Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Ana

Book: Calculated, Avenged
Author: R.S. Novelle
Heroine: Ana

Though Ana is described in the book as being very beautiful - a Victoria Secret model lookalike - it's her constant desire to go against the stereotype that makes her so unique. This is shown in her professional choices, as well as her love interests. As a pansexual, Ana displays strength by remaining true to herself, despite the little jabs occasionally thrown her way for her unconventional choices.

She also portrays strength through her feisty persona. While it's hinted that she survived an abusive adolescence, she chose to not to let it define her as a victim and grew into a woman who doesn't back down to anyone. Smart and witty, she can win any verbal altercation, and she demands respect from everyone - even those who aren't eager to serve it to her. Her inner drive for justice, a repercussion of her childhood experiences, has lead her to a career as an investigative journalist, where she often finds herself uncovering uncomfortable truths about conventionally respected people. And to do this, she has to go up against many powerful men in key positions. But for Ana, the story is more important than the social suicide this could cause her, and she's resourceful in her instrumentation.

In Calculated especially, we see her strength and compassion as she regularly puts her own physical safety on the line - despite the warnings of those close to her - in order to seek the truth about a master criminal plan, expose those who are participating, and bring justice to the victims who are being harmed. As events speed up, she realizes things are hitting very close to home for her, and bringing back memories and feelings about her past that she'd successfully suppressed over the years. She battles with her own emotions, but ultimately puts them to the side so that she can pursue this story and put a stop to the underground sex club that has lead to the murder of dozens of individuals.

By the end of the book, we see Ana as a mentally and emotionally strong woman who is filled with compassion for others and makes decisions for the greater good instead of just her own interests. 

Blurb:
An investigative journalist gets an unlikely tip from a mysterious informant. Dismissing it as impossible, she disregards the information and drops the story. Until the informant turns up dead, as predicted.

Plunged into the murky waters of a seedy underground prostitution ring, this psychological thriller provides twist upon dark twist in a story that would ultimately pin the church and several government officials in the largest murder cover-up the city has ever witnessed.

But is it true, or has the journalist merely been used as a pawn in a greater scheme? And how many people is she willing to sacrifice trying to figure it out?