wonder whether Sarafina might actually exist. And when, a few weeks later, Bryant hires Will to `babysit' his daughter, Amber Lily, the first child born to vampires, on her trip to New York, Will seizes the opportunity to ask for help to find Sarafina.

She exists, but is now an embittered, cruel woman, having been betrayed or abandoned by anyone she ever cared for: her sister, her lover, the vampire Bartrone who ended his existence by walking out into the sun, and later her great-nephew Dante, who rejected her in favour of Morgan. Now, Sarafina creates human slaves who do her bidding unquestioningly, including feeding her on demand. She also selects mortals whom she considers unworthy and feeds from them. When Sarafina discovers that Will, whom she'd thought of as some godlike or supernatural creature who loved her, is a mere mortal man - and not even one of the Chosen, at that, so he cannot possibly be with her for eternity - she turns vicious, threatening to kill him unless he leaves her alone.

Later, when she sees Will tailing two young women, one of whom is a vampire, she suspects him of being either a pervert or with the DPI, and she kidnaps him, attempting to turn him into another mindless slave. And, while Will is thus distracted, Amber Lily is kidnapped...

I hadn't expected to like this book. I hated Sarafina in Twilight Hunger, and it took a long time for me to warm to her in this book, though I did (mostly) in the end. What really made this book for me, apart from Will, whom I liked very much, was the role played by characters from previous Shayne novellas, principally Jameson and Angelica and Roland and Rhiannon. The story is still quite dark, made more so by Sarafina's behaviour, hence four stars rather than five, but the scenes with other vampire characters made up for a lot of that.

There are several unresolved threads in this book, which I hope will be resolved in Shayne's next, Edge of Twilight, which is principally about Amber Lily. Certainly, with Embrace the Twilight, Shayne seems at last to have discovered how to write a full-length novel about her characters without boring readers!

wmr-uk

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A keeper...., February 26, 2003

By	iheartjackbauer - See all my reviews

Sarafina has been betrayed by every person she's ever loved so she's shut herself off from feeling emotions for people. First it was her sister Katerina, who hated her from the day she was born. Her betrothed, Andre, betrayed her with the sister that hated her, all the while convincing Sarafina that he loved her. Even her companion, the man that made her a vampire chose to walk into the sun instead of staying with her. The last person that she opened her heart to was her great nephew, Dante, whom she felt turned his back on her for the woman he loved more than her. There was only one thing that gave her peace, and that was her beloved spirit. The spirit she'd always felt, even before she became a vampire. She felt safe falling in love with her spirit because she knew that it wasn't flesh and blood, therefore it could never break her heart.

Wilem Stone was being tortured in a cave by Afghani military the first time he saw her. He was in so much pain that he left his body and hers was the face he saw. He felt everything she felt. He felt pain, betrayal, love and anger. Through the days of his torture, he would retreat to his beautiful Sarafina, even though he couldn't see her, she was his salvation.

When Will finally escaped, he couldn't make any contact with Sarafina again. He was finally able to, due to the pain he inflicted on himself. When he did, he was shocked to learn that a hundred years had passed for her, where only two months had passed for him. He could finally be with the woman he fell in love with. He soon learns that she's not the same woman that he first saw. This woman is hard and bitter. She is defeated and ruthless. She is not the sweet and innocent woman he knows she is deep down inside.

While in the hospital, Will comes upon a vamipre stealing blood from the blood bank. He instictively knows who he is when he sets eyes on Jameson Bryant. The two men soon strike a deal. Will is to protect Jameson's daughter Amber and in return, Jameson will help Will find Sarafina.

The story goes on with drama that you can only find in a paranormal romance. Feelings are intensified in this novel of vampires. When Maggie Shayne first introduces the reader to Sarafina, you will believe that she is a vampire beyond redemption. She didn't count on the power of her love for a mortal man, however, and she finds that she still has some good left in her. If you have enjoyed Maggie Shayne's 'Wings in the Night' series, you will also enjoy this one, though it doesn't compare to the first three tales in the series.

Happy reading!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Very Unsatisfying, November 16, 2003

By A Customer

I have read all the "Wings in the Night" books, this one being the last of the series so far and the most unsatisfying on many levels. The romance was flat, the story was not really about the vampire and her mortal lover but, instead, became a rescue mission which placed the main characters and the romance in a very secondary position. You never get the feeling they have really connected, because more than half the story about Seraphina and Willem takes place in the their minds and in the past. Also, I am so tired of Stiles and his group of vampire hunters. All the stories are beginning to sound repetitive. In this book, the re-formed DPI takes precedence over the romance and spoils everything. The ending is depressing, unsatisfying and does not solve the problem between the mortal and the vampire. Surely there will be a sequel, but the momentum between the lovers will be lost. Ending on such a sad note is unusal for Shayne's series and leaves the reader feeling disappointed and empty. If you are following the "Wings in the Night" series you will have to read this one, because somewhere along the line there will be more about this couple, or should be, and you'll need to know the story. If you are just reading for pleasure, then skip this one because there is no pleasure to be found in it. It's too dark and dreary to be enjoyable. I hope Ms. Shayne gets back to the love and romance that makes this vampire series so enjoyable. Let the dark stuff take a minor role like it did in previous books.