Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen

Pages: 320

Rating: 5 Fabulously Bloody Stars!

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.~Goodreads

Oh Anna! Where do I even begin? How about with, "I want to lick the cover and snuggle with it every minute." LOOK. AT. IT. Am i drooling? I'm drooling. It's soo perfect. *happy sigh*

There is nothing NOT to love about this book! It’s absolutely hard-core, kick-ass and absolutely impossible to put down!

The main character Cas is one hilarious son of a witch!(Seriously. His mom dabbles in that shizz.) He’s quick witted and sharp and once you find out his full name ---> SWOON. He's pretty much the effin’ bomb at what he does. Pretty sure I’m a total fan girl. (i would def follow him around the country if i could (oh!! and Jonas Brothers reference FOR THE WIN!)) Sorry getting way too gushy! 

Back to the story! So Cas arrives in Thunderbay to take care of his next job, a little problem the town folk like to call Anna Dressed in Blood! and Dudes, this line gave me goosies to the extreme:

“I’m going there to kill her. Anna. Anna Korlov. Anna Dressed in Blood.”

BAM!! Did you get ‘em too!?! After that line I was sitting on the edge of my seat giddily awaiting to meet her!!

AND HOLY EFF! She is one scary bitch! Yet, I instantly fell in love with her. The descriptions of her are stunning. Stunning. Stunning. Here.... read two of my favorite descriptions in the history of ever:

“Her hair is shadow-less black, and it moves through the air as though suspended in water, snaking out behind and drifting like reads."~ARC p.76

“They say her throat was cut, and this girl’s throat is long and white. But there is the dress. It’s wet, and red, and constantly moving. It drips onto the ground.”~ARC p.76

FRICKIN' INCREDIBLE RIGHT???! Cas calls her “his goddess of death" and i could not agree with him more. You'd think she'd be this grotesque thing but she’s actually like incredibly gorgeous.(maybe I’m just weird?) But, seriously, the imagery in this book.... *dies* so phenomenal. 

I could NOT get enough Anna. She has this presence that glued me to the page and had me anticipating everything she was going to say next. GAH! I love the girl. I mean sure she's killed a few (actually a lot) of people in her day, but once I found out the reason I instantly felt for her and understood her motives. 

But ultimately Cas has gots to get rid of her right? So to take out Anna, he's gonna use his dad’s athame, what he uses on all his ghost hunts. Fast forward some incredible plot points, funny as ass lines and amazeballness later and there's this one part...GAH! Okay, remember to Cas it’s not just a knife. It’s believed to have this special power that sorta kinda connects him to his dad and this one part...*cries* SPOILER- it’s taken from him. WAHH! My heart literally hurt and I think I might have screamed, “NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” It honestly felt like I lost MY most prized possession.  That's the magic of Kendare Blake’s words. I felt so strongly about this little knife because Cas felt so strongly about it. (If that makes sense?) 

Okay, now I’ll stop rambling about how effing mind-blowing this book is. There’s just soo much epic awesomeness that goes down... I can’t even...i don’t...just no words. This is easily one of THE BEST BOOKS I have EVER read!! I canNOT wait for the next one!! HuZzAH! A confirmed sequel!!! (Girl of Nightmares! I already love it.)

This book is just in a league of its own. Anna Dressed In Blood has everything, action, blood, ghosts, romance and magic! It's definitely a must read!

Not convinced? Go check out Jena’s awesome review HERE!