Dancer in the Dark & Layla Steps Up: The Layla Collection

With these two thrilling novellas, Harris (A Longer Fall) offers fans a fun, dance-filled return to the world of her Sookie Stackhouse series. Dancer in the Dark introduces Layla LeMay, who takes a job as a dancer for Blue Moon Entertainment while hiding out from a dangerous past. Her relationship with her dance partner, vampire Sean O’Rourke, begins professionally, but they quickly fall for each other. As they get closer, Sean figures out that something has Layla running scared and he promises to protect her. Layla Steps Up picks up one year after the explosive finale of the first novella, and finds Layla adjusting to a new life, learning to protect herself instead of relying on others. When the vampire she loves goes missing, she has to toughen up fast in order to save him. Though the characters and conflicts are new, the spirit and human-vampire dynamics of these stories mark them as clearly of a piece with the rest of the series. Sookie Stackhouse fans will enjoy revisiting this romantic, paranormal universe. Agent: Joshua Bilmes, JABberwocky. (Sept.)