Anna has now been a vampire for about six months and the riff between her and chief Williams at the end of the last book, has lead her to believe that she will finally be able to live her human life. Gloria, her partner David's girlfriend, seems to exited his life, thrilling Anna. Trish, the young girl that her parents believe to be their grandchild, who we met in Blood Drive, has settled into their family. Only Anna knows that Trish is not a blood relation, but she keeps the secret because she recognizes that her inability to age, means that her parents will need a child to dote on when she is forced to exit their lives.

Well, when things are that perfect, they certainly cannot remain that way for long. On yet another trip to Mexico to feed, because Anna still refuses to get a human partner, she runs into a largely female werewolf pack. Culebra recognizes the danger immediately and attempts to get Anna to leave, but before he can get her out the door, she runs into Max, her ex boyfriend with a female vampire. Anna is immediately pissed, and he tells her that it's not that he can't get passed what she is, but that she lied about it for so long. On her way to the door, Anna comes to the attention of Tamara, who instantly challenges her and has to be called off by Sandra, the alpha of the pack. Anna is immediately filled with lust for Sandra and is confused because Sandra is a woman. She begins to wonder if Sandra is using some sort of magic over her.

Gloria makes a reappearance in her life when she shows up claiming that she is being blackmailed by her business partner. It turns out that Gloria hasn't exactly been faithful to David. When Gloria is accused of murder, Anna jumps into the investigation -- not because she likes Gloria -- but because she does not believe her capable of murder. As part of her fee, Anna demands that Gloria cease all contact with David immediately. For his part, David is hurt by the betrayal and lashes out at Anna repeatedly. Matters are only made worse when Tamara meets David and he ends up scheduling a date with her. David still has no idea what Anna is, and worse yet, one bite from Tamara and he will become a werewolf. Anna must find a way to break this date, without David learning why, and without jeopardizing her relationship with her. The reasons for her issues with Tamara are justifiable, but her continual negative commentary on Tamara's performance of femininity are not.

Despite having Trish in their lives, Anna's parents are still not happy with her choice of career. When Williams arranges for them to inherit Avery's vineyard in France, they start making plans to move, with the expectation that Anna will give up her life and move with them. Anna has to figure out how to tell them that her life is in San Diego.

Avery, the vampire is back and having inhabited the body of Sandra, he is determined to seek revenge on Anna. When Anna turns to Frey, the werepanther for help, she finally meets his new girlfriend and of course resolves to investigate her background because they do not take a liking to each other. The only female that Anna actually has a good relationship with is Trish. This makes Anna yet another in a long line of female protagonists in this genre, who has terrible relationships with women. The only time she seems to have a conversation with women, with the exception of her mother and Trish, almost always revolves around men. If we were to apply the Bechdel Test to this series, it would most certainly get an F.

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This is the 4th book in the series & I have the 5th whenever I get to it. This isn't my favorite paranormal series, but it's a good enough read; entertaining & quick. I liked this book a bit better than the previous two. Werewolves are introduced & the mystery is pretty well done.
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I enjoy Anna, she is walking a fine line, trying to keep her human connections, but continue to live as a closeted vampire. I do kind of wish that she would at least tell David the truth, but maybe we will get to that. A lot going on in this installment. Gloria is accused of murder and Avery is kind of back. Anna helps Gloria (really not willingly, but she does it anyway). Avery is trying to kill Anna. I am very interested in the next installment to where the storyline goes and how the new characters fit into the story. ( )

Once again Jeanne C. Stein has done it again! This one was a lot more racier than the last three books and really got my heart pumping as much as Anna's was. Anna has really evolved and is really starting to get the hang of this vampire thing that has been bestowed upon her but of course, it seems that there are a lot of other supernatural things going on.

Now Gloria, David's girl, seems to be getting herself in some trouble and actually disappeared from David's life for a short period of time. This makes Anna nuts, because she knows that her partner could do so much better. Gloria has been accused of murdering her business partner with whom some indecent acts have been done. So Anna comes up with a plan to make Gloria disappear for good and she decides to help her. But things start to get worse and worse and now her ex, Max is involving himself with vampires AND it seems that Anna has caught the eye of a werewolf - a female at that.

So much going on in this book! It really wasn't hard to keep up with everything though. It really made for a great read and I can't wait to see what happens in the next book in this series! Ms. Stein's characters are so real and a person can really relate to everything that is going on and the emotions that are involved. They are not only human emotions. There was so much emotion when it came to her family, which was a nice change of pace!

And in the end, everything seemed to be sort of patched out, not fully tied in a nice little bow, she had to leave something so that the reader would go on to read the next book! So now I can't wait! Great read! ( )

While I like Anna Strong's character, it is getting a little boring. There are really vague hints about what Anna is supposed to be, but they are coming so slowly that it is hard to care anymore. I would really like to see some major jump forward into the "prophecy" about Anna. I almost stopped reading after this one, but figured I would give it one more try. ( )