A Guest Review- Anna Dressed in Blood

Hey Peeps!

I thought I would start out the week here at The Unlocked Diary with a Guest Review from author Dale Ibitz. I read this review of hers and it just got me really excited about this book and I thought it was something to bring to my people (yes, you). I love, love the cover for this book and after reading Dale’s review I added it to my TBR list on GoodReads.

So before the review I thought I would tell you a litte about Dale, who is a member of my Creative Reviews group on GR (our button is over there on the right and we also have a FB fan page AND we are putting out a short story anthology for charity this November…). Dale is just great company. She always has good things to say and she is friendly and fun! In short, she’s a great gal to have around.

I do not have a picture of her because when I asked her for one she told me that she didn’t have one because she was short, old and wrinkly. LOL. She said I could just put up a picture of a raisin. BA ha ha ha ha ha ha…

Well, Dale, I disagree. I am betting that someone as fantastic as you is gorgeous so this is how I am going to choose to view you in my mind (hence, everyone else shall too.):

I currently live in New Hartford, CT. Hard to say where I’m ‘from’ because we moved around a lot when I was a kid, but did time in both Connecticut and Washington state…I won’t bore you trying to name all the towns we lived in. And, yeah, I’m not a ‘dude’, despite the name. It’s kinda neat now, but growing up it was almost tragic…I heard things like “are you a girl or a boy?” way too often to be funny.

I hold a full-time day job so writing is something I do just because I like it [am obsessed with]. When reading, I trend toward the YA fantasy genre, but will read just about anything, well, except maybe the dictionary, or anything non-fiction that’s drier than the dinners I habitually burn. Music inspires me, especially alternative metal, at least while the group is edgy and full of angst. 

And now for the fabulous Review that Dale has written:

Anna Dressed in Blood
Kendare Blake

Cas is a high school kid who travels around with his mom, who’s a witch, and kills ghosts. It’s a tough business, bopping from home to home, killing ghosts, no friends, a loner…a Sam or Dean type from Supernatural. But Cas has purpose. He’s in training, doing jobs and getting better and stronger, cuz he’s going back to get the thing that killed his dad when he was 7 years old. Then he meets Anna, and a cast-load of kids who think they’re going to channel the gang from Scooby Doo, and the shit hits the fan.

I have one word for this book.

Wow.
Great.
Yummy.

Okay, that’s three words, but really, this book is by far the best book I’ve read this year. I loved it.

First, let me gush a little about the voice. I loved the voice of this book, kind of reminiscent of Scott Westerfield and Peeps (yeah! Scott rocks!) with tight, solid writing, and a witty smart-ass style.

The characters. We have a strong, snappy main character who ain’t afraid of no ghosts. Okay, maybe a little, sometimes, but he’s also not afraid to admit it when a girl ghost kicks his ass. The other characters have depth, are true to life, though maybe just a tad sterotypical. You have your dick jocks, popular girl who has more between the ears then she lets on, and your geek loner that no one notices (who also happens to be a black witch), and you know what? I loved them all, cuz they were so realistically drawn.

The dialogue is smart and smooth. The plot didn’t have any holes that I noticed…I didn’t find myself tripping through the book. And 3/4 of the way through the book we’re wading through dead bodies and thinking we’re winding this bad boy up, and the author throws in an OMG-I-didn’t-see-that-coming moment. I love OMG-I-didn’t-see-that-coming moments. Because basically I love saying OMG-I-didn’t-see-that-coming when I’m reading. The more times I say it, the better.

You have a bad-ass ghost that’s whacking people as a matter of purpose, and bodies are dropping faster than snowflakes, but there are two sides to every coin. The author paints this picture as deftly as a double-edged sword…there’s more to this ghost than your evil slasher-type from a B horror movie. No one is evil just to be evil. There’s a purpose to the evil here, and it’s not the ghost’s fault.

So, bottom line. Get the book. Read it. I hope you love it as much as I did.