Texas Hill Country, Texas - Present Day

Jean-Luc Echarpe isn't happy about his upcoming twenty-five year exile. Being a vampire and in the public eye make it rather difficult to hide the fact that you never age. Zut! So here he sits in a small Texas town at the opening of his fifth designer clothing store bemoaning his fate, when a curvaceous woman enters his line of vision. She's not skinny like the models of his clothing, and her hair is beautiful. Now if he could just see her face, and the color of her eyes. But wait! Is she copying his designs? Is she a spy? Well, he will just have to go and confront the woman, beautiful or not. Jean-Luc comes face to face with Heather Westfield, a woman who stirs his body to life. Too bad he has to go into hiding. He offers her a job once he sees her sketches, and then trouble comes knocking in the form of an old enemy. Lui mistakes Heather for Jean-Luc's latest love interest and this puts her and her family in danger. Honor demands that Jean-Luc protect them, and with a little help from his friends, he might just do it. However, they still have to find out where Lui is hiding and get rid of him.

Schoolteacher Heather Westfield always dreamed of being a designer. Going to the opening night of famous designer, Jean-Luc Echarpe, Heather looks at his designs, shakes her head, and starts recreating them into outfits that a full-figured woman like herself can actually wear. When a gorgeous man approaches her and accuses her of stealing, Heather digs the hidden hors d'oeuvre out of her purse and hands it to him with a quick apology. Geez Louise...all that over an expensive piece of pastry? But he isn't speaking of the pastry, he is talking about her stealing the designs. Heather shows him her drawings, explains that most women aren't a size two and that she was just improving Mr. Echarpe's designs. The man shows her to the private designing room and then, to Heather's shock and delight, he offers her a job. Of course, she feels like a fool when he introduces himself as none other than Jean-Luc Echarpe, the designer she was just trashing. A spark of attraction arcs between them, but before they go any further a man walks in and tries to kill both her and Jean-Luc. The man escapes, but not before promising vengeance. Heather finds herself in Jean-Luc's protective custody along with her daughter, Bethany, and her housekeeper, Fidelia.

Heather knows there is something different about Jean-Luc and his bodyguards, she just can't quite put her finger on it. Then, when she begins figuring things out, she thinks she's crazy, because there is no way they are what she thinks they are. Or are they?

Ms. Sparks brings back many familiar faces in THE UNDEAD NEXT DOOR, giving readers a glimpse of past characters and what is going on in their lives now. She weaves a romantic tale of danger sprinkled with humor. Wait until you see what happens with Heather's ex-husband, Cody. It is too funny for words. <g> Plus, he deserves it. Our hero, Jean-Luc is a handsome, but lonely man. He has spent many centuries alone never letting a woman into his heart for fear that Lui would kill her just as he's killed Jean-Luc's other lovers in the past. However, the instant he spies Heather copying his designs, Jean-Luc is taken with the curvaceous woman. Heather isn't looking for a relationship. She's got her teaching job, her dreams to one day be a designer, and a beautiful little girl who keeps her hopping. Heather is instantly smitten with Jean-Luc in return. He is such a gentleman and is kind to her daughter and housekeeper. If he just wasn't so desirable, she would be okay. Secondary characters include Roman and Shanna (see HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE VAMPIRE), Angus and his wife, Emma, (see BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART), a few other fellow vampires, Robby, Phineas, and Ian; Phil who is something different; Heather's daughter, Bethany, who is a ray of sunshine and a bit precocious at times; and last, but not least, the gun-toting, vision-seeing housekeeper Fidelia. Now, she made me laugh so hard I cried at times. Other characters include the town sheriff, Billy, who has a crush on Heather unless her best friend, Sasha, is around; Heather's ex-husband, Cody; and a few other people who add background to Heather and Jean-Luc's story.

For a supernatural ride filled with humor and danger, pick up your copy of THE UNDEAD NEXT DOOR today.

Sinclair Reid