Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

So, it hasn't been that long ago that I blogged about Anna Dressed in Blood.  It was an excellent creepy book, that kept me on the edge of my seat.  It also really surprised me (in a good way) that a YA author would be willing to gruesomely kill off some of her characters.  I know that sounds weird, but as a diehard fan of Stephen King, in my book, the more out there it gets, the better. 

Warning:  If you haven't read Anna Dressed in Blood, then you might want to skip the last paragraph. 

Girl of Nightmares is Anna's sequel, and while I wasn't disappointed, I felt that for once, a trilogy would have served Blake better. I know it seems to be the trend in YA literature to have trilogies pop up everywhere. It has really become way over used. However, I think that Blake wrapped up this series too quickly. SInce I went into the book thinking that it would be a trilogy, I kept expecting it to leave me hanging. Although I was glad that didn't happen, I felt that Blake wrapped up the ending the way too abruptly. I'm hoping that she will change her mind and we will get to see Cas again from her somewhere down the road.

Girl of Nightmares, like the first book, has some seriously creepy moments, but they are fewer and farther between. The book opens six months after Anna dragged the Obeahman to Hell and saved Cas and his friends. However, Cas can't move on. He can't let Anna go. What's worse is that he begins to see and hear her everywhere. She is being tortured constantly because she didn't cross over to where she was supposed to go. She is trapped with the Obeahman and he is still feeding off of her pain and fear. Cas knows that he can never move on while she is suffering. He decides that he has to go after her and bring her back. This decision sparks tension between him and his friends, and starts Cas on a journey that will take him far from home.... in more ways than one.

An Abundance of Katherines

I read An Abundance of Katherines a while back, and actually blogged about it, but I'm now maintaining two separate blogs with basically the same posts.  Since blogspot is essentially blocked to students at school, I've created my own blog on my school website.  But, I really prefer blogspot, so I'm keeping both up and running. 

I have found that I really enjoy John Green's books. His characters are quirky and fun, but usually just normal teenagers struggling with various issues. An Abundance of Katherines fits into his usual category, but I think I expected too much from this book. I loved the premise, and I liked the book, but I felt like he could have taken it in a different direction at times.

Colin Singleton, a recent high school graduate, embarks on a road trip with his best friend Hassan, in order to get over his latest breakup with Katherine XIX. Yes, that's right, Colin only dates girls named Katherine....K A T H E R I N E, not Catherine or any other variation. He also has been dumped by all nineteen of his former Katherines. Collin was a child prodigy who wants more than anything to reach his potential and become a genius. He fears that he won't matter and that his abilities in languages, codes, and anagrams will be the only thing that he will ever be good at. Hassan has been out of high school for a year, but has yet to do anything with his life. He has taken off a year....or two, or more from going to college. Their road trip leads them to a small town in Tennesee called Gutshot, where the two boys make friends, get a job, and learn that there is more to life than they originally thought.