Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
pages: 316
released: August 2011
publisher: Tor Teen
cover love: ♥♥♥♥♥

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered 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: track, 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, now stained red and dripping with 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. But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas’s life. (from Goodreads)

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON 10/26/2011 ON BOOKSLIKESTARS.NET

Review:

At first, I didn’t know what to rate this book. There were times when I thought it could’ve been much better, then there were times when I thought it was a truly good read. I was kind of upset that I didn’t love this book, it has such a beautiful cover and I feel like I’m the only person who didn’t give Anna 5 stars.

Seventeen year old Cas Lowood picks up his ghostbusting gig after his father is murdered by one. With his asthame (magical knife and  family heirloom) he travels from place to place, searching for ghosts and ridding them from our world. He gets a tip about an especially wicked one in Ontario, Canada. She’s called Anna Dressed In Blood, murdered in 1958 and since has been held responsible for the disappearances of many locals and drifters. Anyone who enters her house is never seen again. Except one. Cas. Why he’s left alive and so many others have been torn apart by her demonic hands, he hasn’t got a clue. All he knows is he’s the only that can put an end to her killing spree. He can’t stop thinking about Anna. About how he has to kill her, how she was murdered, why she’s so powerful, and why he can’t stop the rush of feelings he’s has towards her.

I liked Cas alot, he’s sexy and confident and Anna was mildly spooky but the whole story fell a tad short. I don’t usually select horror stories (last ones I read were by R.L. Stine in junior high) but the title and the cover really pulled me to it. There were some interesting bits, like a teen ghost hunter with a witch for a mother, and a cat that can seek out ghosts but other than that I felt like I was reading a TV episode of Buffy. I was more intrigued by the book in the beginning, I thought it was cool and creepy then toward the end everything kind of fizzled out. I don’t want to give off the impression that I didn’t enjoy Anna, because I did, I just thought it would be better, stand out more, unfortunately, it had that been-there-done-that quality. Not just with the plot but with characters too. Plus, Cas and Anna’s romance could’ve been played up more. Overall, Anna Dressed In Blood kept me interested for the most part and was a perfect read for October. If you are a fan of horror stories, Buffy or Supernatural you should definitely pick this one up.

3