Review: Body & Soul (The Ghost and the Goth, #3) by Stacey Kade

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Publisher: Hyperion (Disney Book Group)

Spoilers?: No, very minor.

Amazon Synopsis:

 Alona Dare has been living as Lily “Ally” Turner for over a month...and it's not been easy. Besides being trapped in a body so not as good as her original one, she's failing miserably at playing the sister and daughter of people she barely knows. Plus, she can't help but think that Will Killian - the boy she hates to care about - somehow wishes the real Lily were back.

 She and Will have been trying to find a solution, looking for a two-for-one miracle that would free Alona and keep Lily alive. Visits to local psychics have proven useless, but then they stumble across Malachi the Magnificent, who seems to be different. His office is full of ghosts, for one thing. But Malachi doesn’t seem to hear or see them, which is odd. Plus, he bolts the moment he sees Will. To make things even weirder, Misty Evans, Alona's former best friend, is waiting in Malachi's lobby and claiming that she's being haunted. By Alona.

Will's convinced that Malachi has answers, while Alona is all kinds of pissed that someone's impersonating her. But their efforts to uncover the truth will bring them much unwanted attention and put them directly in the path of a ghost who will stop at nothing for another stab at life. Even if it means destroying Alona.

Review:

I was really looking forward to this book, although a bit worried, but mostly excited. And I’m not really sure if it was everything I was hoping for. It was really good, yes, but it just didn’t seem as polished or as good as the last few.

This book was the conclusion to the series, which is upsetting, but it was a good ending, so that was nice. It starts off somewhat close to where the last one ended, and moves forward pretty smoothly. I was a bit surprised at some of it, when we met some new people, and maybe would have liked to meet more people like Will, but it was interesting nonetheless. I won’t spoil what happens, but I wasn’t expecting it when starting the novel (although I did leave my mind open to whatever was going to happen). It was good, and I liked the ending. It’s what I was hoping would happen.

In the other books, I really liked Will and Alona, and I still did in this book, but they didn’t seem as perfected, as in-character, as they should have been. A little exaggerated, maybe, or immature. Some of it just seemed like Kade could have gone over the book again, like it needed another edit run-through for the characters and just some general sentences, and it would have been as good as the previous ones. I’m disappointed about it. Also, Will and Alona were fighting way too much, almost always arguing with each other. I get that they were unhappy with each other, but there was too much couple-angst going on, and it bothered me. I’m not sure if that’s just because I wanted more romantic stuff to happen or because it wasn’t all that well done, though. Maybe the previous books were building up to this, to this problem for them to fight over? It might have just been me, since it did have some reason.

Aside from that I enjoyed it. As I said, I liked the ending. The whole choosing thing was nice, and I was happy with it.

Review: Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth, #2) by Stacey Kade

Rating (Out of 5): 4

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

Review:

I am really enjoying this series so far, and am pretty excited for the next one.

I like Alona, the ghost. She's thinks very highly of herself, is pretty narcissistic (is that the word I'm looking for?), but she has her moments. I really enjoy reading her chapter. Although she did something in this book, that she really shouldn't have done. And I'm a little unsure how to feel about it. Because it sucks on her part, even if she didn't really mean to go that far, and I feel bad for the girls mother (but I won't expand on who's, since I don't want to give too much away), and it can cause some mixed feelings that I don't want between her and Will. But it also can be very good for her... I'm unsure what to think about it, but am intrigued to see where it all goes next.

I also really like Will, the goth who's not really a goth. He's sweet, and I find his whole leg thing cute and very fun. And I like him and Alona, but also feel unsure because I don't know where things are going to go, with her being a ghost and all. And the big thing that happens with Alona in this one, which I mentioned above, doesn't really help things. It can very easily make them worse.

Not much of the book focused on Will. Or, something bigger happened to Alona, so that's what sticks out most in my mind. And some things happened with Will and the ghosts, some of which was kind of nice.
I like Kade's writing, it's easy, and her characters are all pretty well done. They're different from each other, (and it's a bit impressive, since this is only her second book and first series).

I'm excited to see what happens in the next one, which I believe is the last? It is a trilogy, right? I can't remember. Either way, I'm lookin' forward to it.