Book Review: The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade

The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade (4.5 stars)

First, I would like to congratulate Stacey Kade for making such a wonderful book; you are a very unique writer. Making a review about the book is just a pleasure to do.

It isn’t the daily type of book I usually read, maybe that’s the reason that I loved it so much. The writing and witty comebacks were hilarious. Everything about it was just candid and adorable. Since the book is written with different POV’s I had a good understanding about the characters, and because of Kade’s unique writing skills , I saw Alona and Killian’s true personalities. The writing made them stand out not just as a character(s) but as a true person, you can relate to.

I had no real expectations for this book, I read a few reviews about it, and most of them were balanced, some loved it, some didn’t. I didn’t know what to expect from it, and as much as possible, I didn’t want my judgment to be affected by a few opinions from my friend. So, even with my friend’s negative opinion about it, I started reading it.

It wasn’t a complex story at all, it just started with Alona Dare (btw I so loved her name) who died and was trying to find a way to “move on to the light”, then unexpectedly she learns that Killian, goth and ‘loser’ can see spirits like her. She tries to find her way to make a deal with him so that she can move on. On the other hand, Will a.k.a Killian, doesn’t want to have any interactions with spirits, and he definitely did not expect that he would meet Alona Dare’s ghost. But with Alona’s help (to his surprise), she finds a way to help him, a lot. He made a deal with Alona that he would help her find “the light” and then she will help him shoo the other spirits. But they both didn’t anticipate how much they would need each other.

It wasn’t really hard to figure out the rest of what happened to the story (believe me, if you read many books already you would’ve probably guessed what happened by the middle of the book). But it still felt good reading it.
Other than the good writing, I found myself loving the characters, (in short, Alona and Killian). There wasn’t really a part in the book that describes the other characters other than Joonie. So I found myself really intact with Alona and Killian.

Alona Dare (I still can’t get over her name >.<) is a very admirable woman. Sure she is mean and a bit of a snob-ish type of girl, but I can’t hate her for that. She does her best so that she would be respected as one of the first-tier students even though her mother is a drunk and her father found another person to make a family with. Her story was just sad, but I liked her so much because she chose not to be affected by it. She made herself independent by choosing to be successful in her school life. Although in the process of going through her personal problems, she did step on other people, hurt their feeling and maybe even their confidence. But you know what? Even though she did those kind of bad things, I still like her.

Because for one thing, she doesn’t try to be good to other people if she doesn’t like them, and if she’s angry she’ll show it, and she won’t be plastic! That’s exactly why I like her. She isn’t plastic! She is true to herself and she doesn’t deny the fact that she IS a mean girl. That’s who she is. At least she accepts it.

For Killian, well, I think the picture in the book is a bad illustration for him. He’s not the hottest person I could imagine, but I’m sure there’s something in his feature that would make him attractive. I don’t like him as much as I like Alona, but he is a very amusing guy, not exactly in my list of book boyfriends but still I think of him as a big brother or maybe someone who could be my boy buddy at school. His matchup with Alona was obvious from the start, they were like cats and dogs (and we already know where that ends up), he just seems a bit weak for a guy who can see spirits, his personal problems weren’t really a big problem, it was just a few flaws in his life. He didn’t hit me as the type of person I would root for. But I was really glad when he manned up and told the truth by the end. It was a good step for masculinity but I wish he would be, more vibrant and memorable in the next sequel.

Other than the characters, the cover for me was just average, I loved the concept of the picture, but the title font was a bit cliché for me. I would recommend this to anyone, It’s a fun novel to read and you will feel a wee bit happier after reading it too. :D