Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake 

Rating: 5 out of 5

Summary (From Back Cover)
Cas Lowood is no ordinary guy - he hunts head people.
People like Anna. Anna Dressed in Blood. A beautiful, murderous ghost entangled in curses and rage. Cas knows he must destroy her, but as her tragic past is revealed, he starts to understand why Anna had killed everyone who's dared to enter her spooky home.
Everyone, that is, except Cas...
Just your average boy-meets-girl,
girl-kills-people story.

Review
Have you been wanting to read a effortless written ghost story that's enchantingly eerie, witty and has a streak of romance through it that will melt your heart? Well look no further than Anna Dressed in Blood. The story is constantly moving forward and unlike so many other ghost stories this is completely unpredictable and actually creepy. There's nothing forced about Anna Dressed in Blood and I challenge you to not fall in love this book!

The story itself follows one Theseus Cassio Lowood - also known as Cas - as he hunts down a murderous ghost that's been killing anyone who sets foot in her house for the last 50 years. Her name? Anna. Anna Dressed in Blood. Cas hunts ghosts for a living, his father did the same before he died and now Cas disbands the undead that haunt our world. But there's something different about Anna. He doesn't know what it is but there's something that makes him linger. Linger long enough to cast doubt on what he's been sent to do. Should he put an end to Anna's afterlife? And more importantly, will he be able to?

The tale is told from Cas' point of view, however, Anna was my favourite character. Even when she was simply the sociopathic ghost girl with a mountain of bodies in her basement I found myself drawn to her. I wanted to know her story, I wanted to know why? Her story - which gets told about half way through - is heartbreaking and brilliant. I found myself holding my breath almost the whole way through those two chapters! There's never a moment when you think what was the point in that? Which I find happens a lot in supernatural books. Although there where the occasional points where I had to back track and figure out what had happened. For instance... THE CAT!

I adored the magical aspect of it all, with it's dark voodoo rituals and occult references. Blake has a way of describing what's happening in such vivid detail that you feel like you've been transported into the page. Also her phantoms feel almost real, giving them the ability to freak you out and make you sleep with the light on. My poor electricity bill...

Overall - Blake keeps you dangling all the way through this book. There was never a point where I thought I knew what was coming. And if there was ever a point where I suspected where it might be goig I was proven wrong within a couple of pages. It constantly twists and swaps directions and it's a very cleaver approach to a genre that can be all too predictable. I'd recommend this book to anyone and everyone! I loved it and there wasn't a thing I would change. Bring on book two, Girl of Nightmares.

Oh, just before I go a couple of characters for you too look out for when reading. Firstly Tybalt the witches cat and also Carmel. Even though she's a secondary character her transformation within the book is actually really interesting and worth keeping an eye out for. So enjoy lovelies and let me know what you thought of Anna Dressed in Blood!

Bellow are some of the notes I made while reading Anna Dressed in Blood via My GoodReads Page