Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen
Publishing Date: August 30th, 2011
Genre: YA, Horror/Suspence
Pages: 316 pgs
ISBN: 9780765328656

My Rating: 4 stars

Summary from Goodreads: 
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 Review:
I love myself a ghost story and this book doesn't disappoint. Anna Dressed in Blood is gory, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It is a story about a young ghost hunter who comes across Anna in his travels. Anna baffles him because he seems immune to Anna's wrath. Anna doesn't try to kill Cas like she does everyone else who comes in her home.
I don't want to give too much away because it will take away from the suspense of the story but I have to say that I loved Anna's character. Yes, I realize she has racked up quite a body count but I feel like because she couldn't control herself that it's excusable. After reading her story you can't help but feel a bit sad for her and her circumstances.
I also really liked Cas because while he tries to act like a tough guy all the time, Blake does a good job of showing you his character when he lets his guard down. There is just something about him that would make a lot of girls swoon.
I really enjoyed Blake's writing style. I feel like these kind of novels can really be purely plot driven but she ensures that we get a good picture of the characters too. She breathes life into all of her characters, including cats. (I loved that cat, I felt like he was a character all on his own).
I can't wait to read the next installment of this series and I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.