Crossroads (Anna Strong Chronicles #7) by Jeanne C. Stein
Urban Fantasy
Paperback
August 30, 2011
Ace

Reviewed by Tori

After Anna kills her old mentor and assumes the mantle of the Chosen, there are those who do not feel she is worthy of the title or the role. She herself feels that she is may not be the best one for this job and finds herself torn between her humanity and her vampire nature. When she receives a call from her old boyfriend Max about a rogue vampire, she travels to the Mexican border and finds herself tangled up once again with Chael, head of the Middle Eastern Vampire Council. Chael claims to hold the secret for reclaiming Anna’s humanity but it will require her to involve Daniel Frey and his son.

When Anna and Daniel arrive at his ex wife’s home, Anna finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery when Daniel’s ex wife is killed and Anna is attacked. When Anna realizes that Chael has sent her into a trap, she allows her vampire side to emerge and goes from hunted to hunter.

This was a hard book for me to review. On one hand I enjoyed the main storyline but it was rather lackluster over all in terms of action and tension. It felt like a filler. Which was disappointing because Ms. Stein released a short story before this in the anthology Hexed that blew me away. I also felt that too many storylines were introduced that abruptly end with no further explanation. We meet Samuel, Anna’s new boyfriend but he has to leave on assignment so we don’t see anything more of him or their new relationship. Detective Harris has been investigating Anna’s mentor’s death and comes to her with some shocking lab results, but beyond calling her one more time on the phone, which she ignores, we hear nothing else from him either. Even the scene with Max and the rogue vampire is contained in about one page. Very anti climatic. Everything comes to easy for Anna in here. Minimal fighting and she wins every situation and battle. I expected some adversity.

Seeing Daniel again and learning more about his son and his life before meeting Anna was interesting. His son’s mother did not appreciate Daniel not telling her he was shape shifter until after she got pregnant so she left him and has restricted his visitation rights. We see a different side of Daniel in here. The inclusion of Navajo background and various customs works well in the storyline and is used to help Anna make a very important choice.

The main conflict wraps it all up tight, effectively answering the who, when, why, why, and how. All in all not the strongest installment in this series. I hope Anna doesn’t continue to become more and more complacent or an undefeatable heroine since becoming the Chosen One.

Rating: C-

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