Body & Soul by Stacey Kade

Body and Soul:
The Ghost
I’ve been trapped in the body of Lily “Ally” Turner for a month now. Talk about a fashion crisis on an epic scale. What worries me more, though, is sometimes I catch Will looking at me like he thinks I’m Lily...or that he wishes I were. Without the good looks of my former self, I don’t know who I am, or if who that is is good enough. I need out of this mess. Now.

Will and I have been looking for a solution, one that would separate me from Lily without killing her. But it’s not going well. Then, when it seems like things couldn’t get any worse, we run into Misty, my former best friend and boyfriend-stealer extraordinaire, who claims she’s being haunted...by me. Seriously?

I’m determined to get to the bottom of who’s pretending to be the spirit of Alona Dare (while I’m pretending to be someone else) and then get the heck out of this body. Or die trying...

The Goth
I’ll admit it. It’s really weird to look at Alona but see Lily. I do know the difference, though, contrary to what Alona might be saying. And Alona is more than a pretty face to me, not that she would believe that.

Our one lead for some help in this messed up situation might be a page torn from the yellow pages-—the “Psychics” section-—I found in my dad’s stuff. One of the “fakes” seems a bit more real-—and odd-—than the others. Before I can investigate further, though, Alona is off and chasing a ghost that’s probably nothing more than a figment of Misty’s guilty imagination. Now Lily’s family is freaking out because she didn’t come home, my mom is ordering me to stay out of it, and something is definitely wrong with the person formerly known as Lily “Ally” Turner...

Body and Soul by Stacey Kade is the final installment in the Ghost and the Goth trilogy, and it was the perfect ending. When the series began, I had a hard time relating to (or sometimes even liking) Alona and her selfish tendencies, but as I go to know her, I formed a bit of a girl-crush on her. Her actions reflected what she knew about life, and the difficulties she endured in the past, but after meeting Will her afterlife changed. She became a warm and caring person as she tried to protect Will from the constant barrage of ghosts, even going so far as to save a girl from dying. But saving that girl came with consequences. Alona became trapped within Lily’s comatose body, and Alona’s afterlife and Lily’s survival are dependent on the energy they now share.

I always liked Will’s character, and my crush on him grew with each book, and I felt that most of his growth happened within Body and Soul. He learned to stand up for himself and become more independent. His relationship with Alona, while admittedly a little strange, changed dramatically and was something I really enjoyed reading. Even at their worst, when secrets and lies were discovered, together they brought out the best in each other which made them a wonderful pair.

Body and Soul is filled with tension and page-turning action. There was a lot of questions for Stacey to conclude in this story, and I was completely satisfied by the end of this book. While trying to discover a solution to Alona’s situation, they come across a dangerous ghost (Erin) that wants nothing more than a second chance at life. And when she discovers that Alona is a ghost within a living body, she forces Alona out and almost ends Alona’s afterlife for good. Even though Will is still angry with Alona for taking over Lily’s body, his anger dissipates as he discovers how Alona tried her best to be respectful of Lily and her family, while Erin is reckless, out-of-control and uncaring. In the end Alona is left with a choice, she can stay and be forever Lily, or she can end her time on earth and move on into the light.