The Undead Next Door

Love at Stake, Book 4

By: Kerrelyn Sparks

Narrated by: Deanna Hurst

Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

Bite into another Love at Stake novel.

©2008 Kerrelyn Sparks (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Formulaic, but good.

I'm beginning to see an emerging pattern in Sparks' love scenes, which makes listening to the series one right after the other pretty monotonous, because the romance is a big yawn at times. I liked the main character, she's pretty feisty, and the babysitter is a total hoot, and the hero is, again, handsome and rich...but that's what makes romance novels--paranormal or not--fun.

Enjoyable read

What did you love best about The Undead Next Door?

Funny, some good lines by hilarious Hispanic babysitter!

How could the performance have been better?

Accents of various voices poorly performed including the Texas one.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

J Luc's moments with Bethany.

Any additional comments?

Some of the best lines by the babysitter had me laughing out loud. Heroine not very sympathetic and pretty much an idiot at times. The phrase "at war with fear" could have been used less. But worth the read.

I love the undead

Would you consider the audio edition of The Undead Next Door to be better than the print version?

They r both great I read the print version frist, the audio let's me enjoy it the secound time around

What did you like best about this story?

Sparks allowes her people to b real, not even the heros make misstakes,or is that stakes

What about Deanna Hurst’s performance did you like?

Her voice is suthoing

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Even the undead can love (n not get fangy)

Any additional comments?

Sparks is a hell of a story teller

Disappointed listener

What did you like best about The Undead Next Door? What did you like least?

After loving book 3 and the narrator with the Scottish accents especially angus and Emma, then this one just ruins the whole feel of the characters feels like you are listening to a whole different series. Enjoyed book 1 & 2 also including the narrators, but it won't stop me from listening to the rest of the series I am hooked

Would you be willing to try another one of Deanna Hurst’s performances?

Not if she is doing Scottish accents

What would have made this romance irresistible?

The narrator from book 3

overdone bad accents

narrator's accents were off the chart bad. french sounds like italian. italian sounded made up

Yikes!

This was more like a preteen girl's fantasy story about an unexceptional young, plump, divorced mother of one who has an unexceptional ultra-famous French fashion designer vampire fall madly in love with her and her little girl, puts a punishing spell on her obnoxious ex husband, and gives her the opportunity of a lifetime to design clothes for other plump women under his famous fashion label. Oh yeah, there's a really lame "bad guy" who shows up briefly.

The only interesting part of this story was the feisty Hispanic gun-toting nanny and a sexy description of the hero/heroine's first kiss. Their sleeping together near the end wasn't even noteworthy. Also, the narrator's rural Texan drawl and French accents were both cringe-worthy.

eh story. awful narration.

I needed something for a road trip to keep me awake while driving and, well, it kept me awake. The story is your typical HEA: no huge surprises, not a lot of tension, not a lot of depth, but works as background noise. However the narrator leaves a lot to be desired. Her usual voice is fine but the myriad accents she affects get worse as the book goes on. I wish she had just used her own voice, instead she butchers the accents to the point that I wondered if the Hispanic (maybe Mexican? the author never bothers to say) babysitter was speaking with an Irish lilt. The male lead's French accent felt more cartoonish than anything. And then there's the Scottish accents. I thought I was going to die laughing.
The story itself is just kinda meh. There's lots of xenophobia expressed by the townsfolk toward the male lead that just... never gets addressed? I think the author was trying to make the little girl cute but she came off as annoying. The ex of the female lead also just sort of disappears into the plot ether. Glad I didn't have high expectations.

Terrible narration - couldn't finish

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
I'm not sure who would enjoy it. I had a hard time listening to the accents and only listen to about 10 minutes of it before I turned it off.

What was most disappointing about Kerrelyn Sparks’s story?
My review is based solely on the audio version of this book. I don't know if the story is disappointing or not. I could not get past the first chapter. In that time the story seemed interesting. I have read other books in this series by Kerrelyn Sparks and really liked them. I have not listened to those audio books however.

How could the performance have been better?
The accents, especially the French, were cartoonish and over played. The book would be better with more subtle accents.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Undead Next Door?
I cannot judge the story in this book because I was unable to listen to much of it.

Any additional comments?

Most irritating narrator ever

What would have made The Undead Next Door better?

A decent narrator.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Predictable. The book really left no lingering emotion when it was over. It was just over - nothing to think about or evaluate.

What didn’t you like about Deanna Hurst’s performance?

The narrator's accent imitations were so annoying I couldn't concentrate on the story. She was also a very slow reader and I just kept thinking - get on with it already!

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

This book definitely wasn't my favorite in the series. In retrospect, I would have skipped it.

narration is funny

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Get narrators who can do accents.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was fine.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Very much. The accent were bad.

Do you think The Undead Next Door needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No, the books do well connecting the stories.