Sep 10, 2012

{Review} of Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: Horror
THEME: Ghost/Romance
RECEIVED: Review for Tor
AUTHORS BLOG: Kendare Blake's Blog

BLURB:
t's been months since the ghost of Anna Korlov opened a door to Hell in her basement and disappeared into it, but ghost-hunter Cas Lowood can't move on. 

His friends remind him that Anna sacrificed herself so that Cas could live—not walk around half dead. He knows they're right, but in Cas's eyes, no living girl he meets can compare to the dead girl he fell in love with.

Now he's seeing Anna everywhere: sometimes when he's asleep and sometimes in waking nightmares. But something is very wrong...these aren't just daydreams. Anna seems tortured, torn apart in new and ever more gruesome ways every time she appears.

Cas doesn't know what happened to Anna when she disappeared into Hell, but he knows she doesn't deserve whatever is happening to her now. Anna saved Cas more than once, and it's time for him to return the favor.

REVIEW:
Once again Kendare Blake reels me into her horror series and I couldn’t of asked for a better sequel to Anna Dressed in Blood. Girl of Nightmares brings a lot of drama to the lead characters Cas, Thomas and Carmel, it really test their friendship and sanity after what happened with Anna. I was thrilled to step back into this work, the characters were memorable as always and really challenged.

Girl of Nightmares follows Cas as he is determined to save the one girl he can’t forget. Anna, the ghost girl who sacrificed herself to save Cas, Thomas and Carmel, but she didn’t exactly get peace and Cas will do anything to get to her. Horrible and gruesome visions keep appearing to Cas of Anna, but Thomas and Carmel don’t see what he sees and their friendships are tested. But when Cas decides to get help from an old family friend where he comes face to face with people like him.

Cas, my goodness if there were only boys like him when I was in high school. He is such a devoted and determined guy, he’s love for Anna is deep and he really puts himself in a dangerous position. I will never forget this quote:

“She crossed over death to call me. I crossed through Hell to find her.

Even though this book focused more of Cas looking for answers and not having much to do with ghost, it was still fast passed and kept me on the edge of my seat. The readers also get more insight about Cas’ father and people that know who he is and what Cas can do and see.

Thomas is once again the coolest best friend ever to Cas, never doubting that Cas is seeing Anna. He wants to do whatever he can to help he’s friend who and the ghost girl who saved them all. He was tested in this book; Carmel is starting to act different and distant. I really enjoyed reading more about him, his family and how much his friendship and guidance means to Cas.

My favorite part of the book is when a secret council challenges Cas’, he discovers that they can help him get to hell and back. The readers really learn how strong Cas is and that he like his father have different ideas on how to deal with ghost then they do.

Overall I never wanted to stop reading this book, it was more of a serious tone and I missed the creepy tone from the first book. As I reached the end, I don’t think I was alone in this, I was saddened when I found out this was the end of the series. The ending does a great job wrapping up the characters stories, especially Anna’s and Cas’s, you could say it’s bittersweet. I will truly miss these characters and can’t wait to read more of Blake’s stories; she really knows how to pull the readers in with her wonderful writing.


RECOMMENDATION:
This is a young adult novel with creepy scenes that create this fantastic horror novel. Fans of Tara Hudson Hereafter series and Gretchen McNeils Ten novel will love Kendare Blakes Girl of Nightmares.

View all my reviews

3 comments:

  1. The story of Cas and Anna is just so beautiful! (Which sounds like such an odd thing to say considering Anna is not only a ghost, but trapped in hell!)

    Your review is great :) It makes me wish I could read both books again for the first time!

    -Jac @ For Love and Books

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  2. Awesome review. I have the first book and need to read this series. I love the covers and am so glad you like book two as well!

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  3. Thank you so much for your comments, I hope you enjoy Girl of Nightmares as much as I did.

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