Showing posts with label Stacey Kade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stacey Kade. Show all posts

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Review: Queen of the Dead

Book: Queen of the Dead (Ghost and the Goth Book 2)
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion Books
Release Date: June 7, 2011
Pages: 288
Source: ARC Tour
Date Read: March 16, 2011

Summary:

After being sent back from the light, Alona Dare - former homecoming queen, current Queen of the Dead - finds herself doing something she never expected: working. Instead of spending days perfecting her tan by the pool (her typical summer routine when she was, you know, alive), Alona must now cater to the needs of other lost spirits. By her side for all of this - ugh - “helping of others” is Will Killian: social outcast, seer of the dead, and someone Alona cares about more than she’d like.

Before Alona can make a final ruling on Will’s “friend” or “more” status, though, she discovers trouble at home. Her mom is tossing out Alona’s most valuable possessions, and her dad is expecting a new daughter with his wicked wife. Is it possible her family is already moving on? Hello! She’s only been dead for two months! Thankfully, Alona knows just the guy who can put a stop to this mess.

Unfortunately for Alona, Will has other stuff on his mind, and Mina, a young (and beautiful) seer, is at the top of the list. She’s the first ghost-talker Will’s ever met—aside from his father—and she may hold answers to Will’s troubled past. But can she be trusted? Alona immediately puts a check mark in the “clearly not” column. But Will is - ahem - willing to find out, even if it means leaving a hurt and angry Alona to her own devices, which is never a good idea.

Packed with romance, lovable characters, and a killer cliffhanger, Queen of the Dead is the out-of-this-world sequel to The Ghost and the Goth.

Yani's Analysis:
I was sooooooo excited to read this book and that might have been my undoing. I loved the first one so much I just wanted to jump back in to Will and Alona, but alas something is keeping them apart. This book felt so long yet so short at the same time. The whole book takes place in a span of a couple of days, so its very action packed and detailed. The characters are still amazing, I really LOVE Will and Alona together, but this second book is more about the back story. We learn more about Will's father and Alona's family.Still I just wanted to spend some alone time with Will and Alona, hopefully the third book can give me some more of that.

Also, this book has a little bit of a more serious undertone, the characters are growing up, finding things about the world they live in, its a little more realistic. There is so much more I want to say about the book, but I don't want to give anything away. I am very curious to see where Kade is taking the story, which has grown from a ghost love story to a more mature growth story of a girl who thought she had it all, but didn't know what she was missing and a boy who because of his special ability used to keep people out and is now finally letting them in.

The writing is amazing as usual. Kade really knows her characters and makes me feel like I know them too.
I can't wait till the third books comes out in 2012.... Gah thats a long time from now!

Ratings:
Plot: 4/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Uniqueness: 4/5
Characters: 5/5

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Review: The Ghost and the Goth

Book: The Ghost and the Goth (Book #1)
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion Book
Release Date: 6/29/2010
Pages: 281
Source: Bought
Date Read: 2/14/2011

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 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?

Yani's Analysis:
As soon as I finished this book, I just could not wait to get my hands on more. Alone Dare is the girl you love to hate, but secretly you would love to be her. She is confident and brutally honest, yet not as insufferable as other characters (see Here Lies Bridget review). It was a cute read, but it also had some depth and mystery. I would say this book is a cross between the seriousness of Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver and the Mediator Series by Meg Cabot.

If you loved the Mediator series as I do, you will really enjoy this book. Told in alternating viewpoints, Alona and Will describe their adventure fighting off ghosts, mean principals, a money grubbing psychiatrist, a dark and scary cloud-like energy ( a la Lost), and their attraction to each other.

This is a refreshing funny take on paranormal romances today, with a side moral lesson of learning to be a nice person. I really really really liked this book and I can't wait for the next one.

Why did I give it 5 stars? While it might not be the deepest, it changed my life type of book, it DID keep me turning the pages anxiously wondering what would happen next.
Ratings:

Plot: 5/5
Writing Style: 5/5
Uniqueness: 3/5
Characters: 5/5

Similar Titles:
ParanormalcyShadowland (The Mediator, Book 1)

Other Memorable Quotes:
"My popularity was frozen forever at its peak. I felt like I'd crossed the finish line of a race I hadn't even known I was running" Alona
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