3.5 stars 
 This review originally posted at Hooked on Books 
 *Warning this review contains spoilers for Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake* 
 It's been months since Anna sacrificed herself to save Cas, Thomas and Carmel, but Cas just can't seem to let her go. He's seeing her everywhere, hearing her voice and he knows that he needs to save her. No matter what it takes. 
 I really enjoyed Anna Dressed in Blood. It was a good old fashioned ghost story and perfect to read on a stormy night. The one criticism I had was that the relationship just felt weird to me. It seemed tacked on to the end of the story and just unnatural in every sense of the word. Plus no one in Cas' universe seemed to think it was weird either. Yeah right. So you can imagine my disappointment when the majority of this book is focused on Cas' feelings about Anna. Girl of Nightmares went in a completely different direction than Anna Dressed in Blood. The "someone took a giant needle and injected this book with 50 cc's of angst" direction. 
 Don't get me wrong. I'm not totally heartless. I understand that Cas misses Anna. I understand that he feels like he owes her for saving his life. But when EVERYONE (including witches and voodoo masters who clearly know what they're talking about) is telling you not to do something, maybe you should stop for a moment and re-evaluate your life choices. And then to tell your WIDOWED mother, that she doesn't understand why you would want to bring someone back from the other side....Not cool Cas. Not cool. 
 But I hung in there and Girl of Nightmares did improve somewhere around the halfway mark. It felt like the story was finally beginning, as Cas finally stopped talking about Anna and started to actually take action. He faces some new challenges and Kendare Blake managed to capture the suspense and thrills of Anna Dressed in Blood in a way that was completely new and a little unexpected. And she introduced a new character! Jestine. Whom I loved. She was sassy and competent and by far the best female character to come out of this series. I would gladly read a spin off just about her, I found her so interesting and wanted to know more about what she did after Girl of Nightmares ended. 
 Recommendation: Overall, Girl of Nightmares was a fairly interesting read but it didn't capture me the same way Anna Dressed in Blood did. In all honesty, I think this story would have worked much better as a standalone.