Book Review: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade
Release Date: June 29th, 2010
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; 281 pages

Review Completed by: Saleana

Goodreads Summary: Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheer-leading squad, Homecoming Queen three years in a row, voted most likely to marry a movie star… and newly dead.

I’m the girl you hated in high school. Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot bod, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?

Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.

I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation?

My Review: Let’s start at the beginning. The cover! This is one of the few covers where I think that the models actually look like the characters in the novel. Most of the time there are covers, gorgeous as they may be, that don’t really reflect the characters. I find that this is disappointing. I know that it’s hard to find people that look like the magnificent characters that we all love, but I think most of readers wish to see covers that actually look like the storyline, or as close to it as possible.

When you glance at this gorgeous cover you can instantly tell that this is going to be about a fun, flirty, confident girl with blonde hair, which Alona does actually have, and a boy that likes to wear dark clothes and likes to keep to himself, which Will is. You also get the feeling that Alona is dead. That could just be me, but when I see glowing people, I usually visualize an angelic choir, ya know universal symbol of those gone towards the bright light – it must be the stereotypical glowing halos. I also get the feeling that Will wants nothing to do with the girl since he’s looking away and leaning away from her even though she seems to capture him, with, her, um… legs. Get your mind out of the gutter! Look at the pretty cover! Her legs are tented over his! I’m not making this up! I also adore the outfits that they’re wearing! They go along with the story line! Talk about magnificent.

Now on to the really good stuff: the story inside the gorgeous cover. From reading the back cover, which has little blurbs from the characters perspectives and in their tone I was expecting a self-centered Alona and a Will that just wanted to get through life without making too many waves. Can I abuse the caps lock for a moment? SUCCESS! The characters were true to the voices that were assigned to them even before the story was started ( referring to the back covers) and that made this all the more enjoyable. A lot of times there are tones on the covers of novels, which are trying to highlight the story, and then the characters fall out of character or develop and don’t continue on the same pathway that was originally made for them. So if you like characters that are true to themselves throughout the novel, you’re in for a treat!

I’ll admit that Alona mildly annoyed me in the beginning. It was her attitude, but soon into the book I learned to love her snark. It’s the snark that makes her, and you can see that it’s her shield against her hard life, well, afterlife. Of course it’s none other than Will “Kill” who comes to her rescue…kinda. They help each other out in the book and we see that Will isn’t really the dark character that we thought he was. For instance, instead of blasting heavy metal, as found in the goth stereotype, he listens to classical music. (Can you hear my heart fluttering?)

Throughout the novel Will and Alona get closer and so if you like the “forbidden” romance, or the whole unrequited love thing then this is also right up your alley. I’m not a guy, but I felt for Will after a few scenes! Not only are things with Alona in the love department throwing him for a loop, the whole evil spirit isn’t helping either!

The whole story is also set on a bit of a mystery, what the heck is attacking Will, who is it? What’s going on? Evil demon cloud thingy what??? His principal is ALWAYS on his case and his mom just doesn’t seem to get it. I really felt sorry for him, because on top of his hard life he’s got Alona needing his help, tantalizing him and he doesn’t even get a breather. If you like the tortured boy then you’ll love The Ghost and the Goth!

Bottom Line: The Ghost and the Goth is for anyone who likes a subtle, forbidden romance. Snarky, funny main character lovers would adore this and anyone who has a thing for light mystery. We’re not talking Sherlock Holmes, but this is just as good. Anyone who likes a bit of a tear jerker would like this as well, since Alona’s background, and Will’s for that fact, made me frown and almost tear up. A great read and if you liked this be sure to check out the sequel “Queen of the Dead” and be sure to look for the third installment: “Body & Soul!”

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 17th, 2011 at 1:23 am and is filed under ghosts, paranormal romance, Saleana, SERIES, The Ghost and the Goth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.