All These Bodies by Kendare Blake

Title: All These Bodies

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: Quill Tree Books 2021

Genre: YA Thriller

Pages: 304

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

Summer 1958. A gruesome killer plagues the Midwest, leaving behind a trail of bodies completely drained of blood. 

Michael Jensen, an aspiring journalist whose father happens to be the town sheriff, never imagined that the Bloodless Murders would come to his backyard. Not until the night the Carlson family was found murdered in their home. Marie Catherine Hale, a diminutive fifteen-year-old, was discovered at the scene—covered in blood. She is the sole suspect in custody.

Michael didn’t think that he would be part of the investigation, but he is pulled in when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to. As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?

Oh blergh. I went into this book thinking that it would be a spooky suspenseful young adult novel. Unfortunately, we didn’t really get any of the spook except for a few very brief scenes. Instead, we got a very stilted and strange retelling of a criminal case written by a teenage boy. I was not a fan of the voice of the book. The writing was all over the place and not well constructed. I kept getting pulled out of the story every time Michael referred to something that would happen in the future or some realization that he made at a later date. But most of the story is written in a very present sense. Beyond the writing style, I was not a fan of the story and specifically the constant misogyny. Every other page is felt like some character was saying that there was no way that Marie killed anyone because she was a, wait for it… girl. I just could not. I realize that the book is set in 1958, but it was written last year. I don’t think we need to focus on this aspect so much. And finally, we get to ending and I was completely flabbergasted. It’s a terrible ending. Such a disappointment.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Title: Girl of Nightmares (Anna Dressed in Blood #1)

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen Book 2012

Genre: YA Paranormal

Pages: 332

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: SubGenre - Horror, YA; Women Authors; Library; Seriously Series; 52 Books in 52 Weeks - W11

How I Got It: Library Loan

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.

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 have been waiting for this book for forever!  And I finally get it off hold from the library.  I dive in headfirst and don't come up for air until the last page.  Overall, I must say that I wasn't as impressed with this volume as the first.  But...  I really did like the book.  It had twists and turns.  It had horror and romance.  It had a great main character and side characters, and villans.  I was into the book.  I only wish that Anna was in the book more often...  Still awesome book!

Anna Dressed in Blood:

1. Anna Dressed in Blood
2. Girl of Nightmares

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Title: Anna Dressed in Blood (ADiB #1)

Author: Kendare Blake

Publisher: Tor Teen 2011

Genre: YA Paranormal

Pages: 320

Rating:   5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: YA; Mount TBR

How I Got It: My first iBook purchase!

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

 I admit that I went into this book with trepidation.  It's a paranormal young adult book.  I thought it would be full of teenage angst and silly love triangles.  Thankfully, it wasn't.  I ended up reading a scary yet touching ghost story full of twists and turns.  Anna is incredibly scary, even in her later incarnation.  The Obeahman is out of my nightmares.  Cas is badass (reminded me of the Winchester brothers).  Carmel isn't the annoying queen.  She's someone that I might have actually liked.  And Thomas is a great witch in training.  I must say that all of the characters (well, except for Mike and Chase) are stereotype free.  This allows for real character and growth throughout the book.  I found myself looking over my shoulder waiting for an inky haired girl to be staring back.  Very creepy!  But in a good way.  Definitely a must read.

Somehow I didn't catch on that there is a sequel coming out this fall.  I can't wait to read it.

Anna Dressed in Blood:

• #1 Anna Dressed in Blood
• #2 Girl of Nightmares