Member Reviews

I enjoyed this Jane Austen retelling. And we finally get one that's not Pride and Prejudice. It's nice to get a Northanger Abby retelling for a change.

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Thanks so much NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books for this fantastic arc!!

5/5 stars!!

I already knew I was going to love this, not only because Northanger Abbey is my FAVOURITE Austen novel, but The X-Files has been my favourite show since I was 12, and oh maaaan this did not disappoint! This was just a perfect fall/beginning of the school year read, and I love love love the dynamic between Hattie and Kit! I do feel like parts of it that I would have loved to read weren't there, like the haunted Hallowe'en walk in the graveyard, but that's ok. I know I'll definitely be doing a reread of this next fall :D

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look, I see "Amanda Quain" and I'm sold. I loved Accomplished and Ghosted lived up to it's predecessor in Austenian retellings and a loveable cast of characters. I thought no one could beat my adoration for Georgiana Darcy & Avery, but Kit & Hattie immeDIATELY landed on my swoon-list.

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Hattie is a senior at America’s most haunted high school. When she was younger, she believed in ghosts but ever since her dad passed away, she has become a nonbeliever. Hattie is assigned to be an ambassador to Kit, a student who recently transferred and is on scholarship for ghost hunting. As Kit and Hattie spend more time together the sparks start to fly. Will Kit be able to convince Hattie that ghosts do exist?

It was a fun YA book retelling of Jane Austen’s classic, Northanger Abbey. It was a slow burn sweet romance filled with ghost investigations and hunting. There was some normal teenage drama with applying for colleges but also serious themes of dealing with the loss of a parent and family drama. It was a quick and light read and the first book of a series. I’m excited to read book two!

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This was an adorable YA/middle grade love story that hit deeper levels than I anticipated. Hattie Tilney is a young woman figuring out who she is versus who she is trying to portray after the devastating loss of the person who most understood her, her father. Kit Morland is a new student who she is tasked with showing around Northhanger Abbey high school, and she soon discovers that he is obsessed with ghosts and the paranormal, the topic she does her best to steer clear of. Together they explore the legends and superstitions of the school while also navigating cliques, educational expectations, and a budding romance. Hattie is a great, realistic character who struggles with overcoming loss, connecting with an emotionally-distant mother, and being the middle sister to two very different siblings. I believe a lot of young readers can connect with the characters and their struggles and joys, along with enjoy the hunt for the haunted in a supposedly paranormal school.

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Thank you very much to NetGalley and St. Martin's publishing for providing me this advance copy of Ghosted by Amanda Quain in exchange for my honest review. Ghosted is available now!

Spooky season is upon us, and thus, begins my season of reading paranormal reads, thrillers, murder, horror and ghost stories, and Ghosted immediately caught my eye. As a retelling (with reverse genders) of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, this one was fun putting the setting back in a high school with a paranormal past. One of my favorite parts of this book was how Hattie handled wanting to stay close to her dad but feeling the desire to suppress his fascination with the paranormal to meet the demands of her mother, the headmistress of Northanger Abbey. This one was a fun seasonal read - it might have been a touch too long for my liking, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. The September prompt for an online reading challenge I'm doing was to read an Austen retelling, and this one was a great choice that fit the bill.

Thank you again to the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC - Ghosted is available everywhere today!

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4.5, thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was lovely!!! I figured I would enjoy this book but I ended up pleasantly surprised by HOW much I liked it. I thought it would be a cute, fluffy story. What I got was an insightful and emotional look at a grieving, broken family learning to pick up the pieces. Oh, and some sweet moments sandwiched in.

I think what I liked most is that Hattie makes some really bad decisions because she's broken! She's hurting! She's trying to carry the world on her shoulders while alienating everyone around her so she can be perfect! And Kit is a weird, fun, friendly guy - without being TOO ~quirky and fun~. Their banter is cute without being saccharine, their bond feels real. It's just really fun to read. I also appreciate that while there is romance, it doesn't extend to anything graphic on page - this is appropriate for all teens.

Overall I recommend this even more than "Accomplished" and can't wait to see what comes next.

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The writing, pacing, and characters were great. I wasn't 100% convinced that the characters were faithful remixes of Austen's original characters, but as their own characters they were engaging. Hattie's constant declarations that her family and friends didn't feel emotions was a little grating, but was ultimately handled well in the end. Overall this was a fun romance, with just enough family angst to keep me interested in Hattie's story.

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Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
Gender swapped Northanger Abbey sounded pretty fun to me. And it was! I like that this book will make Austen accessible to folks unfamiliar with the original.

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Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange of an honest review.
I think Ghosted is a cute book that students will enjoy. We will purchase a copy for our library.

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This is a sweet send up of Nothanger Abby, but unlike some Austen retellings, I think it will still appeal to readers unfamiliar with the original work.

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A gender reversed retelling of Northanger Abbey.

An emotional delve into coping with loss and dealing with grief.

I loved Kit Morland, and the relationship between Kit and Hattie is adorable.

I would have liked a little more ghost-hunting, and other ghostly action, but otherwise, this was an enjoyable read.

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Ghosted by Amanda Quain is a gender swapped Northanger Abbey. The story features Hattie Tilney whose mom is the headmistress of the Northanger Abbey school. Her father died a few years ago and the Tilney family has fallen apart amidst the grief. Prior to his death, Hattie was really into the paranormal and ghost hunting. However, she's shut herself off from all that and pretty much remade her personality. Hattie begins to question this decision when she is paired with new student Kit Moreland who is obsessed with ghosts for a class project. Soon, Hattie begins falling for Kit.

I wanted to like Ghosted more than I did. The concept is wonderful and interesting to me. However, as I am not at all an objective reviewer -- I'll say that something happened while I was reading this book that impacted me negatively. So, I subconsciously associated this book with that event. Also, it took forever for me to get through. I did like Ghosted towards the end. There's some emotional content at the end that is well written and really tugs at the heartstrings. This wasn't the book for me -- but I do think if you are a Jane Austen fan who happens to like ghosts, you'll enjoy this young adult book.

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Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books, and Amanda Quain for the opportunity to read Ghosted in exchange for an honset review.

A contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, Ghosted follows Hattie, a senior at Northanger Abbey, one of America's most (allegedly) haunted schools. She once followed her father in his paranormal investigations, but his death brought her to become a non-believer. With her mother being the headmistress of Northanger, Hattie has responsibilities to her younger brother and older sister. Between taking care of family, keeping up with grades, and worrying about college, Hattie has a lot on her plate.

Being the headmistress's daughter and a top student, Hattie is tasked with being an ambasador to the new transfer student, Kit. What brings him to Northanger? Why, a ghost-hunting scholarship, of course, and where else to hunt ghosts than the (supposedly) most haunted high school in America? Tasked with a journalism investigation project together, they dive into the myths and legends of the school, looking for some truth to the tales or paranormal activity within. Kit will find evidence to prove the suspicions of hauntings within the school, but because of Hattie's past, she will do anything to prove him otherwise.

With questions left and right about the school and its possible ghostly inhabitants, Kit accompanies Hattie on explorations of every nook and cranny the school has to offer: tunnels, graveyards, and ancient classrooms. As they explore, Hattie realizes that Kit might be the right person to get her back into believing that ghosts might just exist, something she didn't think possible. Also, there might just be some blooming romantic feelings!

A fun exploration of self, friendship, family, and romance, this novel is an enjoyable read for a teen audience. There is promise of more to Kit and Hattie's adventures, and what fun adventures they will be!

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This was an emotional book about healing from loss and how grief affects everyone differently. The parts about family really hit me and I enjoyed watching Hattie heal and come into herself and what she wants for the future.

I think it helped to know that this book is not paranormal, just features some characters that like to go ghost hunting and tell stories. I liked hearing the legends and how Hattie and Kit bonded over them, plus Hattie and her brother also connected more in the ghost squad.

Hattie frustrated me a few times by not living for herself and her ambitions and for assuming other people were emotionless and didn't care what she did or said to them. She was selfish at parts, but I liked seeing the growth she went through.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for the copy

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I really enjoyed Ghosted by Amanda Quain. But at the beginning it was tough to get through. The main character talked a lot in her head a bit too long and it was hard to get through. Over time it got easier. The relationship between Hattie and KIt was very cute, Hattie had a lot of family issues she had to deal with. Her mother is one of the most digusting pepole that I hate to my core. And I didn't like that the narrative didn't give any real punishment. It put a damper on my enjoyment at the end. Overall it was enjoyable.

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I love Northanger Abbey, so I was EXTREMELY excited to see what Amanda Quain could do with it after reading Accomplished last year. And I was not disappointed. I loved the lush setting of the boarding school, the banter between Kit and Hattie, and Hattie's largely unreliable narration. While touching on all of the themes and key points of Northanger, Quain still added her own beats and twists to this genderbent retelling.

Perfect for overachievers, try-hards, and fans of ghost hunting reality shows.

CW: grief, previous death of a parent

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This is one of my favorite things that I've read this year. I went in fairly blind and without as much Northanger Abbey knowledge as I might have if it were another Austen title, but that didn't matter. It managed to hit the key moments without requiring outside knowledge to be enjoyable.

I would definitely suggest this to people looking for a fairly light read for October fun, but it's not so fluffy that it disappears like cotton candy.

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Before you read this review know that I had to DNF this book. I did not like the recurrent theme of grief and shoving it down. It just did not jive with my mental health journey at this time. That being said, I think it probably would be a very good example for young teens dealing with the death of a parent or even a divorce. I would assume that market would be able to empathize with the main character and maybe see themselves in her. I appreciated the paranormal aspect of the book. It is kind of a dark academia meets mean girls? I think that if you liked the show Locke and Co on Netflix, this would also be right up your alley. The setting is an old historical abbey that was converted into a high school and is the center of a famed haunting. A movie was filmed a la Blair Witch Project which has ghost hunters flocking to the school to document these spirits. Well after her dad died, Hattie swore off of ghosts forever. She was going to be a normal girl, living a normal life, finishing out her normal senior year. Until her mother, the headmistress, assigns her to be a student buddy to the new kid who is sponsored by the biggest ghost hunting group in the country. Hattie is forced to face her grief over losing her dad, her strained relationship with her mom, and this mysterious new hottie tagging along. I think it's a cute read for spooky season if you're not into horror, but rather paranormal romance is your jive.

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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.

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