Review: Anna Dressed in Blood - Kendare Blake

• Reading level:
 Ages 12 and up

• Hardcover:
 320 pages

• Publisher:
 Tor Teen; First Edition edition (August 30, 2011)

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.

My Thoughts...

I have read a lot of books so far this year, a lot of great books but I think this has been the best so far! This was pretty non stop and at times majorly creepy. I loved Cas from the very start, he reminded me of one of my favorite men, Dead Winchester. *swoon* The beginning with the hitchhiker really set the tone for the rest of the book. Dark, ominous, and fantastic. From the first mention of Anna I couldn't wait to meet her. And when I finally did meet her I loved her. She was so many things scary, dark, blood, yet sounding oddly beautiful and mysterious. the more that happens and the more we see of Cas and Anna the more I was sucked in. I needed to know what was going to happen, and how Cas would handle things. Cas's mom amazed me, she knows what he does, and that it is dangerous, yet she lets him do it, and helps when he needs to be healed, or just someone to talk to.  Thomas and Caramel were great characters somehow they managed to work there way into Cas's life and become friends! Through all the jumbled mess they deal with in the end Anna isn't there biggest issue. I have to stop there because the ending was great and I don't want to ruin it. This book had everything, Action, excitement, love, friendship, drama and great characters, and setting. If I could give this 6 stars I would. I give this 5 stars and strongly urge all of you to read this book!