GUEST BLOG POST - STACEY KADE (The Ghost & The Goth Series)

On the blog today we have a special guest blog post from author STACEY KADE.  I have recently read both books in the series - The Ghost and The Goth & Queen of The Dead - and thoroughly enjoyed each one.

I hope you enjoy her post - very entertaining!

GUEST POST by Stacey Kade
You'll forgive me if the tone of this post is a little misty and nostalgic. I've just discovered something I never quite anticipated: I miss Alona Dare and Will Killian.

I've spent the last four years with them (in my head) pretty much on a daily basis. I wrote the very first draft of The Ghost and the Goth waaaaay back in 2007. It was an incomplete draft. As in, it didn't have an ending. I got stuck about 3/4 of the way through and stopped. (By the way, writers out there who might be reading this? Don't do that. Don't stop. BAD IDEA.)

It might never have gone farther than that, but I loved the story (even as frustrated as I was with the non-ending). And that spring, I attended the Romantic Times Booklover's Convention. In casual conversation with an agent, who'd asked what I was working on, I described the basic outline of the story. Alona Dare: Mean girl. Cheerleader. Homecoming Queen. Ghost. Will Killian: Social outcast. Weird guy. Potentially crazy. Ghost-talker.

And she said, "Sounds interesting. Send it to me."

Whoa. Then I knew I had to finish. Confirmation that the story was intriguing to someone else beyond myself was the only motivation I needed. Well, that and a LOT of chocolate.

In rapid succession after that, I finished my draft and signed with an agent (not the one who asked, but another one who LOVED the story). She then sold the book to Disney-Hyperion. Amazing.

And now, more than three years later, I've finished the trilogy. There were many struggles, drafts, revisions, and moments where I was convinced I'd written myself into a corner I couldn't get out of, that I'd never reach the ending I'd been picturing since book one.

But now, suddenly, somehow I wrote THE END. I turned the final book, Body & Soul, in several months ago, and it's currently going through the process of becoming a book (editing, copyediting, design, and more). It'll be out in the US on May 29, 2012.

And though I'm incredibly excited about my new series (the first book is THE RULES in 2013--yea!!!), I'm still just a little bit sad at the prospect of never hearing Alona bitch about someone's outfit again or watching Will attempt to contain his frustration at her strange and sort of selfish ways.

So, to stave off that melancholy, I thought I'd share a few hints about what's to come in Body & Soul (forgive the vagueness, trying not to make it too spoiler-y):
--Alona is still...stuck in the situation she found herself in at the end of Queen of the Dead, but there's a good chance you'll see her in her gym uniform once more.

--Once again, the actions of Will's father before his death play a significant role in what is to happen.

--There is a potentially a new spirit guide on the scene.

--We catch up with Misty, Alona's former BFF, and learn that things have not been going so well in her life lately...and she blames Alona. Alona's ghost, that is.

There! I feel better. How about you? :)

Thank you so much Stacey for taking the time to write a blog post for us. I know you have been super busy lately so I greatly appreciate it!

Enjoy!

Marissa

BOOK REVIEW: 4 Stars ! QUEEN OF THE DEAD by STACEY KADE

Title:  QUEEN OF THE DEAD (A Ghost and The Goth Novel)
Author:  STACEY KADE
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Pages:
Acquired:  Review Ebook from NetGalley


RATING:    4 out of 5 Snarky Alona Stars !!


Description from Goodreads:

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:

Next in line to the Ghost and The Goth Series is Queen of The Dead......I enjoyed this just as much as the first book. Thanks Stacey Kade for writing a thoroughly enjoyable read yet again. 

We continue with Alona Dare, newly crowned Queen of The Dead (and deceased herself!) and Will Killian, seer of the dead and the mortal half to Alona's dead entity!  Together they aim to put to rest the insecurities or wrong doings of the ghosts that haunt them - helping them all to "cross over into the light"!

A straight continuance from the ending of The Ghost and The Goth was great - no lengthy gap with a quick infill of what took place between the two books.  We get to read in both Alona and Will's POV which Kade has done really well.  We get a great personal feeling for each individual and even get to watch Alona grow and ever so slightly mature in her own self-absorbed kind of way!! 

Alona's family seems to be moving on now she's been dead 5 minutes!!  and Alona's not coping too well with it.  She must take matters into her own hands seeing as Will has crossed paths with a fellow seer - and yes it's a girl!!  A little green eyed monster starts to sneak out of Alona with the mere mention of Mina. 

Will and Alona have some separation time which helps us with connecting further with the characters as individuals - not just a YA paranormal "couple" needing to accept they like each other and "make out"!! There's a little more to their lives and Stacey lets us delve into each character and get to know them and above all enjoy them. 

The ending.....oh yes.....another POW that is making me wait till the next book! Oh the torture of being held to ransom by an author!!  (I'll say it again......If only Disney Channel would check their own publishing groups book list - they would see a total gem here to direct!! - I'm just saying.......!!!)

So thank you Stacey Kade for another fun, funky and enjoyable read.  I look forward to reading your next in line to the Ghost and The Goth series.

p.s..... I know authors don't have much of a say with regards to the covers of the books.....but Will is just PLAIN - I really picture a better looking guy than what we have been given :) !

ENJOY!

MARISSA

BOOK REVIEW: THE GHOST AND THE GOTH by STACEY KADE

Title:  THE GHOST AND THE GOTH
Author: STACEY KADE
Publisher: Disney Hyperion Books
Format:  EBook 


RATING:  4 OUT OF 5 ALONA & WILL STARS !

Description from 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?

REVIEW:

Well, if ever a book was destined to be the next Disney Channel teen movie or series.....The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade is it !

My rating of 4 stars is well earned within the age category of young teen.

It's a quirky, light and easy read and I found myself often imagining turning on Foxtel to find it as a new series. It has "light" and innocent romance, social tiers, a hidden background, a supernatural secret and some fun moments speckled through. I can honestly say that I finished the book and didn't "dislike" a character.

Alona - nasty pasty elite "first tier" queen!  She has it all - until the geek bus wins the collision!   She is the image all things typically portrayed in teen movies with a head cheerleader/homecoming queen character.  Not a lot of depth to her initially....but a hint of something rears its head at the end. Some would see her as opinionated, selfish and self-absorbed - but hey....brutal honesty kind of looks that way too!!

Will - I really liked his character. Again a typical character - "misunderstood individual" . He is far from what he appears on the surface. His ability to see and hear dead people/spirits and the desperate need to block them out has him appearing to others as a brooding, dark goth style guy who is constantly in trouble at school.  He belongs to the low rung students of the high school - and he's kind of OK with that!  Dealing with the ghost of Alona Dare will be his biggest challenge yet! 

The Ghost and The Goth is written in alternating perspectives between Will and Alona. It allows us to be in the head of each and Stacey has successfully written the story in this way. It is very easy to change from one character to another with the change in dialogue style and phrasing. 

The Queen of The Dead is the second book and I look forward to seeing where our characters end up.

ENJOY!

MARISSA