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.

Crave by Melissa Darnell

Crave by Melissa Darnell
Release Date: October 25th 2011
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Add it: Goodreads
Overall: ♥♥♥♥

I received this book from Netgalley – My first Netgalley read YAYYYY!

Okay, I’ve read a fair few negative reviews about this and I’d like to say I’m giving this a four star rating because whilst it was not exactly a plot with the most substance, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.
Crave is the story of Savannah and Tristan and their forbidden romance, but wait! Before you think “oh how cliché”, this forbidden romance is actually a decent one. Savannah discovers she is half-vampire, half-witch and due to the story being told in dual narrative, we find out early that Tristan is a witch too (a warlock?). How is this forbidden romance different? Well, the two main characters actually have a history together and a good reason for their families forbidding them to see eachother.

The dual narrative was excellent. At first I thought I’d had enough of switching POV’s, but Crave gave each character a beautiful voice and personality in this way and the emotions, thoughts and actions are so spot on with teenage romance (in my opinion). It seemed Savannah and Tristan just kept doing the complete opposite of the other for the other person’s sake and, to be honest if a boy and a girl like eachother in HIGHSCHOOL, they worry about whether the other likes them, and Ms. Darnell told this in a way that was realistic and sweet. Yes, it was a tad cheesy every now and then, but I felt this was accurate in the portrayal of a YEAR 9’s romance. 

As for the characters, I loved them. I loved Savannah and how realistic she was in handling problems and acting and I loved Tristan the same way – I’m torn because I know he is probably the cliché YA love interest, and I’m not really into guys such as Patch and Edward, however, I thought Tristan was sweet and realistic with his boyish nature and charm. Plus, in my head, he was the hottest thing imaginable. Which leads to another point… We eventually found out what he looked like but it wasn’t all “his golden curls bounced and swayed in the breeze whilst his turquoise/cyan/blue/aqua/(insert other synonym for blue here) stared intently at the luscious hair that reached halfway down my back”.  I mean, the character’s hardly described their own appearance at all, WHICH WAS AWESOME. I am so sick of the whole “I have long legs that turn heads and super-duper sparkly eyes and hair that is way too long for the average person which I claim to be” thing that a lot of YA romance has going on with their heroine who happens to be an outcast. This was another reason I loved Savannah, she didn’t think she was ugly or anything but she didn’t think she was drop-dead gorgeous either.

Another thing I loved about Savannah, was that she was SMART. I groaned when she didn’t immediately figure out that the guy at the Charmer’s audition was a vamp but she didn’t take the entire book to come to this revelation, thank god, because otherwise my uttermost respect for her would have dropped.

I adored the dream connection scenes and I adored Tristan and Susannah’s stolen time alone. They were written in a way that gave me a perfect visual, from the school classroom, to the football field. Okay, enough with all the gushing about the characters and the visuals. Now for some reasoning as to why this wasn’t a five star book.

Firstly, WHEN WILL HEROINES STOP FEELING THE NEED TO NOT ASK THEIR PARENT’S FOR HELP. God, as soon as Savannah decided not to tell her mum or her dad about her new abilities, I knew something bad was going to happen at some point in the book. I understand why they don’t tell their parents because if the heroine did, there wouldn’t really be a plot or a conclusion to the book would there?

Secondly, whilst I loved Tristan for 95% of the novel, “You mean always think women are weak and need to be protected.” “Aren’t you?” Smirking, he reach out and brushed my toe with a piece of grass. Okay, to me this sounds like the typical ‘I AM MAN, MUST PROTECT FRAGILE GIRL.’, and this made Tristan’s hotness factor drop down a couple of notches for me, but thankfully this is the only real issue I have in regards to females being regularly portrayed as weak and helpless in novels.
For once, Savannah is the heroine who is actually strong, honest and a great character rather than the heroine who THINKS she is strong and honest, when she is really just a weak idiot who needs a man to protect her. I appreciate Ms. Darnell’s portrayal, because whilst I don’t think it was her intention for Tristan to sound like that, I think things like that happen  - and it was only once so that’s okay :). Also, why was Tristan always growling? He either spoke, or growled. That was a bit much but meh.

LILITH. Oh, this myth gets chucked around a lot in YA paranormal novels. Okay, according to Wikipedia, “Lilith left Adam after she refused to become subservient to him and then would not return to the Garden of Eden after she mated with archangel Samael”.  This does not mean, “Adam complained to god, so God sent three angels to bring her back. But she refused to return with them and threatened to become a plague upon mankind.” No. Lilith just happened to refuse to obey Adam’s every wish and command so she got replaced by Eve so that Adam could have a woman to run around for him to, I don’t know, cook and clean for him? Just because Lilith *gasp* REFUSED TO OBEY Adam, does not make her a demon or evil or a bitch or anything like that. I understand that there are many stories regarding Lilith, but she is portrayed in a negative way IN EVERY SINGLE YA BOOK.

That’s about all I have for complaints for this book and overall, I found it relaxing, cute and light-hearted. Crave was a lovely break from all the other crappy YA romance and all the hardcore “I can’t breathe it’s just that suspenseful” novels. Needless to say, I personally loved Crave and the characters and I loved Melissa’s easy to read writing. I read this in one day. I haven’t been able to get through a book in one day in SOO long. I am SO eager for Covet, and I wish 2012 would hurry up already.