Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake Review

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Published: August 30th, 2011 by Tor Teen
Book rating: 5 stars
Cover rating: 5 stars

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 just in: I'm in love, so in love! This book was absolutely amazing and I'm beating myself in the head for waiting so long to read it!  Let me start off by saying for how creepy and gruesome this book could be at times it was equally hilarious. I've decided that Cas's Lowood is real and one day I will find him, steal him, and marry him whether he likes it or not. The characters are what really made this book so amazing for me. Cas was hilarious, witty, kick ass, and vulnerable all at once. Anna was so unexpected! I figured she'd be some scary human hating ghost who wanted to murder us all but in the end she was just as lost and vulnerable as any other person is. I loved how Kendare gave us a background story that was very detailed instead of leaving us wondering why she was the way she was. I truly felt awful and sorry for what Anna went through, it just added to the depth and awesomeness of this story! Some books have really strong main characters and then lack in the supporting character area but this book had both strong MC's and SC's. Cas's mother, Thomas, Carmel, and Morfran, all had an important part in this story and it was so fun to see them all come together to try and help Cas with his ghost problems. I must say that Thomas is one of my favorite male characters of all time, although he wasn't the main character he was amazing anyways. He was so nerdy, cute, and hilarious! I loved watching his relationship with Cas grow into such a strong friendship! Carmel is your typical blonde barbie/popular girl in school but once you get to know her you find out she's more than that. She has her own opinions and isn't afraid to stray from what others think is right or think she should do. She stepped up and helped even though she was asked to butt out several times and I admired that! Cas's mother is a witch and I found her hilarious and so easy to love. I had read a few reviews before reading this book and some people had said they didn't like how easy she was on him about being a ghost hunter because her husband was killed because of it. Honestly, when the reason for him hunting is about avenging his fathers death and finding out what truly happened I highly doubt she could have ever truly stopped him from trying. One way or another he would have tried to avenge his father and find out what really happened to him that night.

Reading this book in Cas's point of view was so refreshing! I haven't read very many books from a male's point of view but I feel like Kendare did a fantastic job with it. He didn't come off as some boring self absorbed kid the entire time and we really got to know him throughout the book. We got to learn why he was doing what he was doing and that he really was just a teenage boy trying to find out what happened to his father in the only way he knew how too. I also want to give Kendare points for being so descriptive with her writing and not shying away from making the ghostly scenes gruesome!! So many books claim to be creepy/scary and they end up disappointing me but Anna Dressed in Blood didn't! I could picture all of the intense battles and ghost scenes in my head perfectly and they really did creep me out! If you haven't read this book you need to first slap yourself, then go buy a copy and dive right in because you're missing out!! While you're doing that I'm going to find myself a copy of Girl of Nightmares and figure out what the heck is going on because the cliff hanger at the end of this book will kill you.

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