Review: Anna Dressed in Blood

 Info:
Title: Anna Dressed in Blood
Author: Kendare Blake
Series: Anna #1
Publisher: Tor Teen
Publication Date: September 2011
Source: Purchased..

Synopsis:
Cas Lowood, armed with his late father's athame knife, kills ghosts. In Thunder Bay, Anna, forever 16, drips blood on her white dress from throat slit in 1958, and rips apart anyone who enters her house - except Cas. He makes new friends - high school queen Carmel, jock Will, admiring nerd Thomas and Tom's voodoo grandpa Morfran - to fight this demon.

Review:
Anna Dressed in Blood is another case of a book not quite living up to the hype. Everyone I talked to loved it and as Halloween approached, it felt like everyone was talking about it as their favourite scary read. It didn't help that I also had the ending spoilered a bit.

Now, I didn't think Anna was a bad book. It just didn't come close to the hype surrounding it for me. I didn't really connect with Cas and at time I found his voice to be unrealistic, even for someone who's life is as messed up as his. Anna felt a bit flat to me; she didn't have tons of personality. She went from being crazy-ass-scary to feeling a bit bland to me.

The other major issue I had was with the romance. I kind of got blind-sided by it. While I wouldn't classify it as instalove, it felt very sudden for me. Maybe I'm really dense and missed some clues, but it felt like Cas woke up one day and was suddenly in love.

I did like the plot, although I wish Cas had killed more ghosts though the book. That part of the story reminds me of season one of Supernatural, which I loved. Also, the baddie at the end was pretty bad-ass. Voodoo freaks me out a bit anyway, which made things even creepier.

Overall, I'm finding this one difficult to review. I'm not sure how I would have felt if I'd read this one right when it came out, but as it stands, it was nothing special for me. With that said, I do still plan to read Girl of Nightmares and I already have a copy of Blake's new book, Antigoddess, which I'm excited for.

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Cover Compare: Beautiful Creatures

This is a common thing, but I rarely actually like the movie version of book covers. I like imagining my own faces for the characters, rather than having Hollywood stars planted in my mind before I even start reading. Today's example? Beautiful Creatures, which I own and still haven't read. Original is so much prettier than the movie cover. No contest this week!

Movie tie-in

Original

Paranormal Reading Challenge: Werewolves/Shifts Month

I apologize for posting this a bit late, but here it is! Shifters month. Or werewolves. You pick!

So far I haven't fallen in love with any werewolf books. I did enjoy Skulk by Rosie Best, so that's going to be my recommendation for shifters. Because who wouldn't want to be able to shift into a fox to run around London thwarting evil!

This month I'm planning to read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I've read The Raven Cycle books and really enjoyed them, so I'm excited to try another Maggie series. Apparently at the end I will be posting an ugly-cry photo on twitter at some point in the series as per Maggie's personal instructions (seriously, she told me to and therefore it will happen).

I can't wait to see what book you guys will be reading. Link up here!

Review: Offside

 

Info:

Title: Offside
Author: M. G. Higgins
Series: Counterattack #5
Publisher: Lerner Classroom
Publication Date: April 1, 2013 (Originally published December 28, 2012)

Synopsis:

Between finishing late school projects and looking after her brothers and sister, Faith Patel barely has time to play soccer. And when she's at practice, surrounded by girls who can afford to play in club leagues, she doesn't even feel like part of the team. So when Coach Berg starts to give Faith extra attention, she feels . . . really special. It might be crazy, but suddenly Faith has a crush on her coach. Can she keep her head in the game? The situation gets worse after Faith's frenemy Caitlyn decides that Faith's getting special treatment. Will Caitlyn tell the rest of the team--and make Faith into a total outcast?

Review:

I didn't know this was a novella when I started it. I usually don't bother reading novellas because I find they often lack depth. I also didn't know it was part of a series, although I don't think I lost anything by starting with #5.

Offside wasn't a bad read, but neither was it very memorable. I did enjoy the soccer aspects and I also liked how important family was in this novel.

The 'romance' aspect of this one didn't do it for me. I know lots of girls develop crushes on teachers, but Faith went a little crazy with it. I mean, she was fantasizing about cooking him breakfast every morning! Also, the ending felt super rushed, which likely has a lot to do with it being a novella. 

This book had the potential to hit on some major issues, such as inappropriate relationships (such as teacher-student) and bullying, but it definitely felt like it stayed in a very 'safe' place and didn't push the boundaries.

Over, Offside was a quick ok read that I likely won't remember a few weeks from now. Read it if you're a soccer fan who likes novellas. Also, why is the girl on the cover white? She does not look like Faith at all!

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