Mainstream Mini Review: Girl of Nightmares

Girl of Nightmares (Anna, #2)

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.

~ My Review ~

I have to say, it was much harder for me to get into the swing of things this time around. I guess I was hoping for more emphasis on Cas and Anna. (I seriously love the idea of their romance!) But, by the end I was satisfied, predominantly in a bittersweet way. I agree with Cas' decision and I kind of knew in the beginning it ultimately would end the way it did. However, I feel like 95% of this "book 2" was preparation for the conclusion. Which gave me a rushed feeling once I got closer to the end. I wouldn't go as far as to say the middle was fluff, but I definitely would have gotten on better with Girl of Nightmares if some parts were condensed and the end was expanded upon. Maybe I'm just sad there's no third installment, or that my sappy romantic hopes for Cas weren't realized. But, I love this author's down to earth style. Her characters are ones I will remember, for sure.