Review: The Ghost and the Goth By: Stacey Kade

Title: The Ghost and the Goth
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH, 288 Pages (June 29th, 2010)
From: the Author & Publisher, Thanks!

Synopsis: After a close encounter with the front end of a school bus, Alona Dare goes from Homecoming Queen to Queen of the Dead. Now she’s stuck here in spirit form with no sign of the big, bright light coming to take her away. To make matters worse, the only person who might be able to help her is Will Killian, a total loser/outcast type who hates the social elite. He alone can see and hear her, but he wants nothing to do with the former mean girl of Groundsboro High.

Can they get over their mutual distrust—and this weird attraction between them—to work together before Alona vanishes for good and Will is locked up for seeing things that don’t exist?

Review: 3.5 Stars - If you’re looking for a cute, light and often amusing read, The Ghost and the Goth fits the bill perfectly! With alternating chapter points of view, Kade has done a wonderful job allowing us to further understand both our main characters, Alona and Will – and in turn often gave this book a fresh and comedic feel.

Alona – our perfectly preppy popular girl… dies. In death she’s still that same girl, just no one can see or hear her. She walks around her High School and learns some harsh truths from all the people who were suppose to be her friends. She’s spunky and has some great moments throughout the book that made me giggle, yet when you get past that shell she’s hidden behind it was easy to see that no matter how much better you think the other person has it, you just might be wrong. It was nice to see the real Alona appear throughout, seeing her peek out from behind that shell she hide behinds and to see how her thoughts and views of the people she knew and didn’t know in life change in death.

Will – he’s a loner, wears dark clothes and without even trying he repels people with ease, the living that is. He’s trying to stay out of trouble long enough to graduate and move far, far away. What no one knows is… he can see and talk to ghosts. That is until Alona notices something in Will, that he can see her. He as a person changes as he learns things via his growing friendship with the ghost Alona. He’s just one of those characters that you wish could just walk out of the pages of a book.

Overall, Kade has written an amusing and light hearted tale with a few serious points mixed in that give the story serious moments that not only make her characters realistic but also that some readers will be able relate to. With Alona hiding things from her life and the want and need to move on and Will fighting being locked away for talking to the ghosts that only he can see… not to mention all the ghosts want something from him - the two opposite characters quickly realize they need to find a way to work together to achieve what each wants and needs.

Enjoyable from the first page and extremely likeable characters - the end of this book felt left open for a possible sequel or series and I would be happy to see just where Kade would take these two next. I’ll be on the lookout for more from her in the future.

FTC Disclaimer: I did not pay for this book, nor have I been compensated at all in any way or means for reading and writing this review.