Immortal Longings: A Vampire Novel Format: Paperback

Lauren and Kayla are the perfect high school couple–except they aren’t actually a couple. The cute, smart, sarcastic Lauren is secretly in love with her best friend, Kayla, the gorgeous bi-racial lead actress in the drama club. But Kayla, one of the most popular girls at school, changes partners (male and female) like other girls change shoes.

After seeing a play in Manhattan one autumn afternoon, the two 17-year-olds wander into a vintage clothing store, Deja Nous. Their impromptu shopping spree leads to a chance meeting with the mysterious and beautiful owner, Elizabeth Valiant. Despite strange, subtle warnings from Matt, another clerk at the store, both girls agree to take after-school jobs at the enticing shop. On the ride home to Queens, Kayla talks non-stop about the wonderful clothes, the fabulous Elizabeth and how much fun the girls will have working together.

Deja Nous–and the intriguing and sensual Elizabeth–soon becomes an obsession for Lauren and Kayla. Then, after being accosted at the subway by a strange man and overhearing a surprising conversation, Lauren accidentally discovers the secret behind the shop and the Valiant family. As she delves deeper into the mystery, she realizes that her life and that of her beloved Kayla are in danger–life-threatening danger–from a centuries-old curse.

Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse has been writing in the sci-fi, horror and fantasy genres for years. In addition to her novels, Faerie Rings: Book of Forests and The Kill Switch Review, her critically acclaimed short stories and essays have appeared in numerous collections, including Out for Blood, Out for More Blood, Night Bites and Night Shade. Her essays on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, including the seminal “Sex and the Single Vampire: The Evolution of the Vampire Lothario and Its Representation in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” have appeared in a series of journals.

She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband and daughter.