**REVIEW** Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

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.

Release Date: August 7, 2012
Published By: Tor Teen 
Review Copy: Hardcover, 332 pages

Trailer

Review

  I love these books.  They are hands down among my favourites and Girl of Nightmares was almost as good as Anna Dressed in Blood for me.  Though I was sure that I couldn't enjoy it as much as Anna, I love when a book proves me wrong.  They are both so well written with creepy elements that will make your skin crawl.  Oh and there s just as much horror in this one as the last.  
Maybe a bit mor as Anna's torture is brutal and I'm not sure that really even covers it.

  Cas can't forget what Anna gave to save him and his friends.  He also can't seem to forget Anna and wonders what has become of her.  Though everyone tells him that he should take her gift and move on, his heart just holds on strong to her.  Then he starts seeing things, seeing Anna and he knows that he has to save her, as she saved them.  The question on everyone's mind is will he be able to and if he does will he be able to save himself.

I enjoy Cas as a character.  He's just as stubborn in this instalment as he was in the previous and I love it.  There are a lot of really hard decisions to think about in this one but he works through it without complaining.  This boy has been brought almost more thn anyone I can think of yet he keeps going.  Dies he do things that drive me a little nutty?  Yes.  But I keep in mind he is a teenager, a ghost hunter and a boy.  He is bound to go against rules, especially seeing he is so determined to save Anna and despite the seriousness of what is going on you do still get the Cas sarcasm and humour.  Basically what I am trying to say is that Cas is who he was in the last book and there is still everything you love about him but not really much different development.

  Anna is still a part of this novel but not like she was in the last.  Her role was also played out much differently than before.  Instead of being powerful and terrifying, she was the victim.  She was the one forced to fell unimaginable pain and suffering.  Damn near broke my heart to read some of the things she was dealing with, all the cost of saving Cas and his friends and family.  This I think left a void for me.  I truly missed her and her raw power and terror.  There was a time that you seen it again though and I enjoyed every moment of it!

  Carmel made me want to drop her a few times in this one.  She pulled her popular girl attitude out a couple of times and I had wished she didn't.  She turned her back on Thomas and even kind of ground him down when there really wasn't a need.  I got that she couldn't handle the danger anymore but why come running back then when she found out that they were doing even more dangerous things.  Why?!  If you don't want to be part of the danger than dont.  The fact that Thomas was still completely enamoured with her despite th fact she broke his heart also bothered me.  The redemption for these two especially Thomas was the loyality and that they did continue to have Cas's back when he needed it the most.

  The thing I admire most abou this novel was the ending.  It's not easy to end a series and tie up ends but I felt complete at the end of this book.  There is no denying that my heart ached a little in the end but over all Kandare made things righ and I really can't imagine it ending any other way than how it did.  I would love to see more of everyone but I wouldn't want the tidy ending messed up either.  Maybe we will see a sort of spin off or continuation of the series with a different character in the future.  I do highly suggest this series but if ghosts and gore make you squeamish I would suggest reading it in the day light.

Quotes

It's weird to think that the girl across the table, giving me secret dagger eyes, started out as just a mark.  Just a way to know the town.  It's weir to think that I once saw Thomas, my best friend, as an annoying, psychic tag along.

Thomas says it was nothing and Carmel makes a joke about getting harpooned.  They react like best friends should, and all of a sudden I feel like a total dick.

Thomas.  He's my best friend and sometimes he still makes it sound like he's a tag along.  Of course i want his help.  More than that: I need it.

Nobody answers.  I have no idea.  This place is strange.  People look at you in one slow wink, and they have a link to magic, like they're all Merlin's second cousins once removed.

"Can we just shut up and concentrate on getting through the death woods?" I snap, and keep my eyes straight ahead.  What are we talking about this for, when there are people hanging from branches like goddamn Christmas tree ornaments?