
Author: Kendare Blake
Pages: 316
Publisher: Tor Teen
Buy it: Amazon, B&N, Book Depository
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.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Happy Halloween, everybody! Since it's Halloween, here's a scary book for today!
Anna Dressed in Blood has had amazing hype since the day it's been announced. I've been lusting after it since June. Well, let's just say the hype's been lived up to. Anna took me through twists and turns that left me breathless, and in the end, heartbroken.
It's been ages since I've read a guy's perspective in YA (since Beautiful Creatures, to be precise), and it was really refreshing to have a male take on things this time round. Cas was a kick-ass protagonist, and I fell in love with his voice. Also, he sounds really cute--that's always a plus, right?
Surprisingly, it wasn't Cas I fell hardest for. Anna was the one I really, really loved. She's not just a ghost. She knows that she's dead, she can't control the killings, and she's just one damn cute ghost. I loved those midnight conversations between Cas and Anna. Those were probably what made me turn from "I love Anna" to full fangirl mode, which includes too much high-pitched squealing to type out properly.
Not revealing too much, I really loved how the plot went. How it changed halfway from Cas trying to kill Anna to their bittersweet love that nearly made me burst into tears at the end of this book.
For anyone wanting a super-scary ghost story with a love twist, Anna's your read. For everybody else, just read it anyway. You won't regret it, trust me. Anna and Cas are the sweetest star-crossed lovers I've ever seen (or read, rather), and yes, according to me, they're even sweeter than Romeo and Juliet.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review. No payment was received in return for a review. The receipt of the book had no influence on the opinions expressed in my review.