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.

Perfection! Characters could be a tad over the top but that’s my only complaint. Loved the NA nod, enjoyed the gender swap, and loved the deeper reflection on grief and growing alongside it.

I was provided an ARC of this book via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

This was a really cute YA retelling of Northanger Abbey (I've never read it so I can't compare the two) with a paranormal twist. Northanger Abbey is the most haunted high school, and Hattie has the privilege of attending the elite private school. Her mom also happens to be the headmistress. Hattie used to be really into the paranormal, but she gave it all up when her family moved to Northanger and has worked really hard to become the perfect daughter and student. She wears the mask well, but the façade is starting to wear on her as her senior year kicks off and college application deadlines loom.

Enter Kit Moreland, a laid back fun loving ghost hunter who has received a scholarship to the haunted high school, and Hattie has been assigned as his ambassador. She is supposed to help him acclimate and learn to navigate campus. On the outside the two couldn't be more opposite, but on the inside Kit reignites all of the things Hattie used to love about ghosts, legends, and the history surrounding them. As they spend more time together Hattie gains some perspective on her life and starts to think more about what she wants for her future instead of what is expected of her.

I really enjoyed this. I love a good paranormal story, and the author does a good job giving you just enough about the sightings mixed in with the history of the school to make it feel plausible. Every good legend is steeped in a bit of truth, and Hattie and Kit do a good job debating back and forth about believing and not believing in ghosts. While there was some ghost hunting, most of that was a metaphor for other issues happening in Hattie's life. There were great discussions about emotion and grief and finding out who you really are versus living up to someone else's expectations. This has a lot of hard hitting moments balanced with some humor and light romance.

I really enjoyed this and look forward to reading more from this author.

Imaginative modern adaptation of Austen’s Northanger Abbey that I liked even better than Quain’s first, Accomplished. An emotional and engaging YA love story with family at its center.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free copy. These opinions are my own.

I'm quickly becoming a HUGE fan of Amanda Quain and her creative reimagining of classics in relatable YA romances with a great deal of emotional depth. While I really enjoyed her last Jane Austen retelling, this latest Northanger Abbey remake raised the bar even higher. Perfect for fans of Emma Lord or Kara McDowell and good on audio narrated by Laura Knight Keating. Many thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Gorgeous cover 😍 stunning story 💗 amazing characters✨




Thank you soooooo much netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advanced review copy if this book💗
"I voluntarily read and reviewed the book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC publication for an honest review.

While I am not familiar with Northhanger Abbey, this book really intrigued me. There was much more emotional depth than what I was expecting. There was a lot that was "ghosted" in this book. Hattie was a shell of who she once was. The family dynamics is a thing of the past since the death of her father. The characters were well drawn, and the storyline keeps you invested. The romance between Kit and Hattie was just so pure. Kit was just an absolute perfect book boyfriend! There was so much grief that was suffocating Hattie's family and they each dealt with that loss differently. While we eventually get an explanation from the mother about why she became the way she did, I just don't understand or have much empathy for her. She really let her family down! The reason behind Hattie not believing in ghosts anymore is heartbreaking. I am so glad she had Kit come into her life! The "ghostbuster" aspect of the book was fun.

4 stars

What a great book! The narrative is sharp and witty and as the book goes and you really get to know these characters, you root for them. I hope when readers get ot read this they fall for the adventure, the humor, and the amazing worldbuilding that Quinn has achieved. This book is a slower pace than I'm usual interested in but it so worth it.

This was so cute!!! I loved the couple in this. They both felt so real and I found them both so endearing. I also think this is the perfect combination of spooky and heartfelt. This is the first book by this author that I've read, but I will definitely check out their other stuff because I just thought this book was so lovely. It's very realistic and sweet and heartwarming, and it doesn't shy away from the reality of life. And I just really loved Hattie and Kit.

This was a book I picked up and was very excited to read because I’m a huge Jane Austen fan, and Northanger Abbey is one of her books that is not often revisited (Pride & Prejudice, Emma and Sense & Sensibility get the modern version treatment all the time). I knew going in that it was young adult and from the title and description it was focused on ghosts/paranormal at the school.

I’m sad to report that it didn’t live up to the hype I’d created for myself… maybe I need to re-read the original, which I know isn’t my fave of Austen’s stories, but I found my attention wandering and having to go back to re-read passages because the storyline didn’t always hold my interest. I’m sure if it was a college age new adult instead of high school young adult romance, with a much faster paced plot and far less family or “best friend” drama, this could have been better for me.

It was definitely slow and too many young teen friendship and applying for college and dealing with family angst and not enough about the relationship with the interesting new boy at school and the project about the ghost legends on campus. Had it focused a lot more on that, I think it would have been a lot more interesting all-around!

Overall, if you’re looking for a very young, young adult read that’s basically about friendship drama and totally brutal family dynamics, a little about the awkward senior year of high school and trying to make new friends, and a little about ghost legends in the area - maybe this one will be better for you than it was for me.

I received an advance copy from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press (Wednesday Books), and this is my honest opinion.

I love Jane Austen modernizations and I knew I had to have this one. Hattie is struggling. After her dad passed away she is no longer into ghost hunting, but that is what Northanger is known for. It is quite annoying to have all these people around her into it and she just wants out. Enter Kit. He is a ghost hunter that Hattie has been tasked with being an ambassador for. Can he open her back up to the world of ghost hunting and maybe earn her heart or will it all go down in flames just like her college applications?
I really liked the depth of this novel. I feel like it was on the lighter side, but touched so many issues that were near to my heart and I completely understood why she was so shut off to the ghost hunting world. At first I was like, what is the issue!? Then when it all came out, my heart just broke for her. I loved how real the family dynamic was and how navigating tough issues weren't just glossed over.
Thank you to St. Martins, Amanda Quain and Netgalley for an early copy.

I am not a huge Jane Austen fan (don't stone me!), so I have no idea what her story is about. My review is based solely on this book without comparisons.

This coming-of-age YA novel has many themes running through it. Hattie is grieving her father's passing while trying to fit into the high school where her mother is the headmistress. I found it odd that she always referred to her as Dr. Tilney and rarely mom. That speaks volumes about their relationship or lack thereof. Hattie does have a good relationship with her younger brother Liam, but her older sister, Freddie, is lost in her own way.

Enter Kit Morland. He is a scholarship student from a paranormal society. His enthusiasm for all things ghosts brings up some feelings in Hattie that she hasn't felt for many years. However, in order to be the "good" daughter, she pushes those emotions down and scoffs at his love of ghosts. It doesn't help that they are assigned a project that is to prove or disprove the idea of ghosts. Despite their journalistic endeavors, love does come into play over time. I enjoyed watching their relationship blossom and for Hattie to realize that maybe there is more to her life than the boxes she is checking off some list.

Love, friendship, disagreements, and more bring this story together. The characters are varied but focus primarily on Kit and Hattie. I really came to adore Liam, especially when he discovered a new love. Even Freddie manages to redeem herself in the end.

This was an enjoyable story, and we give it 4 paws up.

Middle child Hattie is having an identity crisis. After her father died and her mom submerged herself in work, Hattie has picked up the slack. It isn't until Kit moves to (the supposedly haunted) school that Hattie starts to see herself as she really is. Unfortunately, that rocks the boat with her friends and family.
Opinion
I was really excited when I saw that this is the first in a series. I absolutely loved the setting and characters for this book and am curious as to who the next book will be written about. (It is Hattie's siblings, her friends, someone new????)
As far as young adult romances go, this book was pretty stellar. With the plot having Hattie and Kit looking into the school being haunted, I believe teens will fall for the book's charms like I did.
I do think that the characters were a bit extreme. (Mom was focused on work to the exclusion of everything else, for example.) But the book had such a nice flow and the resolution will make your heart melt.
I would feel comfortable putting this book into the hands of a young teen. This book was pretty awesome and mild enough on the spice meter for young adults.
Many thanks to Net Galley and St. Martins Press (my favorite publisher) for providing me with an ARC of this book.

A very cute, at times creepy YA story about young love, loss, dealing with worldly pressures, and being true to yourself. This one got me out of a reading slump and had me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. This book just put a smile on my face.

Would recommend to anyone who enjoys wholesome YA love and creepy vibes. Also for anyone who loves retellings of classics with a little spin. Perfect fall not-so-dark academia vibes!

Can’t wait to read more of Quain’s work!

A gender-bent contemporary retelling of a Jane Austen book? Hells yeah, baby!

Hattie goes to a widely known haunted school yet she doesn't believe in ghosts (anymore). She is assigned as the newbie's (Kit) ambassador to show him around, and this boy is a ghost's number 1 fan. After getting paired up on a project together, the two will go ghost hunting--one wanting to prove the existence of ghosts and the other to prove the impossibility of it.

Slow burn, gender-bent retelling, paranormal romance. This was a very cute YA romance. I loved the golden retriever feel of Kit, and he was a very refreshing MMC. This was a great book to read while travelling. It was cute, witty, and fun. The character story of Hattie was very well-done. It was very heartfelt at times

Ghosted is a cute, raw, contemporary Northanger Abbey retelling with a dash of the paranormal. If you’re a fan of Jane Austen and YA contemporary, this is the perfect mash-up of both. Plus, this book has ghost hunting in it which makes it even better.

Hattie Tilney is starting her senior year at Northanger Abbey with a plan for success. She’s got the perfect friends, the perfect image, and the perfect college application for her dream school. What could go wrong?

Answer: everything.

When Hattie meets Kit, everything changes. The true Hattie comes out. She finds herself opening up to Kit and being vulnerable in a way she hasn’t in years. After her father died, she adopted a whole new persona as a coping mechanism. One of the biggest changes was she went from loving everything related to the paranormal and ghosts to being a staunch disbeliever. Kit, on the other hand, fully believes in ghosts and the paranormal.

Ghosted was a refreshing, fun, emotional read. Hattie’s growth throughout the book was written extremely well. Her grief, and her family’s grief, felt so raw and real. Everyone deals with loss differently and this book showcased that perfectly. This book also has a super cute romance that will have you rooting for Kit and Hattie from their very first meeting.

If you are looking for a fun contemporary book with great characters and themes, this is a must-read.

A high school senior dealing with her father’s death is paired with a new student at school. As the two teens get closer, the senior learns how to live beyond the restrictions she’s set for herself. Author Amanda Quain adapts Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey in the well-intentioned but ultimately lightweight novel Ghosted.

Hattie Tilney can’t believe how much everyone at her Massachusetts boarding school, Northanger Abbey, believes in ghosts. It’s practically written into the school’s DNA. The school even has a whole club dedicated to investigating paranormal activities. Hattie, though, is having none of it.

There’s no scientific proof for ghosts, but she doesn’t want to waste her time explaining that to anyone. She’s survived three years at Northanger where her mother is the headmistress. Now she just needs to get through senior year, and everything will be fine. Her master plan is all set: get into Udolpho University’s prestigious pre-law program and prove to her mother once and for all that she can be the perfect student. Maybe then her mother will pay attention to her.

When her mother—who even Hattie calls Dr. Tilney—summons her to her office, Hattie is expecting some sort of acknowledgment. Instead Dr. Tilney makes Hattie the school’s ambassador to new student Kit Morland. Kit is a junior and has just transferred from Florida on a ghost-hunting scholarship of all things. From the outset, Kit seems ready to embrace all things other-worldly. He also seems really into Hattie. She can’t figure out the “why” of either.

After all, she’s the only one who knows how much she used to love ghost stories and wondering about the afterlife. That was back when her dad was alive, when the two of them used to swap stories like trading cards. With him gone and her mother going all automaton on the family, Hattie can’t waste her time on silly things like ghosts.

She’s the only one keeping the family going. Someone has to look after her little brother, Liam. Hattie can’t depend on their older sister, Freddie, to do basic things like cook meals and clean. Between housework and schoolwork, Hattie’s too busy to help Kit find ghosts.

But she is the Northanger ambassador assigned to Kit, after all, so it’s her duty to show him around. As the two start spending more time together, Hattie finds herself opening to Kit in a way she never could with her best friends, Izzy and Priya. Kit doesn’t even know her full history with her dad, yet he has a way of convincing Hattie that sometimes the best things in life to believe in are the ones you can’t see.

Author Amanda Quain writes with an earnestness and ease that showcases her experience with the YA genre. However, the book lacks many essential details that would ground it in reality. The plot feels haphazard at best.

Kit hints at a family of six sisters and parents, but other than that and the fact that he’s from a small Florida town readers know almost nothing about him. Quain offers a few bits of information but leaves it incomplete. A vague mention or two to some sort of bullying for his ghost-loving ways pops up but is mostly ignored. Kit owns many t-shirts from various bands and wears beanies most of the time, but these details don’t build toward making him a three-dimensional character.

Likewise, Hattie’s mom is shown to be cold and unfeeling, but readers don’t know much about her beyond the fact that she’s the head of the boarding school and, according to Hattie, expects perfection. The few interactions between Hattie and her mom don’t necessarily support this. Readers only have Hattie’s insistence to guide them through the relationship with her mom.

Hattie’s best friends and siblings are also cardboard cutouts. Izzy’s father is the director of a cult classic that was filmed at the boarding school, but the transactional friendship she shares with Hattie that Hattie deems acceptable. Other best friend Priya is simply painted as the studious one and that’s it. Freddie and Liam, as Hattie’s siblings, get a little more page time, but readers won’t feel like they know them that well.

The plot, too, feels paper thin in many places and veers into wild turns in others. The inevitable romance between Hattie and Kit is sweet and honest; readers waiting for that slow burn will definitely enjoy it. However, the young love track of the book isn’t enough to carry it.

Honestly, the one word I'd use to describe this book is underwhelming. Ghosted is a Northanger Abbey retelling centered around Hattie, a 17 year girl in the midst of college applications who does not believe in ghosts. After her father died four years ago, the magic of the world seemed lost to her. Enter Kit Moreland, a boy with a ghost-hunting passion who Hattie gets thrown together with at school, who could change her life. Honestly, for majority of this book, I felt like there was no plot to this book. It felt like going thorough the motions, and there was no driving force. Also, for all the focus on ghosts and ghost hunting in the aesthetic and marketing of the book, there was hardly any of that in the actual book. The relationship between Hattie and Kit grew so quickly that it felt forced, and the antagonistic characters of this book were so blatant. The writing was a lot more telling instead of showing, and that took a lot away from the book. I was initially quite excited for this book, but it just felt like such a forced read in the end. There was hardly any build up in any character and the conflict resolution felt like a simple way to tie up loose ends. The conflict itself felt quite forced, because there wasn't any driving force to the book. I would likely not recommend this book to other people.