Review: The Ghost and the Goth (The Ghost and the Goth #1) by Stacey Kade

Synopsis (Goodreads):

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 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 Thoughts:  Fun book, fun book, fun book!  Stacey Kade hit the perfect balance between light hearted snark (Alona, your straight talking ways had me cracking up on several occasions) and the idea that there's more to a person than what we see on the surface.  That goes for both Alona and Will.  They both have hidden depths.  They both see only the surface projection and have to come to the startling conclusion that sometimes what you see is not the truth.

Alona.  Oh, Alona.  She's the girl we love to hate.  She's pretty, popular and her life seems to be perfect.  She's also been gifted with the ability to flay a person alive with one cutting glance.  Yep, she's the girl we love to hate.  So, how did I end up liking her so much?  It was probably her smart mouth.  Or the way she tries to help Will deal with authority.  Whatever it was, it worked!

Speaking of Will, how adorable is he?  All tortured and emo and somehow sexy cool because of it.  *le sigh*  I do love my tortured men, don't I?  I loved how he kept getting caught off guard by Alona's little verbal bombs- like when she mentioned that his chest was broad and his biceps were big. Ha!  It amuses me so much when guys are all Whaaaaat?

This was one of those fun, fast, light reads that gives you great characters and just ends up charming the pants off of you.  Or at least it would have charmed the pants off of me if I was wearing any pants.  :)  Anyway.  I loved it.  I loved that Alona had to learn to look for the good in people and Will was a leg man.  What?  It made me laugh that he kept getting distracted by her legs.

Now I have to hunt down book 2 and get more Alona and Will!

More books by Stacey Kade

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