Audiobook: Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Read by August Ross

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 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 Thoughts: I absolutely loved the audio production of Anna Dressed in Blood! I was completely captivated by it and was terrified a few times. Though the ending was not what I expected, I felt that the first book was a perfect stand-alone. So I was surprised to learn that there was a sequel. I could not wrap my mind around as to what direction Ms. Baker took Anna and Cas' story in this second book. I was intrigued, though, to find out; plus, the cover just kept calling out to me. I decided to try the audio again since it worked out very well the first time.

The story definitely took a different route than the first book. Anna was in hell, there was a cult, and Cas' life was at stake. All of this would have sounded great but it didn't work out very well for me. I loved the parts of Anna. They were creepy and reminded me why I loved the first book. Unfortunately, there weren't many of these scenes. In fact, there wasn't much of Anna. The story mostly concentrated on Cas' obsession in trying to free Anna and how the cult wanted to replace the wielder of the athame. I was weirded out by Cas' obsession; it was just not healthy. I wanted to slap him and tell him that he needed to let Anna go even if she were in hell. The cult parts were a bit interesting but at the same time they were too boring. I didn't really see their purpose in the story other than to give background information on the athame.

I don't think I would have finished this book if it weren't for August Ross, the narrator of the production. Just like in the first audio, he was able to capture Cas' character very well. He was able to entertain me by the way he told the story. He especially made the creepy scenes with Anna quite chilling. August Ross did a wonderful job.

Overall, I liked the production and I liked the scary bits. Girl of Nightmares was not as good as the first book, but I'm glad that it gave Anna's character a decent ending. I rate it: