Review: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares
(Anna #2)

Author: Kendare Blake

Publication Date: August 7th, 2012

Publisher: Tor Teen

Genre: Paranormal / Urban Fantasy

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Synopsis:

It'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.

My Thoughts: Another amazing novel by Kendare Blake! This is the end of Anna's story, with an ending that I LOVED!! Just so you all know! I really enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood and was expecting to like Girl of Nightmares just as much. Nope, I loved it so much more.

Cas suffers so much in Girl of Nightmares. Anna sacrificed herself for him and is in Hell being tortured by the Obeahman. Cas keeps seeing her, she is being tortured in so many different ways and he can see it. All he wants to do is help Anna, but everyone is telling him to leave it alone, she's where she's supposed to be. How can she be though? She has suffered enough and he knows it. So Cas searches for a way into Anna's Hell to rescue her. Everyone says it's impossible, but he knows there has to be a way.

Cas clearly loves Anna so much that he is willing to literally go to Hell for her. It makes me like him so much as a character. He would do anything it seems for her. Thomas and Caramel are there helping him along, although Caramel seems to be wavering and ready to leave their crazy lives. A new character is introduced in this one, Jestine, the girl who has been trained to take over Cas' job within the Order. They don't like how Cas goes about killing the ghosts, and selecting who he kills. They think he should just kill them all, even the harmless ones. Regardless, I liked Jestine's character and she definitely helped out more than once!

I feel that Girl of Nightmares had the perfect ending for the series. The pacing was good and the writing was just amazing! A lot of the questions I had while reading were answered, so I wasn't left feeling too sad, only sad in the fact that it was over and there was no more. It was a bit gruesome, but I at least was expecting it this time, unlike when I started Anna. The closure was great, it really was the perfect ending. I know, I'm gushing a bit. I will for sure be watching out for more by Kendare Blake. I hope she comes up with more amazing stories to share with us. This series is definitely one that I will be recommending to whoever will listen. If you haven't read this one yet, you need to.

 Thank you Macmillan and Raincoast Books for the review copy!