My Rating- 4 STARS
Synopsis- 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 liveānot 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- Girl of Nightmares set a bit of a different pace to Anna Dressed in Blood. It wasn't as action filled until towards the end of the book though it did open up the story and show us how Cassio's knife was created and what darker powers it possesses. It was definitely slower moving.
Anna is haunting Cas from the place she dragged herself and the voodoo ghost in to. It is her Hell and the Obeahman's world to play in. Here is he strong and uses the endless hours to torment Anna and subject her to every painful torture imaginable. Since she was cut with Cassio's knife, she has a link to him in the real world and he is forced to watch her suffer time and time again. It is tearing Cas apart and he knows in his heart she does not belong in that kind of Hell. His love for her sets him on a path to free her from that world and the grip voodoo ghost. The path leads him to the Order that created his Athame knife and they are not happy that he wants to pull a murderous ghost from Hell, whether she belongs there or not. The Price for bringing her back is high but the choice for Cas is easy, he feels in his heart he is doing the right thing.
This book was written fantastically, I love Cassio's 'voice', I love being in his mind....but that ending! In one way I was glad about it, but in another way I felt let down. His love for Anna is special and he went through so much for her for it to end that way. Still, I loved Girl of Nightmares, though maybe not quite as much as Anna Dressed in Blood which I found more passionate and gripping. Thomas and Carmel, as always, are brilliant and I like Carmel more and more as the series progresses..
Just....that ending....