Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest a review.

3.5 stars

Ghosted is a gender bent retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey. I’m going to be honest this is not a classic I am very familiar with. Any similarities and differences from the original are unknown to me.

Hattie is a non believer, ever since her dad passed away. Kit the new transfer student, is not only a big believer of ghost but at the school thanks to a ghost hunting scholarship. After being paired together for a journalism project, they are spending almost all their time together.

Can Kit make her a believer again? Can she finally be who she wants to be instead of who someone else thinks she should be? Can she mend her broken relationships?

This was an easy slow burn romance read. It started out pretty slow to begin with and then steadily picked up. I’m however a little disappointed that there was no ghost in the actually book, just stories of the ghosts that supposedly haunt the property. While not might favorite, I enjoyed the book enough.

First of all, I'd like to say a big thank you to Wednesday Books for sending me the ARC!

This book, about a girl dealing with the death of her father, the dismantlement of her family in their own grief, and her staunch determination to be the family glue, all situated within the backdrop of a gothic abbey-turned-private school, is an amazing, complex, unafraid Young Adult Novel.

I read a lot of Young Adult because of how unapologetic they are about dealing with messy emotions, going deep, evoking emotion, and staring the hard issues in the face. This book is certainly no exception. This young girl is navigating friendship, romance, a broken family structure, a rigid set of expectations, and grief. Quain digs deep. The metaphor of ghosts in the novel, and dealing with the ghosts of the past, the histories that make us who we are, the stories that need to be told, as well as the cruelty of being ghosted by her mother, ghosting her best friends, and doing a research paper on paranormal activity at her school make this book incredibly intriguing. All of this is happening while our young heroine is dealing with the reality her ghost hunting dead father has never visited her in the afterlife, and all of the belief and love of ghost hunting she had has been turned into disbelief, and locking away who she really is. This brings up very real, very hard, very visceral reactions from the readers (me, I mean me). I cried guys. The conflicts in the book are all character driven and embedded in question of who the characters wants to be, the misconceptions of their own relationships in their lives, and who the people are around them actually are.

I expected a cute and campy ghost hunting book. I got so so much more. I would recommend this book to every young adult I know. I will be gifting my school library this book for all the kiddos to read.

Nothing groundbreaking, but a fun read, especially if you’re familiar with Northanger Abbey and will get the references!

I loved Accomplished by Amanda Quain, her first Jane Austen retelling. While I enjoyed Ghosted, it didn't captivate me as much as Accomplished. In this Northanger Abbey retelling, Jane Austen's story is reimagined as a Gothic boarding school filled with supposed ghosts that attract a large cult following of ghost hunters. For the main character, Hattie, these ghost stories are nothing but a nuisance. But for Kit? They are everything. When the two are paired together for a class project, they must overcome their differences and may just discover they share more in common than previously believed. I enjoyed this book, however, the first half felt really slow and did not pick up until almost 100 pages in. All in all, it was still an enjoyable read and a great retelling for Jane Austen fans.

📖Review: Ghosted by Amanda Quain

A coming-of-age story that demonstrates the difficulty of sitting with grief and the power of exorcising personal ghosts.

Henrietta (Hattie) Tilney is the perfect daughter, the perfect student, and the perfect friend. Ever since her dad died, she has tried to be perfect, to wear a facade to protect her heart and please her mother, the head of Northanger Abbey School. Northanger is known for its hauntings, due to historical legend and a very popular film. Hattie no longer believes in the unknown or paranormal, not since her dad passed and took that part of her with him. Everything is going perfectly toward graduation until a new student, Kit Morland, is paired with her for a school project, and he is determined to find a ghost. As Kit begins to see through Hattie's mask, they both uncover ghosts, but not the ones they were expecting.

This book was an interesting retelling of Northanger Abbey. I really liked Kit Morland, his positivity and perspective were a breath of fresh air in the stifling prep school. Hattie’s persona created to hold herself together was relatable, despite being very sad. In the end, the theme of grief and confronting ghosts was explored with gentle precision through this unique retelling.

If you love:
📖Jane Austen retellings,
🪞Coming-of-age stories,
☀️Grumpy-Sunshine trope,
🕗Second Chances,
👻Ghost stories,
Be sure to check out Ghosted in stores on July 25 or preorder today.

Thank you to Wednesday Books, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the copy of this ARC. This review is my honest opinion.

Ghosted has a fun Northanger Abbey meets the YA X-Files vibe, with Hattie Tilney and Kit Moreland as the gender-swapped main couple from Austen’s novel. It ended up feeling more Austen-inspired than like a slavish recreation, with an updated setting and compelling side characters. I especially appreciated the nuanced portrayal of Hattie’s relationships with her friends and siblings; Amanda Quain clearly remembers the ups, downs and confusion of being a teen. Very enjoyable and I will look for future releases from this author!
Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

was slow-paced for me, took forever to read, might have been more exciting if there were actually ghosts, having only seen the northanger abbey movies was expecting more charming charisma for Tilney, Kit was cute, pictured him more looking like Lockwood because Lockwood and Co is my current thing, did appreciate the relationship growth attempts at the end, the college rush is always so annoying to me like what would be wrong with not immediately going to college if you don't even know what you want

This book was such a breath of fresh air. The way that the characters process their grief and grow both individually and together was wonderful. I felt as though Hattie would not have waited so long to tell Kit about her father but I think that part was still very well done and emotional. It was a cute story and I really enjoyed it!

3.25

A pretty cute, and weirdly not too far-fetched feeling book, though it did sometimes feel a bit lackluster. I just felt like the plot could use a bit more oomph; even though some serious-ish topics are touched upon, this was still a pretty light read.

The story was slow to begin and a bit rushed towards the end, and also way more character driven than I was expecting. The characters, while not always likable, are all pretty well developed (other than Pri sadly). Hattie was a believably middling protagonist, and Kit & Liam are 1000% why I stayed on for the ride even when I hit moments where I was less invested.

I would have liked more fleshed out relationships between Hattie & Priya and Hattie & Freddie though, especially since this book took a more emotive approach as opposed to really diving into the paranormalcy plot side of things.

But overall I think this was on par with what you'd expect from a light, quirky YA Austen retelling & it'll make for a fun seasonal read.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books & NetGalley for the ARC!

A solid, fun story for those that enjoy the ghost-hunting shows, books, movies, ect!
I found this book interesting, the characters fun and enjoyable and the ghost story side of things exciting!

Ghosted is such a fun and fresh story. It has a bit of everything and makes me really want to be a part of the story. I loved the Jane Austen's re-telling aspect; the fresh new take and twist on a classic story, the characters are wonderful, the story line is well paces and it has ghosts and romance and a wonderful slow burn, it has great characters, mystery and fun moments. I loved the entire thing! Highly recommend it! I received an ARC via NetGalley and Wednesday Books and I am leaving an honest review.

Ghosted was a well-blended story of the paranormal, romance, family dynamics, finding yourself and of course the retelling of Northanger Abbey. It touches on the many different ways that we deal with grief, and that more than anything you need your village to keep you going.

This was a fast YA read, and would be perfect for the fall season! I am excited to add this to my bookshelf in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Amanda Quain for letting me read this advanced copy :)

This is a YA retelling of an Austen novel that I fully admit
I am not familiar with at all. However, that didn’t detract at all from the story since I had no basis of what could/would happen.
My favorite parts were every single piece of the ongoing grief of losing a parent. It doesn’t go away and it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. I loved how that was a huge thread throughout the entire story and I definitely saw some of my own grieving process in the characters.
I would 100% buy this books and read it multiple times, which to me is one the the highest compliments for a books.
The slowburn romance is written very well, and the unknown WHAT Hattie wants to do with the future seems quite realistic.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ability to read and review this books.

Cute coming of age story for teens. Teens go through so many emotions and experiences in a short amount of time. This book connects to many aspects of teen life; friendship, parental loss, parent approval, relationships, fitting social standards, college prep, etc.. The way that these issues were tackled were emotional and light at the same time. While this book tackled many issues teens can connect with, it was mixed with a quirky story about ghost hunting. The book describes itself as <i> a story about searching for ghosts while running from the ghosts of your last</i>. That is the perfect way to describe the story.
Hattie is a teen striving to be the perfect daughter for her mother, who is also the headmistress of her school. Having lost her father she has given up the part of her life that connects her to him, ghosts. Along comes Kit, a ghost hunter that wants to unravel all her secrets. Through their journey, Hattie learns how to move forward with the ghosts of her past and her dreams for her future.
Very cute read. Recommend.
Thank you St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of Ghosted.

Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book.

(3.5 stars) This book was an enjoyable YA read, although there were times that the main character was a bit annoying; however, the things I found annoying as an adult (x. believing that anyone in her circle that didn't openly express their feelings was devoid of all emotions) are a very real/developmentally-appropriate experience of being a teenager (especially a teen who has had no help dealing with the complexities of grief). Quain did a good job of demonstrating the different ways family members can handle grief, as well.

This is my second book by Amanda Quain and I always enjoy how well she write her sputtering-anxious-overwhelmed teen protagonists; it makes them very relatable and is pretty entertaining. Overall, this was a fun and charming YA retelling of a lesser-known Jane Austen classic.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced copy. This had everything I loved- ghosts-family dynamics and a YA love story! I enjoyed this book very much. And my 13 year old daughter will
Love it as well. It’s very appropriate for her age group.
A fun quick read!

For every girl who ever felt like she had to be perfect to hold everything around her together. Hattie’s world is tightly held together after her father’s death - trying to be perfect seems like the only way to get her mom to notice her, make sure her kid brother turns out okay and survive high school. Until the new kid shows up and reminds her that perfect isn’t very attainable or very fun. I tend to love an Austen retelling and this one is no different. Im not usually a paranormal fan but that didn’t bother me at all in this case. This is definitely a YA recommend. Read as an ARC from NetGalley.

This was a sweet coming-of-age story based on Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. I love Amanda Quain's works, and this was no exception. The characters were well-developed, the setting was perfectly Jane Austen, and the story was a lot of fun to read. I would definitely recommend Ghosted to teen patrons at my library, and can't wait to add it to the collection!

I love romances involving the supernatural, and Ghosted by Amanda Quain does not disappoint. It was a wonderful story.

I was captivated by the story's suspenseful plot and vivid characters. The novel follows the journey of a young woman, Sarah, as she navigates the complexities of life and love. Sarah's story is full of twists and turns, and I found myself eagerly turning the pages to find out what would happen next.

The author, Amanda Quain, does an excellent job of creating a believable world and characters that readers can relate to. The dialogue is realistic and the emotions of the characters are palpable. I was particularly impressed by the way Quain was able to capture the nuances of Sarah's relationships with her family and friends.

Overall, Ghosted is an engaging and thought-provoking read. It is a story of love, loss, and redemption that will stay with you long after you finish the last page. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a captivating read.