Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna, #1) in BookSpark

Sep 03, 2011 Maja (The Nocturnal Library) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: own-a-dtb, cover-lust, i-see-dead-people, young-adult, all-the-right-choices, amazing-writing, reviewed-in-2011, never-saw-it-coming, favorites, murder-mystery

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story.
4.5 stars

Not many authors can scare you to death by eliciting vivid, gruesome imagery and, at the same time, take your breath away with sheer beauty of their prose. I never expected Kendare Blake to be one of those authors – that’s why her book took me completely by surprise. It was very different from what I thought it would be. When I choose a book based on a beautiful cover and an intriguing title (and yes, I really AM that shallow Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story.
4.5 stars

Not many authors can scare you to death by eliciting vivid, gruesome imagery and, at the same time, take your breath away with sheer beauty of their prose. I never expected Kendare Blake to be one of those authors – that’s why her book took me completely by surprise. It was very different from what I thought it would be. When I choose a book based on a beautiful cover and an intriguing title (and yes, I really AM that shallow), especially one that none of my friends have read, I usually end up disappointed. Anna Dressed in Blood undoubtedly looks amazing and has a memorable title, but the most interesting part is right where it should be – between the covers.

Cassius Theseus Lowood grew up in an unconventional family. His mother is a white witch and his father was in the business of killing the dead for the second time, at least until one of the ghosts he was hunting murdered him in the most gruesome way. In Cas’s world, dead people often don’t want to leave the place where they died, especially if they were victims of a violent crime. Instead, they stay behind as monstrous echoes of their former selves – most of them seeking revenge for the horrors they experienced.
When Cas’s father died, Cas inherited his duties and his powerful athame. He’s been moving all over the country and killing ghosts since he was 14 years old. But he’s never run into a ghost as powerful as Anna nor did he ever try so hard to understand what drives a dead person to murder innocent people.
Anna is different in every way. She was killed in 1958. while walking to the prom in her beautiful white dress. When her throat was slit, blood covered her entirely, thus earning her the name Anna Dressed in Blood.
Someone cut her throat, but that’s an understatement. Someone nearly cut her head clean off. They say she was wearing a white party dress, and when they found her, the whole thing was stained red. That’s why they call her Anna Dressed in Blood.

Ever since her murder, Anna’s been tied to the house she grew up in. Twenty seven people have tried to enter, and none of them came out alive.

Nothing is black and white in Anna's story: she is both a killer and a victim, a horrible monster and an innocent girl – and just when you think you figured her out, she turns around and does something completely unexpected! Her entire personality changes as quickly as her appearance which forces Cas to doubt every single choice he made since the beginning of his hunt.

I don’t usually watch horror movies and I always do my best to avoid horror novels, (view spoiler), but black witches, white witches, people trapped in walls, Voodoo, athames, ghost hunting, cursed objects, a strong male protagonist and unexpected developments made me very happy that I decided to read this book. I really hope it gets the attention it deserves.
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Sep 05, 2011 Cereja Cult rated it really liked it

Shelves: kick-ass-lead-character, reviwed, blog, supernatural

Wow,, this is what I call a bloody great book,,,,LoL

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This is the perfect book for Halloween, hands down.

Ode to Anna.

Her eyes are like dark pools that stare back at you
Her long flowing black hair sure is something to see too
She is deathly beautiful and had her life tragically stole away
If you stood close enough you would feel the smell of decay
But you still will be drawn to her and will find your end
An end so terrible and of witch you can not fend
The sigh of her will leave you instant ...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Yiota rated it it was amazing

This book was never in my TBR. I thought it would be another ya love story which will be nothing like the cover or summary makes you believe. Then i won it. And then i read it. At the end i found out that it was just plain awesomeness!!

> Old idea, with hunters and ghosts but originally written. Even though the idea behind the story is not new, the story felt fresh and exciting. It made you forget every possible connection with other stories and just stay with it and only, and enjoy it.

>Bloody. Y ...more

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Aug 29, 2011 Danielle rated it really liked it

from: http://www.mymercurialmusings.com

Part Supernatural, part Amityville Horror, this entry to the YA Horror genre is captivating and entertaining. As someone who loves Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill and a multitude of other horror writers, I tend to be skeptical of YA horror, imagining it all like the Goosebumps series. Don’t get me wrong, Goosebumps was great, but not exactly the kind of spine-tingling, lock your doors and turn on all the lights scary as Pet Sematary or It. Anna Dressed from: http://www.mymercurialmusings.com

Part Supernatural, part Amityville Horror, this entry to the YA Horror genre is captivating and entertaining. As someone who loves Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Joe Hill and a multitude of other horror writers, I tend to be skeptical of YA horror, imagining it all like the Goosebumps series. Don’t get me wrong, Goosebumps was great, but not exactly the kind of spine-tingling, lock your doors and turn on all the lights scary as Pet Sematary or It. Anna Dressed in Blood is somewhere in between. While many will view some of the more violent scenes in the book as a bit much for YA, the tone of the book and the theme is definitely geared toward a younger audience. Despite that, horror fans of all ages will find something about this book to love.

Kendare Blake introduces us to the harrowing world of ghost hunting through the voice of the narrator Cas Lowood. Cas put aside any ideas of having a normal teenage life long ago when he inherited his father’s vocation. Readers are thrust into the action from the first sentence as we accompany Cas on a hunt. He is after the ghost of a hitchhiker murdered in the summer of 1970 who is now acting out his own death on any unlucky enough to give him a ride. Cas ends up disposing of this ghost and is now ready to move on to his next locale to take on the ghost of Anna. Things do not go as planned; however, and while Anna makes quick work of one of Cas’s new classmates, she spares him. The story progresses at break-neck speed, with twists and turns that kept me turning pages well into the night.

The novel’s cast of characters is both quirky and endearing. Kendare Blake has done a great job of piecing together Cas’s make-shift Scooby Gang. From the high school outcast to the reigning Queen Bee, none of the characters are as one-dimensional as they first seem. The same is true of Anna. Every ghost has a story, and Anna’s is as terrifying and heart-wrenching as they come. Her story really forces readers to look beyond the obvious parts of people and consider the why of their actions. Anna is angry and brutal without a doubt but she is also carrying around a tremendous amount of guilt and shame which makes her relatable and sympathetic. Even Tybalt, Cas’s ghost-detecting cat has a personality which makes him endearing. A book is truly only as good as its characters and in this sense, Anna Dressed in Blood is a complete success.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The tension and gore is broken up with hefty doses of humor. The characters are real and relatable despite being in fantastical situations. Fans of Supernatural will find themselves relating Cas’s desire to fight ghosts and avenge his father’s death to Sam and Dean’s adventures. Fans of Stephen King will find themselves happily lost in a ghost story. I recommend this for readers looking for a little something different—what you will find is a ghost story with heart.

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Sep 22, 2011 Chloe (Girl In The Woods Reviews) rated it really liked it

Detailed Review: Ok first off, this book was absolutely a fun and exciting read as well as unusual. I always loved ghost stories but this is totally new spin of ghost hunters/creepy killers. This story is told by 'Cas' who is known as Theseus Cassio Lowood. He is boy who avenges his father by taking his legacy of wielding a knife that is able to kill ghosts. Like the blurb says, his Mum is seriously a witch who brews stuff in the middle of the kitchen and a ghost sniffing cat. It starts off wher ...more

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Jan 10, 2012 L.E.Olteano rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewed, blog-review, favorites, pub-2011-or-earlier-2012-tbr-pile, rawbl

Loved, loved, loved it!!

Full Review @ Butterfly-o-Meter Books

1. What were your thoughts on the world-building?

I loved the setup of the book! Since it’s not a fantasy, but a paranormal novel I wouldn’t say there was a lot of world-related improvising, though I wouldn’t know what to tell you about the Obeah thing, but I loved how the elements of different ‘worlds’ mixed, witchcraft, voodoo, ghosts, telepathy, high-school and queen bees, you name it, it was there.
It was a fab ride.

2. Did you feel y ...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Rachel "Rai29" rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

(Originally posted on Rai29BookReadNReview)

ISBN: 9781408320723
Publisher: Macmillan
Pages: 369

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder 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 t (Originally posted on Rai29BookReadNReview)

ISBN: 9781408320723
Publisher: Macmillan
Pages: 369

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder 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: move, 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, but now stained red and dripping 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.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.

Although I didn’t like the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Anna Dressed In Blood! Cas Lowood was one of my favourite character as, after the death of his father, Cas not only takes on the responsibility of continuing his father’s ghost hunting business, but also the responsibility of protecting himself & his mother from unearthly creatures. He tries successfully to balance his paranormal activities with maintaining the pretence that he is just an average teenager, that is until he meets Anna Dressed In Blood, when his father’s paranormal history finally catches up with him. Anna was also one of my favourite characters, as I loved reading about how she became the notorious, Anna Dressed In Blood, and how what happened during her short life triggered the events that would affect the whole community for the subsequent decades during her “afterlife”. Anna was also one of my favourite characters because of her quick wit, and sharp tongue. I love the cover of Anna Dressed In Blood! It portrays Anna, and the events surrounding her in the book perfectly. I would definitely recommend this book!
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Sep 21, 2011 Marina rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya

I'm a little confused about this book. I don’t actually like it but I don’t hate it either.
It had a very good start and a very strong ending, but in the middle it was too Young Adult for my taste.

(view spoiler) ...more

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Sep 29, 2011 Julie Witt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fant-pnr-scifi, reviewed, contemporary

I had heard such great things about this book and had to pick up a copy, and boy am I glad I did!!! What a great story! There was romance and blood and ghosts and violence and all sorts of great things! Anna was a different kind of ghost - she couldn't leave her house and she would literally dismember anyone who entered it, except for Cas, who was the ghost hunter (don't EVER call him a ghost buster because he hates that!) whose mission it is to kill her. She's more powerful than any ghost he ha ...more

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Oct 13, 2011 Judith (Judith'sChoiceReads) added it

Shelves: un-finishables, unpredictable, cover-lust

Some people might hate me for this and I admit to my wussyness for freaking out and not finishing, but I could not get through ADIB. It wasn't up my alley at all and I stuck in there for a good 30+ pages hoping that it would get easier to digest and I'd warm up to it, but it just never happened. I do not like horror and certain aspects of this book put me off. This may be great for anyone indulging in such genre but for me personally, I found myself at a loss. I can't in good conscience give thi ...more

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