Book Review: Queen of the Dead (ARC)

Queen of the Dead (The Ghost and the Goth #2)
by Stacey Kade
288 pages - Hardcover
Expected publication: May 31st 2011 by Hyperion Book CH
Source: NetGalley/Hyperion Books

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:

I had so much fun reading Queen of the Dead. Every page screamed hilarity and excitement. Talk about page-turner! I was so absorbed into the world of Alona and Will I can’t even remember anything that happened outside the book while I was reading it. I commend Kade for being able to write such a fantastic novel that combines humor, drama and romance into a light and easy to read masterpiece.

I loved Alona in the first book, but I loved her even more in this book! She’s still the same old fashion-obsessed cheerleader who makes sarcastic comments. She doesn’t back down against anyone. Be it a battle against bitchy ghosts/ghost talkers or a well-built ghost that cold-cocks dead cheerleaders. And I just love how well-developed her character is in this second installment. She was rather flat in the first book. No development whatsoever, but just hidden goodness finally rising up to the surface. Which eventually hid again. But in Queen of the Dead, I can’t help but feel proud of her. She’s still self-absorbed most of the time, but it’s hard to get mad at her especially when she’s as hurt as much as she’s being impossible. It’s so good to finally see her soften up a bit and show vulnerability.

Will, on the other hand, is finally getting a better grasp with what happened to his father. With the indirect help of Mina, the new ghost talker, he finds another way of ‘helping’ spirits, but in a way that will make him choose a side, between the spirits and the living. As much as I like Alona, I enjoy reading Will’s narrative  more. I’ve read quite a few books that are told from a boy’s perspective, but none of them has the same funny yet soothing voice that Will has.

I am also very happy with the turn of events. I’m surprised and unsurprised at the same time. I kind of have predicted the events before it happened so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but why it happened and what happened after are way beyond my prediction. This also has more depth than the first book. I was expecting the humor before I even started reading this, but the drama? I actually cried! I empathized with Alona despite her tendency to be so selfish. But she made a huge sacrifice that was way too un-Alona and it made me like her even more!

Queen of the Dead has twice the hilarity, drama, romance and depth of its predecessor, The Ghost and the Goth. So many lessons can be learned from here. It just goes to show that this has much more to it that what some people may call a fun but unrealistic romance between a spirit and a living person. Queen of the Dead is about family, love, sacrifice and ultimately, acceptance. I laughed, I cried, I empathized with the characters, and most of all, I freaking want the third book NOW!

Rating: 5/5 stars! 

Disclosure: I received this e-ARC from the publisher (Hyperion Books via NetGalley) for free in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review: Endless Summer

Endless Summer
by Jennifer Echols
587 pages - Paperback
Published by Simon Pulse
ISBN 1442406593 (9781442406599)

Summary:

TWO IRRESISTIBLE BOYS. ONE UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER.

Lori can’t wait for her summer at the lake. She loves wakeboarding and hanging with her friends–including the two hotties next door. With the Vader brothers, she’s always been just one of the guys. Now that she’s turning sixteen, she wants to be seen as one of the girls, especially in the eyes of Sean, the older brother. But that’s not going to happen–not if the younger brother, Adam, can help it.

Lori plans to make Sean jealous by spending time with Adam. Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the air heats up, so does this love triangle. Will Lori’s romantic summer melt into one hot mess?

Review:

The story picks up right after The Boys Next Door ended. Adam and Lori are an official couple. But after spending one night out together without their parents knowing where they have been, it only took less than 24 hours for their relationship to suddenly become at stake. Lori wants to prove her dad that Adam is truly a good boyfriend by fake-dating ‘worse’ boys. However, this isn’t doing any good to their relationship other than making Adam extremely jealous and her brother, McGuillicuddy, as furious as ever.

I was wowed by how messy Lori’s summer has become. The fake-datings were already getting on my nerves in the first book, so I was mildly disappointed that Endless Summer has not one, not two, but three fake-datings in store. It was annoying, but it was also one of the aspects of this book that I liked because it made the plot messier, complicated, chaotic and all the more hilarious.

The only thing I didn’t like about Endless Summer is that, like its predecessor, it lacked a great deal of character development. It was also implied by one of the minor characters that there is a great possibility that Lori will always find a way to accidentally hurt Adam, and Adam being Adam, will hurt Lori in return. This is very probable considering no long-lasting maturity happened on both sides.

While I really enjoyed reading the two books, it makes me sad to think that even though the first book was given a sequel, the main obstacle in their relationship, which is Adam and Lori’s incapability of trusting each other, will always be there. I am actually kind of scared for them because their lack of maturity will make for an endless cycle of making up and breaking up until they completely get tired of each other.

Rating: 4/5 stars

 

Book Review: The Boys Next Door by Jennifer Echols

The Boys Next Door
by Jennifer Echols
317 pages - Paperback
Published June 26th 2007 by Simon Pulse
ISBN: 1416918310 (ISBN13: 9781416918318)

Summary:

Cute, available, and one cabin over....

Lori lives for summertime on the lake. She spends all season wakeboarding, swimming, and hanging with her friends—including the two hotties in the house next door. With the Vader brothers, Lori's always been one of the guys.

But while Lori and the "baby" brother, Adam, are inseparable friends, she can't deny a secret crush on Sean, the older Vader boy. This year Sean's been paying Lori a lot of attention, and not in a brotherly way.

But just as Lori decides to prove to Sean she's girlfriend material, she realizes that her role as girl friend to Adam may be even more important. And by trying so hard for the perfect summer romance, she could be going way overboard....

Review:

After 15 years of being treated as one of the boys, Lori McGuillycuddy has had enough. At 16, she decided that it was time to girl up and maybe, snag Sean Vader, the boy whom she has been pining after for more than 10 years. But with Adam Vade, the youngest of the Vader brothers, and his ex-girlfriend on the side, Lori’s summer was about to get more awkward than she already thought it was.

I wasn’t too fond of Lori’s character in the beginning. I know the whole point of girling up was for Sean to finally notice her, and maybe, for him to realize that she was a girlfriend material and finally, to hook up together. But I thought Lori’s obsession with this was a little too annoying. Most especially when I found out why she has liked Sean all those years.

Adam, on the other hand, was very adorable. Excuse my weirdness, but having ADHD and refusing to take medications because it would make you feel dead is adorable in my opinion. And he also bounces on his feet! He also never backs down on any dare even if it breaks every bone in his body. He was really adorable and brave, if not stupid. I guess he strikes me as adorable in the little-baby-brother sort of way.

One thing I never understood in the book though was how Lori (and even Mrs. Vader!) often mistook Sean for Adam and vice versa. Even though they have the same hairstyles and facial features, surely, there’s a way to tell them apart? Especially when they’ve been together since they were kids. It gets annoying whenever Lori mistakes one for the other.

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I enjoyed Echols’s Forget You and Going Too Far. But nevertheless, The Boys Next Door was still an enjoyable read and definitely worth a go.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Book Review: The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty

The Year of Secret Assignments (Ashbury/Brookefield #2)
by Jaclyn Moriarty
352 pages (Paperback)
Published April 1st 2005 by Scholastic
ISBN: 0439498821 (ISBN13: 9780439498821)

Summary:

Three female students from Ashbury High write to three male students from rival Brookfield High as part of a pen pal program, leading to romance, humiliation, revenge plots, and war between the schools.

Review:

The Year of Secret Assignments is the second book in the Asbury/Brookefield series. I only got to know that after reading this book. Facepalm? Well, you really can't blame me. The Year of Secret Assignments is a standalone, despite being a part of a series. So in case you made the same mistake of picking this book up without having read the first book, Feeling Sorry for Cecelia, you need not to worry.

The Year of Secret Assignments has the most creative format of a novel I have ever read. The story was told mainly in letters, diary entries, trial transcript, etc. The timeline was a little confusing, but as soon as you get to read the letters from all three pairs, the story is not so hard to chain together.

One thing I loved about this book is that the characters felt so real. I rooted for them, especially Seb and Lyd and Charlie and Em. All have very distinct voices and interesting personalities. I enjoyed reading each of their letters. As a teen who used to have textmates who I never saw in person, it wasn't hard to relate to them. It was fun seeing these characters go through the same situation. Like, wanting to know so badly how your textmate looks like and that feeling like you've really fallen in love with him. It was like being in that textmates-phase of my life all over again. Only, theirs was so much interesting and fun. If you want to laugh and relive some of those fun teenage years of your life, this book is for you.

Rating: 5/5 stars