Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake


Released: August 2011
Publisher: Tor Teen
Genre: Young Adult - Horror - Ghost
Pages: 316
Buy: Amazon
Source: Around the World Book Tours


Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥

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.


---
Here's something you may not know about me: I love a good ghost story. I may not read that many books anymore that revolve around ghosts, but growing up any sort of scary/ghost/legend story was my cup of tea. It's funny how after years and years of reading you forget how much you loved a certain genre. Anna Dressed In Blood was that wonderful reminder that I need more horror in my reading pile.

No doubt what made this book so appealing and freaking fantastic was the writing. You have this narrator, Cas, who is a complete kick-butt main character with a lot of snark, witty comebacks - ya know, my type of guy. But he also has all of these elements and layers a main character should have. He's brave, yet not. He has a great heart yet has trouble letting those in. For good reason considering what he does for a "living". The way everything is told through Cas, I could have seriously lived in his character forever. All the descriptions, action, and the SUSPENSE! Where has this author been hiding?! She writes a book how it should be read. No long dull fillers. No unnecessary crap you need to know. The plot is constantly moving, new clues are being brought to life, and somehow in the mix of the horror - she can throw in a genuine love story. Can we say genius? Cause I know I sure can.

Now that I've gushed on the amazingly awesome (I wish I could freaking write like that) author, let me discuss the horror part of this. I've read some people say they got scared reading this. I am a wuss. I will not deny it. I wouldn't go as far to say that I was scared during the story, but when I was reading this curled up in bed with my little book light, I would kind of peak around sometimes cause it did give me the heebee jeebees once in a while.

Let me take this back to the characters real quick. I already professed my love for Cas, but I need to point out how well Anna was written into this story as well. You would think a psycho murdering ghost was well...a psycho murdering ghost. Not in this story. Anna is terrifying, but she is so interesting. Her life. Why she is in that house. What Cas has to do to figure out her mystery will keep you glued until the end. When you get to the end, you'll want to go back.

♥amber

Hiii. I'm back!

Yep, you read that right. I'm sure you were all just wondering if I had fallen off the face of the Earth. (Okay, more in likely only a handful of you may have been slightly curious, and I doubt there was even a handful of you, but a girl can make believe she's loved, riight?)

Anyhoo.

I hope you are all doing fantastic! I'm doing mucho better (at least 75% better) than I had been all summer. If you would have asked me two weeks ago if I was coming back to blogging, I probably would have told you no. Even though I said I missed it on Twitter, there was a big chunk of me that really...well...didn't. All of last week, as I was setting up my office (Oh btw, I moved into my very own house. I have an office where all my pretty books are now stored. It's so nice), I realized: Wow. I really freaking miss blogging! I miss talking to bloggers, finding new books, and actually reading (I've only read 1 full book in almost 2 months!!)

So, I'm back. I plan on writing up a bunch of posts tonight and getting them scheduled. I've still gotta kind of navigate my way around this whole new layout on blogger. When the crap did this happen? I also have to figure out why Blogger doesn't allow me to leave comments on anyone's blog. Anyone have that problem? Anyone want to fill me in on what the crap to do?  Problem solved.

I've also decided to make some changes to the blog, but more on that later whenever I get things in order better. Hhmmm...I guess that's all I've got to say. See y'all around!

♥amber

Blog Tour: Shut Out by Kody Keplinger

Character Interview with Chloe from Kody Keplinger's second novel, Shut Out.

Describe yourself in three words
Awesome, awesome, and awesome?
Okay, fine, whatever. That's cheating. Um . . .
Honest, loyal, and sexy.

What are some of your hobbies?
Do boys count as a hobby? Because I think they take up most of my free time. But otherwise, I'd say just hanging out with Lissa, watching high school football games, and driving my car around. I'm pretty chill.

There's no doubt you are a blunt girl. Why do you think it's important to never hold back?
It's just a waste of time. Like, seriously, beating around the bush on things just sucks up time for all parties. Why not just get the truth out there and get it over with? Yeah, maybe some people will get upset, but it's bound to happen anyway. Rip off the band-aid already.

What is your favorite feature on a guy?
Oh, the answer to this question isn't entirely appropriate for all audiences, if you know what I mean. So I'm going to give the G-rated version and say hair. A boy with good hair is a boy I like.

What makes you a good friend?
Other than being one of the coolest people they know?
Haha, I'm kidding. Seriously, though, my friends are the most important people to me. Like LIssa? She gets on my nerves sometimes, sure, but I would anything for that girl. Including going on a stupid no-boys strike. I can't believe she talked me into that one. But it was important to her, and she's important to me. So I'd say that what makes me a good friend is devotion. My friends come first, even over boys.

Anything you wish you would have done differently during the strike?
I wish I hadn't given Kelsey such a hard time all the time. Okay, that's sort of a lie, I love picking on Kelsey. But I got to know her a little during the strike, and she's not quite as bad as I thought. So I wish I'd been a tiny, TINY bit nicer to her in the beginning. Not much, though. Let's not go overboard here or anything.