Review: Girl of Nightmares (Anna #2)

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Girl of Nightmares takes place 6 months after Anna Dressed in Blood. Cas is trying to move on with his life… unsuccessfully. He’s tormented by visions of Anna being tortured by something unseen. They can’t communicate with each other so he doesn’t know where she is or what is going on, only that she is being beaten, burned, and broken. Both Carmel and Thomas tell him he has to let her go, but it’s not that easy. After a few close misses while hunting for ghosts, that jeopardize not only him, but his best friends, he’s determined to find out the answers and do what he can to save Anna.

In Girl of Nightmares we get all the answers we were still looking for at the end of Anna Dressed in Blood. Plus, we get some wonderful character development.

At the end of book 1 I’ll admit, I only liked Cas… but at the end of Girl of Nightmares, I loved him. I understood his obsession with Anna and I wanted him to find a solution, a way that he could help her and still be happy. He is snarky and funny and even though he hasn’t had friends growing up, he cherishes the friends he’s made. And Thomas, he’s adorable and sweet and I wanted to hug the poor kid. We also got to know a bit more about Carmel, and I loved how strong she ended up being… although at one point I stated “I wanted to punch her in the babymaker.”

I did understand her situation and where she was coming from. I mean, I saw it coming, but it angered me, I can’t lie.

What I really loved about this book though, was Blake’s ability to take this ghost story and turn it into something more. I mean Anna, this evil ghost sacrificed herself for Cas (& Thomas & Carmel) in book 1 and his hope for her to find peace is crushed with these visions he has of her. While Blake definitely had the creepy scenes (The Suicide Forest and the Creepy Dead Grandma thing), there is also witty dialogue and some very lighthearted moments too.

What makes this book though, is the ending that Blake gave us. I spend the last 4-5 chapters of this book trying to predict how it would end… I won’t spoil it here, you’ll just have to read it, but I’m incredibly satisfied with it and I wasn’t expecting it in the least.