Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1) by Kendare Blake Shift
Release Date: August 30th 2011
Publisher: Orchard Books
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥♥♥

For version with spoilers, click here
 
I was exposed to horror movies at a young age; the first horror movie I ever watched was The Night Flier based on a short story by Stephen King at the age of about 8 (Hey, I begged my mum and looking back on it now makes me laugh, the trailer alone makes me LOL) and I remember when I was about 9 at a sleepover, I thought I'd be really hardcore and watch IT and Pet Semetary (yes, I grew up with a lot of Stephen King) without mum's permission and you know what? I laughed at them. My friend and I sat there pointing at the TV and laughed about the quality of the effects and how stupid the characters were. I was probably just a twisted little kid but my point is, I'm not easily scared. I've read a lot of reviews saying this book is scary as shit and to read it during the day or with the lights on but honestly, the only reason why this book kept me awake at night was because I couldn't put it down... And I do believe in ghosts.

Our main character, Cas takes after his dad and kills ghosts with his mystical athame for a living. He gets tips from people about where to go next and which ghosts needs killing next. When he gets tipped off about Anna, he has barely any information to go off except where he and his mum will move to next, the fact that she'll kill anybody who enters what used to be her home and that she is known as Anna dressed in blood.

I am normally not a fan of male perspectives AT ALL. I find that males are always badly written, boring, sound like a girl or are just really bland to read. But Kendare Blake has managed to write a wonderful cast of characters with an amazing male protagonist. Cas is badass, funny, overall awesome although somewhat cocky - but that doesn't bother me too much, if I was a ghost hunting badass I probably would be a bit cocky myself! There were so many times I laughed aloud at an inappropriate time during the book because Cas's inner dialogue is witty, truthful and entertaining! I also loved his relationship with his mum, instead of being all angsty teenager, you can tell he loves his mum and although he is very serious about his job and ghost hunting, it's obvious how much he cares for his mother and how much he needs her.

Anna. Anna dressed in blood. Oh you deliciously creepy, murderous, sweet, innocent, funny, furious, terrifying girl! The image you get of Anna is so vivid and gorgeous, with her inky black hair, oily looking eyes and her blood dripping dress. When we find out what happened to Anna, it is really easy to understand why Cas had a hard time killing her. Her story is heartbreaking and quite honestly, I wasn't expecting it at all (view spoiler).

As for the other characters.... OH GOD. I WANT TO PRAISE THE YA GODS FOR THIS. Carmel - the pretty, popular girl that knows everybody was realistic dammit. As in, she was a NICE person. I think in almost every YA novel EVER, the pretty, popular girl is always a bitch and hates anybody who isn't goodlooking. Hate to break it to you majority-of-YA-novels-EVER, but more often than not the 'popular' people ARE nice (well, here in Australia anyway). Carmel is strong, helpful, funny, nice, caring, pretty and just not stereotypical in anyway. She is the type of person I love hanging around with! She also doesn't go for the obvious guy in this either which was so refreshing to see! Thomas is just cute. I loved him. He was a little bit whimpy in comparison to Cas, he was a nervous wreck at times and a bit weird but damn he was just adorable. Everytime somebody was an asshole to him, I wanted to scoop him up like a little puppy and tell him everything will be okay.

I found this novel to be gruesome but not scary. Kendare Blake held nothing back - there was all the necessary imagery of blood, bodies, dead people and the necessary use of vulgar language (which I am a HUGE fan of in YA because I'm quite bad, I swear A LOT - hanging out with mostly guys will do that to you) was done to perfection. All the right 'scary' scenes were written vividly, beautifully and in a delightfully creepy way. Although I guessed one major part of the plot about 100 pages in, I didn't care. It was one of those times where I didn't get pissed because I knew it was going to happen, the detail surrounding that moment, the events leading up to it and the events after it happened were all still a surprise for me and I was still so intrigued because there were still a few twists that I didn't see coming.

Kendare Blake has weaved an idea that would be boring and unoriginal into something magnificent, creepy, surprising, unique and hilarious. I don't know how she managed it but although I wasn't scared, I still managed to be creeped out a few times and it is well worth the read. If you're a fan of horror stories, you should definitely give this a go and if you're not, well you should still give it a go because it's brilliant.

Shift by Em Bailey

Shift by Em Bailey
Release Date: September 1st 2011
Publisher: Hardie Grant Egmont
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥♥ 1/2

Every time I've seen Shift in the store, I've always picked it up and put it back down and it wasn't until my housemate and I discovered a mutual love for YA that I actually read it because she lent it to me.
You need to read this. It was edgy, gripping, original, funny, emotional, frustrating and it had everything that makes a great novel.

It's a story about a girl named Olive, who is now a little messed up in the head and on medication after a failed suicide attempt. Olive is trying to fit back in at school again after being ditched by her (now ex) best friend, Katie. The only friend who understands Olive is Ami. Miranda is a new girl at Olive and Ami's school and it's rumoured that she murdered her parents, there's something not quite right about Miranda (apart from the fact she allegedly killed her parents!) and Olive is determined to figure out what. Oh, there is also a hot guy named Lachlan who is fairly interested in our main girl.

Let me start off by saying, I thought the characters were AMAZING. Em Bailey has done a magnificent job at creating  three dimensional and realistic characters by giving them all little quirks and characteristics which makes somebody *them*. All of her characters have such unique personalities in contrast to eachother and I adored Olive’s characterisation because although she was one of those MC’s that said she was ugly or plain looking (ala EVERY HEROINE IN YA EVER), she was funny, quirky, cute and you can relate to her on some level. (Like how when she was nervous around a guy she likes, she’d be a bitch to them, yeahhh :| ….) Even the stereotypical cheerleader type had a personality!

Now, when I started reading, I wasn’t expecting such a cool supernatural angle at all! I found the supernatural aspect of this was incredibly unique as the focus is on shapeshifters. Here’s the thing, the shapeshifters in this world don’t turn into animals and other creatures, but they latch onto another person and basically drain their energy and turn into the other person gradually but also terrifyingly quick. The mind games aspect of this novel was fascinating and the further you read, the more invested you get into this world (which is basically our world, but with creepy life-sucking shapeshifter people).

The one thing that did annoy me though, was after the incredible twist half way through (seriously, I ran to my housemate and said “WTF JUST HAPPENED. WHAT IS GOING ON”), the story kinda took a completely different turn. At first I didn’t like it and I thought Olive had turned into an idiot, but then it redeemed itself and got progressively more interesting and terrifying and you’ll find yourself yelling, “Come on, Olive! What are you doing!”

I haven’t read a lot of psychological thrillers in the YA genre, however I’ll definitely try to get my hands on more because Shift left such a lingering impression on me, that I’m still thinking about how haunted I felt weeks after reading.

Stacking the Shelves (3) VLOG

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature over at Tynga's Reviews which allows us all to drool with one another over any books that have been added  to our bookshelves both physically and virtually!

I did another vlog, just because I felt like it :)

HERE YOU GO LOVELY PEOPLE!

Let me know what you reckon ;)
If you enjoyed my video, please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel at TaneikaReads :)

And for those who can't or don't want to watch the video, there are links below the photo :) (TAKEN WITH MY PRETTY NEW CAMERA JUST BY THE WAY, YAYYYYY!)

Bought:
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa
Unravelling by Elizabeth Norris
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
A cute Little Miss Giggles bookmark that has MAGNETS

What did you add to your shelves this week :)

Birthday giveaway!

So, I know I'm a few weeks late on this, but to celebrate (or loathe) the fact that I turned 20 on the 18th July, I wanted to host a giveaway for you guys! There will be ONE winner who can choose ONE of the July releases below! I haven't read any of these yet but these are all books I'm seriously frothing over!

Such A Rush by Jennifer Echols
Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson
Endlessly by Kiersten White
Cold Fury by T.M. Goeglein
Team Human by Justine Larbalestier
The Forsaken by  Lisa M. Stasse
Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway details and conditions:

• This is open internationally as long as the Book Depository ships to your country.
• I am not responsible for lost or damaged goods from The Book Depository
• Once this giveaway has finished, all personal information - including email/shipping address will be deleted
• Winner will be contacted by email and will have 72 hours to respond with your full mailing address (especially if you're in another country) otherwise another winner will be chosen
• I have the right to change giveaway details as I see fit
• You must be aged 13 or older 

Good luck!! :) 
(Oh, and make sure you check out the fun stuff happening for Author Appreciation August at Reading Wishes and Saz101!)

Waiting on Wednesday (10)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly feature at Breaking The Spine which allows you to spotlight upcoming releases that you're really keen for!!

Author: Carly Anne West
Release Date: March 5th 2013
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Add it: Goodreads

After her older sister dies from an apparent suicide and her body is found hanging upside down by one toe from a tree, sixteen-year-old Sophie starts to hear the same voices that drove her sister to a psychotic break.

Why I'm Waiting: That tiny little synopsis is such a tease! AND GOD. LOOK AT THE COVER WOULD YOU? Combine that with the title, the teaser synopsis... *dies* It sounds delightfully terrifying and personally, I'm a big horror fan... So really, this whole package just sounds brilliant to me.

Author: Kim Curran
Release Date: September 4th 2012
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Add it: Goodreads

When your average, 16-year old loser, Scott Tyler, meets the beautiful and mysterious Aubrey Jones, he learns he's not so average after all. He's a 'Shifter'. And that means he has the power to undo any decision he's ever made. At first, he thinks the power to shift is pretty cool. But as his world starts to unravel around him he realises that each time he uses his power, it has consequences; terrible unforeseen consequences. Shifting is going to get him killed. In a world where everything can change with a thought, Scott has to decide where he stands.

Why I'm Waiting: 
1. I love male protagonists
2. This "shifting" power sounds awesome and incredibly different which is nice (like jumping off of that movie, Jumper)
3. His power gives him consequences instead of making something easier for a change
Dammit, I'm just so curious about this! It sounds fascinating and I want to see how Scott Tyler is written when he meets Aubrey because you rarely come across a male protagonist with a prominant love story! Can't wait to get my hands on this :)