When I found out that there was a gender bent modern retelling of Northanger Abbey - I HAD TO GET MY HANDS ON IT! I love Pride and Prejudice but almost every retelling is a P&P retelling; it’s a breath of fresh air to see a Northanger Abbey one! Overall, I am so happy to say I enjoyed this gender swapped retelling of Northanger Abbey. It’s a great YA read as well for younger readers who are maybe just being introduced to Austen.

Ghosted is the story of of Hattie Tilney, a young girl struggling since the death of her father to keep her family together and have a semblance of a normal life; which is hard to do when you’re the daughter of the headmistress at a school called Northanger Abbey which just so happens to be the most haunted school in America. Hattie hates everything to do with ghosts but her perspective starts to change when she meets new student and avid ghost hunter Kit Morland. Kit throws Hattie’s perfect world off balance and through exploring the gothic school for ghosts, Hattie begins to deal with her grief over her father and opening up to someone new.

I think the best thing about this book is its portrayal of grief. Hattie and her family have been shattered by the loss of her father - her older sister is up to no good most days, her younger brother has disappeared into himself and her mother has buried herself in work. Each Tilney is dealing with the grief in a different way and Hattie’s raw emotions and Quain’s portrayal of this are very well done. The scenes where Hattie discusses her father with Kit Morland, are some of the most compelling in the story as are the scenes with her mother discussing her grief. Headmistress Tilney is not a likeable character per se as the way she handles her grief seems to be to complete handle her children, but her portrayal is certainly accurate.

The romance in this book is sweet though not the centre plot point of the story (despite the cover) I think. At the end of the day, the romance is there, but this is more a book about coming to terms with grief with the help of family and friends. This is actually appropriately rated YA in that there is little steamy scenes. Kit Morland is an endearing hero and I think a bit more likeable than his counterpart Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey (in that he’s a bit less dense about things).

My biggest compliant is that many of the side characters seem a bit shallow and lacking depth and sometimes there was much more telling than showing. I’m told that Izzie and Priya are Hattie’s friends but I never really felt the connection. I’m told her older sister Freddie is a up to no good mean older sister but I’m never shown that. I didn’t feel that upset when Hattie fights with her friends nor that affected when they make up.

Amanda Quain has proven once again that she has a knack for retellings.

If you’re not familiar with her work, please see my raving review of her debut for “Accomplished” that was published in July 2022. I was impressed with her writing then, and I’m just as impressed a year later. The difference between now and then is that I had read “Pride and Prejudice” before reading “Accomplished” so I felt like I had an idea of what to expect from storyline. Reading “Ghosted”, I went in blind and I am so happy I did.

Ghosts gif from giphy.com
“That’s how we keep stories alive, in the telling and the retelling. So tell me a story.”
Quain demonstrates her exemplary story telling skills right from the start. The reader’s first glimpse of the novel is a slice of a scene that seems to be from the middle of the story. We’re dropped in at the moment our main character Hattie has to make a decision, a make-or-break moment about becoming the kind of person she wants to be, or staying the person she is now.

“It had never been a matter of whether I could believe in ghosts. The question was… Did I want to?”

Quain balances the use of every day language with the complexity of adult themes like acceptance, grief, and the power of believing (both in oneself and the ‘big picture’) to reach an overarching audience of teens, young adults, and those like me who have been out of high school for some time. Her words seem to come so smoothly that it’s easy to forget that this is truly craft and hard work, not just something done off the cuff. I say this as a testament to her talent. Quain makes her writing look effortless.

High School Is Still The Worst
If you didn’t let people in, they couldn’t hurt you. Plain and simple.

clip from Cruel Intentions
Hattie is in her senior year at Northanger Abbey, a private school run by her mother, Dr. Tilney. Hattie’s father passed away a few years earlier, right before her Freshman year. Not only does she need to learn to navigate a new school structure and social dynamic, but she also needs to learn how to grieve the loss of one of the most important people of her life at the same time.

“Vulnerability”, after all, was just a fancy word for weakness. It was always better to opt for distraction and diversion.

Grief is such a hard and personal thing to speak about, because everyone handles it differently. Hattie used avoidance and ignorance to bury her feelings, instead attempting to present the world her most ‘perfect’ version of herself. Unfortunately, as you might assume, that perfect exterior begins to crack. At first it’s just a tiny little fissure, but soon her perfect persona starts to crumble and it’s all that she can do to hold the pieces of herself together. Quain builds this self-destruction perfectly, one slow piece at a time, until Hattie is falling apart and the reader is left wondering how she hadn’t fallen apart from the very beginning.

Final Thoughts
“Ghosted” is it’s own hauntingly beautiful novel. There is no need to have knowledge of Northanger Abbey, ghosts, or Jane Austen in general, but I’m sure that it couldn’t hurt either. Kit and Hattie are two very unique individuals. When they come together, though, and work as a team instead of in spite of each other, their personalities compliment each other to create magic. “Ghosted” can be enjoyed by everyone, but especially young adult readers, or anyone who needs the reminder that it’s okay to believe.

A gender-bent retelling of Northanger Abbey with a paranormal twist…

Despite attending America’s most-haunted high school, Hattie doesn’t believe in ghosts.

Hattie is grieving her ghost-hunting father, and the loss of a solid relationship with her mother, who’s the headmistress of Northanger Abbey. Hattie is laser-focused on graduating high school and attending her dream school–-which she’s worried might reject her. There’s a lot going on in this book–including complex relationships with her younger brother and older sister, her best friends at school, her mom, and, of course, the new boy in school. There was almost too much going on, which resulted in the pacing of the book being quite slow.

That said, my favourite part of the book was the worldbuilding. We get lots of history about Northanger Abbey, as well as spooky stories about the (alleged) ghosts that haunt the grounds. They each have a unique backstory and I lived for those little snippets. I wish that the author had spent more time on this aspect of the book (the ghosts!), and maybe cut one of the friendship storylines.

The romance between Hattie and Kit is super adorable. It’s interesting, because I love grumpy-sunshine tropes (especially when it’s the girl that’s the grump!), but in this book, I liked Kit a lot more than Hattie.

This is a fun book for those who enjoy paranormal ghost hunter shows and sweet young adult romances.

"Belief is a series of small moments that add up to a big conviction."
This is a modern-day YA retelling, with paranormal twist, of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. Instead of Catherine Morland being the main character, we have Kit Morland as the teen boy love interest. And instead of Henry Tilney, it is Hattie (Henrietta) Tilney who leads us on her first-person POV journey. She goes from high school senior burying grief and her true self to high school graduate open to once again feeling and giving love. As with the original Austen novel, the main female character gains a better grasp of herself, and the slow-burn romance is also reminiscent of Austen, but the rest is pure reimagining. The setting: an elite prep school, Northanger Abbey, "America's most notoriously haunted high school," with its Gothic towers, its 300+-year history, and its cult-class status as the setting of '90s horror film What Cries Beneath. Hattie's mom is headmistress, a job she started just weeks after losing her ghosthunter husband, Hattie's father, to cancer. That loss haunts the family, particularly Hattie, who buries her grief in pursuit of becoming the perfect daughter and perfect student. When Kit Morland transfers to Northanger on scholarship sponsored by the National Paranormal Society of Investigators and Hattie is assigned to be his partner on a project to research the history of Northanger Abbey's paranormal activity, she has to confront her own history and learn to be true to herself and to those who love her. As convoluted as it sounds, it totally works. I loved every minute of this Austen-adjacent YA novel with its Ted Lasso-esque message, "Believe." 

[Thanks to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

This book was decent! I really enjoyed Hattie’s growth throughout this book, especially with the family angle. I did find some of the friendship elements a little more distracting and wish the love story had been a little less love at first glance, but the setting was fun. After my second book with this author I’d love to see her step away from the Jane Austen related content and just lean into a traditional series, mostly because this one was a bit far from the original text

Coming of age story in an academy that is told to be haunted. Since a paranormal movie was shot on site it's a popular spot for ghost hunters and theorists.
Hattie, the daughter of the headmaster is tasked with showing a new student around. Kit has a ghost hunting scholarship and Hattie is a skeptic. She took him on tours and interviewed others and explored the grounds for a class journalism project she started to feel like she might believe.
This book discusses grief since they lost their father and he was the glue that held them together. Loved how they finally were able to communicate and process. Grief takes time and everyone copes differently. Not all are healthy or helpful and some can push people away.
This was a fun slow burn romance set in a gothic setting.
Loosely based of Northanger Abbey but Austen.

Thank you stmartinspress for the e-ARC for my honest and voluntary review.

"I was never going to escape these freaking ghosts" was a line that I thought encapsulated what Ghosted by Amanda Quain was truly about. Hattie, a high schooler who is focused on school and getting into Udolpho meets Kit, a new student at Northanger Abbey on a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two of them definitely don't hit it off at first, but through their project on discovering if there are actual ghosts at Northanger Abbey, they end up becoming much closer.
I really enjoyed how grief was shown in this novel, by having different ways of coping for the characters who experienced Hattie's father's death. Her mother, who is also the headmistress of Northanger Abbey, throws herself into work, leading Hattie to feel a lot of pressure to also be successful and have the perfect reputation. While Hattie's sister, Freddie, goes the opposite direction and becomes rebellious, and not following all the rules that her mother expected.
It was sad and yet funny, there were times where I wanted to give the characters hugs and encouragement. Other times, I was laughing and felt like they were my friends. I loved the modern setting and having references to many things that are currently in pop culture. Overall, this book was enjoyable and would highly recommend to many others.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

If you’re looking for a cute paranormal adjacent romance to kick start spooky season, look no further! Be warned this book is not just romance there is some heavy conversations around grief and loss that are pretty emotional! I really loved Kit as a character! Genuinely just a lovely person! Hattie is definitely a bit of an antihero. She has a lot of room for growth but we lover her despite the flaws! Overall a cute read with the spooky ghost vibes I wanted!

Ghosted is a cute young adult novel with a deep message. Hattie is barely keeping her head above water trying to be the perfect daughter, friend, and sister. She is faking everything in her life. She makes ever decision based on how it will impact those around her in her desperate need to be normal at school and the perfect daughter to her mother. The psychologist in me wanted to hug her and tell her that nothing she does will ever be enough to get her mother's approval.

Still grieving the death of her father, Hattie is trying to hold everything together at home and have the "perfect" senior year. When she is assigned to be an ambassador to new student and ghost hunter Kit, she is less than excited. But, she begins to realize, Kit sees through her "perfect" facade and she starts finding peace being in his company. Kit is a ghost believer who is totally entranced by the possibility of their "haunted school", Northanger Abbey.

Ghosted is a sweet young adult story about a girl trying to find her way and a boy who is free from worrying about the judgements of others. They help each other along the way embrace who they are and find their path. While at times it was a little long, overall, I thought this was a great read. This is certainly a book I plan to share with my students.

I've never read Northanger Abbey, but the description for this book had me intrigued. I was a big fan of the X-Files when I was younger and it said that this was a gender bent retelling.

Hattie is the dreaded middle child and when her paranormal father dies, her mom turns to work and her older sister spirals, so it her job to make sure her younger brother is ok. Hattie just wants to make it through graduation and then she's assigned new student Kit who's there on a ghost-hunting scholarship. They're also partnered together for a project to investigate the school's paranormal activity.

I enjoyed their investigations and time together. They had great chemistry and banter. This book also confronts the grief of Hattie losing her father. I've never lost someone that close, but I thought it was addressed well.

Say Jane Austen retelling and I am here for it.

This was a bit of a rom-com style story in a haunted high school. Grief was also being dealt with from the loss of a parent so it did bring on some emotions. It was a cute story though with likable characters that I will definitely be recommending.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

After reading Quain's Accomplished last summer, I was so excited to get the chance to read Ghosted--a loose retelling of Northanger Abbey! In it, Hattie Tilney, a determined nonbeliever of the paranormal is forced to partner with Kit Moreland, a paranormal enthusiast, on a school project about...you guessed it, the paranormal history of their school, Northanger Abbey. (I recognize that was an incredibly long sentence, but bear with me.)

Oof. This book is great. I only say "oof" because Hattie's family drama in this book is A LOT and I definitely felt stressed over the way Hattie felt like she had to be absolutely perfect and controlled and a different person after the death of her dad (off-page, prior to start of the story). I felt for her and just wanted to hug her and tell her it was okay. Kit Moreland is absolutely adorable and this is one of those books where I wish we had a dual POV because I definitely wanted more of his story. While his character is sweet, I do think he could have been a little more fleshed out.

This is a lovely story about grief, figuring out what brings you joy, and honestly...the importance of communication. I loved the ending and Hattie's journey overall!

Content warning: parental death, parental neglect, teens forced to raise younger siblings

So a NORTHANGER ABBEY retelling/reimagining this is not... even though it's being marketed as such. The prep school might be named Northanger Abbey, the buildings may be Gothic architecture, and they may be allegedly haunted. We might meet a sceptic and someone that wholeheartedly believes in the unexplained. But that's where the similarities end, Austen's novel is my favorite piece of literature from her and I was expecting more of a connection to the original text given this is marketed as a retelling rather than just being inspired by it.

With that being said, GHOSTED is a fun read and stands well on its own as a YA novel with a little bit of a romance and perhaps some ghosts. I spent the majority of the novel raging at how horrible Dr. Tilney was as a parent (and honestly, in her job too given how scared students were of her). I never connected with Hattie so I didn't ever fully become invested in her life, but I did love Kit and Liam.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that this book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. I thought it would be a sweet, cute, rom-com, and it was, but it was also a super realistic view on grief. I’ll admit this one was hard for me to read as I, like the narrator, lost my father and while I was older than her it was no less painful. I will say it was done well and I enjoyed the story, but be ready for the emotional punch. I did have a hard time connecting with the narrator, but since in her grief she cut herself off from everyone that made sense. Overall I gave this one 3.5 stars rounded up for how well emotions were depicted, particularly the grief.

It's been quite awhile since I've read a YA book & this one is a really fun one! But it also covers some hard topics like the grief of losing a parent & how your life changes after that tragic event. I really empathized with Hattie in this area!

I really enjoyed the characterization of Hattie and Kit, especially the way that Kit was able to help Hattie open up almost immediately. It was such a stark contrast to the way she was with the friends she'd had throughout her high school career up until that point.

I haven't read the source material that this book is inspired by (Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen) but now I really feel the need to!

Thank you so much to Net Galley, Amanda Quain, & Wednesday Books for letting me read an early copy of Ghosted!

I just finished Ghosted by Amanda Quain and here are my thoughts.

Hattie Tilney thought she had all her plans set in stone. She was focused… Ready for the next step until Kit Morland is assigned to her to show around. A boy with his EMF detectors and passion for ghost hunting. That is why he wanted to come to Northanger Abbey. A place teeming with ghosts. Hattie doesn’t believe a lick of it and when she and Kit have to do a project on ghosts together, she can’t be dreading it more.

Her and Kit strike a deal for the supernatural project. He has to prove ghosts exist and she has to prove they don’t. The more they investigate, the more Hattie feels like Kit might see her in a way no one has since her father passed away.

This is a clever retelling of Northanger Abbey, set in a school with teenagers, it gave it a real new flavor! I didn’t see how this book would work but I stood so corrected! It was really well written.

Hattie’s dad was a huge ghost lover too so I think having Kit come into her world was the kind of tonic her broken soul needed. A reminder of the things she loves and that they didn’t give up on her just because she gave up on them. The whole story is mostly about Hattie trying to keep her mask on around people so they don't really see her. Not letting anyone get close but once Kit came… She couldn’t keep him out.

I loved the ambience of the school. I want to go visit. I want to go ghost hunting. I love when books create such a realistic and fascinating world that you thirst to see it. It had a really cute romance undertone to it and I am such a romantic so I was fully invested in the whole book.

4.5 stars and such a great start to a promising series.

Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy

Ghosted is a sweet and endearing YA, gender-bent retelling of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. I will admit that I have not read the original work so I had no reference going into this novel.

We start by meeting Hattie, a supposedly 'perfect' girl who is actually hiding her grief and 'imperfections' behind a wall. Then she meets Kit, a guy who gives off golden retriever vibes and is basically sunshine personified. Together, Hattie learns to open up, become more vulnerable, and learn to explore her grief.

I really enjoyed the way this book explored deeper topics such as loss, grief, personal growth, and strengthening familial relationships.

My only problem with this novel is the marketing aspect. After reading the synopsis, I expected the book to primarily be a paranormal story. Instead, the only supernatural aspects of Ghosted are more about ghost stories than actual ghosts. So if you're wanting a ghost book, I would skip this one. However, if you're looking for a heartwarming YA novel with surprising depth, this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

This was a cute read. Good idea that I had fun reading.

Coming of age story with ghosty elements, more than a ghost story.

Hattie dealt with a lot. She is definitely stronger mentally and emotionally than I am. Kit is definitely a book boyfriend. No junior in HS is that self aware or undeniably sweet. While there were several characters that I loved, there were some I didn’t really like. Izzy needed a therapist (everyone in this did), Freddie was really rough on Hattie. But even the characters I didn’t like had good character development that was important for the story.

Retelling of Northanger Abbey. I haven’t read Northanger Abbey so I can’t speak to that.

Special thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for my digital ARC.

I love Jane Austen and will read everything to do with her or retellings of her books. I love seeing modernized versions of my favorite works. While Northanger Abbey isn't my favorite of Jane's, I've read it plenty of times and appreciate it.

With that said, you do NOT need to know and understand Northanger Abbey to enjoy this story. It's a quick and cute book. I can sense some of the classic themes from the original in this take by Amanda Quain, but she really has made it her own and I'm cool with that.

I love that Amanda has switched the gender names here for her story. ( In Austen's NA, Henry Tilney is the MMC and Catherine Moreland is the FMC. In Ghosted, Henrietta- aka Hattie - Tilney is the FMC and Kit Moreland is the MMC ) Hattie is determined and has a plan of action for her life, but then Kit is thrown into it and she has to figure out if that plan was really worth it.

The story is really easy to just melt yourself into and enjoy for a couple of hours while you read it. It is definitely YA, so expect some silly drama and nothing too romantic. My only problem is that the book sort of showed no plot for a while. It just seemed to want to grow the relationship budding between Kit and Hattie, which was cute, but it did kind of take away a little from more interest for me. This is why I knocked it down to 4 stars.

Overall, cute story with a nice message. I'd recommend you giving it a read.

I’ve still never read a Jane Austin novel. I know. Insert all the gasps here. But I seem to really love a Jane Austin retelling. Ghosted by @quainiac was definitely a favorite YA romcoms I’ve read this year and it’s billed as an updated Northanger Abbey.

Hattie Tilney doesn’t believe in ghosts anymore, despite the fact that she attends Northanger, one of the world’s most haunted high schools--allegedly. But she’s sick of all the ghost hunters and believers and just wants to get through her senior year, following the path she thinks her mother, Northanger’s headmistress, wants her to follow. She wouldn’t know for sure. Her mother, who was always a little distant, barely talks to Hattie and her siblings since Hattie’s father died. When her mother assigns Hattie to be the ambassador to new student, Kit, who’s transferred to Northanger on a full ghost hunting scholarship, Hattie’s life gets a little more complicated.

Kit is an absolutely dreamy high school love interest, and I’m not entirely sure guys like him exist, although—in the spirit of the book—I’d really like to believe they do. And I loved, loved, loved, the slow build romance. But the book is about a lot more than romance. Kit is dealing with grief over her father, a bit of an identity crisis about finishing high school and not knowing what to do with her life, issues with her siblings about her expectations of who they are, and friend drama that was handled so beautifully.

There’s a lot in this story about identity and figuring out who you are and what parts of yourself you’re comfortable showing to the world that I think will resonant with teens and adults like me and I just completely loved reading Hattie’s journey. It was funny and sweet and painful and the themes of believing and why we don’t were woven into the story in such a lovely way.

I would 100% recommend this one to fans of YA romcoms, and I definitely plan to go back and read the author’s first book.