by First Mate Keira
Title: The Ghost and the Goth
Author: Stacey Kade
Format: Hardback
Page Count: 304 pages
Grade Reading Level: Grades 6-10
Summary: Alona Dare used to be the most popular girl in high school. She was pretty, athletic, a cheerleader, dating a cute boy, tight with her BFF, and crowned Homecoming Queen 3 years in a row. Now she’s dead. Alona expects to find the whole of Groundsboro High School and her family in a turmoil of grief but finds instead her friends are trash talking her, her BFF openly making out with her boyfriend, and that the only person who can see and hear her is a goth boy from school she never talked to while alive. Determined to gain Will Killian’s help in getting to the bright white beaches of heaven, she haunts him until he caves... but his help comes with a price. Alona’s got to keep the other ghosts away from him and inadvertently steps into the role of his spirit guide.
Why I started this book:
I requested an ARC for Queen of the Dead
Likes:
- Alona and Will are stereotypical high school clique characters on the surface but dig a little deeper and you’ll find they are multilayered. Alona’s perfect life is not so perfect. Will’s goth tendencies are not what they seem.
- Alona’s vanity and superficial comments are funny. Got to love a girl who’s still concerned about her appearances in the afterlife. She’s also very insightful and smart. I like how her feelings for Will change throughout the book when she begins to notice things about his appearance (good teeth, broad chest, strong biceps…
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- I like how ghosts are more substantial around ghost-talkers. It certainly makes the romance between Alona and Will easier and super sexy. I always wondered how a ghost and a human would interact in a ghost romance. Love it.
Toss-Up:
- I’m not sure how I feel about the chapters alternating between Alona and Will. I tend to like my narratives to be a little more cohesive than that, but overall I was appreciative of how easy it was to find out what characters were thinking in different situations.
Dislikes:
- Alona’s mother’s inability to act like a grownup or a parent, and her father’s inability to stick up for his daughter to get her out of a situation where she has to act like the mom to an alcoholic because it would go against his second wife’s wishes and make his life more difficult.
- And along the same vein... Even though they’re handled lightly and not a huge drag, the story also covers suicide, bullying, sexual orientation, and blackmail. Topics I don’t usually go for.
Rating: 4.5 Treasure Chests
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