4 1/2

In the before times, before her father died, Hattie Tilney was a ghost-loving geek; it was something they shared. When her dad died, that died too. Hattie replaced her geekness with a need to fit in and be driven, just as she thinks her mother wants. When she’s volunteered by her mother to be Northanger’s ambassador to Kit Morland, a ghost-believing geek whose scholarship was given by a ghost hunting group, Hattie does everything to inform him that she doesn’t believe. And when they are paired for an assignment to look into paranormal activity, her desperation increases. But then a strange thing happens. Kit starts to barge his way through the walls that Hattie has built around her and for the first time in a very long time, she might just be herself again in Ghosted by Amanda Quain.

I really enjoyed this ghost story/YA romance with the almost irrepressible Kit and the uptight Hattie. If there is ever a character who dances like no one is watching, it’s Kit. He embraces his passions. On the other hand, I think Hattie’s uptightness sometimes went just a tad too far. In some ways I did understand her behavior but it also felt like being knocked over the head with it.

Ghosted involves takes on a lot of relationships besides the one between Kit and Hattie. Friends, siblings, parents. Quain does a great job of depicting these relationships and working through them in a believable way. Her depiction of Hattie’s relationship with her siblings is really nice.

The novel opened with a scene three months in the future from the action in most of the book that showed Kit and Hattie on a “stakeout” of sorts with the promise of perhaps ghosts but never seemed to follow through–unless I missed it. Possibly? Perhaps but doubtful since I was actively reading for it. Or maybe I was sleep reading. Oh, well.

Enjoyable and fast paced.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for a copy.

Ghosted by Amanda Quain is a young adult romance. I was giggling and grinning and I got so invested in Hattie and Kit’s relationship. I love a good retelling of a story. As far as retellings of Northanger Abbey go, I was excited to see it get the Amanda Quain treatment. This was done very well!

**3.5 Stars**
Overall this was a sweet story, the main character had a great quirky internal voice that I loved listening to even while I wanted to scream at her to make better choices in her life. I will admit that I was expecting this to be somewhat spooky or paranormal, but instead it was all about grief and healing after loss, family, and family with a nice dash of romance sprinkled on top a pretty serious subject matter story.

I liked the story (minus the mom, I did not like her) and I recommend this for anyone looking for a contemporary YA book that nicely engages some hard topics. I would pick up more from this author in the future.

Amanda Quain takes readers through navigating grief and family dynamics in this unique spin on Northanger Abbey. Hattie has taken on the role of keeping her family fed and cared for, while her mother is headmistress of a boarding school in a new town. When she meets, Kit, she is reminded to not make herself so small. I found that Hattie had quite the growth in this book and I enjoyed watching her journey. I have never been one to ghost chase but the stories and tidbits of this hobby were fun to read throughout the book. I enjoyed Amanda's writing and have found a new author to keep an eye on! Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own!

DNF @ 40%

I was looking forward to this one since I love the idea of Northanger Abbey with a paranormal twist, but I'm underwhelmed so far. I don't feel invested in any of the characters, and the plot is moving slower than I anticipated. There hasn't been much paranormal content either, which was something I was intrigued by. This one does still have a unique concept that I'm sure many will enjoy, but unfortunately, it's not for me.

This gender-flipped retelling of Northanger Abbey is a bit slow-moving. Hattie Tilney (who is Henry in the original) is mourning the death of her father and determined NOT to be interested in ghosts, her father's passion. But when Kit Moreland (Catherine Moreland in the original) enrolls at her school and they are assigned to a joint project, she begins to change her mind.

This is a very loose retelling, which is probably a good idea, as Northanger Abbey is a sort of spoof of Gothic fiction of the 1800s.

I felt like this book could have used a little more spookiness, but it was a pleasant read.

I can’t get enough of Amanda Quain’s writing, and her ability to create such dynamic characters while still being a fun and easy to read YA novel. While I haven’t read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, I can still feel the gothic vibes throughout Ghosted. This is a gender bent and modern day retelling of the story, and honestly feels like it stands so well on its own. I loved Hattie and Kit, and watching their relationship develop throughout the story. Hattie had to face a lot during her last year of high school, including dealing with the grief of her father’s death, the responsibility of running a household while her mother was absent, and trying to keep up with friendships that weren’t always the most supportive. Watching her slowly shift and open up by the end of the book was really satisfying, and overall this book felt like a true high school experience, with a few ghosts thrown into the mix as well. Definitely a great book to read this fall!

Ghosted was a very cute and enjoyable story - I loved it and the unique aspects of this story. I loved that ghost hunting was used as a way to force the characters together. A fun cozy read for the upcoming spooky season.

I love that this was a Northanger Abbey retelling, since it is such a wonderful and underrated Austen book that lends itself so well to a playful interpretation like this one! I loved how the characters and settings were reimagined in the modern context, and the gender swap was a really cool change to make. Hattie and Kit were really playful and I love how they interacted throughout the book, and the ghost hunting storyline felt really authentic. I would love more reimagining of less mainstream classics because they have so much to offer and are a way to create a refreshing read that still has references back to the original.

<i>I received a copy of this story from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Not quite 4 stars for me but I rounded up.

I was anticipating a fairly lighthearted, ghost-centric YA romance. And believe me, this is <b>not</b> lighthearted! It tackles themes of grief, losing a parent, family disfunction, achievement pressure/stress, and how we each cope to get by.

This is inspired by Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. I'm hesitant to say it's a retelling because while it has been a long while since I read Northanger, I'm pretty sure this book deviates from the original quite a bit. I basically ignored the fact that it's remotely Austen-related and enjoyed it for what it is.

The reason I rounded up is because the author does a brilliant job of depicting grief and how we all process it differently. When I was in high school, I lost a grandparent who lived with us for years (not the same, I know) and some people in my family gave me a lot of crap for how I processed my grief. So I felt everyone's pain here.

Quain also did a lovely job of capturing the voices of high schoolers. Not once did I think the characters sounded too old or too wise or too young. They were just the right amount of kid / young adult and it was so refreshing to read!

I did have some issues with the pacing, though. There were parts that really dragged. Because the topics are so heavy and because Hattie is our narrator, you start to feel like you're drowning in her pain and grief and assumptions and masks. It's hard to live in that and there were so few moments of levity that everything gets bogged down. I wanted to know what would happen but I had to really buckle down to get through it.

All in all, I still recommend this book!

Overall I enjoyed this, but I guess I was under the impression that there would be actual ghosts in this - so if you're expecting that, just know there aren't any. I guess I was expecting a sort of paranormal romance, so I was pretty disappointed when the ghost hunting aspect was pretty much just a way to get the characters to work together.

It was a cute romance about learning to navigate the world as your true self and how to communicate with those around you instead of bottling up all your emotions.

I haven’t read Northanger Abbey (it’s on my shelf), but no way was I turning down a gender-bent retelling listing X-Files (I’m a big fan) as a comp title.

Hattie and her family are still grieving the death of her father after he passed away a few years ago, and none of them are handling it well. The family is falling apart, but her father asked Hattie to take care of them before he died. She’s so concerned with everyone else and being the model student and daughter for her mother (the headmistress) that she’s let her own wants and needs fall to the wayside. Hattie shared a love of the paranormal with her father, but now that he’s gone she’s locked down that part of her life and become a non-believer.

Enter Kit Morland. He’s at the school on a scholarship from a paranormal society, a big believer, and is thrilled to have the opportunity to check out the ghosts at Northanger Abbey. When he and Hattie are assigned a group project about the school’s reputation of paranormal activity, she’s less than thrilled. At first. But then a sweet, slow burn romance develops between them. Kit and his beanies are precious and I adored him. Not only does he help Hattie’s brother blossom, he encourages Hattie to start thinking about what she wants in life instead of doing what others expect.

The descriptions of the school are atmospheric and give the story a gothic feel. While there’s some humor, it’s not as much as the author’s other book, Accomplished. I’d hoped for more ghosty fun, but this book leans toward self-discovery and a family dealing with grief and loss. The ending leaves the reader with a feeling of hope and healing.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

4.25+ stars

So far, I’ve been really enjoying this writer’s books. YA retellings of Jane Austen classics could easily go wrong, but she has a knack for taking the basic elements, putting them into contemporary settings, and giving them some believable and interesting twists. I also like how she uses humour to offset but not detract from some otherwise serious topics, including grief, complicated family dynamics, and navigating social relationships. I think this book would be a good addition to my classroom library.

I think about this book as what it would be like to go to X-Files High School. This gender-swapped contemporary take on Austen's "Northanger Abbey" begins with middle child Hattie Tilley trying to hold herself and her family together after the tragic loss of her father. When she gets assigned to be an ambassador for new student Kit Moreland, the last thing on her mind is buying into the ghost hunting thing that goes on in her high school, much less helping Kit with it! Witty and fun, a great read for spooky season.

Absolutely loved this! I have always been obsessed with paranormal shows and this fed into that. Also, the Jane Austen retelling was captured very well.

Tilney, a senior at Northanger Abbey High School, once loved all ghosty things before her father passed, but now she avoids them. Forced by her mother (the headmaster) she finds herself the guide for the new student, a ghost hunter named Kit Morland.

A fantastic YA retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, with gender-bent MCs, the most haunted high school in America, I love Northanger Abbey and wanted to read this book and I'm glad I did.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy for an honest review!!!

I’ve picked this one up a few times and I think this is just a case of right book wrong time.

I haven’t gotten really sucked into it like I was expecting. It could just be because I’ve been leaning towards more gothic and darker books lately.

But I’m not going to take it off my to be read list.

The concept is really intriguing to me because I was completely obsessed with paranormal investigation shows as a teen, and I LOVE romance books.

I plan on buying a physical copy because I love the cover and I know that I want to get back to it again, but I guess it’s just not the right time.

When I do finish it, I’ll post a full review on goodreads and most likely TikTok as well.

I really appreciate you allowing me to read this as an ARC. I will definitely revisit this again.

Thank you so much ❤️

This was a cute read! I’m not as familiar with northanger abbey so maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I were but overall it was nice. The grief aspect took a large portion of the story and I wasn’t quite ready for that. Kit was a sweet character and the moments with Hattie were so sweet to read.

"Ghosted" by Amanda Quain is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey." In this new twist, Quain introduces readers to Hattie Tilney, a young woman whose life revolves around her mother's expectations after her father's death. Set against the backdrop of Northanger Abbey in upstate New York, this novel skillfully weaves together themes of self-discovery, friendship, and the supernatural.

Hattie's life takes an unexpected turn when her mother asks her to be a student ambassador for Kit Moreland, an intriguing young man who loves ghost hunting. Hattie's meticulous façade, forged from her desire to gain her mother's approval, is about to crumble as she navigates this newfound partnership. The characters' interactions are filled with both wit and vulnerability, making their evolving dynamic a true highlight of the story.

The beginning narrative allows readers to familiarize themselves with Hattie's world, her struggles, and her aspirations. The initial chapters, while slower in pace, serve as a strong foundation for the emotional journey that follows. As the story gains momentum, the intricate relationship between Hattie and Kit takes center stage, drawing readers into their enthralling collaboration to prove or debunk the existence of the paranormal.

Quain does a good job of blending Austen's work with contemporary themes, combining Hattie's internal struggle with the overarching theme of self-acceptance.Hattie's efforts to be the person her mother desires are relatable and deeply resonant.

As Hattie and Kit delve into their journalism project, the story takes an unexpected turn. Their attempts to prove or disprove the supernatural lead them down a path of self-discovery and mutual understanding.

Towards the latter part of the book, emotions run high, and readers may find themselves on an emotional rollercoaster. Quain's writing leaves a lasting impact that will linger even after the final pages are turned.'

The book's concluding chapters offer a satisfying resolution while also paving the way for future installments.

Super cool book with an original plot. I felt that the characters were really developed and complex. The story tugged at my heartstrings and throughout the book I was laughing and crying. I was super into the book as a whole and by the end of it I was wishing I had more. I definitely suggest you read this book. And our library will 100% be buying it.