Caught in the Pages

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Pages: 316
Genre: Young Adult|Paranormal|Horror
Publication Date: 8/30/2011
Rating: *****

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.

Wow! This book was amazing! As in: captivating, awesome main character, will scare your pants off, can't put it down amazing!

Theseus 'Cas' Lowood is a ghost killer. Not your Casper type ghosts -- the ones that make you fear for your life. These are the ghosts that kill and it's Cas's job to get rid of them... until he meets Anna - Anna Dressed in Blood.

Again, wow! That was quite the ride! I really had a hard time putting this one down and even now I'm still reeling from the adventure. Ms. Blake's descriptions of death, gore and all things ghostly had me hooked. I loved Cas's voice and reading from his POV.

I thought I was starting to learn my lesson with the whole ghost/paranormal/spook factor, but I have gone and done it again. Yeah, good luck me getting to sleep with vivid images of blood and icky spooks! I would recommend this to older teens and adults because bits can be pretty graphic for younger readers and there is some strong language.

I don't even want to say too much because to me Anna Dressed in Blood is just one of those you have to read for yourself. Don't let this one slip by you! Go get it NOW!

The Summoning
Kelley Armstrong
390 pages
After years of frequent moves following her mother’s death, Chloe Saunders’s life is finally settling down. She is attending art school, pursuing her dreams of becoming a director, making friends, meeting boys. Her biggest concern is that she’s not developing as fast as her friends are. But when puberty does hit, it brings more than hormone surges. Chloe starts seeing ghosts–everywhere, demanding her attention. After she suffers a breakdown, her devoted aunt Lauren gets her into a highly recommended group home.

At first, Lyle House seems a pretty okay place, except for Chloe’s small problem of fearing she might be facing a lifetime of mental illness. But as she gradually gets to know the other kids at the home–charming Simon and his ominous, unsmiling brother Derek, obnoxious Tori, and Rae, who has a “thing” for fire–Chloe begins to realize that there is something that binds them all together, and it isn’t your usual “problem kid” behaviour. And together they discover that Lyle House is not your usual group home either…

Chloe Saunders is a fifteen year old art school student with the normal trials and tribulations of a teenager, except that her father is always away on business and her mother is deceased. That all changes the day she sees the ghost at her school. This gets her sent to the Lyle House - a place for troubled teens. She soon discovers that they have something in common and that she is not just stuck in a house full of crazy teens.

Most of the book I thought it was about a 3/5, but the last bit of the book had me going! It was an easy read - had it finished after one sitting, but still enjoyable. I really did like it, but this earned itself a rating of four after it truly picked up. I was shocked, surprised, and had a bit of whoa-this-is-crazy thoughts going on.

I don't want to say too much and give away the good stuff, so I am stopping here. I recommend this and I think you will enjoy it too. It does have a huge cliffhanger ending and and I'm excited to get he next book, The Awakening.

What I give this book: