Book:  The Ghost And The Goth
Author:  Stacey Kade
Published:  June 29, 2010 from Hyperion
My edition/number of pages:  HC/281

Age group:  Young adult
Source:  Publisher
Series?:  Yes.  First book.

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?

The Ghost And The Goth is a refreshingly unique YA paranormal book.  No vampires, werewolves, or fairies stand a chance against the ghost of Alona Dare.

Alona Dare is dead and she is not happy about it.  She is only 17 and she has so much more to do.  The only good thing she has to look forward to about dying is heaven.  Too bad she wakes up the next morning in the middle of the road where she died.  The worst thing is that the only person who can communicate with her is creepy Will Killian.  Alona is determined to move on and if that means using Will Killian, she will do it.  Now she just has to get him to agree.

Alone Dare was annoyingly rude.  It was no wonder she didn’t go on to heaven.  She was positively mean and she didn’t even try to hide it.  I absolutely hated her at first but luckily she grew on me throughout the book.  Will, on the other hand, was pretty good.  He was definitely misunderstood because of his ability.  I really felt bad for him and I loved seeing him grow as the book went on.  He learned how to control himself a little more and Alona actually helped him.

The plot was a little odd.  It seemed really slow at the beginning and then just popped up out of nowhere at the end.  It almost seemed rushed but it was still good  because I didn’t see it coming.  That may have been part of the reason it seemed rushed.  I hope there are more books with Alona and Will in the plans because it seems like there is a lot more they can do.

Overall, The Ghost And The Goth is a fabulous debut from Stacey Kade.  While I hope there is more about Alona and Will, I’m pretty sure anything Stacey Kade comes up with next will be great.

First line:  It was easy enough to sneak out of school.

Writing:  5

Characters:  5

Plot:  4

Ending:  5

Originality:  5

Overall:  22=B+

Cover:  5=A++