Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare BlakeUK Release Date:
By: Orchard Books
ISBN: 140832072X
Source: Hachette Children's Publishing
Target Audience: YA
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...
I really enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood. I loved Kendare's way of providing all the back story information through snippets as we continued to move forward, rather than bombarding us with an information overload. She doesn't jump straight into the main story, but shows us the protag, Cas, in action on a preceding ghost hunt.
This story is told from the POV of Cas, a 17 year old ghost hunter. Anna dressed in blood is the ghost of a 16 year old girl who was murdered about 60 years ago. She haunts her family home, viciously murdering anyone who dares to enter, be that new tenants, realtors or homeless people just looking for shelter for the night. Until one night, as part of a prank, Cas ends up inside the house, and she doesn't kill him. He feels drawn to her and goes back to the house alone, where he meets the girl behind the monster.
Cas is a nice guy with an unusual life and job. Normally working alone and never making friends. This time is different. He makes some good friends which gives us some really good secondary characters to make this story all the more absorbing. Reading from the male POV is a rare treat and Cas certainly doesn't disappoint. He's a real "guy", and it was fun to watch him be the last to realise his feelings for Anna.
Cas, Thomas, the school nerd and Carmel, the most popular girl in school, make up an unlikely threesome of friends but they make an awesome group of ghostbusters, with the help of Cas's mother and Thomas' grandfather, who are both witches.
This was a fun read and did get a bit gruesome at times but I would definitely recommend it and look forward to reading the next in the series, The Girl of Nightmares.
Buy the book: Amazon/The Book Depository
I love this book! Anna is the most awesome ghost ever! lol she's sooo scary. this book scared me a bit to be honest but I still can't wait for the 2nd one! August is almost here!!
I'm glad you liked it, Suzanne! I really enjoyed this book too, mostly because of Cas. I found him so easy to like. It was refreshing to get the male point of view with this book. Great review! :)
I really enjoyed this series and wow Cas is such a great protagonist right? I adore him and his humoristic narration. He's my fav male protagonist! So happy you enjoyed the book!
Because of the reviews from last year I always thought that this book had already been released over here *face palm* but it's good to know were getting some of these awesome books released over here too even though we have to wait a few months for it! I'm glad you had fun reading this Suzanne! :)
I enjoyed this a lot, but was a bit disappointed in the sequel. My problem with Anna Dressed in Blood was after Anna's tale is resolved I felt the showdown at the end paled in comparison to Anna's story. I am anxious to see how everyone receives Girl of Nightmares.
I agree with you on this one... it was so much fun, and the characters are what stood out the most for me. Gruesome details were easy to handle, and quite entertaining, actually, because they made sense and were mmuch needed for the story.
Lovely review, Suzanne!
I've heard such great things about this book, but I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not >.< I'm definitely curious now :) Great Review Suzanne!
I know a lot of people loved this one - it's good to see that you did too - which is why I got myself a copy. But, I haven't read it yet because I'm worried that it'll be too creepy for me. One of these days, I'm just going to have to muster up the courage to pick it up!
I have yet to read this!! It's sitting in my kindle, saying "read me now" I'm not a fan
of gruesome reads, but I heard this was good! Thanks for the review!
Fantastic review! I really liked this book too and felt pretty much the same way as you. I'm glad you enjoyed it! I really want to read The Girl of Nightmares now!
Steph @ Stepping Out of the Page
This was great creepy fun. I loved this one too, Suzanne. Having Cas as a narrator was a treat because he was so entertaining. Thomas and Carmel are wonderful secondary characters, an unlikely threesome as you said, but a great one anyhow. I always love it when the geek and the popular come together! Wonderful review Suzanne. :)
I loved this one too! I was creeped out right from the beginning with that hitchhiker ghost. Evil! Then Anna scared me and then she was just cute and funny. The guy at the very end really scared me lol I was just up and down. I loved Cas and can't wait for the sequel!
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