Girl of Nightmares/Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake (Anna Dressed in Blood book 2); young adult, horror; 336 pages

It's been six months since teenage ghost hunter Cas faced down the demonic spirit that killed his father. And six months since Anna, the ghost he loved, sacrificed herself to save him and his friends. Anna's on the other side now, where she belongs, so Cas should be able to move on, right? But he keeps seeing Anna every time he turns around--and she's always in pain or torment. And it's not just him imagination, because the mysterious knife with which he kills ghosts grows warmer whenever she's around...

Of all the things I picked up at PLA, this was far and away my favorite. I was so psyched to get an arc of this that I called my other (librarian) friends to brag that night. Yeah, I know, I'm a nerd. This story is every bit as action packed and genuinely scary as the first volume. Cas and Anna's romance didn't feel quite as powerful here (they're separated for this book, so the only way we knew about it was for Cas to keep reminding us), but I was willing to let that slide in favor of the awesome action scenes, and the secret society the comes up later in the book. There's also a scene in a certain forest that will give me nightmares for weeks. The ending was more abrupt than I hoped, and Blake has stated that this will be the last installment in the series. However, she leaves enough loose ends that I can hope she'll continue to tell stories in this world (there's a character introduced in this book that I'd love to get to know better!). This comes out in August, so be sure to check it out then!