The Ghost and the Goth

Synopsis

                                                                 

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?

The ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade

Released: June 29, 2010

Format: Hardcover

Pages:281

                                                           

Review  

Plot:  Interesting, a medium in high school a dead head cheerleader. Form an unlikely friendship after she abruptly dies. 

Characters: Alona is selfish,annoying, insensitive, manipulative but she grows on you and can't help but love her. Will is cynical,afraid,a coward running away for what is. In the end he too faces his demons and stops running. Together Alona and Will complement each other giving each other strength and humanity.    
Writing: I love Stacey Kade's writing style its very intimate like a conversation being overheard on the bus by two girls in the form of this book. 

Summary: This book is mainly focused on Alona and Will, everyone else are minor characters that aid in the story's development. At first you feel for Alona dying young in the way she did... For about two seconds she's annoying, selfish, manipulative but every now and then a spark of the real Alona would shine through. She grows on you as the story develops you begin to see a change in her. Qualities like intelligence  ,loyalty, self sacrifice to mention a few. Alona still has long way to go but dealing with home life and the emotional fallout of her parent's divorce, made her tough even in death. 
Will is the anti-social black hoody wearing outcast that talks to himself, at first Alona doesn't think anything of it but when Will sees her, at her worst moment no less crying and pathetic. Curious she follows him and discovers he a "ghost talker". At the start of the story Will is cynical,weak,a coward,who has no direction. And no longer talks to the dead (that doesn't stop them from talking to him), adamant that helping the dead never works out, and for his trouble he's a hair trigger away from being committed to the loony bin. Not to mention his mother doesn't know he's a medium and after his dad's suicide, she is vulnerable. Afraid Will does  everything in his power to make her happy even see a shrink, he doesn't need because he's not crazy. Forsaking himself, but gradually he becomes more sure of himself, and finds the courage to follow his own path and his place with Alona. A few other plot twists that happen but I've given away enough spoilers to intrigue you and not spoil the experience. I give The Ghost and the Goth a five out of five. I loved this book and can't wait for Queen of the dead. 

Rating: 13+ , Mild violence, No cursing.