Anna Dressed in Blood by: Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Books
Published: August 30, 2011
Series: Anna #1
Format: Ebook
Page Count: 211
Buy the Book: http://amzn.to/v6M6BK

Summary from Amazon:

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 Review:

      Anna Dressed in Blood blew me away. There wasn't a point when I wasn't totally wrapped up in it.
      Cas starts out as this guy who moves around everywhere with his mom, always seeking out one ghost or another. He takes his job seriously and doesn't let anything get in the way of it. The less human interaction he faces, the more he can interact with the dead. That's the way he prefers it. Until he moves to Thunder Bay, Ontario and things start to spin out of control.
     The chemistry between Anna and Cas was so tender and forbidden at the same time. All the while, it seemed as if they were meant to be together. Cas, being human but spending all of his time caring about the dead more than the living. And Anna, dead and yearning to find her humanity and redeem herself.
     The book takes place in a seemingly normal town, except for, you know, the dead girl living in the creepy house who murders whoever dare trespass. Underneath it all lies a world that is full of ghosts and ghosthunters, witches and voodoo priests.
      I loved the two female protagonists, Anna and Carmel. Carmel was the prom queen, popular girl that everyone expected to know all the right things to say and how to get what she wants. We see throughout the story that Carmel is not to be judged by her social status. She takes on the world of the supernatural wholeheartedly and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty while doing it. In the beginning of the book, Anna is portrayed as this goddess of death that doesn't take remorse on the dozens of victims she has rotting in her basement. Later on, Anna shows her more human side and that she can't help the monster living inside her. All she wants is to be free of that house where so many terrible things happened. Along the way she meets Cas and they immediately share an undeniable bond, making it impossible for him to kill her as he planned, no matter how much she may want him to.
        Of all the ghosts Cas talks about slaying throughout the book, Anna seemed to be the most unique yet. Not only does she know quite well that she is dead, but she doesn't have many complaints or depression about the way she died, as horrid as it was. She embraces the chance to redeem herself with Cas and his friends. They all make for a wonderfully strange bunch of misfits.