Book #14 - Anna Dressed in Blood

I won't lie - I didn't read much in April. Between writing for three blogs during the A to Z Blogging Challenge, two book launches, and maintaining a semi-normal writing schedule, the 100 Books in 2012 reading challenge me and my BF initiated in January kind of fell by the wayside.

Which meant, I fell into a bit of a trap, reading in coughs and spurts, but not quite finishing a book because I couldn't give it the attention it deserved.

Until Anna Dressed in Blood.

My local chain bookstore didn't carry this Kendare Blake title, and as a result, I've been pining for it for what seems like forever. Thankfully, the great Judith Graves was able to part with her copy so I could catch up with the times. I owe her big.

What a brilliant book! So much to love about Anna Dressed in Blood, but perhaps what struck me the most was its old style ghost story feel. Anna is exactly the type of ghost I'd be wary of finding in a local haunted house - and by the end of the book, she was the kind of spectre I'd be thrilled to find in a local haunted house. That speaks greatly to Blake's characterization skill.

While Anna is definitely the paranorm superstar of the novel, the book centres on Cas Lowood, a teenage ghost hunter ultimately seeking the beast who killed his father. I loved Cas from the first chapter, where he picks up a ghostly hitchhiker and sets the voice and tone of the rest of the novel. (Seriously, if you do nothing else, read this first chapter...so well done.) I was "in" Cas' head until the very end - and almost turned back to the beginning to start again.

I read a lot of creepy stories, and while I won't go as far as to say Anna Dressed in Blood "scared me", I was suitably creeped out enough to warrant a few shivers. Though, it's debatable whether they were induced by the story itself or the author's absolute command of the craft.

If this is not on your TBR pile, add it...immediately. You won't be able to put it down.

- Dawn


The Book In My Bag Today: Lament, Maggie Stiefvater