|| Ghosted by Amanda Quain ||

RATING: 3.5/5
WHO SHOULD READ IT: Fans of Austen and Ghost Hunters

Ghosted is a cute YA mash-up of two, usually, unrelated genres - Jane Austen and ghost hunting! It had a bit of a slow build for me but eventually finds its pace. The main character, Hattie, is the quintessential middle child. There are strong Jan Brady vibes - so, obviously, that made her a bit tedious. However, soon enough the character development kicks in and it is not just wallowing in a rough situation.

And, what is that catalyst? A tall lean ghost hunting drink of water named, Kit. He is not what she expected or thought she wanted. But, soon enough become the person she can relax and be herself around. This lets her be a less anxious story-teller and a regular kid

There is some well handled “Mean Girl-esque” drama and over all it is a really cute story about finding yourself and becoming a family again after traumatic events..

YA CONTENT NOTES: Supernatural (obviously) and minor characters/ subplots involving LGBTQ+
|| RATING DETAILS ||

⭐⭐⭐💫 | Liked it & Would Recommend - There is a lot to like and it’s well written, I have small problems with it - for instance it had a bit of a slow beginning and the non-binary character just seemed to be a checkmark of things to add when you write a book in 2023, they didn’t really have a purpose to the story except to be ‘that’ character. It certainly had some predictable parts, but I would probably recommend it to certain people.

❤️❤️❤️❤️ | I love them together, they clearly love each other and are meant to be. Obviously, they are still kids - but they are well matched, it is a healthy relationship, and they are very into each other.

🔥 | Sexual attraction is written discretely - admiring how clothes fit a body, chaste kisses. You would likely be comfortable letting a teenager read the book.

Thank you and @‌stmartinspress for my gifted ebook.

I loved this fresh take on Northanger Abbey. The story was cute, quirky, and a quick read. Slow burn romances are one of my favorite tropes, and I thought this was done particularly well. I loved that this wasn't a strict re-telling but more of an inspired by book. I adore both Hattie and Kit, and I can't read what's next by this author.

This was an interesting read.
I could relate to the main character since she has to please your mother and this led to her prioritizing her schoolwork over her friends.

I love the paranormal genre in this book in which she has to show around someone who is a ghost hunter and she feels irritated since she like ghosts. Unfortunately, she has to hide that fact around him.

As time pasts, she has to juggle school along with applying to colleges and her personal life. (She is the oldest in her family and is expected to look after her two siblings.

I like the slight romance in the book. Yes, there is kissing, but I like how it is not overdone.

Yes, there is LGBTQ+ representation, but I did not like how they were mentioned several times.

Ghosted was a fun retelling of Northanger Abbey set in a private high school amidst ghost hunting, peer pressure, and young romance. Despite the simple and cute premise, Amanda Quain provided a real depth to her characters and their struggles. This made it a more interesting and enjoyable story because of it - and a more satisfying romance. My only drawback was that the depth and complexity of the characters wasn't matched in other parts of the story, so the subplots and ending felt a little rushed. This isn't unexpected in a novel of this size and style, but I noticed more given the comparative depth overwise.

Overall, it was a cute and fun read. I think it would be an especially fun read in October as the crisp air and Halloween vibes begin.

What an inventive premise! It's a modern-day retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, set at a high school in the US. It's not just any high school, it's a HAUNTED high school! Not everyone believes this, however. The "cool" kids at Northanger can't stand the ghost lovers. Our heroine Hattie, despite having been an advocate for the ghost side most of her life, has joined the skeptical crowd. But Hattie's hiding a great deal of trauma under her cynicism. She and her father, who passed away three years prior from cancer, were ghost hunters together. Since his passing, she's put that part of her life away for good. Or so she thought. The headmistress of the school, who also happens to be Hattie's mother, has paired Mattie up with Kit, a new student with a passion for finding ghosts. What follows is a lesson on how to be yourself and question your beliefs, even if it hurts.

The characters in this book really are haunted, but not in the way one might think. Hattie, her mother, sister, and brother are still scrambling to pick up the pieces years after the passing of Hattie's father. Everyone is dealing with their pain in the best way they know how. Hattie doesn't realize just how fake her persona is until she meets Kit. Over the course of the fall semester of Hattie's senior year, Kit brings her out of her shell with his wit and kindness. It's like she's been asleep, and he's woken her up. Waking up might be the easiest part, however, because once she's awake, she's able to take stock of the damage all around her, and she has to decide how she's going to deal with it.

This was a very deep book. I spent most of it wishing that Hattie's family would go to counseling. The lack of communication was staggering. Thankfully, you get a sense that they're on the right track at the end of the book. I knew going in that this was going to be about a teenage girl trying to deal with family and school challenges, but I was hoping that it would be equally fun. I'd hoped for more ghost hunting and fun spookiness. It didn't deliver on that account. So while this book has lessons to teach, vivid and likable characters, and a perfect gothic setting, it didn't provide the fun for which I was looking.

Trigger warning: death of a father, cancer (before story begins)

I'd like to thank St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the e-ARC of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.

Okay, I kind of adored this one!

Ghosted was exactly what I’d hoped it would be, a loose Austen connection, a lot of paranormal goodness, a sweet YA romance, and it packed a bit of an emotional punch!

Hattie and Kit were so fun to read about and watch as they fell for one another! I adored their personalities and had the best time rooting for them! Hattie’s emotional journey is definitely what pushed this book into a higher rating though! It was a little sad, but deeply real as she grappled with the loss of her father (not a spoiler), her grief, and her family in the wake of the tragedy that takes place before our story began!

All in all this was a solid YA read and I’m excited to add it to my shelf when it publishes later this month!

Huge thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for my advanced e-arc of this book! I really really enjoyed it!!

This book is supposedly based on Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, but I'd say it's loosely based (character names, location) as this is a modern day version in which Northanger Abbey is a private high school (boarding school) that is supposedly haunted (tons of stories).

Our main character, Hattie, goes to the school and is a senior. Her mother is the head of the school. She and her father were extremely excited when her mother got the job because they both loved ghost stories and looked forward to exploring the building and the history of the school. But Hattie's father unexpectedly died before their move and Hattie has shut off that part of herself as a way to handle (avoid) her grief. She becomes the "perfect" student and daughter, even though it's not really her authentic self.

Enter Kit, who is a new student at the school and who loves the ghost stories. Kit and Hattie are paired together for a class project on the history of the hauntings at the school, and he rocks her "perfect" world (which isn't really all that perfect, of course), causing her to have to come to terms with her loss, her family, her two best friends, and her future.

This is a coming of age story that starts out as a decent YA read but toward the end of the book really digs into Hattie's character and getting over her grief and what that means for her life and her family. There are moments of laughter and moments of deep emotion. I don't think it needed the Jane Austen connection as it's a solid story on its own.

Ghosted, by Amanda Quain, is a new take on an old classic. The characters are well-developed and the storyline in this YA novel is one that will keep your interest. Easy to read so it would fit nicely into your pool bag. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with an ARC ebook to review.

This was quirky, a little sad, but still delightful. I couldn't help immediately falling in love with the main characters, Hattie and Kit. I loved the evolution of their relationship and even more, seeing Hattie evolve as a person.

This school is known for it's ghosts which is why so many ghost hunters flock to the scene in search of sightings. It's also how Kit became a part of this school through a scholarship for the ghost obsessed. Hattie's mom is the Headmistress, which could be cool if her mom didn't completely ignore her and the rest of the family. After Hattie's dad died, a lot changed in their family, including Hattie's love for ghosts. That's what makes Hattie and Kit's relationship so interesting is her constant internal battle.

This is a fun story, and I liked the attention to some more serious topics such as grief. I definitely recommend this to fans of ya romance.

Out July 25, 2023!

Thank you, Netgalley and Publisher, for this Arc!

Ghosted is a fun read, and a great book to add to your TBR for fall! I loved the mix of banter/humor and ghost hunting. A fresh take on Northanger Abbey!

3.5 stars. I really enjoyed Amanda Quain’s debut, a Pride and Prejudice retelling. This was partially for the unusual perspective it used (Georgiana Darcy), and I was both very excited to see someone take on Northangar Abbey (it’s almost always P&P) and to view it from a different side. Here, Henry Tilney is Hattie Tilney, a student at the Northangar Abbey school whose mother is the intimidating headmistress. Quain reinterpretes the unusual Northangar Abbey plot and its characters in fun ways: a haunted school made famous in online paranormal circles, an intense academic atmosphere to take the place of the scheming society, and an enthusiastic Catherine - Kit - Morland who is obsessed with ghosts. Kit and Hattie take believer vs. skeptic positions and begin investigating for a school project.

It was a fun read that has some darker layers around grief and complicated family relationships. I wish we had had more time with Hattie beginning to heal those relationships as well as exploring her next steps, as her move to not being the classic high achiever, prep school student felt abrupt and rushed. I found the exploration of grief effective but Hattie’s insistence of hiding herself a bit more one note. I understood where she was coming from and what she meant by the pressures and difficulty of masking herself for years, but it felt very repetitive and surface-level. That said, I think this a fun and interesting YA Northangar Abbey retelling, and as much as I love Pride & Prejudice, I’d love to see more takes on this one and Austen’s other works.

I think I would have enjoyed Ghosted much more if it wasn't very loosely based on Northanger Abby. I think I was too attached to that idea, since Northanger is my favorite Austen book.

Overall this was a very YA book without a lot of substance, and I would have liked it more had it not tried to be based on Northanger.

Ghosted was an incredibly charming tale. I really liked the main character, I think Hattie was both complicated and real, and she was very much a teenage girl, her senior year in high school and it just felt very real. I love how the ghost hunting aspects of the book are incorporated into the story and the development of Hattie and Kit’s relationship was really great. Overall, I really enjoyed this book, I do wish there was a bit more of a resolution when it comes to Hattie’s relationship with ghost/paranormal, but overall It was really good!

Of all of Jane Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey is not one of my favorites. That being said, I was excited when I saw this book was coming out because it is the Austen novel that is retold the least, and I was anxious to see what Amanda Quain would come up with. I really liked how deep she dove into the feelings of the main character, Hattie, to show why she feels the way she feels about “ghosts”.

The decision to make this a gender-bent retelling was a bit inspired, in my opinion. It helped to make this story truly its own, but it also allowed for some more hard-hitting internal and external struggle. Hattie Tilney is cast in the non-believer role, who is trying so hard to be someone she is not in order to run from her past. Kit Morland is a dreamer and a paranormal believer. I loved his open, cuddly self, and how he was able to peel back the layers of Hattie’s self-protective shell.

I liked the decision to make Northanger Abbey a school – it brought some fun life to the story. The shenanigans that the students were able to get up to made sense within the confines of the setting, and still paid homage to the original story.

I enjoyed the family dynamics in this book. The parent was present in body, but not in spirit. This is something that lots of teens have to deal with, so I was glad to see it represented here. I also liked that the siblings had some struggles to work through together too. It gave the story some realistic tension that had nothing to do with the paranormal investigation side of the story.

Speaking of the paranormal investigation, I loved that take on the ghost story from the original novel! It was such a fun way to incorporate a real phenomenon from our modern culture to make this story feel present in our current time. I am actually a big fan of YouTube channels like Watcher, Sam and Colby, and CelinaSpookyBoo who do paranormal investigations in real life. Such a fun way to bring Northanger Abbey into the 21st century!

All in all, I thought this was a fun retelling of an Austen novel that doesn’t get as much attention as her others. I am excited to see what Amanda Quain comes up with next!

My Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I gave Ghosted 4 Stars!

Ghosted is the first book in the new Northanger Abbey series. Hattie Tilney doesn’t believe in ghosts, or at least that’s what she keeps telling herself, but when Kit Morland transfers to Northanger on a ghost hunting scholarship will he be able to change her mind?

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I pick up this book, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. Ghosted is a retelling of a Jane Austen story with the gender roles reversed. I enjoyed this book and connected well with the main characters. Some of the supporting characters weren’t my favorite, but that only added to the story. I found this to be a well written, quick read that was hard to put down. I enjoyed this book from beginning to end and look forward to seeing what else might come in this series. If you are looking for a high school aged romance full of ghost hunting, give this a try!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC version of this book!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/ Wednesday Books for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts. I am always a sucker for a Jane Austen remix. This book delivered. I loved the cute and quirky Hattie and Kit. The author did a fabulous job keeping things updated while still keeping to the homage of Northanger abbey. I will def be giving this a reread in the future and as such it earns four stars from me!

I have to stop hyping books up in my head. I was so excited for a Northanger Abbey retelling because it's my second favorite Austen novel, but the novel is too far from the original for me. The characters are sort of lined up to the originals, and there's the creepy abbey. However, the abbey doesn't appear to actually be haunting, and everything I've read so far is just Hattie saying over and over that ghosts aren't real. The original story starts with a bang and picks up speed, but this story does neither. It's a really slow pace, and the characters are flat so far. I feel like I've read the same four inner thoughts from Hattie for three hours, and that's way too long. When the tunnels were so disappointing and barely explored, I decided this book wasn't for me. This novel is much more about the family dealing with grief than other things. That will work for others, but it's not for me.

this book fell a bit flat for me, although i can see the appeal

Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for the review copy.

It is no secret that I am a massive fan of Jane Austen’s work. Her books are smart, funny, satirical…and of course, romantic. I have read my fair share of Austen retellings over the years – good, bad, and everywhere in between. I fell in love with Accomplished, Amanda Quain’s modern telling of Pride and Prejudice from Georgianna Darcy’s point of view. Quain pays such brilliant homage to Austen’s work while making the story feel new and modern. She does the same in her Northanger Abbey retelling, Ghosted.

Northanger Abbey itself can be a tough sell as a early work of Austen’s where she satirizes the gothic novels that were so popular in the late 18th century. I’ve found that modern retellings of Northanger Abbey can fall short because it is such a specific style that Austen is referencing. However, Ghosted handles it brilliantly.

Northanger Abbey’s main romantic pair are Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney. Catherine loves gothic novels and is led astray by her overactive imagination. Henry can be a little condescending in the way he shuts her theories about his mother’s death down.

As soon as I started reading Ghosted, I LOVED that the characters are gender swapped. Catherine becomes the ghost obsessed new boy, Kit, and Henry becomes the buttoned-up Hattie. Like Henry, Hattie is grieving the loss of a parent, and she definitely does shut down Kit’s obsession with ghosts. However, their dynamic definitely doesn’t feel as uneven as it does in Austen’s book.

Hattie also goes on such a beautiful journey as Kit helps her learn to process her grief over losing her father. I love the way Quain takes the entire Tilney family on such a journey through how they relate to one another. Austen’s Henry and Catherine are not necessarily static characters, but they certainly don’t go through the same growth as we see in Quain’s characters.

Quain peppers Ghosted with little Easter Eggs to those familiar with Northanger Abbey. My favorite is calling Hattie’s dream college, Udolpho, after the book Catherine Morland is obsessed with in Austen’s book.

Each character in Ghosted is painted so vividly from Kit and Hattie to the secondary characters like Hattie’s siblings and her friends Isabella and Priya. She gives each character a distinct personality and motivation which helps the whole world to come alive.

I hope Quain continues this series because I am absolutely loving it. I’m especially hoping that she takes on Emma, my favorite of Austen’s novels, next. The character building and storytelling in her books would make me recommend them even to someone who had never read the original books.

Fun! How can you resist fan fiction built around one of Austen's less read books? Northanger Abbey was ripe for a takeoff and this is a fine one. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I know it's meant to be YA but adults (even Austen fans) will enjoy it as well.