Anna Dressed In Blood by Kendare Blake

 Anna Dressed In Blood (Anna #1)
Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor
Publish Date: August 30, 2011
Genre: YA, Paranormal
Pages: 316

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.

Review: *May contain spoilers*

As a reviewer from Thunder Bay, where the story mostly takes place, I can tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Cas and Anna's story. Cas Lowood character is strong mentally and physically. I love the history Blake presents in her novel based on Anna's background. The supernatural aspect added was even better. Through the descriptions of the city, I pictured the whole thing since I knew where everything was since I live in the region. Anna Dressed in Blood won't let you down!! From the action of ghosts from the first chapter, the whole book pulls you into Kendare Blake's world of Cas and Anna's journey. Even Carmel and Thomas the supporting characters played a major role :) Carmel is the Queen Bee at Sir Winston Churchill Collegiate & Vocational Institute:

Cas is a strong character who is like "ghost-busters" but awesomer (if that's a word). He travels to places where ghosts, who have being killing people and he destroys them. I loved the suspense of what happened to Cas' father before he and his mother moved around. Anna really develops when we finally meet the scary ghost Anna.
Anna really surprised me. I actually adored her character, even if she kills lots of people for the past years. Anna has a story of her own. She has so much about her, like how she died, *Spoiler* Why she doesn't kill Cas when he enters her house. I found their whole relationship really strong. The ending was fantastically done. I was on my toes waiting to find out what will happen next!! The new cover for the next one came out today so check it out!!

As a history major this book really fascinated me because of the research Kendare Blake did by coming to Thunder Bay. Her writing was brilliant and beautiful. The descriptions of the house and Anna was awesome !! If you haven't check out this book I recommend you read it!!! 2012 needs to come quicker:)

~Amanda

Here's the new cover for Anna #2!! SOOO PRETTY