Review: The Ghost and The Goth by Stacey Kade

Title: The Ghost and The Goth
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
Published: 29th June 2010
Series: The Ghost and The Goth #1
Source: Own Kindle Copy

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? - From Goodreads

I knew nothing about this book when I picked it up, I just thought the title was cute and the cover adorable. So I was so surprised when I started reading this and found I couldn't put it down. It was not a story I had come across before and the book felt fresh and exciting and I loved reading it!

Alona Dare is a ghost! On her way out of school one morning she dies in her gym clothes and she is stuck that way as a ghost. Alona was the most popular and beautiful girl in the school, but as she watches her friends and boyfriend talk about her and move on with their lives Alona realises she is all alone and has no one to talk to. That's until someone looks her way. Not just a glance, but actually looks at her, and it is none other than the school goth Will. Once Alona realises that Will can see, hear and touch the dead she tries to get him to help her, and in return she will keep all the other dead off his back! When a black cloud of negative energy starts to cause him physical harm Alona is determined to help him find out what is causing it.

This book is written with the chapters switching back and forward between Will and Alona. I really enjoyed this as both characters are having such wildly different experiences and both are so extremely different. It worked well as Alona really loves herself and has quite a unique and limited view of the world, and Will is so self contained but sees things with a completely different perspective to Alona. I really liked the use of this as both characters were a joy to read.

Alona was an amazing character. She was one of the characters that you love to hate and then eventually just love!! She is the bitchy girl who's comments are actually quite funny as long as you are not on the receiving end of them. She is not exactly thrilled that she has to spend the rest of her afterlife in her gym clothes, but that is the least of her worries. Alona is from a pretty messed up home and the more we get to see the rubble of her life the more I loved her. There was nothing too profoundly deep about Alona, but she is one character who's snarky comments are so much fun to read.

Will is a very sweet and caring guy who has a special gift... he can see, hear and touch the dead. usually the dead can't interact with anything in the living world, but around Will the ghosts manifest and things like ghost cigarettes can burn and the ghosts realise that they can touch something living for once. Will struggles with his gift and tries to stay afloat in school. Hiding behind his goth mask to avoid connecting with others he struggles with school as it can be hard to pay attention over the ghostly chatter. I thought Will was a great character and a fun sparring partner for Alona.

This book was so fun and light hearted. It was not a difficult read and there were no deeper meanings to things as far as I could see. As soon as I finished reading this book I wanted to know more and I wanted to see how a relationship between a ghost and a human would work exactly. I loved the characters in this book and I only wanted the best for Will and Alona and it was a breath of fresh air not to have any complicated love triangles. A great read that is fun and perfect to pick up any time you are looking for a heart warming, easy story.

Review: The Lifeguard by Deborah Blumenthal

Title: The Lifeguard
Author: Deborah Blumenthal
Published: 1st March 2012
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Source: eArc from Netgalley and publisher

It's an unsettled summer for Sirena. Back in Texas, her family's splitting apart, but here in Rhode Island, at the cottage of her aunt, it's a different world. There are long days at the beach and intriguing encounters with Pilot, the lifeguard with shamanic skills. Sirena explores her obsession with Pilot and discovers his mysterious--almost magical--gifts. - From Goodreads

I had absolutely no idea what this book was about when I started reading. I had skimmed the blurb, but honestly it was the cover that hooked me and the fact that I think the guy on the front looks like Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) from One Tree Hill. It looked to me like it would be an easy going summer read but I found it to be quite different. I wanted to like this book so much, and I did to start with, but by the end of the book I was glad it was over.

Sirena's parents are getting divorced in Texas and to save her from dealing with the mess of this they decide to send her to spend the summer with her aunt in Rhode Island. Sirena uses this chance to spend time on the beach where she meets the Adonis lifeguard, Pilot. Confiding in her new friend and mentor Antonio, the 80 year old painter she spends her days painting with, Sirena discusses her home life and her obsession with Pilot. After an accident on the beach, we begin to see that there may be more going on with Pilot than we were first led to believe.

I actually liked Sirena at the start of the book. Her whole world as she knew it is beginning to fall apart, and she spends the beginning of the book being quite dark and moody. Then one day on the beach she meets the Lifeguard and everything about her I related to and liked disappeared. Suddenly she could think of nothing but him she stopped being so dark and twisty and started obsessing over Pilot all the time. I would not have too much of a problem with this, but I feel we never really get to know Pilot past how he looks and that left me feeling very detached from him as a character.

In terms of their relationship, I wanted there to be much more between the two of them since Sirena was so obsessed. I was waiting for the relationship to take off, and for a while it felt like it was building up to something good, and then.... it fizzled out!! If the relationship could have been pushed a little further, even if they had spent more time together and we had a deeper insight into what it was about Pilot (apart from his looks) that made him so amazing, then I probably would have understood a bit more and felt a bit happier.

My other problem was that I felt that the book did not know what it wanted to be. It started like most other contemporary romance / summer reads, however every so often some paranormal element would be introduced. The ghosts, magic healing or vengeful stingray all seemed like they were going to be explained, or even visited again later in the book, but then it would be dropped or have no explanation by then end of the book. So am I honestly to believe that there are people just wandering about on the beach that can magically heal people and this is not a magical power?

I think I would have enjoyed this book much more if it had chosen a genre and stuck with it all the way! There were some great parts to this book, and as I said I loved the main character at the beginning and I thought some of the secondary characters were great. Unfortunately for me this book felt like it had a split personality disorder and it left me feeling frustrated that it did not quite deliver as a contemporary romance or a paranormal romance. It was certainly an unusual read and would be perfect for someone who may feel like they are stuck in a genre rut and need to read something completely different.

Review: Tris and Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison

Title: Tris and Izzie
Author: Mette Ivie Harrison
Published: 11th October 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Source: eARC (thanks to Netgalley and Egmount USA)

A modern retelling of the German fairytale "Tristan and Isolde", Tris and Izzie is about a young witch named Izzie who is dating Mark King, the captain of the basketball team and thinks her life is going swimmingly well. Until -- she makes a love potion for her best friend Brangane and then ends up taking it herself accidentally, and falling in love with Tristan, the new guy at school. - From Goodreads

I feel that often retellings can be very hit or miss. I am vaguely familiar with Tristan and Isolde, but I have never actually read it. Unfortunately after reading this book I have no desire to read the original. I wanted to like this book so much, I mean look at that cover, it is stunning, but for me the story did not live up to my expectations.

Izzie has the perfect life, a best friend, a hot superstar boyfriend, Mark, and a witch mother. So when Tris turns up as the new boy at school he throws Izzie into a spin. Izzie tries to help her best friend fall for Tris by trying to give them both a love potion, but she accidentally eds up drinking it herself with Tris. This starts the beginning for Izzie's inner war between staying with Mark or following her heart and going with Tris. After she is attacked by a two headed dog at a football game Izzie finds out that not only is she also magic, but she is only one who can save the magical community from a giant snake who eats magic.

I found a lot of things about this book rather annoying. Firstly the dialogue felt very immature and one dimensional. Tris's speech felt very stiff. I understand that it is intended to show that he is from a different society where modern day has little influence, but I am sure that he would still revert to don't, won't and can't. The magic love potion in this novel is referred to as a love philtre throughout, and was spoken about quite a bit which left me wanting to shout "just call it a love potion"!!

As I say I have not read the original text, so I am not sure if there is magic in the original story, but it all felt a little thin for me. It is just assumed that some people are magic and some are not, and that few non-magical people know about magic. I thought that this could have used a little more back story, like have they always lived in their own community, and have the fairies, dragons, giant butterflies or any other creatures ever been seen in the real world, and if so how was it covered up? I thought it could have used a little more depth.

I thought Izzie was also a little annoying. She was constantly moaning about how awful it was that she had taken the love potion and was going to forever love Tris, but she was going to do this to her "best friend" in the first place! The other characters also seemed to be quite happy about swapping relationships, all with no hard feelings.

This book was a bit of a struggle for me to finish as I didn't particularly care what was going to happen and the battle at the end all seemed to be quite easy for Izzie, I didn't feel her struggle or pain the way I have with other characters. I am interested to find out how close this is to Tristian and Isolde, but after reading this I realise there are other stories out there I want to read more.

Review: If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
Published: 9th April 2009
Series: If I Stay #1
Source: Own Kindle Copy

In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen-year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces - to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make. Heart-wrenchingly beautiful, Mia's story will stay with you for a long, long time. -From Goodreads

This book stunned me from the very beginning. It was nothing that I expected. This was a fresh new take on a story that I will admit made me cry quite a bit and left me speechless.

From the first chapter you are thrown into Mia's life, with her happy Family, love of classical music and amazing boyfriend. I was completely sucked in from the first page and then the crash. The way the crash was described was so heartbreaking and out of her whole family Mia is the only one who did not die on impact. However Mia is not OK.

This story is told by Mia while she is in the coma and her observations from her out-of-body experience. We hear Mia talk about her past and experience what is going on in the present. I loved the use of past and present, and often when I was wrapped up in Mia's description of her life as it was, I would forget what was actually going on.

I have been thinking about this book for months not quite sure how to express my feelings for it. I loved this book even though there was a rawness to it which made me ache inside and be grateful for everything I have. I don't want to keep gushing over how emotional a read this was for me. It made me cry, but it made me happy at the same time. To me this felt like a stand alone book as I would be completely satisfied to just leave the story as it is, but I am happy to be given the chance in Where she Went to read more!