"Anna Dressed in Blood" by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood

Author: Kendare Blake

 

Series: Anna #1

My rating: 5 of 5

(Book read from my own HB copy.)

Summary:

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.

 

My Thoughts on the Book:

Anna Dressed in Blood is a great book that I fell in love with.  But, to be honest, I fell in love with Anna more, then the book. She's one of the most kickass ghosts out there, and definitely one of my favorite characters.

So, in Anna Dressed in Blood we meet Cas, who hunts & kills ghosts, and searches for his father's killer at the same time. From the beginning I really liked Cas as a character, although young, he knows what he's doing, at least until he meets Anna ;) 

Now, when we meet Anna, that's when the real party starts ;) Because although Cas is one of the main characters, Anna is the other one, and she's definitely amazing & such a badass ghost. You wouldn't want to end up in her house ;) She was also really well-developed as a character, we get to learn how & why she becomes what she is, and that's a great, yet so sad story, and of course slowly is developing a friendship between Anna & Cas, and I liked that a lot. 

Carmel & Thomas were also characters that I really liked (I didn't expect to like Carmel at the beginning), and there were also some other secondary interesting characters. 

Of course, there's also the mystery of Cas' father's killer, and that one was so good, with really good ending. I also loved Kendare Blake's writing style, it was really good, and it kept me turning the pages so fast, but still I didn't want it to end. But, I have to mention that I didn't really found this book to be scary or creepy, but it was great paranormal (ghostly) YA mystery, with a touch of light romance.

Also, I'd love to see a movie made of this book. If I can choose one book to be made into a movie, it will be this one! Why? Because of Anna, she's such an amazing & badass ghost, and if done right, she would look so scary, yet amazing in her bloody dress.    

Do I recommend Anna Dressed in Blood? Absolutely. Would I read it again? Yes! Would I read the sequel? Definitely. Because although not perfect, I loved it, and it's now one of my favorites, and I know I'll love it more every time I read it. Also, kudos to Nekro for the amazing cover art, no one could've done it better!!!

Challenges:

2012 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge

100+ Books In A Year Reading Challenge 2012

ABC Challenge 2012

1st in a Series Challenge 2012