I have been putting off reading this series, hoping to wait until the 3rd book was out so that I didn't have to wait. After seeing the cover sitting there for months, I just couldn't put it off any longer.

The story starts off with Alona ( love the name) leaving school while talking on her cell phone, while it seems like she may be talking to a friend's voice-mail or answering machine; we don't actually find out who is until the end of the book. Alona steps out into traffic with out noticing it and ends up being hit and killed. We are then taken back through Alona's thoughts, we see her dad come identify her body and we hear about her funeral.
Alona then decides to go to school. While there she learns that things weren't as they seemed in her perfect world. Not everyone in her inner circle is really sad to see her gone and to top it all off, her best friend and boyfriend are hooking up and apparently have been for a little while now. Alona rightfully gets mad and starts to disappear. While in the process of Alona vanishing, we see Will, and amazingly enough Will sees Alona.
Will is your basic medium, who doesn't actually know that is what he is. He thinks that being able to see and hear the dead is just a curse passed down to him from his father, whom committed suicide. Will notices Alona vanishing, and laughs at her; since he thinks that this will be the last time he sees the Great Alona Dare, he doesn't really think too much about it. But Alona notices and when she inevitably comes back, she figures that Will actually saw her and she goes back to the school to ask him what the heck is going on.
To make a long story short, Alona helps Will and while helping him ( he's supposed to be helping her too), she discovers that his best friend has been trying to reconnect a spirit with it's body and all sorts of crazy things are happening. In the end, things are settled and Alona and Will start to have these feelings for each other ( not totally said, but it is a feeling you get).
The book leaves off with Alona ( still a ghost) and Will talking about him going to college. I'm so glad that I already have book 2 and can start reading right away. ( )

Originally I was ready to write The Ghost and the Goth off as being a breezy teen paranormal. The premise was interesting, but the synopsis had me sighing because I didn't want to deal with another drama queen teen.

This isn't a deep novel, which is partially a disservice to it because it does have deep concepts (the weight of your actions, survivor's guilt, grief), but it won't necessarily make you re-examine your life and make life-altering changes to it. Put simply this was an enjoyable novel with two protagonists who banter and bicker in an entertaining fashion and touch upon the deep concepts enough to make people think.

Alona for instance is brought to task for a random comment she made to a classmate. In Alona's mind she thought she was making a comment to help the girl (a comment about her sweaters). Unfortunately, as seems to happen often with Alona when she was alive, she was only looking at it from her (kind of twisted at times) viewpoint. She simply didn't acknowledge that there could possibly been any other reason except that the girl didn't care how she looked.

Will also made assumptions about Alona however (mainly her 'perfect' life). The book often pointed out the trouble with making assumptions about a person you only 'see' and don't know. Though later on it pokes at being blind to others and their problems. In their own ways both Alona and Will were self-centered, Alona just was more upfront and aggressive about while Will did it unintentionally because of his curse.

I want to point out I found the way Kade handled Will's gift/curse and the spirit world in general to be delightful. I liked that it was based primarily on one's actions, that is the more positive you are the more likely you are to not disappear. I hope that Kade explores this more in the second book, especially given what happens with Alona at the end of this book.

I liked that the POV shifted between Alona and Will from chapter to chapter. It gave us a better handle on the two of them and who they were. It also gave the author a chance to tell two stories at once; from Alona's viewpoint she's newly dead and adjusting to that and from Will's viewpoint he's handling a personal tragedy and his own personal pitfalls from his curse.

And while I appreciate the romance in here, it also made me feel sad. There aren't too many ways this series (a trilogy according to the author's website) could go that wouldn't be either a deus ex machina or bittersweet farewell. ( )

LOVED THIS BOOK!! I started reading this book and could not stop. It was so darn cute!!

Alona Dare, ruler of popular crowd, has just been hit by a bus! After materializing as a ghost and going unseen to her own funeral, she realizes that Will Killian is the only person that CAN see her. The only problem with that is, Will is a social leper and completely unwilling to help her anyway. Will just wants to make it through his senior year so he can escape all the ghosts that he's able to see and hear. Alona though can be very persuading (Da, she was miss popular), and the two start to form an arrangement and maybe even a friendship??

I seriously just loved the whole idea of this book. It was so inventive! I loved the alternating viewpoint chapters, it's really cool to see 2 both versions of the story. It was so well-written it made me forget I was even reading, I just got immersed in the story. I am so happy this is a series, and can't wait to get the next book!!!
PS- Isn't the cover adorable?? ( )

There really is nothing special about this book. Its not bad, its not boring, but there isn't really anything compelling about it. I find ghost stories interesting, and there don't seem to be too many out there, so I thought I would give it a try. Its well written, the characters are mostly strong, but there is something lacking. I'm not quite sure what it is. Its a fun quick read, but nothing more. ( )

Super cute kinda love story. The ending makes me think a sequel is coming. ( )