Waiting on Wednesday #14 - Antigoddess by Kendare Blake

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Expected publication: April 23, 2013
Publisher: Tor Teen

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god.

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning.

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out.

Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin. - Goodreads

I really enjoyed Anna Dressed In Blood, and I have Girl of Nightmares here to read. So needless to say I'd check out her next book too. 

     What's your Waiting on Wednesday book this week?  

Top Ten Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic discusses what Favorite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

This is actually kind of hard as nearly every book I've read this year was a new author to me and there were very few books out of those that I didn't like. 

This is the first ten that come to mind, though I know there are others that I loved.

Honourable mentions: Suzanne Young, Hannah Harrington, Kat Zhang, Sarah J. Mass, Lissa Price, Rebecca Lim and Meagan Spooner.

What is your top ten this week? Leave me a comment so I can visit yours. =) 


** All book covers link to their goodreads page if you would like more information on them**

Review: Anna Dressed In Blood (Anna #1)

Author: Kendare Blake
Publisher: Tor Teen

Release Date: August 30, 2011

Genre: Young Adult - Paranormal

Obtained from: Purchased

★★★★

Read from July 11 to 21, 2012

"Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead. 

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life." - Goodreads

This a great YA debut from Kendare Blake. I really liked her writing style and she can definitely write creepy scenes! Anna Dressed In Blood is a interesting book. 

When I first started reading I thought the main character was female. It took me a few minutes to understand that Cas was a male. I liked Cas. I have read a few people saying he was annoying or self important but I didn't take him that way. He hasn't really had much of a normal life, so I couldn't blame him for his 'lack of social skills.' ;)

Anna was an great character. I was drawn to know more about her and why is was the way she was. Her story was sad and it made it easy to be sympathetic towards her. 

The villian I never saw coming, nor some of the death's along the way. Plus the "snake" the villian had just made me want to punch his lights out! 

While I enjoyed the story, there were a few things that I didn't like or that were missing. 

1. It was never explained why she didn't want to hurt Cas.

2. Nothing was mentioned as to what made Anna that way.

3. The romance between Cas and Anna was not for me. Ghosts that you can touch just didn't seem right. 

I'll be looking forward to reading the sequel when it gets released.