Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade Review

Title: Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth #2)

Author: Stacey Kade

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Page Count: 266 pages

Publish Date: May 31, 2011

Book Type: eGalley from NetGalley and signed copy won from a contest

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

ISBN: 9781423134671

Picture from Amazon

From Goodreads: Minor Spoilers from The Ghost and the Goth 

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.

My Review: I love the covers of these books! I miss Will being in his hoodie, but good old Alona is still in her gym uniform. I also love how Alona manages to look transparent without being too ghost like. If that makes sense.

I love how both books in this series are quick reads, yet they still manage to be highly character driven. I tend to find quick reads like this usually have me feeling like the whole point of the book was to get from Point A to Point B--no character development. This isn’t the case for Stacey Kade’s books. Love!

We find out more about Will’s past in this book (i.e. his family) and it was really interesting. There are also some developments with some of the ghosts from the previous book and their journey to “make it back to the light.” I’m trying not to get too spoiler-y here, but I really liked how two of the ghosts thought they were being held back for one reason and it ended up being another. This part of the book really made me think.

As much as Alona would probably annoy me in real life, I actually love reading about her. Her actions are always surprising me. The end of the book leaves her in a position that I am really curious about. It made me squirm and I wonder if it had this effect on others as well? So, if you’ve read it.. let me know!

If you enjoyed the first in the series, you will like this one as well! I can’t wait to see where Kade takes these crazy kids (ghosts).

Thanks to NetGalley and Stacey Kade for this review copy!