Review: The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade

The Ghost and the Goth Stacey Kade
Published: June 2010
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Alona Dare–Senior in high school, co-captain of the cheerleading 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 body, 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?

Note that I read this book over 2 years ago so my review is going to be rather short and vague.

Alona and Will are the complete opposites; she’s the co-captain of the cheerleaders, home coming queen; one of the most popular girls in high school. Will is the outcast of the school, he doesn’t have many friends and he’s often also bullied by other kids. One thing brings these two together and it’s Alona’s death. Will can talk to ghosts so not only is Will trying to survive high school but he’s also the freak that can talk to dead people.

I’m obviously not at all surprised that these two get together and that even though they are the exact opposites to each other there is an attraction to them. Even if one of them is dead. Nothing in this book was a surprise, everything was pretty much laid out by the title and the lovely cover. Saying that, I did enjoy the book in a I would read this if there was nothing better to read way. It’s a fun and loveable book with great characters. Alona is the girl that’s hated but loved and praised by everyone. She’s the one that “has it all” and it’s not until her death that she realises just what people thought about her. I would have most likely gone crazy if the whole book was in her voice. I’m so glad that Will got to have chapters and we could see the clear difference between the two. It worked so well.

However the book didn’t have any sort of spark for me; I didn’t find myself grinning like an idiot at it, I didn’t feel my heart racing away at the thrill of the words; the book was very plain, and plain works for this book and this particular storyline.

This is a great story and it’s fun with lovely characters but don’t expect too much from it.