Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

Title: Queen of the Dead
Author: Stacey Kade
Publisher: Hyperion
Publication Date: May 31, 2011
Source: Thanks Netgalley and Publisher!

Summary: 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: It might be just my imagination, but The Ghost and the Goth series just kept getting better. Queen of the Dead is an delightful ghost story.

Alona and Will were back again, and with even more humor and spunk this time. Alona just keeps surprising me. She is reforming from her mean girl ways, a little. But if you want to know the truth, I really like it about her. She is so much more alive and funnier that way. She just wouldn't be Alona.

I feel the surprising need for Will and Alona to have a happy ending. Relationships between ghosts and humans are tricky, especially when you have Alona up to no good. Like she always is. And in this book it gets her into a lot of trouble. Did I mention this is a sort of love triangle? And that is not good. But it did keep me entertained!

Queen of the Dead kept me hooked the entire way through. There were laughs, plot twists, some surprising new revelations and a touch of romance to tide me over.

I don't know what it is about ghost stories but they are just magical reads for me. If you haven't picked up this series yet, do it because it does not disappoint!

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