He's looking for ghosts. She's trying to escape hers.
Ghosted
Northanger Abbey
Young Adult Contemporary Romance
Wednesday Books
7/25/23
Hardcover, Ebook, Audiobook
384
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. Hattie Tilney isn’t a believer. Yes, she’s a senior at America’s most (allegedly) haunted high school, Northanger Abbey. But ever since her paranormal-loving dad passed away, she’s hung up her Ghostbusters suit, put away the EMF detectors and thermal cameras, and moved on. She has enough to worry about in the land of the living--like taking care of her younger brother, Liam, while their older sister spirals out and their mother, Northanger’s formidable headmistress, buries herself in her work. If Hattie just works hard enough and keeps that overachiever mask on tight through graduation, maybe her mom will finally notice her. But the mask starts slipping when Hattie’s assigned to be an ambassador to Kit Morland, a golden retriever of a boy who’s transferred to Northanger on—what else—a ghost-hunting scholarship. The two are partnered up for an investigative project on the school’s paranormal activity, and Hattie quickly strikes a deal: Kit will present whatever ghostly evidence he can find to prove that campus is haunted, and Hattie will prove that it’s not. But as they explore the abandoned tunnels and foggy graveyards of Northanger, Hattie starts to realize that Kit might be the kind of person that makes her want to believe in something—and someone—for the first time. With her signature wit and slow burn romance, Amanda Quain turns another Austen classic on its head in this sparkling retelling that proves sometimes the ghosts are just a metaphor after all.
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.
“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.
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.
I’m Val, and I’m excited to share my love of books with you! I’m a sassy Sour Patch kid from New Jersey, dog mom to Chance the beagle, and much like the rest of the Hive, I’m a coffee lover (I think it’s a requirement to be here). The first book I remember reading voluntarily involved a boy wizard who lived in the cupboard under the stairs, and I’ve been chasing magic ever since. I love Happily Ever Afters, and I love love. My favorite genres are romance and rom-coms, fantasy, and young adult/new adult. If I’m not reading, I’m probably kayaking, watching the Great British Baking Show, or discovering a new craft beer.
