I was so ready to read Angel's Pain. I really enjoyed Reaper and Briar's interaction in the prior two novels. While the story was good - really good in some parts there was a lack of passion between Briar and Reaper that was extremely disappointing to me. The sex scenes were quick and not very exciting. She pretty much jumps on him and that's it. I was looking for more depth more passion and a little more give towards the end of the novel from Briar. Also more anger from Reaper over the pain that Briar suffered all her life. The emotions were skimmed over in this story and it kept if from being as good as I think it could have been.

Briar the Vampiress vows to never forget the cruelty of her former instructor in the ways of their species. She initially accepted his brutality as drinking blood is not an herbivore lifestyle. However when Gregor betrayed her she pledged to get even; when he tortured her she became preoccupied with the need of vengeance flowing through her blood starting with her odious stepfather Martin and then Gregor.

However, she is realistic that she cannot defeat Gregor and his minion by herself. Brian reluctantly joins Reaper and his warriors (vampires, Chosen and humans) based on the theory that Gregor's enemies are her friends. Once Gregor and Rose are dead, Brian plans to leave though she is attracted to her charismatic leader who shares a blood bond to child vampiress Crisa. When Gregor captures Crisa, Briar knows she must save her little "sister". Reaper risks all to help her succeed.

The latest Maggie Shayne vampiric thriller (see LOVER'S BITE and DEMON'S KISS) is a superb paranormal romantic suspense tale. Briar appears more thorn than Rose, but Reaper sees past her pain and her bravado to the inner person he desires even if she keeps singing the refrain from "I'm not in love". The story line is fast-paced from the onset and never slows down as Briar needs to be the one to kill Gregor until Crisa is taken; her priorities change. Sub-genre fans will enjoy Ms. Shayne's fine vampire tale especially those who soar with the author's "Wings in the Night" saga as several players take a bite or two in ANGEL'S PAIN.

Harriet Klausner

I fell in love with Reaper and his gang of misfits, it was heart breaking when it came to an end.
Don't expect to find Angel anywhere in this story, my best guess is that Angel was Briar; her pain is what lead Reaper to her. It was great seeing her breaking through her shell of evil to a caring vengeful vamp. My only complain is that I want more.

I usually like Maggie Shayne, I've read several of her books. I liked the first 2 books in this spin off series. They seemed to flow a lot better than this book, this one seemed forced to me. I didn't feel the connection at all between Briar and Reaper.

If you read the prior books, you knew her story going into this book.... Briar had an extremely hard life, hooked up with Gregor which was a really bad decision on her part (but this story tells you why that happened), Gegor betrays her, Briar is extremely bitter out for revenge from everyone who has ever wronged her in her life.

It would have been nice to watch Briar's progression from bitter hateful person to someone who under her icy facade kept all these passionate strong feelings for those she cared about. While in the end she finally admits feelings for her friends and Reaper, until well into the last few chapters it's all about her being this tough hateful extremely bitter person, a cheap sex scene and being plagued with residual pain from Crisa.

I truly believed she had feelings for Crisa even when she claimed she didn't. I felt the reluctant warm feelings a few times for the rest of the gang.. but with Reaper, not even close. If you are looking for a deep romantic connection between Briar and Reaper, you will be left wanting after this book is over. I never saw the slow build from Briar feeling for Reaper the "Can't stand you even though you are sexy" to "You make me live again". It was from one extreme to another.

In the end when Briar told Reaper she loved him, it felt cheesy, it's like she blinked toward the end of the book and thought.. Oh yea.. I love you now. Completely didn't feel the love at all. And was left scratching my head as to why Reaper would literally be panting after her.

I really wanted to like Briar's story and to like Briar as a character, but not so much. I felt like Reaper was cheated.

Angel's Pain finishes up the Wing in the Night series pretty much as the series started out, as an ensemble piece. Though Reaper and Briar do get their romance, they only get a modest amount of time in the spotlight since they have to share the limelight with past pairs Topaz and Jack (Lover's Bite) and Seth and Vixen (Demon's Kiss), as well as mortals Roxy and Ilyana, the mentally challenge vamp Crista, 10 yr old Matthias, a CIA agent from Reapers's past, and the villian Gregor. This means that the romance in Angel's Pain is more of a sidebar than a main focus.

Overall I enjoyed Angel's Pain, I like all the characters and loved getting to see them all again. It was fun watching Roxy and Ilyana show their vamp buddies that mortals still have a few tricks up their sleeves. But I couldn't help being a bit disappointed in Reaper and Briar's part in the story. I still love Reaper but his dangerous edge was dulled when he lost his loner status, and here he is eminently careful in his persuit of Briar who he sees as a damaged dangerous but kindred soul. Briar herself though was the biggest letdown. In the first book, Briar was an evil woman who revelled in causing pain, because she was so dead inside that she couldn't feel anything on her own. In in this book though she went to just being more prickly, defensive and closed off because of the awful abuse of her past. It makes her redemption much easier to pull off, but it feels like an entirely different Briar. While I am nit picking, the evil Gregor doesn't live up to his ultimate evil rep of the past books either, he was only moderately evil here, so his just desserts didn't engender the round of applause that one would have expected.

Still if you've been following the series, you are going to want to read this one. As a wrap up to the series, Angel's Pain does it job. All the loose ends from the previous books are tied up, and questions about Reaper's past are answered. For those of you that read Shayne's Twilight series there is a quick cameo of another of the vampires from that series. Good news for Wings in the Night fans, it felt like we were meeting a future character in Matthias and Shayne has another vampire novel Bloodlines coming out in May of 2009. There no hints on Shayne's website as to who the star of Bloodlines will be but if I had to bet, I'd lay my money on Roxy. She's a great character who deserves a story of her own.

Angel's Pain finishes up the Wing in the Night series pretty much as the series started out, as an ensemble piece. Though Reaper and Briar do get their romance, they only get a modest amount of time in the spotlight since they have to share the limelight with past pairs Topaz and Jack (Lover's Bite) and Seth and Vixen (Demon's Kiss), as well as mortals Roxy and Ilyana, the mentally challenge vamp Crista, 10 yr old Matthias, a CIA agent from Reapers's past, and the villian Gregor. This means that the romance in Angel's Pain is more of a sidebar than a main focus.

Overall I enjoyed Angel's Pain, I like all the characters and loved getting to see them all again. It was fun watching Roxy and Ilyana show there vamp buddies that mortals still have a few tricks up their sleeves. But I couldn't help being a bit disappointed in Reaper and Briar's part in the story. I still love Reaper but his dangerous edge was dulled when he lost his loner status, and here he is eminently careful in his persuit of Briar who he sees as a damaged dangerous but kindred soul. Briar herself though was the biggest letdown. In the first book, Briar was an evil woman who revelled in causing pain, because she was so dead inside that she couldn't feel anything on her own. In in this book though she went to just being more prickly, defensive and closed off because of the awful abuse of her past. It makes her redemption much easier to pull off, but it feels like an entirely different Briar. While I am nit picking, the evil Gregor doesn't live up to his ultimate evil rep of the past books either, he was only moderately evil here, so his just desserts didn't engender the round of applause that one would have expected.

Still if you've been following the series, you are still going to want to read this one. As a wrap up to the series, Angel's Pain does it job. All the loose ends from the previous books are tied up, questions about Reaper's past are answered, there is a quick cameo of another of the vampires from Shayne's Twilight series, and it felt like we were meeting a future character in Matthias. Shayne has another vampire novel Bloodlines coming out in May of 2009, no hints as to who the star is but if I had to bet, I'd lay my money on Roxy. She's a great character who deserves a story of her own.