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.
I feel like I should be writing something special for my 200th post on my blog, but there really isn’t much going on in my life to celebrate. Well, except for breathing and being alive. I’m always celebrating that.
I’m sure you remember a list of four books that I was supposedly going to read in succession. Well, the Gods of Fate have decided differently for me. I found this book in the library (I went in to get a DVD, didn’t find it) and though I wasn’t planning on it, Anna was calling to me through the cover. I checked out the book and then began to read it. I finished it yesterday when a book I had on hold came in. And just last night I received an email asking to read a book coming out for an honest review. And so, I am going to ignore my silly bookshelf idea for the fact that I have these books to read and it seems that I won’t get to them in a while. I do plan on reading those books, and I am halfway done with a few of them, but I’m not making it a life priority.
Now, the review:
I was hesitant about this book at first. The first book was so good and I would be happy with it being a stand alone. When I found out about GIRL OF NIGHTMARES, I was worried that what was made would be ruined. I was basically in the bandwagon with Cas’s mom and Gideon in “Leave it alone”. However, when I found the book, I went for it.
This one was more psychological than the last. The first book had purpose. This one was a lot of trying to figure out what to do and finally getting somewhere via a trip to an old friend and mysterious picture. Which didn’t happen until just before the halfway point. There were a lot of messed up scenes with Cas slowly thinking he was going crazy and watching Anna kill herself over and over again. A ghost almost killed both Thomas and Carmel too. Good times.
The book didn’t really pick up until the halfway point for me. Because now we have a purpose. We have a destination. It’s interesting because, in a way the reader is forced to wander for the first half with Cas and just be upset that nothing is going anywhere. When something finally charges the mission, both the reader and hero are catapulted into an adrenaline frenzy that screams “FINALLY!”
There’s a new baddie in town, err, in a different country, and this baddie isn’t really a baddie. Well, it is in that it doesn’t like Cas and it’s a religious cult bent on sending all ghosts out of our realm. There’s also a new teenager that is crazy, but enjoyable. Her name’s Jestine and I have to say, I love her.
What I’m happy about is the ending is exactly how I would have wanted it. I’m glad for what Blake did with the Cas and Anna relationship. I don’t know if there would be a third one, but with the introduction to a religious order and crazy girl Jestine in the second half of the book, I wouldn’t be surprised if a third one was in the workings of Blake’s mind. The world is dark and creepy and just beautiful.
I love her way of describing the gory details. It’s poetic and not all slasher flick feel to it. That’s what I love about psychological horror, when done right there is a poetic-ness to it. With the Anna books, you can see that. I definitely would read a third if it came up.
Casia's Corner 