GIRL OF NIGHTMARES - KENDARE BLAKE - REVIEW

Book: Girl of Nightmares

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: Orchard Books/ Hodder Childrens

ISBN: 9781408326121

Rating: A

Cas Lowood is no ordinary ghost hunter - he's in love with a dead girl. Her name is Anna Korlov. Anna Dressed in Blood. The girl who sacrificed herself to save his life. Racked with guilt, Cas sets out to do what he does best - hunt a ghost. But this time his aim is not to kill. He must rescue Anna from the depths of Hell. But Hell is also home to a creature Cas has battled before...Just your average boy meets girl, girls gets sucked into hell story.

This book... i don't it's left me speechless. I honestly cant put it into words, it's that amazing. Anna dressed in blood was probably one of my favourite books of 2012 so this was one of those books I needed my hands on, and I know the review is a little late but there was so much I had going on and I was midway through another series that I was reading. Nevertheless I go this book and I honestly read it in a day, it was that good! I loved it so much.

The story in this was pretty darn amazing! It follows Cas, Tom and Carmel on their quest to get Anna back. Blake owns the land of twist and turns. This book was brimming with surprises and twists and I loved it. It kept me enthralled the whole time, and even though there are no more books it left me wanting more. The plot was beautifully executed and absolutely perfect in every way. The time and effort that has been poured into this is obvious and Blake has made this the perfect ending to a phenomenally good series.

The writing in the novel was beautiful. Blake's writing in general is beautiful, and is a pleasure to read. It just such a whimsical and stunning prose. I love her use of description and how she builds up and image in your head, to the last detail, yet still leaving so much room for imagination. I loved the way she balanced the use of dialogue and description in this. Description played and extremely large part in this book, just because we were taken to so many different places within the book. The way she portrayed London was perfect and I must admit when I read it I felt more than excited to finally have a book set in London.

The Characters in this novel stayed pretty much the same with the addition of two new mains. Gideon, who we hear about in book 1, becomes are al larger part of the story and we are introduced to him at last. We also meet a new character named Jestine who I'm not going to give to much away about. Most of the characters we already knew so the knowledge base simply grew and I felt more connected to them, but the introduction with the new characters was nice because the personalities started to balance each other out, thought I must say everyone is so nice in this book, even the Obeah (sort off).

Overall I adored this so much. Definitely a series I will be revisiting! It's sad to see it go and I loved the series a lot, But Blake has created a true masterpiece. I fell in love with it from page 1.

GIRL OF NIGHTMARES - UK VS US COVER + COVER OF THE WEEK - FEBRUARY - WEEK 3

So recently my Cover of the Week has been tied in with other things such as cover reveals, but this cover is so stunning I'm going to tie it in with a Uk vs US cover.

UK------US

Right so lets get started. When Anna dressed in blood was released there was no questioning it. The UK cover won, but this time round I really stuck. Obviously the main image is the same but the way they have been done are completely different. So lets take the covers apart one bit at a time. The tagline. The UK has the tagline Spellbinding and romantic, whereas the american just has spellbinding. I find that the single word quote works for me better. With the US tagline I like how it is smaller and doesn't stand out too much but I think it's too low down, whereas the UK tagline is higher up. So overall I think the US tagline just wins. Author title. Right well this is draw, because although the UK author title is a tad big for my preference the us one has patterns that are rather distracting. Main title. Well they're the same, so it comes down to the image and colours. Putting all of this aside, looking at both the covers you cant help but think, my god they're beautiful, but back to business. I don't know, I think the idea of having some parts red and some parts grayscale on the uk cover is very clever but something about it seems off to me. Maybe it the fact that her lower skin has colour but her upper doesn't?  And also the glow around her hair on the UK seems a little too pretty fairytale for a horror. And then the US. Migod. The whole red effect creates a completely magical feel. A very fairytale feel, but the kind of this-is-about-a-blood-thirsty-i'm-gonna-kill-you-ghost fairytale. And the red to me just screams blood. This is mega hard for me cause they are both beautiful and theres not to much difference but I think US has to win.

Cover of the week:

Well pretty much says it above.

ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD - KENDRA BLAKE - REVIEW

Book: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendra Blake
Publisher: Hodder
ISBN: 9781408320723
Rating: A


Cas Lowood is no ordinary guy - he hunts dead people. People like Anna. Anna Dressed in Blood. A beautiful, murderous ghost entangled in curses and rage. Cas knows he must destroy her, but as her tragic past is revealed, he starts to understand why Anna has killed everyone who's ever dared to enter her spooky home. Everyone, that is, except Cas...


What to say... This book utterly blew me away! This was possibly the best book I have read all year so far and I am honestly having trouble keeping the excitement inside of me, writing this review, to stop me from leaping into the air! Words can simply not explain how I feel about this book. It was such a beautiful, gorgeous deadly book! Anna dressed in blood will chill you to the bone but leave you wanting so much more. This book is so exquisite and fantastic that my nose was nested in the pages from start to finish. It gave me a gruesome thrill ride from the start and even as it scared me I couldn't let go. I was up to midnight reading this novel, and then I would pull the covers over my head and go to sleep.


The book follows Cassio a ghost hunter, as he travels to kill a new ghost Anna, but she is way more powerful than any others and he starts to flu in love with her. then she stars to have a her past uncovered and more people get involved and it becomes crazy good to the extent I want to shower it will gold glitter but that would only ruin the spin of the book!


The plot. That gorgeous, gruesome, grilling plot that left you on the tips of your toes till the very end. What to say? The plot is the most developed plot I have read in months and I followed it perfectly. It was easy, to follow and simple to understand. No hidden complications, just the amazing plot laid out in words for you to read. The plot was so complex yet such a pleasure to read. It was the best of the best and you can tell no corners have been cut with this book. Every ounce of effort has been put into this beautiful book. No complaints.


The writing was like the scroll of angel. Like a piece of heaven was sliced up and placed in Blake so she could bless us with her articulate wording. It was one of the most gorgeous, whimsical proses, I have read in such a long time that it made me just lie in bed and go over the words I had read and appreciate them for the pure amazingness they were. The description was almost lyrical and there was just the balance between the storyline, description and dialogue.


All the characters were so well formed, that it led your brainy o believe that these amazing characters had been your brain the whole time and that radiant the book awakened them, which was amazing because it made you feel like they were a part of you, and you exe priced every thing with them, which is what made the book so amazing and visual. Because the characters became your friends. Also they were all so well formed as well. nothing was hidden from you. You knew everything about them and their history except for what was actually meant to be discovered later no in the book.


Over all the book was captivating, intoxicating and beautifully written. It completely fazed me and I was put in a trance from the moment I read it, and unique, one of a kind amazing story playing out in my mind. I am so lost for words with this book that I don't what to say, but I will say one more thing about it: Perfect.