Bond of Fire

November 19, 2007
This audacious second installment of the Texas Vampire series (after Bond of Blood
) blends European and American history and contemporary paranormal romance into a shockingly heady brew. Beautiful widow Hélène d'Agelet fell hard for Jean-Marie St. Just, George Washington's former spymaster turned compañero
—enslaved by blood—to the sister of powerful vampiro mayor
Don Rodrigo Perez. The Napoleonic wars disrupted their affair, and after an explosive espionage incident involving Hélène's sister, double agent Celeste de Sainte-Pazanne, Hélène and Jean-Marie believed each other dead for centuries. Celeste's lover, Raoul, killed her parents, so Hélène killed Raoul. Now the sisters, both of whom have become vampiras
, are hunting each other down, bent on revenge. Filling the story with explosions and blood and the prose with enough French, Spanish and purely invented terms to require a glossary, Whiteside merrily rampages through history and vampire lore, building an impressively sturdy and compelling narrative from the wreckage.

January 1, 2008
Thesecond installment in Whitesides Texas vampire romance trilogy (Bond ofBlood, 2006)begins in Paris in 1787. Whileattending a soiree with his vampire friend at Versailles and spying for George Washington, Jean-Marie meets Helene, a wealthy widow.He is careful not to expose her to his secret life, buteventually Helene and her sister Celeste are approachedby a vampire working for the British government and agree to become vampires themselves and join the cause. Helene and Jean-Mariethen unite to fight Napol'on until each believes the other is killed. Moving forward in time and wheeling her tale back to Texas, Whiteside traps Helenein a vampire turf war between Jean-Marie and Celeste, now vampire queen of New Orleans. Highly creative and detailed as it winds its way through history, Whitesideslatest sensual paranormal romance will knock readers socks off.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)