If you love urban fantasy with a kick-ass heroine, you will not be disappointed with the Anna Strong Vampire series by Jeanne C. Stein. I admire how Stein blends supernatural creatures with issues that are front-page news of today. This realism in an urban fantasy novel brings an element of empathy that allows the reader to empathize with the characters on a deeper level. Stein has a knack for writing characters that pop off the page and you either love or detest them. Anna Strong is a character that I adore! She is strong, assertive, and an all-out action hero, but flip the coin and she is sensitive and endearing as well. She was made into a vampire during the first book in the series, but Anna is constantly facing very human issues. HAUNTED is the perfect name for the eighth book in the series for several reasons. The most important reason is that several of the characters in the book are haunted either by deeds of the past or monstrosities they face in the present.

In HAUNTED, Anna is alone at Christmas and feeling sorry for herself so she heads over to visit her friend Culebra, a shape-shifter that owns a bar for supernatural people on the other side of the US border from San Diego. While visiting her friend, she learns some of Culebra's history with a drug cartel. She scorns Culebra for his behavior while with the drug cartel even though Anna's past is far from spotless. Later on, Anna runs into a man wandering aimlessly in the desert. Anna takes him to the nearest respite to their location, Culebra's home. The man happens to be an old friend of Culebra's from their cartel days and asks him for help. It seems that his family is being targeted by the drug lord who runs the cartel. Culebra feels an obligation to help due to a past debt that he must repay. He asks Anna and her ex-boyfriend Max, who is a DEA agent, to help him. They set off across the desert and soon encounter betrayal, human trafficking, gun-running, and brutality in many other forms.

As I mentioned earlier, Stein is wonderful at incorporating supernatural elements into real life events. In HAUNTED, we see Anna encounter young girls who have been brutalized by members of a drug cartel. My heart wept at the fact that this kind of brutality really happens and that is why Jeanne Stein's writing is so effective. Stein can weave her words so well that you see the action as it occurs as well as feel the heartfelt emotion on the page. The Anna Strong character has grown stronger and more confident throughout the series and I'm glad to learn that her story is not over. I would suggest that you read the series in order, but if you pick up HAUNTED before the others, Stein does a good job of keeping the details simple. There is a ninth book in the Anna Strong Vampire series due out in 2013 and I highly recommend that you catch up on Anna's adventures!