Thursday, May 17, 2012

Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1) by Kendare Blake

I was SO excited to finally get the chance to read this book.  I've been itching to read it from the first time I saw one of the ARCs.  I love ghost stories and murder mysteries and this book has both!  Here's the Goodreads blurb:


Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story... Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay. When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home. And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

This book is one of the most interesting books that I've ever read. It's so unique! The main character is a teenage boy who hunts murderous ghosts and sends them on to their afterlife. Cas is a complex guy who thinks that he has his life all figured out when a chance encounter causes him to question everything he thought he knew.  This book is a murder mystery and a great ghost story.  I've always loved ghost stories.  I re-read my favorite series of them (Chris Woodyard's Haunted Ohio series) every Halloween.  Anna Dressed in Blood is a classic ghost story.  She was murdered on the night of her school dance and now she takes out her revenge on anyone who stumbles into her home.  Her white dress runs with blood because of her injuries.  I loved every moment of this book.  I devoured it the same night that I started it.  I just HAD to finish.  It was one of those books that just grabs you.  I really enjoyed Cas as the narrator.  He's a funny guy who manages to charm you even when you don't like his methods.  He's so brave and protective of the people he cares about.  He's a joy to read.  Anna was a surprise for sure.  She was not what I expected at all.  The supporting cast of characters is lovely and unusual.  I really can't find anything that I did not like about this book except for the fact that it ended!

You can find Anna Dressed in Blood and the next book, Girl of Nightmares, on Goodreads by clicking here.  You can also find out more about Kendare Blake and her work on her website, her blog or you can follow her on Twitter.  Anna Dressed in Blood earns 5 Fairies for a unique and original story about a boy, a ghost and the things that no one wants to admit exist.


1 comment:

Unknown said...

I loved how this book opened up with Cas vanquishing that hitchhiker.