Reviews

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

sklus's review against another edition

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4.0

I was expecting the book to be more spooky, but it was more of a romance with a heavy heaping of insta-love. Also, they try to make "Anna Dressed in Blood" a moniker for the ghost covered in blood when Bloody Annie was right there.

samarie04's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

readandtellstories's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was a “just okay” for me. I liked it enough to not regret reading it, and yes I will probably read the 2nd book.
 
The book follows Cas, a ghost hunter, who takes on his hardest ghost yet - Anna Dressed in Blood. He’s taken down dozens of ghosts, but something is different with this one. Very different. And his whole world will never be the same.

I will say that this book has spooky vibes, which I liked. Some of it was a little gory but nothing too extra in my opinion. I personally just felt like certain things progressed too fast while other things were too slow or too drawn out. 

If you’re looking for a relatively quick read with some spooky ghost vibes, I would recommend this book for sure!

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fannfran's review against another edition

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3.0

3,5

njdarkish's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a lot of fun. It took some very unexpected twists and turns. All that said, stories about this kind of character-- some sort of hunter of the supernatural-- aren't usually my bag (there are exceptions). This is certainly one of the stronger examples of the genre, but even still it's not what I typically go for, so I doubt I'll pick up the sequel.

caaleros's review against another edition

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2.0

I usually don't read ghost stories but I read Graveminder and I've been rewatching seasons 1 and 2 of Supernatural so I felt in the mood to read Anna Dressed in Blood. I was actually really looking forward to reading this book, but I was kind of disappointed. I was hoping to read a book that was kind of like Supernatural. You know, with a guy traveling around killing ghosts, but the romance kind of killed it for me. It just seemed out of place, I think it could have waited for a later book when the author develops their relationship more. On the plus side there was quite a few gross descriptions thrown in there, so that made it feel more like a horror book.

The characters were ok, not boring or annoying but I didn't feel a connection to Cas or any of the other side characters. There just wasn't any spark. Nevertheless, I will say that Anna was pretty darn cool. She kicked butt. I loved the last battle scene, it was awesome!

I felt like the main villain was rushed. You find out about him half way through the book and then the conclusion just seemed rushed. And can I say I hate Voodoo. Even The Princess and the Frog creeps me out. I just don't like it.

The writing style was good and the story was fine, but at times I think it lacked believability. Overall, it was okay read, I'll probably read the sequel eventually but the book wasn't as good as I had hoped.

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creolelitbelle's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

Entertaining but not a "good" book. When I read off my list to my husband, he described this book as "we have Buffy at home." Ironically, the author more recently released a trilogy set in the Buffyverse, which leads me to believe this was her fanfiction before she got permission to write true Buffy stories instead of pulling from late 90s/early 2000s tv shows for inspiration in this fanfic mashup. 

- MC named Cas, dad killed on a hunt, has special athame (SPN)
- kills ghosts
- has a source of information in New Orleans
- side character named WILL ROSENBERG
- references Buffy
- references the mystery machine from Scooby-Doo
- Gideon - father figure like SPN's Bobby who was friends with his dad, name from Elder on Charmed, is from London like Giles...
- Men of Power = Men of Letters (SPN)
- Thomas & Carmel = scoobies like Buffy
- Thomas = Willow (witch
- found Carmel's ex & his friend dead by a monster's hand
- Carmel = Cordelia
- Anna = Angel. Evil, saved, but still a ghost/supernatural creature
- Cas has prophetic dreams
- Cas hunts "the thing that killed dad"... SPN, anyone? 
- Carmel calls Cas "Buffy" to Thomas
 

Read this for a nostalgic fun foray back into shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Supernatural. I listened to the audiobook, and it is a good time, enough to convince me to check the adventures in the sequel. Do not expect a serious story with good writing. 

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kimmiefmrcn's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

a ghost and a human has better chemistry than most book couples

phoenix2's review against another edition

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3.0

It's been a while since I started this book, and it took me too long to finish it. Not because it's not fast paced and interesting, but probably because I never read much during the summer season. So here is my honest opinion of this book. It's a YA book taking place in the real world (it has been a while since I’ve read a book that wasn't a fantasy YA). Fortunately, it's not a teenage romance and it had lots of action and fighting scenes. What I really liked about this book was that while reading it, it felt like I was watching a movie, as the writing was really realistic and full of life, if that makes any sense. As for the horror part, thing is, I can't really stand the scary parts and that was the reason I was afraid to read this book. But I've read some reviews on Goodreads and my fellow readers were quite helpfully, assuring that it wasn't that scary. And truly, apart from one or two scenes, which were a bit creepy, this book is not horror at all. I don't know if that will be a problem for some, but for me, it was a relief, as it was as spooky as I can handle. Other than that, the romance was a little bleak, but that didn't really affect the story. Lastly, one thing that bothered me, but only a little bit, was the fact that the ending was a little too quick. I mean, will there be a second book? This one didn't imply that a sequel is on the way... Anyway, I liked that it wasn't the cliché happy ever after ending, at least.

c01's review against another edition

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5.0

The book was AMAZING and could not put it down. Though I was sad that Anna died. Definitely going to read the next book.