A review for The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

Posted by Donna

Published Date: June 29th, 2010
Finished Date: April 6th, 2011
The Blurb: Alona Dare was the most popular girl in her high school class, or at least she was until she was run over by a school bus. Returning to the scene of her death as a ghost, she anticipates overwhelming grief at her untimely death. To her surprise, her classmates quickly move on. Not only that, but weird outcast Will Killian can see and hear her. Alona, used to getting her own way, haunts Will until he agrees to help her figure out how to progress from ghosthood to the big white light that she keeps expecting. Will has problems of his own; namely that every ghost in Groundsboro High, including a seething black mass of energy, now knows that he can see them, and they all want him to carry out their last wishes. Will and Alona have to work together to get the ghosts to stop tormenting Will, and to figure out exactly what Alona has to do in order to move on from this world. Their new relationship is full of surprises as they each experience a side of the other that neither expected.


The Review: I'll be honest when I say I had never heard of this book before I spotted the second book up for review on NetGalley. So when I got approved for book 2, of course I had to get this one. The Ghost and the Goth is by author Stacey Kade and I was actually quiet surprised to find that I did enjoy this book. 

The story starts with Alona Dare, who has recently died by being run over by a school bus. Alona is trying to figure out why she is walking the world as a ghost and decides to go see her former friends who she has found have moved on pretty quickly after her death. While walking through school, she's alone and upset but she soon realises that there is one person who can see her and that's outcast Will Killian - a goth with medical problems....or that's how it seems. Can Will really see Alona? or is he crazy like everyone thinks? 

I rated this book 3 stars because although I liked the story, it was a pretty basic book, nothing to confusing and even though I believe its wrote for a younger audience, I still found myself enjoying the story. What's not to like, funny characters, a good story line and romance that slowly grows. Alona and Will for me, were great main characters. Even though they are completely different, the one thing that brings them together is Will being a Sear and Alona being dead. And because of that, they connect and become the friends they never would of been at school. I'm glad that this book didn't really focus to much on the romance, you can see it starting to develop but the book itself wasn't to focused on that. I found that I enjoyed this story more because we got to read about other things rather than the main character pining over each other. One thing I loved, was the humour. Both Will and Alona have some funny lines in this story and one I will hope to see in the next book too. 

Overall, I would recommend this book over the summer. Its fun, light and loveable, a great teen read.