Review: The Undead Next Door (Love at Stake #4) by Kerrelyn Sparks ★★★★

Three signs that something is very different with your new man:

1. He sleeps all day . . . which would be annoying except he's so attentive at night.

2. He's attacked by sword-wielding assailants, yet insists he can handle it on his own.

3. He never seems to age.

Heather Westfield has always lived a quiet life, but that all changes when she helps a very handsome, very mysterious stranger. There's something not quite right about Jean-Luc, but still, she's never been with a man so charming, so attractive . . . so wonderful. Now if only a murderous villain wasn't after them, they might get their happily-ever-after.

Review:

I admit I came to this novel with less than enthusiastic expectations when I found out it was Jean-Luc's book. You see, the impression I'd got of him in the previous books had made me think he was only ever going to be a secondary character. He just didn't seem like leading man/hero material. I think it's because he's a French fashion designer and whenever I see that description, I get this in my head:


Franck Eggelhoffer - Father of the Bride

Of course, now that I've actually read the book, I get something more like this:


*sigh* Bonjour, Jean-Luc ♥

He made an adorable hero. I couldn't have been more wrong if I'd tried. And the heroine, a full-figured red-haired beauty, was also a breath of fresh air. I loved the fact that after working with wraith-thin models for 30 years, the sight of Heather (Or 'Hezzaire' as Jean-Luc would say) reminded him of the great Silver Screen beauties from back in the day like Marilyn Monroe or Diana Dors, and he was totally smitten at first sight. Their courtship was sweet and often humorous. Heather didn't seem to realise how many of the men in her small town drooled over her. She was totally oblivious. I think she just assumed that because she wasn't as obviously beautiful or outgoing as her model BFF, Sasha, that she was somehow beyond notice. She was wrong.

As well as new men wanting her attention, she also has a couple of old flames who can't seem to let her go. Such as her ex-husband, Cody, whose only redeeming feature seems to be that he gave her her cutie-pie daughter, Bethany. Bethany almost stole the show along with Heather's fortune-telling, gun-toting neighbour Fedelia. They both provided many cute and funny moments and were excellent secondary characters.

Again, the story followed the same pattern as the previous books, of the reader knowing right from the getgo that Jean-Luc is a vamp, but then having to watch Heather slowly but surely figure it out. I'm kinda waiting for this to start getting on my nerves because it is becoming quite formulaic, but somehow the author is managing not to irritate with it so far.

My only fault with it was that the Big Bad made very little impact and was hardly on page save for a very brief intro and a somewhat anticlimactic exit.

A great continuation of the series, highly recommended. Next up is Ian's book which I've been dying to get to!

4 Stars! ★★★★