"Never Have I Ever meets The X-Files in Amanda Quain's Ghosted, a gender-bent contemporary retelling of the Jane Austen classic, Northanger Abbey. "

^^Yes. Yes to all of that.

One of my favorite Jane Austen novels and heroes is Northanger Abbey/Henry Tilney. There's something about that golden retriever man that I loved so much when I read NA for the first time. SO this book definitely hit the mark for me.

It took me like 15% through this to really get into it, but it think I was also in a reading slump because once I was in I was hooked.

I honestly think Hattie's mother (comparable to Henry's shitass father in NA) was comparably worse throughout the majority of this book. She's so cold and haltable and although you learn it's because she's still grieving her husband's death, COME ON. You have 3 children who are also grieving and you straight up ignore them for 3 years? No way.

I love that this is a genderbent retelling. Kit is still as golden retrievery as Henry though. Although you can still see the inspiration behind both characters from Katherine and Henry to Hattie and Kit, respectively. I loved watching the relationship blossom between these two.

I kind of appreciate Izzy's (aka Isabella's) redemption arc in this compared to her horibleness in NA, but honestly it's still kind of hard to say she deserves it. Hattie talks about how transactional their relationship is the whole book so it's very hard to see Izzy's side of things. She was very quick to forgive also which seemed rushed. Overall not a favorite character in either story so I didn't dwell on that too much.

Hattie's story was so sad, but well developed. I didn't cry, but she almost had me! You get a taste of the beginning of her grief identification and recovery and I think it's done well.

Overall, really liked this and will absolutely be reading Amanda's other Austen retellings!

Thanks to the publisher and author for an eARC via NetGalley.

Did Not Finish.

I’m so thankful for the opportunity I had to read this, but I’m not the biggest fan of ghost/paranormal stories

there are a few things that i would love to discuss, but overall, this book has been one of my favorites from this year. ghosted is a new take on northanger abbey (which is embarrassingly still something on my tbr) but i thoroughly enjoyed it.

characters! sometimes in ya characters can be … a little quirky. but hattie and her friends were manageable, and i really enjoyed reading how they interacted with one another. i’m also impressed with how quain made the main character, hattie, and her family multifaceted. it was well done, and i didn’t hate reading hattie’s narration- i was rooting for her the entire time to find her voice. something that’s relatable to me and i’m sure many other readers will be able to relate to hattie.
the setting was my second favorite part of this novel. i was reading this during january (even though it was in the 80s this week) but it made me feel like i was in the middle of a cozy autumn in the northeast. this book doesn’t come out until july 25 but i highly recommend it if you want to have an atmospheric read for the fall.
overall, i was totally surprised by this book and i really hope amanda quain comes out with more!

I requested this to preview it for a book club that I run at school with my students and I think that they would love this!! I would like it pair it with Northanger Abbey for them to get a full experience.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this arc ebook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I very much enjoyed "Ghosted" by Amanda Quain. Quick, funny, and mysteriously romantic read. Would re-read.

I really enjoyed this book. I loved the whole ghost hunting. The only thing bad about it was there were crazy amount of extra spaces though the book.

Super fun Northanger Abbey retelling! Loved loved loved this one. It’s witty and funny and heartwarming. What a great read!

Two things I love: Jane Austen and ghosts! This was a fast-paced, cute and fun romcom. Hattie (Henry) goes to Northanger Abbey, a school which is notoriously haunted and made famous by a ghostly film made on the campus. She is assigned to be the ambassador for the new transfer student on a ghost hunting scholarship, Kit (Catherine). I loved how the author switched the genders of the main characters and I absolutely enjoyed Kit's character. There is a lot of focus on grief in this book and how the characters experience/cope with that grief (or not unfortunately). Lack of communication was a major factor in most of the conflicts in this book which I, as an older reader, am not a fan of but I can see how younger people may act the way they do in this book. Overall I enjoyed this read and would recommend to any fans Jane Austen and/or Northanger Abbey!

Rounded up to 3.5

I think if I had read this book in high school it absolutely would have become one of my comfort books. I resonated with so much of Hattie's feelings of not knowing what she's doing or what she wants as well as with her grief and struggling to find where she fits in life. I also loved Kit as a character and his interactions with Hattie. However, I definitely wish we had gotten a little bit more of Hattie's family -- while Liam was a pretty big character, sometimes I would get him and Kit confused because they weren't written very distinguishable from one another. I also felt like there was so much potential in Freddie and Hattie's mom, which we only got to see more of at the very end of the book. Additionally, the end of the book itself just felt a little bit too rushed -- Hattie makes up with her friends and Kit and then suddenly it's six months later, everything is great and it's happily ever after. There definitely could have been more substance.

Also - the beginning of the book definitely had me confused once I read the book in it's entirety. Is the "Now" at the start of the book from when Kit and Hattie did their overnight ghost watch? Is it post Hattie graduating? It definitely did not feel tied into the rest of the book at all and I even went back to it at the end to see if I could connect it, but was left still confused as to how it related to the rest of the book, especially since Hattie and Kit's ghost project was kind of left ~ghosted~ itself.

Overall very enjoyable read, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved Quain’s last novel, so I knew I had to check out this one too. GHOSTED fell a little flat for me, though. The story was just okay to me; I found it very difficult to stay in the headspace of the story because the majority of the characters (okay, everyone but Kit and Liam if I’m being completely honest) were so unlikeable. The slow born romance aspect was done well and I liked the dueling aspects of ghost believer vs non-ghost believer. Just didn’t hit highly enough for me.

I loved this retelling of Northanger Abbey. Fans of Jane Austen, ghost stories, or just a good young adult novel will all appreciate this new spin on an old tale.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Thank you to Rivka Holler, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy of Ghosted in exchange for an honest review.

I'm committing some Jane Austenite blasphemy here, but... I enjoyed this re-vamping of Northanger Abbey even more than I did ... Northanger Abbey.

Amanda Quain did an interesting gender and narrator flip which really worked for me. She turned Catherine Morland into Kit Morland, a cute, ghost-enthusiast who arrives at the elite prep school Northanger Abbey on scholarship. His student ambassador is Henrietta "Hattie" Tilney, over-achieving daughter of the headmistress. For a school project, Kit and Hattie begin examining the legends and ghosts tied to their notoriously haunted school. Instantly connected, Kit and Hattie must fight the forces of convention, family, friends with their own agendas, and the supernatural to become a happy couple. In other words, Quain manages to stay true to Austen's themes while updating the plot and characterizations.

Fans of Austen, the Enola Holmes movies, and Alice Oseman will particularly enjoy this one.

This was a really lovely and heart-warming YA romance 😭

The MC Hattie is struggling to fit into high school, and with life in general, following the death of her father three years prior (and also dealing with an emotionally absentee mom and elder sister, following her father's death). She's trying to keep up her image at school, and also trying to keep her family together, and she's trying to be the perfect-est daughter and sister she can be, and all of these are taking an extreme about of mental toll on her. Andd, she's also blocked herself from believing in ghosts, which used to be a common interest with her father.

When she becomes friends with Kit, someone who very passionately believes in ghosts and is someone who is really friendly and emotionally open, Hattie finally starts to open up and process all of her repressed emotions (and yes, they fall in love, and they're so so cute).

I loved the emotional journeys of the MCs and her family members. I loved all the family and friendship and relationship resolutions at the end of the book.

At the heart of this story is a young girl who is struggling to process her emotions and face the world as her truest self, and I loved the journey she took to get to the end. I really loved this book, and I can't wait to read more by this author.

TWs - death of parent, emotionally absent parent, a child forced to take on the role of a parent, anxiety

-- ty to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy!

For those who crave spooky season well after it's over. Ghosted was an incredible retelling of a classic story that was a touch spooky, a touch romantic, and a lot fantastic!

Absolutely loved the gender bent modern twisting, and there is so much of the original Northanger Abbey in here! Udulpho as a university was perfect inclusion of the iconic obsession.

The slow burn is AMAZING, and the exploration of grief and family dynamic is well done. It definitely made me feel emotions. The first snow fall scene I had to reread multiple times immediately because it gave me such a heart squeeze.

There are so many different kinds of relationships explored in this book - child and parent, siblings, friends, and new loves, with variations on each theme. With such an important message about the value in being true to yourself.

Amanda Quain is very much a must read author for me at this point.

This slow burn Rom-Com is so worth the read. I loved it. I found myself smiling a big grin a couple of times the storyline and the characters kept me wanting more. I really liked it and liked how the author writes, I will definitely be reading more from her.

I just reviewed Ghosted by Amanda Quain. #NetGalley
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Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, and I am trying to find and read as many adaptations/retellings as I can. And this one is a YA adaptation of Northanger Abbey and I was surprised by it, because many of them are for Pride and Prejudice (most famous one so). It was interesting to read. A school known for its ghosts and horror movies and it is our setting! I was obsessed with it. I like all these school things and how the main characters were trying to overcome all school and personal problems. I read how they were developed as a person and it was perfect. This book is a really good modern Jane Austin version and probably a little unexpected for me however I liked this too. Ghosted was light and quick reading. The author's language was pretty, I enjoyed the descriptions and settings, author created an atmosphere that supported the title, and I liked how the author showed emotions and feelings. This story is not only about “ghost hunting" but family relationships, mother/child (I wanted a little more of this) self-acceptance and growth, how people connect with each other, and many subtopics that you can find there. Finally, it was a sweet read for me and I enjoyed the story and characters who were well written.


Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending me an advanced copy of Ghosted.

I tend to go into Austen retellings skeptical, but this was incredibly fun! I liked a lot of the changes Quain made - the gender-swapping, the school setting, and ghost-hunting premise worked well. I enjoyed getting to know Hattie- figuring out why she doesn't believe in ghosts, understanding her relationships with her family and friends. Kit was adorably goofy and serious in all the right ways. The end dialogue was sappy at times, but I was having too much fun to be bothered by it. I think a lot of people will enjoy this one!

This was such a fun read and such a fun take on the story! Hattie left her ghosthunting days behind her when she lost her father, but her mom is the headmistress of Northanger Abbey - a school full of ghosts. Or so the legends say. Enter Kit, a new student to Northanger on a scholarship thanks to his love of ghosts. When Hattie's mom assigns her to be Kit's ambassador to the school and show him around, she's instantly not looking forward to it because of his over enthusiasm for ghosts - but there's also just something about him that she's drawn to.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching these two through the course of the story. With a little reverse grumpy/sunshine these two come together in such great ways. Kit is such a golden retriever, and he supports Hattie in so many different ways, it was really sweet to watch these two.
There were times at the story where Hattie's friends really bothered me because of how they acted but at the same time, that was always their relationship and the way that they interacted with each other - more of a mutually beneficial friendship to get through high school than an actual friendship.

I wanted more when it came to the resolution of the conflicts at the end - I wanted to see more of it, I felt like everything wrapped up really quickly and easily, but it was still a sweet story.

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

This book was a delight! It's been ages since I've read Northanger Abbey, but I'm inspired to reread after finishing Ghosted. Hattie Tilney has a life that looks idyllic from the outside - popular friends, a prestigious and potentially haunted boarding school, what seems like a solid future. But underneath, she also has family trauma, a frosty mother (who also happens to be her principal), and a lot of loneliness and impostor syndrome.

When her mom makes her school ambassador to the new kid, a paranormal enthusiast, she's not thrilled. As she spends more time with Kit, she starts rethinking her life, both present and future, completely, and finally finds someone with whom she can be her true self. Kit helps her unpack some of her deep feelings about ghosts and those we have lost, and inspires her to stop living under a mask. Romance and hijinks ensue. This book is more about metaphorical ghosts than paranormal ones, but it was such a feel good read overall I enjoyed every page.